Process only what changed between scheduled runs

Activate only what changed

Delta processing reduces repeat work on large, frequently scheduled audiences. Instead of walking the whole audience every time, an eligible action can process only the membership changes since its last successful activation.

Campaign actions

1. Edit or create a scheduled add-to-campaign action.
2. Under Processing scope, select Changes only.
3. To also remove members who left, open Cleansing Settings, turn on Campaign Cleansing, and keep Limit cleansing to this Audience selected.

With Changes only, CAB adds the members who joined and, when audience-limited cleansing is on, checks the members who left, without going through unrelated Campaign Members. Existing members are not refreshed when Membership updates is set to keep them, and a person manually removed from the Campaign is not re-added merely because they still belong to the audience.

Marketing Cloud data extensions

Under Processing scope, the same Changes only option sends only new members between full refreshes. Once it is selected, Delta runs between full refreshes appears; use it to schedule a periodic full reload. If left empty, a full refresh happens only when CAB has no earlier run to compare with.

When no full-refresh cadence is configured, the interface warns: Members who leave the audience are never removed from the data extension. With a cadence, members who left stay in the data extension until the next full refresh clears and reloads it.

Flow and Apex Final Actions

1. Open the schedule, go to Flow & Apex, and select Edit Action on a saved action — or configure it while adding one.
2. Under Processing scope, select Changes only.

The action then receives only the members that joined since its last successful activation, instead of every current member. Nothing else about the action changes: the same Apex class or Flow runs, with the same input values.

Members who left the audience are never handed to a Final Action under either scope, because both scopes describe the current membership. An Apex Final Action that must react to departures can read them directly — see Apex Integration.

Safety rules

• If a run fails, the next run still sends everyone who joined since the action’s last successful run.
• The first run, and any run with no earlier run to compare with, processes the full audience.
• Delta processing is configured per scheduled action.
• Manual actions do not show this option.

Important

Delta processing is a workflow optimization, not a permanent suppression rule. Use your organization’s suppression controls when someone must never be re-added.

For admins

CAB Settings → Changes & Approvals → Auditability & Governance

To process only changes, CAB needs to know who joined since the last run. Turn on Track membership changes between runs.