If daylight saving time has been confusing your whole life, don’t worry – figuring it out as a marketing automation specialist is even harder. That’s why we thought it’s time to tackle it once and for all.
We’re going to examine the differences between daylight saving time (DST) in the US and the EU, explore the best ways to maintain it with limited manual assistance, and review various scenarios where you connect Salesforce CRM campaigns to Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE) while respecting time zones and DST.
Server Time vs. User Time Zone
Since being introduced in 2022, not much has changed regarding the situation with time zones and daylight saving time. Namely, Marketing Cloud servers use the Central Standard Time (CST) Time Zone, but do not observe Daylight Saving Time (DST). That means that Systems will remain on Central Standard Time (CST) and will not change to (or from) Central Daylight Time (CDT) in March and November, respectively.
Systems will always be -0600 from GMT at all times of the year. Let’s use this information as the foundation for understanding our current situation. Aside from that, MCE takes into account the user’s Time Zone.
Some time ago, Lukas Lunow had already tackled this subject and created this amazing diagram, which shows what parts of MCE refer to which time.
Handling US vs. EU Daylight Saving Time Transitions
Here’s where things get especially tricky: The US and the EU do not switch to DST at the same time. This can cause a two- to three-week gap in synchronization, especially problematic for global transatlantic companies.
- US DST: Begins on the second Sunday in March, ends on the first Sunday in November.
- EU DST: Begins on the last Sunday in March, ends on the last Sunday in October.
So, for a campaign launching at “8 AM local time” across both continents, those two to three weeks of transition may result in misaligned execution unless you change it manually.
Mitigating DST Pitfalls in MCE
With this in mind, here’s what you can do to ensure DST doesn’t break your automation flows or confuse stakeholders: Use DateTime over Date Fields.
If you’re relying on profile attributes, make sure you’re storing timezone-aware DateTime values rather than simple dates as text strings. This is essential when working with events, scheduling, or CRM-integrated journeys.
For more information about the date formats supported in MCE, bookmark an article by Mateusz Dabrowski.
Normalize Times in SQL Queries
To ensure consistency when working with DateTime values across systems, especially when syncing data from Salesforce CRM into Marketing Cloud, always normalize timestamps using timezone-aware logic. Instead of applying hardcoded offsets like DATEADD(hour, -5, [Timestamp]), which fail during daylight saving time (DST) changes and require manual updates, you should use the supported AT TIME ZONE function.
For more details, refer to Jack Hobbs’ guide on the AT TIME ZONE function.
Use AMPscript’s Date and Time Functions (Carefully)
AMPscript includes some helpful utilities for formatting and displaying time values, but not for converting them between time zones. A commonly misunderstood function is: SystemDateToLocalDate(systemTime).
This function only converts the current system time to the Marketing Cloud account’s time zone, which does not reflect a subscriber’s regional time zone or DST. It is not suitable for time zone personalization at the subscriber level.
Learn more about AMPScript Date functions that can help to retrieve, transform, and display times and dates here.
Respecting Timezones from Salesforce CRM to MCE
When campaigns are triggered in Salesforce CRM and synced into MCE (e.g., via Journey Builder’s entry events or synchronized DEs), you must verify what timezone your CRM datetime fields are stored in. Salesforce often uses UTC or user locale-based values, so you’ll need to standardize those before any logic execution in MCE.
My recommendations are:
- Use
AT TIME ZONE: The most reliable and scalable way to handle time zone conversion in MCE is to use theAT TIME ZONEfunction. It supports automatic adjustment for DST and eliminates the need for hardcoded offsets. This method ensures you’re always converting timestamps accurately, based on the date and destination time zone. - Avoid Manual Offsets in SQL: Stay away from using
DATEADD(hour, -X, ...)logic for time zone adjustments. These approaches are impractical and fail to account for Daylight Saving Time (DST) transitions, necessitating manual updates throughout the year.
Managing Historical Time Change
One of the trickiest aspects of working with time zones in MCE is not just accounting for the current offset, but understanding how to handle past daylight saving time (DST) transitions.
For example, if a campaign relies on historical engagement data or CRM events, it’s critical to know whether a timestamp occurred during standard or daylight time. To handle this accurately, avoid static time shifts like DATEADD(hour, -5) in SQL, as they fail to respect real-world DST rules. Instead, store timestamps in UTC and convert them based on both the user’s timezone and the date of the event.
Platforms like Salesforce Data Cloud or CRM (via Apex) support this with SQL functions like AT TIME ZONE or DateClass that apply timezone logic with historical awareness. When syncing to Marketing Cloud, consider pre-processing timestamps upstream, or storing a TimezoneOffset or UserTimeZone field at the moment of data capture.
This ensures accurate scheduling, segmentation, and reporting, even across DST boundaries.
Audit, Test, Repeat
Twice a year, run a DST sanity check on your campaigns:
- Review send times
- Check scheduled automations
- Confirm CRM to MCE handoffs
- Look at test logs with timestamps
Also, consider having a “DST Ready” checklist handy. And remember, marketing runs on trust, and trust can be broken with one bad 3 AM sent to an EU audience expecting a 7 AM message.
Final Thoughts
With some thought and attention, you’re ready to run your transatlantic journeys that are sent just in time.
Understanding how time zones are handled in Marketing Cloud Engagement isn’t the easiest task, but with some patience and great resources, you’ll manage to do it right.
