Using CSV imports, you can get the right user data into Chameleon to leverage across all your in-product Experiences. You can tag users or companies, and update User Properties or Company Properties — all from your Dashboard, without any code.
👉 Read about understanding data in Chameleon for a full overview of the data types available to you.
Availability & Usage
🔐 Available for all plans
📍 Data ready to use in Tours Tooltips Microsurveys Launchers
⚙️ Ready to use from the Dashboard
Video Overview
📺 Check out the video below to see how to use CSV imports in Chameleon.
What do CSV imports do in Chameleon?
Chameleon Experiences are most relevant when they are contextual. Segmentation plays a big part in that, and having the right user data at hand is critical to building effective audiences.
There are multiple ways to send user data to Chameleon dynamically. However, if those methods don't work for you, Chameleon lets you import a CSV file with a list of users from the Dashboard to leverage in your segmentation immediately.
You can use CSV imports to:
Action | What Chameleon does |
Adds a Tag of your choice to the users provided in your CSV file, which you can use when creating your Segments | |
Maps the values provided in your CSV file to one or more User Properties or Company Properties of your choice |
ℹ️ Whenever you tag users, including cases when the UID does not already exist in the database, a new entry will be created. If you want to update existing users in Chameleon, use their email while mapping out your CSV fields; if you want to create new users and update existing ones, use their UID in the mapping step.
Why are CSV imports useful to me?
There are several scenarios when you might not be able to immediately import all the user data you need through dynamic methods:
Your team is doing complex queries in your Data Warehouse that you cannot translate to Chameleon
You cannot send Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data to Chameleon, but you still want to leverage the power of segmentation
You have a list of users to create a static Segment but don't have any User Properties in Chameleon that would allow you to create it
💡 A common scenario: Your Marketing team ran a one-time campaign for a list of users who responded to an outbound email, and they kept track of those responses in a spreadsheet. You want to target a follow-up Tour to those users, so you: upload the CSV to Chameleon and tag those users (e.g. "email campaign"), create a Segment using that Tag as a filter, and choose the created Segment as the target audience for your follow-up Tour.
How do I import CSVs to Chameleon?
You can use CSV imports to add new users to Chameleon or update existing properties. For both tagging and updating data, you'll start from the same Imports page, under Data Management.
⚠️ When uploading a CSV, keep in mind that values (email, UID, etc.) are case-sensitive and you should not alter the casing, to ensure your data shows up correctly in Chameleon.
Differences between Users and Companies
Before jumping into the process, it's important you know the key difference between the type of data you can import and update with CSVs.
Chameleon handles both user-level and group-level data. Using CSV Imports, you can update and use either, by sending us the corresponding User or Company data. In both CSV-specific actions, you'll be able to choose if you want to perform the tagging or update action at a user level, or a company (group) level.
You'll simply need your spreadsheet to contain a column corresponding to the data identifier for either Users or Companies in Chameleon.
Let's go through the steps you should take to leverage this feature immediately. 😉
Importing CSVs to Tag users
This is a great way to keep your different user groups and joined team efforts under control. You can tag users (based on their uid), as well as companies - bigger user groups - (based on the company id). This will add new filter options available for you to identify the right users when creating your Segments.
💡 When you import a CSV to Tag users, Chameleon ensures that each seen user has a unique UID in the Dashboard; if they don't have one, Chameleon will create a new entry.
Picking users
Click the "Start tagging" button to pick between the user and company
idthat you would like to use as a base for tagging.
Upload your CSV file.
Tell Chameleon how to identify the users you want to tag: via their existing
uidoremail. Choose an option, and from the dropdown pick the column that matches — such as name, email, UID, or role. The same attributes are available for both options.Once you choose a column, Chameleon will display a preview of the values found, to make it easy to point to the right data.
Click "Continue" to pick an existing Tag or create a new one. As you type, Chameleon will bring up existing Tags with that name; if there isn't one, click the "+" icon to create a new one.
Hit "Tag Users" and you're all set. Chameleon will notify you by email once your import is complete.
Picking companies
Upload your CSV file.
Tell Chameleon how to identify the companies you want to tag using their company
ID. Pick from attributes such as name, role, company, or device.
Once you select an attribute, check its accuracy in the preview section.
Click "Continue" to pick an existing Tag or create a new one.
Select a Tag and click "Tag Users" to start your import. Check your email to see when your import is ready.
✨ If you want to update a Tag with new users down the road, the CSV you'll upload will Tag all the users on the new list (but won't remove the Tag from other users). You'll see your Tag as (updated) to signal that you updated the members of an existing Tag.
👉 Read about working with Tags in Chameleon to learn how to remove user Tags.
Importing CSVs to update data
You can leverage CSV imports to get essential user attributes into Chameleon and update your existing user properties. You can update user properties (based on their uid), as well as company properties (based on the company id). This will update your available user data and filter options when creating your Segments.
Click the "Start an import" button to pick between the user (individual level) and company (group level) properties that you want to update.
The next steps are similar to those in the case of tagging via CSV imports. But let's go through the flow to see where they differ. 😊
Picking user properties
Upload your CSV file containing the new attributes you want to add
Choose how to identify users: via their existing
uidoremailFrom the dropdown, select the column that matches your chosen identifier (options include name, email, uid, or role)
Review the preview of values Chameleon displays to confirm you've selected the correct attribute
Map any other columns from your CSV to the corresponding properties in Chameleon
Use the data identifier field to view available data from each column
Search for existing properties or create new ones by clicking the "+" icon as you type
💡 You can leverage "email-only" updates to target multiple users with the same email.
When you're done mapping, click "Import to Chameleon" and wait for a confirmation email. Chameleon will let you know when your import is finalized and ready to use. 😊
Picking company properties
Upload your CSV file.
Choose which column matches the company ID in Chameleon. From the dropdown, pick whether this is the name, ID, company, or email.
Map other columns from your CSV to the correct Company Properties in Chameleon.
Search for available properties to update, or add new ones by clicking the "+" icon.
Click "Import to Chameleon" and wait for a confirmation email.
When you're done mapping, click "Import to Chameleon" and feel free to stretch out a bit. You will get a confirmation email once Chameleon has all your data in.
⚠️ Always double-check before mass-updating properties. This action will replace whatever data you have in Chameleon and is not reversible.
👉 You can also leverage additional Actions to Tag users or update user properties, from Chameleon buttons.
How to use my CSV-imported data
Once an import is ready, whether it is a tag or an update type, your data will be available for you to use from the Segments page when creating a new one or adjusting existing Segments.
You will find properties and events under their respective categories, as well as Tags and you can leverage them immediately.
🔐 Chameleon Growth and Enterprise plans have a limit of 50 Tags per account.
💡 Learn more about working with user Tags in Chameleon.
Here are two scenarios where CSV imports will come in handy. 😉
I want to identify a group of users to filter
Grouping users is a must to ease complex segmentation processes. You can leverage CSV imports to group users under a common Tag that you can then use as a filter when creating your Segment.
💡 Alternatively, you can also do this via our API.
👉 This is a great option to delineate the Experiences you deliver but comes with a caveat - it is a static list and will not update automatically.
I want to reference a property in a Step - Personalization
User properties are essential to ensure you will always deliver a personalized Experience. You can update user properties with CSV imports and leverage any data available to create unique user guidance.
Upload a CSV to update data.
Pick the 'users' option if you want to work with individuals or 'companies' if you already have a group of users.
Map out any properties from your file that you want to leverage in Chameleon.
Use the Personalization option when building your Experiences.
💡 You can also update user data by using Additional Actions - for users who interact with your Experiences.