What can I do with CSV imports?

Learn how to use CSV Imports to update data properties and tag users for segmentation.

Tiago Mota avatar
Written by Tiago Mota
Updated over a week ago

With Chameleon, you can leverage your user data to target and personalize your Experiences. This is powerful because you want to ensure you're delivering relevant, contextual guidance to your users.

Using CSV imports, you can get the right user data in Chameleon to leverage across all product Experiences.


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πŸ“Ί Check out the video below to see how to use CSV imports 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 these 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 also import a CSV file from our Data Imports API.

Leverage CSV imports to:

β„Ή Whenever you tag users, including the cases when that 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 & update existing ones, leverage their UID in the mapping step.

There are several scenarios when you might not be able to immediately import all the user data you need to build in-product Experiences by using our existing methods for dynamically importing user data.

Here are some of the most common reasons we see:

  • 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.

Here's a common scenario:

Your Marketing team had a one-time campaign that they ran 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 spreadsheet to Chameleon and tag those users, e.g. "email campaign".

  • You then create a Segment and use that Tag as a filter, to make sure only those users see your Tour.

  • Finally, you choose the created Segment as the target audience for your follow-up Tour.


You can use CSV imports to add new users to Chameleon or update existing properties. For both tagging and updating data, you'll set off from the same Imports page, under Data Management.

πŸ‘‰ 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.

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. πŸ˜‰

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.

πŸ’‘ 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.

Click the "Start tagging" button to pick between the user and company id that you would like to use as a base for tagging.

πŸ”» Picking users will require you to upload your CSV file in the next step. After this, you'll have to tell Chameleon how to identify the users that you want to tag: via their existing uid, or email.

Choose an option, and from the dropdown pick the attribute that matches the uid / email, such as their name, email, UI, or role. The same attributes are available for both options, this depends on how you identify your users.

Once you choose a column from the dropdown, Chameleon will display a preview of the values we see there, to make it as simple as possible to point to the right data.

πŸ’‘ If you want to add new users to your account,

Click "Continue" to pick an existing Tag or create a new one. As you type in, Chameleon will bring up existing Tags with that name, or if there isn't one created, you can click the "+" icon to create a new one.

Finally, hit "Tag Users" and you're all set! Chameleon will notify you by email once your import is complete - take a breather and check your email, it won't take long. 😊

πŸ”» Picking companies will require you to do almost the same - upload your CSV file first. Next, you'll tell Chameleon how to identify the users that you want to tag using their company id. And similarly as in the individual Tags case, you can pick from attributes such as name, role, company, or device.

Once you select an attribute, you'll be able to check its accuracy in the preview section and "Continue" to pick an existing Tag created on your account. Or create a new one, with what you type in the field.

Select a Tag and "Tag Users" to start your import. Check your email to see when your import is ready and you can start using these Tags when delivering your Experiences.

πŸ‘‰ 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. Here's how you can remove user Tags.

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. 😊

πŸ”» Picking user properties will require you to upload your CSV file, containing the new attributes in the next step. After this, you'll have to tell Chameleon how to identify the users that you want to update properties for: via their existing uid, or email.

Choose one option, and from the dropdown pick the column that matches the uid / email, such as their name, email, UI, or role. The same attributes are available for both options, this depends on how you identify your users.

Once you choose a column from the dropdown, Chameleon will display a preview of the values we see there, to make it as simple as possible to point to the right attributes.

When you want to update properties, you'll also be prompted to map whatever other columns you want from your CSV to the correct properties in Chameleon.

In the data identifier field, we'll bring up the available data from each column to simplify your life. Then, all you have to do is to select the correct property. For each one, you can search the available properties and use those, or create new ones to match your update by clicking the "+" icon as you type in.

πŸ’‘ 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. 😊

πŸ”» Picking company properties works about the same - first, upload your CSV file, then choose which column matches the company id in Chameleon. From the dropdown list pick whether this is the name, ID, company, or email.

Next, just as in the case of updating user properties, you'll be prompted to map other columns that you may want from your CSV to the correct properties in Chameleon.

Search for available properties to update, or add new ones to match your action by clicking the "+" icon as you type in the data identifier field.

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.

πŸ‘‰ You can also leverage additional Actions to Tag users or update user properties, from Chameleon buttons.


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.

πŸ” Chameleon Growth plans have a limit of 50 Tags per account, while the Enterprise plans have unlimited Tags.

πŸ’‘ Learn more about working with user Tags in Chameleon.

Here are two scenarios where CSV imports will come in handy. πŸ˜‰

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.

  1. Upload a CSV file to Tag users.

  2. Pick the 'users' option if you want to work with individuals or 'companies' if you already have a group of users.

  3. Create your Tag or pick one that's available (and relevant).

  4. Go to your Segments and add the filter Chameleon Tags - is a member of, and pick your Tag.

πŸ’‘ Alternatively, you can also do this via our API.

πŸ‘‰ 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.

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.

  1. Upload a CSV to update data.

  2. Pick the 'users' option if you want to work with individuals or 'companies' if you already have a group of users.

  3. Map out any properties from your file that you want to leverage in Chameleon.

  4. Use the Personalization option when building your Experiences.

πŸ’‘ You can also update user data by using Additional Actions - for users who interact with your Experiences.


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