Census integration: user guide

Set up and use Census to send in data to Chameleon through webhooks.

Sonia Schiau avatar
Written by Sonia Schiau
Updated over a week ago

You can use Census to send in enriched data to Chameleon and leverage it when targeting, personalizing, and analyzing your Experiences.

Census is a Reverse ETL platform that helps sync your warehouse data back to your tool stack so teams can easily use it to make better decisions and improve efforts. You can connect the tools that help you drive success, and leverage that data in Chameleon as well.

You can set up Chameleon as a data destination in Census to create hyper-targeted Segments and deliver a better user experience.


Availability & Usage

πŸ” Available for all plans

πŸ“ Data ready to use in Tours Tooltips Microsurveys Launchers

πŸ“© Contact Census to enable the full feature for you


Quick access


The 'Extract-Transform-Load' process is used to replicate data from your many sources to a single repository - your data warehouse. And yes, this is a great way to create a centralized source of truth to back up your decisions. But as a warehouse is usually only available to technical users and you have multiple further uses for your data, Reverse ETL is the way to go.

Through Reverse ETL you can easily copy the data you have in your central warehouse to your tools (e.g. Twilio Segment, Salesforce, Zendesk, Mixpanel) and leverage it across your marketing, reporting, or development efforts. This means you can get enriched data that is combined from all your other tools, and put it to work further down the pipeline.


Through Census webhooks, you can send data from your tool stack to Chameleon, and use it to create better product guidance. To configure this, you'll need to add a Chameleon Webhook endpoint to Census. You can view our Webhook endpoints on the Census Integration page in the Dashboard.

πŸ‘‰ Learn more about using Webhooks in Chameleon from this article.

On the Census Integration page in your Chameleon Dashboard, you'll find the three different attributes endpoints that you can use to connect to Census, each with its unique URL:

  • user properties

  • company properties

  • user events

Census Webhook endpoints from the Dashboard

From your Census dashboard, go to the Connections page to add Chameleon as your data destination. Click the "Add a service" button and search for the webhooks option. This is where you'll paste your desired Chameleon endpoint.

adding a custom Webhook connection in Census

Below the Webhook URL also ensure that:

  • "Use Bulk Uploads" is unchecked

  • You add {{ record | json }} in the "Body Template (Liquid)" field

Use Bulk Uploads, Batch size, Body Template (Liquid) options in Census

Note: The option above is a new feature in Census. To enable it on your account, and ensure the Webhook sync works correctly, contact Census to enable the "Body Template" feature and help you set it up.


This way, Chameleon will receive your data correctly and the connection will work smoothly. Hit "Save Connection" and your webhook destination will be automatically tested for a steady data transfer.


Next up, you'll have to connect your data warehouse to Census. Please check the Census documentation to see the different quick guides.

Once you have a data source and connection added, they will show up in your Census dashboard. Head over to the models section to select the data you want to send to Chameleon, via SQL queries. Save your model once you're done.

Finally, head over to the Sync section of your Census dashboard to add a sync between your warehouse data and Chameleon.

Creating a new sync steps in Census
Selecting specicif properties to sync in Census
  • Pick the data warehouse platform you added in step 2.

  • Choose the model you defined in step 3.

  • Pick the webhook endpoint from Chameleon you added in the first step.

  • Select to update or create existing destination records.

  • Select the user_id (ideal) or the email as an option to identify records.

  • Pick the specific properties you want to sync or choose to sync all, in the mappings section.

πŸ‘‰ Make sure you map the UID and pass it to Chameleon separately, even though you'll have a User_ID already mapped by Census. Just go to the bottom of your list, click "Add Mapping" and pick UID from the dropdown.

Census mapping options

πŸ’‘ By default, all properties will be selected in the mappings section, but if you want to exclude any of them simply remove the fields you don't want to sync.

At the bottom of this page, you can also test your sync and make sure everything is looking good. Click "Next" to get a final overview of your sync before saving it.


Note: Ensure sure you are sending the same uid to both Census and Chameleon.


You'll find your Census properties available as filters when creating your audience in Chameleon, leverage them to personalize the Experiences you create for a unique user experience, or to trigger Experiences.

This way you can connect valuable data across your tool stack and put it to work when guiding users in your product.


Explore other Integrations

Did this answer your question?