About Supermetrics Custom Data Import

With Custom Data Import, you can import structured data into Supermetrics, and query and blend the data together with all the other natively supported data sources in Supermetrics.

Custom Data Import greatly expands the capabilities of Supermetrics and possibilities for your workflow, as you can have all your data available on a single platform for a holistic view of your marketing performance and align your reporting processes. 

For example, you can bring conversion or customer data from CRMs and CDPs, marketing performance and spend data from channels like out-of-home or TV, or any data from any platform that Supermetrics doesn't yet natively support.

How it works

The following video explains the Custom Data Import feature, its use cases, and using the data in your data destination.

Custom Data Import is available on the Supermetrics Hub. You can find it under Data sources → Custom Data Import. On the Hub, you can configure new imports, upload new data, and monitor your imports.

Getting data imported into Supermetrics and starting to use the data takes three easy steps:

1. Configure the source: Upload an example file on the Supermetrics Hub to create mapping for fields, how data is updated, and how new data is delivered.
2. Upload data: Upload new data through the Custom Data Import page on the Supermetrics Hub or send new data through email. You can also schedule an automatic data delivery directly from the source.
3. Query data: Query data using the Custom Data Import connector in Supermetrics data destinations or blend data with other data sources.

Step 1: Configuring the import

To get started with Custom Data Import, you need to configure the import. Configuration is done on the Supermetrics Hub using a configuration wizard. To create an import, you need to upload an example file, after which we'll guide you through to a ready import configuration.

With the configuration wizard, you will:

• Upload an example file used for configuration
• Define which part of the file data should be read and if something should be skipped
• Define data types, formatting and transformations for individual fields
• Configure how additional data is delivered
• Decide how the dataset is updated in the future when new data is uploaded

For more detailed instructions, see our guide explaining how to configure the data import.

Step 2: Upload new data

Once you’ve configured an import, you can start uploading data. Data can be uploaded in two ways:

• Send new data by email
• Upload data manually using the Upload page on the Supermetrics Hub

To take full advantage of Custom Data Import feature, you can schedule data to be sent directly to the email address specific to your import.

For more detailed instructions, check our guide explaining how to upload data to your imports.

Step 3: Querying data

Once you've uploaded data, it's time to start using it in Supermetrics data destinations! 

Querying imported data works in a similar way as querying data using other natively supported data sources.

You can access imported data across Supermetrics products by selecting the Custom Data Import data source from the data source selection when building a query. Each of your imports will be accessible through a single data source.

For more detailed instructions, please check our destination-specific guides:

• How to query imported data in Google Sheets, Excel, Looker Studio, PowerBI, and Supermetrics API
• How to transfer data imported with Custom Data Import to a data warehouse, data lake or Supermetrics storage
• How to blend data imported with Custom Data Import with other data sources

Feature overview

Data types

Data must be imported as a file in one of the following formats: CSV, TSV, XLS, XLSX or ODS file that is in uncompressed format.

If the data type you're looking for isn't supported, don't hesitate to contact us. We are constantly looking to add more supported data formats.

File size

The size of the file should not exceed 25 MB.

If you are looking to backfill a lot of historical data or you have otherwise a large file, you can split the file into multiple smaller files before uploading them.

File structure

While the import can be configured to handle different kinds of file structures, it's good to follow these guidelines for file structure if possible:

• A single table of data per sheet
• It's advised (but not mandatory) to have a header row with column names to ensure correct organization of data
• Fields should be ordered horizontally, and data needs to be listed as rows
• The order of the columns must be set and must not change
• It's advised to have some form of a date available as a column in the file. A date column allows you to query imported data for specific dates. Date can be, for example, reporting date, created date, purchase date, or conversion date. However, having a date is not mandatory.

See below for examples.

Data sources and delivery

Data can be delivered through email or by uploading the file manually on the Supermetrics Hub.

• Email attachment: Schedule delivery directly from a platform or send files one-off
  Note that the file must be delivered as an attachment to the email.
  
• Manual upload: Upload a file from your computer using the Custom Data Import page on the Supermetrics Hub.

Data updates

When you send in new files, you want to have your data updated in a correct way. Based on the data your file has, a different type of update might be needed.

• Append: Already imported data won't be touched and new data will be added to the existing dataset
• Full refresh: Already imported data is removed completely and replaced with new data every time new data is imported
• Append and deduplicate: Already imported data is updated with new data based on updated keys defined in the import configuration.

Take a look at how different data update methods work.