About Supermetrics File Import

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

Supermetrics File 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 data from offline channels or third-party platforms, or basically any data from any platform that Supermetrics doesn't yet natively support.

Getting started

Supermetrics File Import is currently in limited alpha testing, during which Supermetrics employees do the initial setup of your file.

Step 1: Configuring a new file

Before you can start sending your data files to Supermetrics, we need to configure the file for you. For that, please send us an example of a data file you want to import to Supermetrics.

Include the columns you want to have available and at least a few rows of data in the example file so we can configure the file correctly. If you want to anonymise the data before sending it to us, please make sure the anonymised data is in the same format as the real data you will import in the future.

Take a look at the best practices for files for more details.

Step 2: Sending new data files

Once we’ve configured your file, you can start sending data. We'll give you an email address to which you can send data manually or schedule an automatic send-out from the platform where the data is coming.

The file needs to be sent as an attachment to the email, and the file size must be smaller than 10 MB.

After you send a file to Supermetrics, data from the new file will become available for you to query together with your previously sent data.

Step 3: Querying data

You can query the data you've sent to us with a data source connector called “File Import,” which you can find from the data source selection within Supermetrics products. For Looker Studio and data warehouse products, please check additional instructions below.

Within the File Import connector, you can select between different files that have been configured for you, and you can select metrics and dimensions for your query like with any other Supermetrics data source.

Data from the File Import connector will also be available for you to blend with other data sources in data blending. If you are looking to transform the data or add additional calculations, you can also add custom fields to your imported data.

File Import in Looker Studio

In order to query imported data in Looker Studio, please reach out to your Supermetrics contact and we will assist you to get started with File Import in Looker Studio.

File Import in Data Warehousing

In order to transfer data from imported files to your data warehouse using our Data Warehousing products, you will need to first create a custom table before data can be transferred. Read more about custom table creation.

Best practices for files

File type

The file should be a CSV, TSV, XLS, XLSX or ODS file that is sent in uncompressed format.

We are looking to add support for more file types, so please don't hesitate letting us know if the file type you're looking for isn't supported.

File structure

Follow these guidelines for the file structure:

• 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 shouldn't change
• It's advised to have some form of a date available as a column in the file. Having a date 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.

File delivery

Email attachment

We'll give you an email address to which you can send new data. You can manually send data to the email address or schedule an automatic report from the platform from which the report is coming.

• The file should be sent as an attachment to the email.
• File sent via email must be smaller than 10 MB.

API upload

If you want to upload files via our API, reach out to us, and we'll give you instructions and the required credentials for data sending.

API can be used for files of any size.

Data update with new files

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.

We’ve built the tool to suit different kinds of data needs. Depending on whether your data is marketing performance data, a list of orders, or a customer database, a different type of update method might work best.

Append

With append, all new data you send is added to our database without updating or removing existing data. It keeps all data, but may cause duplicate date rows.

This is useful for data you know won't change in the future, such as event and log data.

Full refresh

Full refresh completely replaces the existing data with new data each time a file arrives.

This can be used, for example, when you know that data you have sent earlier can still change.

Incremental update

Incremental update only adds or changes the data that is new or different since the last update. It uses selected fields to look for existing data. 

For example, if you have a 14-day attribution window in your advertising data, you can send us a file with last 14 days of data every day, and we update the data for the days included in your file, but days before will be intact and will remain available for you to query.

Or if you want to send a file with a list of orders, you can send a daily file with orders that have been updated in the past day and we will add new order IDs to your dataset and update order IDs that you have already sent us 

FAQ

Can I use imported data in data blending?

Yes, you can. Once your first file is configured, you'll find File Import in the data source selection in data blending.

Can I create custom fields on top of imported data?

Yes, you can. Once your first file is configured, File Import will be one of the available data sources in the custom field tool within the Supermetrics Hub.

What if I change the content of the file I send to you?

Adding new columns to the end of the file is fine. Just let us know, and we update your configuration so those become available for you to query.

But please note that changing the order or structure of existing columns will likely cause issues, so try avoiding that.

New data is not updating even though I sent new data, or there are issues with the data I see. What to do?

If you run into any issues, please contact our customer support.