Customer data - feeds via SFTP

You can import customer data from third-party SFTP clients to the Blueshift SFTP server. Once the connection is established with the Blueshift SFTP, you can create a data import feed CSV format and upload from a SFTP location, either as as a one-time activity or periodically using our scheduler.

Prerequisites

Prepare the customer data that you want to import and upload it to your SFTP location. For information about data types, customer attributes, and data formats, see Customer Attributes
Set up integration of Blueshift with your SFTP location and configure at least one adapter. You must have your SFTP details at hand to set up integration

Set up an import task

To set up a customer import task, complete the following steps:

To import customer data, go to the Customer Data > Profiles in the left navigation. Click +CUSTOMERS > Import Customers.
Select Upload via SFTP credential as the source.
Add a Name for the task. This will help you identify and track the specific batch of customers you're importing. For example, you could name it "ABC Sales Event - Import (2024-04-01)" or something as specific as "Summer Blast - Past Purchase 2023" (a customer list from sales in last summer). The import task form opens.
In the Destination section, you can see the type of data being imported as Customers.
Set up Notification Preferences to send a notification email to the specified email addresses when there is a change in the status of the task or when a certain percentage of records fail during import.
In the Source Configuration section, select the adapter from where you want to import customer data.
Enter the file path where the customer CSV file is located. You can see the Complete File Path for verification.
Note: The Host Address and the Destination Path are the same as you have set in the adapter that you have selected. For more information on setting up your SFTP server, see SFTP - Data.
File Settings: Blueshift reads and automatically populates the File Format, Encoding, and Delimiter (only for CSV) fields based on your uploaded file in the File Settings section. You can pick your desired encoding and separator, but the file format cannot be modified.

Supported Encodings:
- Default: UTF-8 (recommended setting for most files)
- Other options: UTF-16 (including Little Endian and Big Endian variations) and ISO-8859-1.

Supported Delimiters:

- Comma (default). Other delimiter types are Tabs, Space, Pipe, Semicolon, and ASCII Record Separator, and Unit Separator.
- Others: If you want to set a specific delimiter for your source file; then specify that delimiter in the input text box that follows.
Choose the correct file configuration and click Continue.
In the Configuration section, you are now presented a sample of the first 10 rows from your imported data. Use this preview as a reference for the complete records.
Map the fields from the imported data to the fields in Blueshift by selecting a corresponding destination attribute for each source attribute.
The Source Attribute Name is the attribute in your file and the Destination Attribute Name is the attribute in Blueshift.
Search and Select: Find the corresponding Blueshift attribute for each field in your imported data. Use the search bar Destination Attribute Name to easily locate the matching attribute.
If you wish to create a custom destination attribute in Blueshift, simply type the attribute name you want to add and then click on that attribute suggestion.
- Source attributes in the imported data are auto-mapped to destination attributes in Blueshift.
  - To clear the auto-mapping, click the Clear Destination Attribute Mapping icon.
  - To restore auto-mapped suggestions, click the Reset Destination Attribute Mapping icon.
- Notice that Blueshift standard attributes and Custom attributes are grouped separately in the drop-down list so that you can easily distinguish between them.
  Note: Only source attributes that are mapped to a destination attribute will be imported.
- You cannot change the data type for a custom attribute once it is imported.
- For source data of floating point numeric data type, select the matching data type in Blueshift as Decimal.
- One column must be mapped to a customer identifier: customer_id or email or cookie or device_id.
- You can delete the fields you don't want to import from the source file.
Click Check Data Quality to verify that the imported data has the right values for all the records, based on what the field mapping.
- Ensure that all fields are mapped.
- Fix any data quality issues identified for better quality data and to ensure that data import is successful. You can download the data quality report in JSON or CSV format
Click Test Run to verify that the Destination Data Type is mapped correctly. Notice that the deleted attributes during mapping is removed from the sample destination JSON payload. A maximum of 10 records are fetched during this test run.
Verify that the data mapping is done correctly. Edit the data mapping if required. Click Test Run again after you make the changes.

Select date and timezone format for import

Select the appropriate format from the Source Date Format dropdown, or leave it blank to use ISO 8601.
Select the appropriate timezone from the Source Timezone dropdown, or leave it blank to use UTC.

In the Additional Configuration section, set the import preferences for customer profile updates:

Allow blank user attributes (Enabled by default): Updates existing profiles with blank values from the import data.
Note: Boolean attributes cannot be set to NULL or blank; they must be true or false.
Update all matching profiles (Disabled by default): This option is relevant when there are multiple customer profiles in the system with the same identifier (e.g., email address). Enabling this option ensures that all profiles with the matching identifier are updated.
- If multiple profiles share the same identifier (e.g., jdoe@example.com linked to Jane Doe and John Doe), all matching profiles will be updated.
- If there is only one profile matching the identifier, this option does not provide any additional functionality, and is effectively redundant.
- If none of the identifiers in the import match an existing profile, a new profile will be created regardless of whether 'Update all matching profiles' is selected.
For example:
Existing profiles: Jane Doe (jdoe@example.com) and John Doe (jdoe@example.com)
Import file includes: Updates to jdoe@example.com
Result: Both Jane's and John's profiles are updated.
Only update existing customer profiles (Disabled by default): Updates only profiles that already exist in the system. If an identifier from the import file doesn’t exist in the system, no new profile will be created.
For example:
Existing profiles: john@example.com and jane@example.com
Import file includes: john@example.com, jane@example.com, and bob@example.com
Result: John and Jane’s profiles are updated, but no profile is created for Bob.

Click Continue to proceed to the next step.

Scheduling and launching the import task

Select the Start Date using the date picker.
Check 'Is it a recurring data import?' to enable recurring imports.
Choose when the task ends:
- 'Never' for an indefinite schedule.
- 'At some time' to set an End Date.
Set the execution frequency (e.g., every 15 minutes).
- Scheduling options: Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly.

Review the setup and the top right corner of the screen:
- Click the Save button to save the task.
- Click the Launch button to start the task.

After the customer list has been uploaded, you will receive an email confirmation. The email includes information for both processed and failed records.

Import task status

Click Import Customers to run the import task. You can view the task status from the View Uploads page.

Edit an import task

To modify an existing import task:

Find the import task you want to edit in the Customer Attribute Imports task list.
Click the ellipsis button on the import task and click Edit Import Task.
When the page opens, click the Pause button at the top.
Edit Configuration: Open the Configuration section. Here you can make various adjustments like remove fields by deselecting any fields (e.g., phone number) you no longer want to import.
You can also modify other aspects of the import task, such as the schedule.
Once you've made your edits, click Save > Launch to launch the task again with the updated configuration.

Customer preferences and imports

The customer preferences section in Blueshift provides tools for managing customer data, including capturing preferences through forms, managing subscriptions, and handling unsubscribes.

This section also includes importing SMS preferences for multiple sender IDs (sms_sender_id), a feature exclusively available to Blueshift's SMS Full Service customers. Click here for detailed instructions on updating SMS subscription statuses, timestamps, and related details through imports.