Braze offers the flexible, intuitive, user friendly experience we all dream of for data integrations. For almost all of these methods, you yourself have the power to import data into Braze yourself!

Import Data into Braze through one of the following six ways:

  1. Software Development Kits (SDKs) 
  2. APIs (Application Programming Interface)
  3. Cloud Data Ingestion (CDI) 
  4. Data Transformation 
  5. CSV file imports
  6. Third-party Integrations

Software Development Kits (SDKs)

SDKs are the bread and butter of data ingestion for Braze. Typically at the beginning of your Braze implementation, you will work with your IT department or product team to implement an SDK into your site or app. Put simply, it is a package of code installed into your app/site that allows you to automatically collect data into Braze. For more information, visit Braze’s User Guide (Data & Analytics > User Data Collection > SDK Data Collection). 

Overwhelming to think about, right? Sky’s the limit! Leadership even may tell you, “We want to collect EVERYTHING. Import all of the data.” Before you introduce any package code customizations or ask for a laundry list of 100+ data points you want collected, answer “What is our goal? Which data points do we need to import into Braze to reach that goal?” Establish a foundational base of data points you know you will need for the base lead nurture & customer renewal campaigns.

APIs 

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) manage requests between two platforms- requesting and posting data back and forth between each tool. One of the most common use cases for using an API is to import historical data into Braze from a CDP or relevant automation tool. Another common use case is creating and deleting Braze user profiles. 

Note that Braze does have limits on how many API calls can be made, so be sure to review their Rate Limit policies when evaluating if building an API is right for your use case.

Want to know how other Braze customers are using APIs? Check out Braze’s API resource center including Braze’s API endpoints. 

Cloud Data Ingestion (CDI)

CDI allows external data warehouses to import data into the Braze platform. This is typically used for longer-term use cases and supports syncs from Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Databricks, and Amazon S3. 

For every sync, Braze’s CDI will identify data that hasn’t been previously sync’d (this helps the sync run faster!). One of the best parts of this feature? No code required for setup. For more information, visit Braze’s User Guide (Data Analytics > Cloud Data Ingestion). 

Data Transformation

With Braze Data Transformation, you can use webhooks to import data into Braze from any third platform. In writing javascript code, Data Transformation has the ability to update user profiles and catalogs. Not a whiz at writing code? Braze offers a AI copilot feature to help write the javascript code for you!

If you’re overloaded with API calls, consider using webhooks for data connections. For more information, visit Braze’s User Guide (Data Analytics > Data Transformation). 

CSV file imports

Best used for one-time data import use cases, you can upload a CSV file directly into Braze to update standard or custom attributes. Braze even offers a standardized CSV Import Template to reference when formatting your file for upload. For more information, visit Braze’s User Guide (Data Analytics > User Data Collection > User Import) and scroll to the CSV import subsection. 

Be sure to always include the customer’s External ID. This is the customer’s unique identifier in Braze. The External ID is also used by the Braze SDK to identify a customer profile. 

Third-Party Integrations

If none of the methods above fit your use case or you have a specific data warehouse not listed above, it’d be worth taking a look at the Apps catalog from Braze’s technology partners (aka Braze Alloys). Here are some sample apps: 

  • ActionIQ – allows you to map audience segments from ActionSegment, and send events tracked by ActionIQ 
  • Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – allows you to send segments to use in Braze campaigns/canvases.
  • Treasure Data – allows you to sync customer profiles, to build Braze segments
  • Looker – allows you to use Looker Blocks & Actions for segmentation
  • GrowthLoop – allows you to generate customer lists to send to Braze 
  • Zapier – uses Braze’s API & webhooks to push data into other apps
  • Movable Ink – allows for content personalization  
  • Twilio Segment – allows you to send data from Braze into Currents, and utilize Segment Engage for Braze campaigns

Need help with setting up a data import configuration? Want to better understand the pros and cons of using one method over the other? Reach out to Relationship One and we’re happy to help!