Customer.io

Add or update Customer.io profiles with their unique share link and referrer information.

Sync with Customer.io

Step 1: In Program Editor > 4. Options > Integrations, open the Customer.io integration card. Enter your Customer.io Site ID and Tracking API key. Learn how to create and manage Customer.io credentials.

Step 2: Optionally, enter an App API key if your Customer.io workspace does not use email as a profile identifier. The App API key lets GrowSurf find an existing profile by email before it sends an update through the Track API.

Create the App API key in the same Customer.io workspace as the Site ID and Tracking API key. The key must also use the same US or EU region. Customer.io shows a new App API key only once. GrowSurf encrypts the saved key and never displays it again. Learn about Customer.io App API keys.

Without an App API key, enable email as a profile identifier in Customer.io to prevent duplicate profiles.

Step 3: Select Submit. GrowSurf adds or updates a Customer.io profile when a participant is added, referred, or updated in your referral program.

GrowSurf only syncs participants who are added or updated after you connect Customer.io. Connecting the integration does not backfill existing participants. Connect Customer.io before you import participants, or backfill existing participants.

How GrowSurf matches profiles

With an App API key, GrowSurf checks Customer.io for an exact email match before each uncached update:

• One matching profile: GrowSurf updates that profile through its Customer.io cio_id.

• No matching profile: GrowSurf sends the update by email so Customer.io can create the profile.

• Multiple matching profiles: GrowSurf sends no update. Merge the profiles in Customer.io, then retry the GrowSurf sync.

GrowSurf caches a successful match for five minutes. This reduces App API requests during a burst of participant updates. The five-minute limit does not reset on a cache hit. After it expires, GrowSurf checks Customer.io again before it sends another update. If you delete the matched Customer.io profile during that five-minute window, one cached update can be dropped by Customer.io. Update the participant again after five minutes to force a fresh lookup.

Without an App API key, GrowSurf sends updates by email. Customer.io must allow email as a profile identifier for those updates to reach an existing profile reliably.

Examples

View our Customer.io tutorials for examples that you can copy and paste into your email templates.

Attributes

GrowSurf sends these attributes when a participant syncs. Customer.io adds the attributes to the participant's profile if they do not exist.

Attribute Name	Attribute Tag	Type	Description	Example
grsf_share_url	{{customer.grsf_share_url}}	TEXT	The participant's unique referral link	https://growsurf.com?grsf=absc123
grsf_participant_id	{{customer.grsf_participant_id}}	TEXT	The participant's unique GrowSurf ID	abc123
grsf_referral_status	{{customer.grsf_referral_status}}	TEXT	The referral status of the participant*	CREDIT_PENDING
grsf_participant_first_name	{{customer.grsf_participant_first_name}}	TEXT	The participant's first name	Bob
grsf_participant_last_name	{{customer.grsf_participant_last_name}}	TEXT	The participant's last name	Loblaw
grsf_referrer_first_name	{{customer.grsf_referrer_first_name}}	TEXT	The first name of the participant's referrer (if applicable)	Gavin
grsf_referrer_last_name	{{customer.grsf_referrer_last_name}}	TEXT	The last name of the participant's referrer (if applicable)	Belson
grsf_referrer_email	{{customer.grsf_referrer_email}}	TEXT	The email address of the participant's referrer (if applicable)	[e-mail]
grsf_total_referral_count	{{customer.grsf_total_referral_count}}	NUMBER	The participant's all-time referral count	0
grsf_monthly_referral_count	{{customer.grsf_monthly_referral_count}}	NUMBER	The participant's current month referral count	19
grsf_previous_monthly_referral_count	{{customer.grsf_previous_monthly_referral_count}}	NUMBER	The participant's previous month referral count	200
grsf_next_milestone	{{customer.grsf_next_milestone}}	TEXT	The text for the next milestone reward. Only applies to milestone rewards. See an example.	You are only 2 referrals away from winning a free t-shirt!
grsf_next_monthly_milestone	{{customer.grsf_next_monthly_milestone}}	TEXT	The text for the next monthly milestone reward. Only applies to milestone rewards. See an example.	You are only 2 referrals away from winning a free t-shirt!
grsf_total_invite_count	{{customer.grsf_total_invite_count}}	NUMBER	The participant's all-time invite count	112
grsf_total_impression_count	{{customer.grsf_total_impression_count}}	NUMBER	The participant's all-time impression count	150

grsf_referral_status can have one of these values:

• CREDIT_PENDING: The participant must trigger a referral before their referrer receives credit.

• CREDIT_AWARDED: The participant triggered a referral, and their referrer received credit.

• CREDIT_EXPIRED: The participant did not trigger a referral before the referral credit expired.

You can use these attributes in your Customer.io email templates. For example, use {{customer.grsf_share_url}} to add each participant's unique referral link.

Learn how to use profile attributes in Customer.io messages.

Backfilling data

To add GrowSurf attributes to Customer.io profiles that existed before you connected the integration:

1. Connect your GrowSurf program to Customer.io.

2. Export the Customer.io profiles as a CSV file. Include the email attribute.

3. Import the CSV file into your GrowSurf program. GrowSurf then syncs the imported participants and their grsf_* attributes to Customer.io.

Troubleshooting tips

If a participant or attribute is missing in Customer.io:

• Confirm that the participant was added or updated after you connected Customer.io. Otherwise, follow the backfill steps above.

• Confirm that the participant has the same email address in GrowSurf and Customer.io.

• Confirm that your Customer.io workspace uses email as a profile identifier. Otherwise, GrowSurf cannot match an existing profile by email, and Customer.io may create a duplicate.

• If you saved an App API key, confirm that it belongs to the same workspace and region as the Site ID and Tracking API key.

• If GrowSurf reports multiple profiles with the same email, merge them in Customer.io. Then update the participant again to retry the sync.

• If you deleted a matched profile, wait five minutes after the last successful lookup. Then update the participant again so GrowSurf checks Customer.io before it sends the next update.

• Check your GrowSurf activity logs for the Customer.io sync result. GrowSurf automatically retries temporary sync failures.