How to Access Live Customer.io Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
The CData ODBC Driver for Customer.io enables you to integrate Customer.io data into workflows built using Microsoft Power Automate Desktop.

The CData ODBC Driver for Customer.io enables you to access live Customer.io data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate Customer.io data into a simple workflow, moving Customer.io data into a CSV file.

Through optimized data processing, CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Customer.io data in Microsoft Power Automate. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power Automate to Customer.io, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Customer.io and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (e.g. SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connect to Customer.io as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Using API Key Authentication

To obtain your Customer.io App API Key, navigate to the Customer.io UI under Data & Integrations > Integrations > Customer.io API and generate your API key.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
  • APIKey: Set this to your Customer.io App API Key.

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\CustomerIO.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your_api_key";

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing workflows.

Integrate Customer.io Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for Customer.io, you are ready to integrate Customer.io data into your Power Automate workflows. Open Microsoft Power Automate, add a new flow, and name the flow.

In the flow editor, you can add the actions to connect to Customer.io, query Customer.io using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.

Add an Open SQL Connection Action

Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

  • Connection string: DSN=CData Customer.io Source

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add an Execute SQL Statement Action

Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

  • Get connection by: SQL connection variable
  • SQL connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
  • SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Customers

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add a Write to CSV File Action

Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Actions -> File) and configure the properties.

  • Variable to write to: %QueryResult% (the variable from the "Execute SQL statement" action above)
  • File path: set to a file on disk
  • Configure Advanced settings as needed.

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add a Close SQL Connection Action

Add a "Close SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

  • SQL Connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)

After configuring the action, click Save.

Save & Run the Flow

Once you have configured all the actions for the flow, click the disk icon to save the flow. Click the play icon to run the flow.

Now you have a workflow to move Customer.io data into a CSV file.

With the CData ODBC Driver for Customer.io, you get live connectivity to Customer.io data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article explains how to use the CData ODBC Driver for Customer.io with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

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Connect to live data from Customer.io with the API Driver

Connect to Customer.io