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What: The Firebase connection allows you to enrich BlueConic profiles with data from Firebase subscribers and vice versa. This connection supports scheduled batch import and export. 

About BlueConic: The BlueConic customer data platform harnesses the data required to power the recognition of an individual at each interaction, and then synchronizes their intent across the marketing ecosystem.

Why: By bringing Firebase data into BlueConic or exporting BlueConic data to Firebase contacts, you can individualize your customers' experience on-site or in-app. Use BlueConic's unique behavioral data collection engine to enable highly relevant marketing campaigns.

Please note: This connection supports the use of Realtime Database, not Cloud Firestore. For information on the difference between the two, refer to this Firebase documentation.

Adding a Firebase connection

To install the Firebase connection to your BlueConic tenant, contact your Customer Success Manager.

1. Click Connections in the BlueConic navigation bar.
2. Click Add Connection.
3. A pop-up window appears. Enter "Firebase" in the Search bar.
4. Click Firebase connection.
   The Firebase connection page opens. You can expand or collapse the metadata fields (to mark it as a favorite, add labels, or write a description) by clicking the gray + or -.
5. In the metadata section you can choose whether to get email notifications when the connection runs or fails to run.
6. Enter a name for your connection at the top of the page

Configuring a Firebase connection to BlueConic

To set up a connection between BlueConic and Firebase, you need to add your account credentials, create at least one import or export goal, turn the connection on, and either schedule or run the connection. Follow the steps outlined below.

Setting up the connection

1. Select Set up and run in the Setup section in the left panel.
2. Enter your Firebase account credentials:
   • Project ID: Enter your Project ID for Firebase.
   • API key: Your Firebase API key should be created and retrieved in the Firebase environment.
   • Email: Enter the email address you use to access your Firebase account.
   • Password: Enter your Firebase account password.
   • Mapping File: Enter the name of your mapping file for Firebase. This is a file used by BlueConic to allow dynamic mapping between Firebase datasets and BlueConic profile properties.
3. Save your connection settings at the top of the page.

Your connection should not show an error, which means that BlueConic can now exchange customer data with Firebase.

To make the connection work, you have to add at least one import or export goal, save your settings, and switch the connection on at the top of the page before you run it. In the goals, you specify how data from BlueConic should be linked and mapped to Firebase.

After you run the connection, the Data exchange section shows the number of unique profiles exchanged with Firebase. 

Importing data into BlueConic from Firebase

In the bottom left panel, click Add goal > Import profiles to create an import goal, or click Import data into BlueConic on the left panel to set import goals for the connection.

1. Optional: Select database location
   Enter a specific database path you want to use for the import (for example, blueconic/profiles/bc). By default, the “profiles” database will be used.
2. Link identifiers between Firebase and BlueConic profiles.
   You can optionally choose to create new profiles if no matching identifier is found.
3. Map Firebase data to BlueConic profile properties.In the drop-down menu on the right of each mapping, you can specify how a value imported from Firebase will be stored into the BlueConic property. These are the options:
   • Set: Copy the value exactly to the profile property, overwriting the previous value.
   • Set if empty: Copy the value from Firebase exactly to the profile property but only if it is empty. If the profile property already has a value, do nothing.
   • Set or clear: The value in the profile property will be cleared if it contains no value.
   • Add: Add the value to a list of values already in the profile property if it hasn't been added yet, omitting duplicates.
   • Sum: Numerically add the value from Firebase to the value in the profile property. If the profile property was empty, it will be regarded as value 0. This only works for profile properties and values that contain integer numbers.
4. Run the connection. See Running the connection below for details.
   

Exporting data from BlueConic to Firebase

In the bottom left panel, click Add goal > Export profiles to create an export goal, or click Export profile data to Firebase on the left panel to set export goals for the connection.

1. Select a BlueConic customer segment to export profile data from.
   The exported data will include profiles from this segment that have a value for the data mapped in step 3.
2. Optional: Select database location
   Enter a specific database path you want to use for the export (for example, blueconic/profiles/bc). By default, the “profiles” database will be used.
3. Link identifiers between BlueConic and Firebase.
4. Map BlueConic data to Firebase.
   Here you can match the BlueConic data you want to export to corresponding fields in Firebase.
   
   

   Click the BlueConic icon to open a drop-down menu where you can choose among the types of information you want to export:

   • Profile property: The value of a specific profile property.
   • BlueConic profile identifier: The unique identifier for a profile.
   • Associated segments: All segments, or a selection of one or more specific segments that the profile is associated with.
   • All viewed interactions: The names of all viewed BlueConic interactions (for the current page view) as the value, and names will be pipe-separated. 
   • Permission level: The permission level set in the profile.
   • Text value: Enter any static text.
5. Run the connection. See Running the connection below for details.

Running the connection

To run the connection, turn the connection on at the top of the page and save your changes. Use the settings in the Run history section of the Set up and run page. See Scheduling connections for details on running connections.

Connection status

Once you've set up and saved your connection, the icon at the top of the window reflects the status of the connection.

Two arrows run between BlueConic to Firebase, signifying the direction of the data import and export. When the arrows are green, the connection is ready to be used.

Privacy management

Connections can be added to Objectives, allowing for privacy management of the information that is being picked up. A connection will only process the profiles of visitors who have consented to at least one of the objectives that the connection is linked to.