Mixpanel (Actions) Destination

Mixpanel enables you to build better products through powerful, self-serve product analytics to help you convert, engage, and retain more users.

Benefits of Mixpanel (Actions) vs Mixpanel Classic

Mixpanel (Actions) provides the following benefits over the classic Mixpanel destination:

• Simpler setup - Mixpanel (Actions) has a streamlined default setup process making it easier to get started in a way that “just works”.
• More control - Actions-based destinations enable you to define the mapping between the data Segment receives from your source, and the data Segment sends to the destination.
• Additional default property mappings - More default mappings from the Segment context like app name, app namespace, device type, and more.
• Improved Groups support - Implementation of Segment Groups with Mixpanel Group Analytics is easier. If you’re already using Segment Groups, no code changes are required.

Getting started

1. Go to your Mixpanel project settings. Copy the Mixpanel API Key and API Secret for your project.
2. From the Segment web app, click Catalog, then click Destinations.
3. Find the Destinations Actions item in the left navigation, and click it.
4. Click the “Mixpanel” item to select it and click Configure.
5. Choose which of your sources to connect the destination to. (You can connect more sources to the destination later.)

Connection Modes for Mixpanel (Actions) destination

The Mixpanel (Actions) destination does not offer a device-mode connection mode. If you’re using one of Segment’s new libraries (Analytics.js 2.0, Swift or Kotlin) with the Actions-framework version of the destination, you do not need the device-mode connection.

Mappings

You can follow the steps in the Destinations Actions documentation on Customizing mappings.

Destination Settings

Available Presets

Mixpanel (Actions) has the following presets:

Available Actions

Build your own Mappings! Combine supported triggers with the following Mixpanel-supported actions:

• Alias

• Group Identify User

• Track Event

• Identify User

Alias

Create an alias to a distinct id. This action is primarily supported for the sake of customers using the legacy identity management in their Mixpanel project. For new customers or those who have migrated to the new identity management in Mixpanel should use identify.

Alias is a Cloud action. The default Trigger is:

Click to show / hide fields

Group Identify User

Updates or adds properties to a group profile. The profile is created if it does not exist. Learn more about Group Analytics.

Group Identify User is a Cloud action. The default Trigger is:

type = "group"

Click to show / hide fields

In the default configuration, Mixpanel (Actions) triggers this action when it receives a Group call.

This action sets or updates the properties of specific groups. Use this when you want to update properties on a group profile.

The Groups model in Segment is slightly different than in Mixpanel. To explain the conceptual difference, it may help to think in terms of database tables. In Segment, there is a single “groups” table. You can have as many group rows as you want and each row has a unique identifier. When you want to set traits on that group, you only need to know the group id.

However, in Segment you cannot distinguish between “types” of groups. For example, a user can belong to a “Company” as well as a “Team”. There is no way to differentiate between those in Segment. In Mixpanel, you can have multiple group types which are defined by a group key. To update group traits in Mixpanel you need to specify the group key and group id.

Default group key

By default, the Mixpanel (Actions) destination uses $group_id as the group key. Create a new group in Mixpanel with $group_id as the group key to complete the configuration.

1. Go to your Mixpanel project settings
2. Scroll to the “Group Keys” section. If this section doesn’t exist, you may not have the Group Analytics add-on.
3. Create the new group key:

Using a different group key

If you already have a group set up in Mixpanel with a different group key and wish to use that one, you can specify it in the Group Key field of the destination configuration.

Backwards-compatibility with Mixpanel Classic destination

In the classic destination, the “group id” specified in the Segment SDK call was ignored and you were required to set a trait where the key of the trait is the group key and the value of that trait is the group id. While that is no longer necessary, this behavior is supported in the Mixpanel (Actions) destination to ensure backwards-compatibility. If you specify a trait that matches specified group key, we will use the value of that trait as the group id.

Scenario 1: No group key trait specified

analytics.group("0e8c78ea9d97a7b8185e8632", {
  name: "Initech",
  industry: "Technology",
  employees: 329,
  plan: "enterprise",
  "total billed": 830
});

The group id that Mixpanel will use is 0e8c78ea9d97a7b8185e8632.

Scenario 2: Group key trait IS specified

analytics.group("0e8c78ea9d97a7b8185e8632", {
  $group_id: "12345",
  name: "Initech",
  industry: "Technology",
  employees: 329,
  plan: "enterprise",
  "total billed": 830
});

The group id that Mixpanel will use is 12345.

Track Event

Send an event to Mixpanel. Learn more about Events in Mixpanel

Track Event is a Cloud action. The default Trigger is:

type = "track"

Click to show / hide fields

Identify User

Set the user ID for a particular device ID or update user properties. Learn more about User Profiles and Identity Management.

Identify User is a Cloud action. The default Trigger is:

type = "identify"

Click to show / hide fields

Migration from Mixpanel Classic

Assuming you’re already using Segment Cloud-mode, the Mixpanel (Actions) destination is expected to have no breaking changes when upgrading. With the exception of a few new properties added to your events in the new Actions destination, there should be no difference in the data received in Mixpanel when using either of the Mixpanel destinations.

If you want to confirm, you can configure the new destination to point to a different Mixpanel project and connect it to the same source(s) as the Classic destination and manually verify before fully switching over.

Mixpanel settings mapping