Overview
Canny is most useful when feedback is tied to real users and companies. Once Canny knows who submitted a piece of feedback and which company they belong to, you can segment feedback, connect it to revenue, and see the business impact behind every request.
There are a few ways to get user and company data into Canny. Which ones you use depend on where your data lives and who's setting it up. Most teams use more than one method.
At a glance
Method | Best for | Who sets it up |
SDK + Canny Identify | Products where users log in and give feedback from your app | Developer |
CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot) | Pulling MRR, renewal dates, and account fields from your CRM | Owner-level admin (Business plan) |
Segment | Teams already piping user data through Segment | Owner-level admin |
API | Backfilling data or syncing from a custom system | Developer |
Feedback sources | Creating profiles automatically as feedback comes in | Owner-level admin |
The SDK and Canny Identify
The Canny SDK is a snippet a developer adds to your app. Canny Identify is the part of the SDK that sends a logged-in user's information to Canny.
With Identify, you can pass a user's name, email, and ID, plus custom fields like plan, role, or monthly spend, and the company they belong to. This does two things:
attaches that context to all of their feedback
for teams using the feedback Portal, it authenticates the user so they can give feedback without logging in separately
This is the best option if your users log in to your product. Company and custom fields can be passed the same way. We recommend adding Secure Identify to prevent impersonation. Full setup is in the developer docs.
CRM sync: Salesforce and HubSpot
Syncing Salesforce or HubSpot brings contact and company fields from your CRM into Canny. Pick which fields to sync, including custom ones, and they attach to the matching user and company profiles.
This is how you get business context like MRR, renewal date, and account owner onto your feedback. Those fields feed user segments and the Customer Requests Report, so you can see the revenue behind each request.
Salesforce and HubSpot sync are available on the Business plan. Contact our team if you're interested.
Segment
If you already route user data through Segment, you can sync users into Canny without a separate SDK install. This is a good fit for teams that treat Segment as their source of truth for identity.
The API
Canny's API lets you create and update users and companies from your own server. Use the create or update user endpoint to add or edit users, and to associate a user with a company and its fields like monthly spend and domain.
The API is the right tool for backfilling historical data or syncing from a system that doesn't have a native integration. It requires your secret API key and a developer to set up.
Automatically from your feedback sources
You don't always have to send data up front. When Canny captures feedback from a connected source like Intercom, Gong, or Zendesk, it creates a user profile from whatever context that source provides, even if the person never logs into Canny. As you connect more sources, more of your feedback arrives already attached to a user.
How Canny matches users
When the same person shows up through more than one method, Canny tries to keep them as a single user:
It matches on email address and user ID.
If those match an existing user, the feedback links to that user.
If they don't match, for example a misspelled email or a missing ID, Canny creates a new user record.
Passing a consistent email and ID across every method is what keeps profiles from splitting.
Things to note
A user needs a name, email, and ID to be identified reliably. Include all three wherever you can.
Companies aren't created on their own. They're created by associating them to users, through the SDK, Segment, CRM sync, or the API.
Salesforce and HubSpot sync are on the Business plan.
You can combine methods. Many teams use Identify for logged-in users and CRM sync for account data at the same time.