From Manual to Automated: How Census + SendGrid Streamlined Product Return Alerts

By Mclain Reese 

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, automation isn’t just nice to have — it’s expected. One of our clients needed a better way to keep customers in the loop when product returns were received. But the data required to trigger those notifications? It lived across two separate systems, each with its own structure and quirks. 

Our task was clear: automate email alerts with precision, pulling from disparate data sources and delivering accurate, real-time updates to both customers and internal teams.  

By combining Microsoft Fabric, Census and SendGrid, we built a streamlined, scalable solution that eliminated manual effort and improved the customer experience. 

The Challenge 

The client needed to send real-time email notifications when product returns were received. But the required information was fragmented across two different systems. To make this work, we needed to: 

• Extract and align product return data from both sources 

• Identify the correct customer recipient for each return 

• CC appropriate internal stakeholders 

• Ensure accuracy, reliability and scalability 

This wasn’t just a sync-and-send — it required precise data matching, transformation and a smart automation layer to ensure each alert fired correctly. 

The Solution: Powered by Fabric, Census and SendGrid 

We approached the project with a modern data activation mindset, leveraging the strength of the Microsoft Fabric ecosystem for data integration and curation, and using Census and SendGrid to drive activation and delivery. 

Data Integration + Curation with Fabric 

We started by extracting return data from both source systems into OneLake. Each system required its own extraction method. Once ingested, we cleaned and organized the data, then used Notebooks in Fabric to transform it into a curated Product Returns table — structured specifically for downstream use in Census. 

Triggering Alerts with Census 

Census enabled us to activate the curated data. We defined a sync-key that identified new product return records. When Census detected a new sync-key, it triggered the email alert workflow — no manual intervention required. 

Delivering Dynamic Emails with SendGrid 

With the sync event in motion, SendGrid took over. Using dynamic templates, we populated each message with personalized return details— including product info, recipient contact and internal CCs. SendGrid’s robust API allowed us to ensure reliable delivery and easy testing. 

The Outcome 

What was once a manual, error-prone task is now a seamless, automated workflow. Customers receive timely updates about their returns. The internal team is looped in automatically. And our client has reclaimed valuable time to focus on higher-impact work. 

This use case highlights how data activation tools like Census, paired with modern delivery platforms like SendGrid, can bring real-time visibility and operational efficiency to life — with the help of a strong integration layer like Fabric. 

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