Troubleshooting Mixpanel: Creating Cohorts without Duplicates

Prashant S. · 2025-09-24T11:59:26.720Z

Hi everyone :wave: I’m trying to analyze events for a specific set of users in Mixpanel and I’m stuck. Here’s what I did: • I pulled a list of users (email, name, unique ID) via JQL and exported it as a CSV. • Then I went to *Users → Add & Edit Profiles → Import CSV*. • In the CSV, I added an extra column `inCohort = yes` so I could group these users later. • After importing, I tried to visualize their activity (e.g., `search_event` and the `search_term` property), but *no data shows up for these imported users*. When I checked a few individual profiles, I noticed that Mixpanel actually created *duplicate profiles* for those users, where: • The *original profile* (with the correct `$distinct_id`) has all the historical activity. • The *newly imported profile* (with email ID as the unique ID) has no events/activity. :point_right: What’s the correct way to create a *cohort of existing users* (from my CSV list) so that I can analyze their `search_event` and breakdown by `search_term`, without creating duplicate profiles? Do I need to: • Use JQL to generate the cohort directly, • Or import CSVs differently (matching `$distinct_id`), • Or is there another recommended way to map a CSV list of users back to their actual profiles in Mixpanel? Thanks in advance

Prashant S.

·Sep 24, 2025 11:59 AM·

Hi everyone 👋 I’m trying to analyze events for a specific set of users in Mixpanel and I’m stuck. Here’s what I did:

I pulled a list of users (email, name, unique ID) via JQL and exported it as a CSV.
Then I went to Users → Add & Edit Profiles → Import CSV.
In the CSV, I added an extra column inCohort = yes so I could group these users later.
After importing, I tried to visualize their activity (e.g., search_event and the search_term property), but no data shows up for these imported users.

When I checked a few individual profiles, I noticed that Mixpanel actually created duplicate profiles for those users, where:

The original profile (with the correct $distinct_id) has all the historical activity.
The newly imported profile (with email ID as the unique ID) has no events/activity.

👉 What’s the correct way to create a cohort of existing users (from my CSV list) so that I can analyze their search_event and breakdown by search_term, without creating duplicate profiles? Do I need to:

Use JQL to generate the cohort directly,
Or import CSVs differently (matching $distinct_id),
Or is there another recommended way to map a CSV list of users back to their actual profiles in Mixpanel?

Thanks in advance

🎫1

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