While tools like Mailchimp are popular among small businesses for their simplicity and cost-effectiveness, HubSpot offers a more robust, all-in-one platform that integrates marketing, sales, and customer service tools.
Migrating from Mailchimp to HubSpot is more than a data transfer, it's a transformation of how your business operates, leading to better automation, deeper analytics, and greater growth potential.
Planning is 80% of the migration process and requires precise alignment with your business goals. Begin by clearly defining what success looks like after migration, whether it's improved lead scoring, advanced reporting, or better team alignment.
Begin by evaluating how this transition aligns with your business needs. Common objectives for migration often include:
Enhance customer tracking.
Consolidate marketing, sales, and service tools.
Use advanced automation.
Improve lead scoring models.
Use complex reporting for deeper insights.
Align teams with unified data.
Analyzing the active Mailchimp system and comparing it with HubSpot's features helps create a clear migration path. This analysis typically includes:
Data management in Mailchimp.
Features in use within Mailchimp.
Mailchimp limitations to resolve in HubSpot.
Existing Mailchimp journeys and their alignment with HubSpot workflows.
Complexity of email templates.
After analyzing the current system, the next step is to plan the entire process running in Mailchimp. This includes:
Document Current Processes: List all existing automation and workflows in Mailchimp.
Identify Necessary Changes: Determine what needs to be adapted or improved in HubSpot.
Align with Business Objectives: Ensure that planned processes support your overall business goals and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Mailchimp is primarily a marketing automation tool focused on email campaigns, lists, and audience segmentation, HubSpot is a full-featured CRM with advanced marketing, sales, and service tools. Here's how you can manage Mailchimp-related processes in HubSpot while taking advantage of its CRM capabilities:
Contact Fields: Identify all contact fields in Mailchimp and map them to HubSpot’s contact properties.
Custom Properties: Identify custom properties in HubSpot to capture unique data from Mailchimp that doesn’t directly align with HubSpot’s standard fields.
Lists and Segmentation: Use HubSpot’s active and static lists to replicate Mailchimp's list segmentation, utilizing smart segmentation for dynamic contact filtering.
Subscription Management: Identify subscription types in HubSpot, allowing you to mirror Mailchimp’s list-based subscriptions and manage preferences for marketing and sales communication.
Implement Deal Pipelines (Optional): Set up deal pipelines in HubSpot to manage sales processes, an option Mailchimp lacks, allowing for better sales tracking.
HubSpot Scoring System: Replace Mailchimp’s star rating with HubSpot’s lead scoring system, assigning points based on contact behavior for more refined lead qualification.
Identify all the data types and assets that are being used in MailChimp, then plan their migration, commonly data and assets are migrated in the following manner from Mailchimp to HubSpot.
| Mailchimp | HubSpot |
| Contacts | Contacts |
| Audience Lists | Static or Active Lists |
| Tags | Contact Properties or Static Lists |
| Email Campaigns | Marketing Emails |
| Segments | Smart Lists or Active Lists |
| Email Templates | Email Templates |
| Forms | Forms |
| Automation | Workflows |
| Website Pages | Website Pages |
Analyze the marketing metrics currently tracked in Mailchimp and identify additional KPIs that HubSpot can monitor, such as:
Funnel Conversion Rates
Customer Lifetime Value
Engagement Scores
Attribution Reporting Utilize HubSpot's advanced analytics to gain deeper insights into your marketing, sales, and service efforts.
Follow these steps for integration planning:
List Current Integrations: Document all apps and tools integrated with Mailchimp.
Check HubSpot's Integration Library: Verify if these integrations are available natively in HubSpot's marketplace.
Plan for Custom Integrations: For any tools not natively supported, determine if you can use Zapier or need to develop custom API connections.
Evaluate Integration Functions: Ensure that the integrations will perform the required functions within HubSpot.
When planning HubSpot training, first define user roles like sales reps and marketing teams, then outline key skills needed for each role. Assess current skill levels to tailor the training effectively.
For deployment, start with pilot testing on small data segments and create test scenarios to ensure functionality. After successful testing, plan the full migration from Mailchimp to HubSpot.
Once planning is complete and you have a clear migration roadmap, you can proceed with the migration. The process includes the following steps:
When implementing the MailChimp process in HubSpot, begin by configuring the default settings for the account. This includes setting the company name, time zone, domain, address, industry, language, currency, and brand templates.
Next, handle the marketing setup with these steps:
Connect and Authenticate Email-Sending Domains: Set up and verify your email-sending domains in HubSpot.
Configure Additional Domains: Add and configure subdomains for blogs and landing pages as needed.
Install HubSpot Tracking Code: Integrate the tracking code into external websites (e.g., WordPress, Squarespace, Wix) to monitor visitor activity and gather insights.
Start by creating custom properties in HubSpot based on the mapped contact fields from Mailchimp for smooth data migration. Mirror Mailchimp lists in HubSpot using static or active lists, with active lists offering dynamic updates based on segmentation criteria.
For subscription management, set up subscription types in HubSpot to handle email preferences.
Next, outline the processes you've established, including those from Mailchimp and any changes needed based on your SOPs and new requirements. Make sure the map is accurate and error-free, and get feedback from your team and stakeholders to ensure everything looks right.
Use tools like Figma or Lucidchart to create this process map. It should clearly show all processes, automation, and other important elements. This detailed map will help ensure a smooth transition to HubSpot.
Set up the necessary features in HubSpot based on your planned process, including:
Lists: Create and segment contact lists according to your needs.
Leads: Implement lead management to track and nurture prospects.
Meeting Scheduling Tools: Set up tools to simplify scheduling for your team.
Goals: Establish goals to monitor and track your team’s performance.
Forecasting: Enable forecasting features to predict future sales and outcomes.
Other Features: Add any other features critical to your business processes.
Ensure each feature aligns with your overall process plan and is ready for use.
Install all the apps in HubSpot that you were using in Mailchimp, and set up their data management processes. Don’t forget to add any new apps you’ve planned to integrate.
If you're using a specific app in Mailchimp that lacks native HubSpot integration, tools like Zapier or HubSpot's API allow for seamless data flow between platforms.
Replicate all your assets in HubSpot, including email templates, forms, and landing or website pages. HubSpot CMS offers more advanced styling options than Mailchimp, allowing you to create more interactive landing pages.
Additionally, HubSpot provides flexible CTAs and pop-ups, giving you more customization options than Mailchimp.
Replicate your Mailchimp reports using HubSpot's reporting and dashboard features. In HubSpot, you can create customized dashboards and add advanced reports reports to track your key metrics.
The types of reports you can create depend on your HubSpot plan, with options including single object-based reports, custom reports, funnel reports, and journey-based reports.
Once everything is set up, start with pilot testing by running the system in a controlled, small-scale environment before a full rollout. Focus on:
Identify Issues: Check for technical problems, bugs, or inefficiencies.
Gather Feedback: Collect input from users involved in the testing.
Refine and Fix: Address any identified errors and bugs.
Repeat Testing: Keep refining and testing until the process is error-free.
Data migration from Mailchip to HubSpot can be described as follows:
Follow these key steps for exporting data:
Create a Backup: Back up your data before making any changes to prevent loss.
Export Data: Export the data in CSV format for compatibility and ease of use.
Verify Accuracy: Check that the number of records in Mailchimp matches the data in your exported CSV files to ensure completeness.
Limit Access: Restrict access to the exported data file to only those who need it, maintaining security and confidentiality.
After exporting data from Mailchimp, perform a thorough audit to address common issues such as:
Missing Fields: Verify if any fields were excluded from the export.
Duplications: Identify and merge or remove duplicate records.
Outdated Information: Update any outdated or incorrect data.
Inaccuracies: Correct any inaccuracies in the data.
Steps for Refining and Validating Data:
Data Refinement: Clean and organize the data to meet your business needs.
Validation: Ensure the data aligns with business requirements and is accurate.
Create Associations: Use tools like VLOOKUP in spreadsheets to link different data objects, such as using email as a unique identifier to connect deals with contacts.
This process ensures your data is clean, accurate, and ready for a smooth migration to HubSpot.
After cleaning your Mailchimp data, create all necessary custom properties in HubSpot. Import the data and map the required fields to HubSpot properties. HubSpot allows you to import data for multiple objects simultaneously, rather than being restricted to one object at a time. You can choose whether to import in this manner or handle it differently based on your needs.
Note: You can manage data migration using tools like Trujay or import2, these tools are very easy to handle and you can migrate the data without having any technical knowledge.
The ending process of migration involves the following steps:
Add the required users into the HubSpot account who were available in Mailchimp. You can invite team members into the HubSpot account via their email account and allow them the required access by using HubSpot user permission sets or you can create your own sets.
You can also create teams like sales teams, marketing teams, or service teams into HubSpot and add users according to their departments.
Create training documentation for the team that includes a comprehensive overview of the process and detailed information on HubSpot features, complete with screenshots. Ensure this document is thorough enough to be used for onboarding new employees in the future.
Regularly update the documentation to reflect any changes or modifications in HubSpot SOPs or processes.
Follow these steps for deploying the entire process into HubSpot:
Activate Processes: Implement and activate all processes for the complete data set, ensuring everything is fully operational.
Collect Feedback: Regularly gather feedback from team members after deployment to ensure the system meets their needs.
Address Issues: Quickly resolve any errors or bugs that arise to avoid major disruptions
By carefully following each step and applying recommended strategies and best practices, businesses can ensure a smooth transition to HubSpot, unlocking its full potential for enhanced efficiency and growth. Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, this guide helps you make informed decisions and execute a seamless migration, setting the stage for future success with HubSpot's robust CRM capabilities.