Move your email setup to its awesome new home
Migrating email setups to a new platform can be challenging, so we'll help move yours to ConvertKit for free(!) as long as you sign up for a paid plan.
But if you feel like rolling up your sleeves and handling your migration yourself, this article provides a handy general overview of what you'll need to do:
We've also got specific guides for migrating from email platforms such as Mailchimp, MailerLite, and ActiveCampaign—and you'll find them all here.
Familiarize yourself with ConvertKit's terminology
Our email terminology may differ from what you're used to seeing on your current platform. For example, Mailchimp refers to people who join your email list as "contacts," while we refer to such people as "subscribers" instead.
Therefore, familiarize yourself with our lingo so you can follow along when we refer to things!
Just head over to our separate guide to email marketing terminology in ConvertKit and other platforms to start brushing up your knowledge. 📝
Import your subscribers
Bringing your subscribers to ConvertKit generally involves:
Exporting your subscriber list from your current platform, then...
...importing the list into ConvertKit by clicking the Add Subscribers button on the Subscribers page.
If you're coming over from certain email platforms, such as Mailchimp or Drip, you can use the importers we've specially designed for importing subscribers from these platforms.
Otherwise, you can import your subscriber list into ConvertKit as a CSV file, then map your subscriber data to their corresponding fields in ConvertKit. Our dedicated subscriber import guide shares the exact steps for this process.
Recreate your forms and landing pages
To recreate your forms and landing pages in ConvertKit, create a new Form or Landing Page from the Landing Pages & Forms page (as appropriate).
We offer a variety of Form and Landing Page templates you can use as your recreated form or landing page's starting point. Pick the template that most closely resembles your current form or landing page.
Next, use our Form or Landing Page builder to customize the template such that it looks as similar to your current form or landing page as possible. You can also improve its design!
When you're happy with your recreated Forms and Landing Pages, swap out your old Forms and Landing Pages for your brand-new ConvertKit ones. This can involve replacing the form embeds on your website, for example.
Learn more about setting up Forms in ConvertKit here, and creating Landing Pages here.
Recreate your email templates
Go to the Email Templates page under the navigation's Send tab to create a new ConvertKit email template.
Browse the selection of available email templates, then select the template that resembles the one in your current email platform the most closely.
You'll then use our visual email template editor to customize your ConvertKit email template's fonts, colors, and images.
As far as possible, try to get your ConvertKit template to look like your current email template—or an even more appealing version of it! 🎨
Recreate your automated email campaigns
Automated email campaigns are known as "Sequences" in ConvertKit. These are sets of one or more emails that you can add to a Visual Automation to have them automatically sent to subscribers.
We'll share more on Visual Automations shortly. But for now, here's how you can create a ConvertKit Sequence for your automated email campaigns!
Click the Send tab in the navigation, followed by Sequences.
Click the + New sequence button to start a new Sequence, then select a default email template for it. (You'll be able to change your email template for specific Sequence emails afterward.)
Copy/paste the contents of your current email platform's automated email campaigns into the Sequence, adding more emails to the same Sequence as you may need.
Also, set up your Sequence emails' Send Days to match those for your automated email campaigns.
Let's say you've set up your automated email campaigns to be sent in this manner:
A first email immediately after signup
A second email seven days later
You can recreate these automated email campaigns' send schedules in your ConvertKit Sequence by having ConvertKit send:
The first email 0 days after the last email (i.e. it will be sent immediately)
The second email seven days after the last email
Visit our other guide to learn more about creating and sending ConvertKit Sequences.
Recreate your email automations
ConvertKit Visual Automations help you run email funnels on autopilot, so let's take a look at how you can recreate your email automations as one!
Go to Visual Automations under the top navigation's Automate tab, then click + New automation.
Unless your email automation resembles a Visual Automation for which we offer a template, we suggest recreating it by starting a new Visual Automation from scratch.
You can then build out your Visual Automation by adding:
Entry points. These are events that trigger your Visual Automation, such as a subscriber joining your email Form or buying a product.
Steps. These stages control how subscribers progress through your Visual Automation. Steps can come in the form of automation Events, Actions, or Conditions. For example, you can add a Visual Automation action that tags a subscriber with a certain Tag.
Let's say your email automation sends a subscriber a series of welcome emails when they subscribe to your email list. In this case, you can set up its corresponding Visual Automation in ConvertKit in this way:
Entry point: Subscriber joins your email Form
Step: Take the action of adding the subscriber to your welcome email Sequence
Test your migrated setup
Before declaring your migration work done, check that your migrated setup works as intended!
You can test your ConvertKit email setup by:
Previewing your Forms and Landing Pages (on your website, if possible) and adjusting their design as needed.
Previewing your Sequence emails from the ConvertKit Sequence editor or by sending yourself a test email.
Testing your Visual Automations. Enter your Visual Automations from one of their entry points (such as subscribing to your own Form) to see what happens when you do so.
Still on the fence as to whether ConvertKit is right for you? Schedule a demo with one of our team members to explore how we can help you grow your creator business.
Or if you've already decided to switch and want someone to help migrate your email setup for you, simply request your free ConvertKit migration here!
And once you have everything set up in ConvertKit, you can send a one-off email to your subscribers to announce your move to an amazing new email platform.
We call these one-off emails "Broadcasts," and you can learn how to send one here 👇