How to Switch CRMs Without Losing Your Contacts
Plenty of people stay in a CRM they’ve outgrown for one reason: moving feels risky. Years of contacts are in there. What if some of them don’t make the trip?
Here’s the short version. To switch CRMs, export your contacts to a CSV file, clean up the file, import it into the new system, check the records, and keep the old account open until you’re sure nothing’s missing. Contacts move easily. Complete history, attachments, workflows and landing pages take more work, so know what you have before you start. AllClients is a CRM for very small businesses, with contacts, lead capture, email marketing and automated follow-up in one system, starting at $24 a month. Send us your export and we’ll map and import your core contact data at no charge.
Make Sure It’s the Right Move First
Switching only helps if the next system fits better than the last one. If you’re leaving because the software was too big for your business, the worst CRM is the one built for someone else, and that’s worth fixing. If you’re leaving because you never got it set up, take a look at why people quit every CRM they start before you move the same problem to a new address.
What Moves Easily
Anything that fits in a spreadsheet.
- Contact details move cleanly: names, emails, phone numbers, addresses and company names.
- Tags, categories and lead sources usually come along as columns in your file. You’ll match them up on the way in.
- Custom fields come along too, as long as the new system has a place to put them.
What Doesn’t Move Easily
Anything that doesn’t fit in a spreadsheet. Plan for these before you start, because this is where people get surprised.
- Complete history. Don’t expect every note, email and past activity to arrive 100% intact. Some systems export notes, often as a separate file, and some don’t. Decide what you really need and save it.
- Attachments. Files saved on contact records usually don’t come out in a standard export. Download the ones you need, then add them to the new records.
- Workflows and automated follow-up. There’s no export for these. You’ll rebuild them in the new system.
- Landing pages and forms. They’re built inside your old system, so there’s no file to carry over. Save your wording and images, then rebuild them in the new one.
- Email templates and stats. Copy out any templates you want to reuse. Past campaign stats usually stay behind.
None of this means you have to leave it behind. It just won’t come over at the press of a button. You can move these things by hand, and a lot of people are glad to, because moving day is the best chance you’ll get to make them better. The follow-up you never finished and the landing page you’ve been meaning to rewrite don’t have to make the trip as they are.
How to Switch in Six Steps
1. Take Stock
Before you touch anything, write down what you have: how many contacts, which fields you really use, what’s running automatically, and which landing pages and forms you’ve built. Check when your current plan renews, so you have time to finish without rushing.
2. Export Everything
Look for Export in your contacts area or your account settings, and choose CSV. Export more than you think you need, and download any notes and attachments you want to keep. Then save an untouched copy of everything somewhere safe. That’s your backup if anything goes sideways.
3. Clean the File
Work from a copy. Give every column a clear header, like First Name, Last Name, Email and Phone. Remove duplicates, blank rows and columns you never use. This is also the time to let go of contacts you’d never reach out to again.
One thing to keep: your opt-outs. Someone who unsubscribed in your old system still unsubscribed. That doesn’t reset because you changed software.
4. Try a Small Batch
Import 10 or 20 contacts first. Check that the first name landed in the first name field, the phone number landed in the phone field, and so on. Fix the file if you need to. Then import the rest.
5. Spot-Check the Results
Compare the total count against your old system. Then open 10 contacts you know well and read through each record. You’ll catch a problem faster on people you know than on a spreadsheet full of strangers.
6. Rebuild, Then Close the Old Account
This is the step people forget. If your website forms still feed the old system, new leads will keep landing there and nobody will see them. Rebuild your forms and landing pages in the new system, update every link that points to the old ones, and rebuild your workflows. Only then close the old account. Run one last export before you do.
Upgrading From Constant Contact or Mailchimp?
An email tool is a fine place to start. When you’re ready to have your contacts, notes, to-dos and follow-up all in one place, getting your list out takes a few clicks.
From Constant Contact: On the Contacts page, select the contacts you want, then click Actions and Export selection. Choose the fields to include and click Export. When it’s done, download the CSV from your import and export activity. Constant Contact has a guide with more detail.
From Mailchimp: Click Audience, then Export audience, then Export CSV. Mailchimp emails you when the file is ready. It may arrive as a ZIP with separate files for subscribed and unsubscribed contacts, so keep them all. Mailchimp has a guide with more detail.
Or Let Someone Else Do It
Moving your data is the part people dread, so at AllClients it’s the part we do for you. Send us the export from whatever you’re using now, and we’ll map the fields and load it. There’s no setup fee and no charge for the migration.
If you’d rather do it yourself, the import tool takes a CSV and walks you through matching the columns. The advanced import handles custom fields, categories, tags and sources, and notes can come in as a second step. And if you get stuck, our US-based team uses the product every day and replies within 24 hours.
Your contacts took years to collect. Moving them should take a lot less than that.
