Tips For Migrating Email Service Providers

Mailchimp 💔 Shopify

May 12th 2019 signifies the date that Mailchimp and Shopify will part ways (for the most). So what now?

Firstly, if you’ve been hiding under a spreadsheet somewhere, in March this year, Mailchimp announced it would cease offering a Shopify integration for existing users from May onwards.

Since this move effects an enormous portion of users, we wanted to lean in on the topic from a platform migration management point of view.

Check out Mailchimp’s Statement on Shopify Partnership for the full release.

The People’s Platform?

Unfortunately when I speak about what I do to non-industry folk, the words ‘email marketing’ is usually met with ‘oh yeah, I know Mailchimp – or – such and such’s Aunty down the road uses Mailchimp for her salon’.

Despite being one most widely recognised email platforms, Mailchimp is definitely not the be all and end all.

While Mailchimp’s basic plan (for those with a smaller database) might be free and their platform is fairly foolproof, it is in a sense…basic AF?

If anything, this forced change presents an opportunity to take stock of your email and CRM requirements to find a solution that better supports your future business goals.

There are far more superior options on the market that still easily integrate with Shopify and will set you back roughly $59 a month (or less in some cases).

And, if you’re using your email platform to it’s full potential, a monthly fee is pretty much chop change when your ROI % is in hundreds, if not thousands.

The Status Quo.

Any future strategising or major changes to systems or processes should start with evaluating the status quo – where are you now? What’s your existing state?

If you haven’t already, now is the time to document all of the ways you’re using Mailchimp, i.e.

• Subscriber sign-up points

• Database maintenance (update details etc.)

• Triggered email programs (abandon cart, welcome, page browse etc.)

• Transactional emails (order conf, shipping conf etc.)

• Blog post notifications

• SMS

• Retargeting ads

Creating this document will assist you when migrating providers and also establish a point of reference for other users in your team.

The Migration

Migrating email service providers can be a significant undertaking – don’t underestimate it!

We’ve put together some top line points to help when you migrate:

• Project framework

  • Using a project management framework (timelines, deliverables, risks, dependencies etc) is necessary for managing a migration. If you ‘wing it’, there’s high chance you’ll miss an important step.

  • Establish a data cut-over date and work backwards to set other key deliverable dates.

  • Remember to pause all triggered automations and transactional emails during data cut- over.

  • Allow enough time from cut-over to go live for testing, testing and more testing.

  • Automated programs/transactional email content and segments will need thorough checking in the new platform. Automation data segments should also be cross checked against your source of truth to ensure correctness.

  • Be prepared for a small downturn in program revenue while you migrate – this should only be marginal if all goes to plan.

• Data & API migration

  • Contact, engagement, purchase and permissions - migrating as much customer history from your old platform as possible will help immensely in future campaign development and prevent marketing automations from being paused for extended periods.

  • Subscriber opt-in/out permissions are a requirement - this is a non-negotiable from a legislative perspective.

  • Flag any pre-built customer segments so that this valuable information is not lost during migration.

  • Consider whether your current data fields need to be mapped to fit the new platform’s data structure.

  • Audit all API touch points that will require migration, e.g:

    • Pop-ups

    • Forms

    • Social integrations

• Content Migration

  • All content which is hosted in your current email platform will need to be migrated to the new platform or an alternate CMS.

  • Image URL’s will need updating to reflect new file paths.

  • If you’re not currently using content blocks, consider moving to this format – it will save time when building out future campaigns, in particular automations.

  • Audit and update all links in your email template that may have changed, e.g. unsubscribe, update details forms etc.

• Warming IP Addresses

If you’re wondering what this all means, here’s a quick run down -

• Essentially when you move to a new email platform you’ll be provided with new sender IP’s.

• Evidently, new sender IP’s are seen as spam by most mailbox clients. Why? Well, spammers are constantly using new IP’s to send unsolicited emails and most mailbox clients will automatically move these emails to the spam folder, particularly if the send volume is high.

• To avoid this, there’s a process that needs to be followed to ensure your emails are delivered to inboxes rather than the spam folder.

• Most email service providers will already have a range of IP’s that are either whitelisted or have been warmed.

• Pre-warmed IP’s means you won’t need to go through the warming process but be aware you may still be at risk of deliverability issues if IP’s are shared with other users.

• If you do need to warm IP’s, the process can be time consuming and slightly tedious but it’s worth it in the long run for the sake of deliverability.

• To warm up IP’s (in a nutshell) you’ll need to determine your most engaged subscribers and start sending small volumes from the new platform while incrementally increasing these volumes until you’ve worked your way up to your least engaged subscribers.

• As a rough guide, aim to double your send volume every three to four days until you’ve reached your maximum daily volume.

• Deliverability will need to be closely monitored during warm up to mitigate any issues which may arise.

• Read Return Path’s ‘How to warm up an IP address’ here.

Summary

The goal when migrating email service providers is to make the move as seamless as possible to avoid major disruptions which could lead to revenue loss. There are many moving parts when it comes to a migration and the pay off for taking the time to formulate a robust plan will be worth it in the end. Work closely with your email service provider to get their input on your timelines and expectations to make sure you’ve been realistic. Good luck!