How to Migrate Your Marketing Email List (Checklist)

    In this guide, you’ll find step-by-step instructions on migrating your marketing email list.

    Part 1. Audit your current setup

    Audit your signup forms & lead magnets

    Review your marketing website and your current email marketing account.

    1. List existing signup forms (with & without lead magnets).

    2. Ask yourself: is there a lead magnet that is a clear winner? It might make sense to focus on your 1 or 2 best-performing lead magnets and retire the others.

    3. Identify legacy forms that are no longer needed (there will be plenty). Carefully remove them from your website, e.g. replacing them with another form or lead magnet. Set up redirects if necessary.

    4. If legacy forms are found on the old landing pages, consider removing them as well. Set up redirects if necessary.

    5. List forms that need to be recreated in Userlist.

    Audit your segments

    1. List existing segments.

    2. Remove any legacy segments.

    3. List segments that need to be recreated in Userlist.

    Are you happy with the naming for your segments? It’s great time to adopt another naming convention. We prefer to use a semicolon for related segments, for example:

    • Leads

    • Leads: Qualified for Updates (has finished the leads onboarding campaign)

    • Leads: Ready for Sale

    • Trials

    • Trials: Expiring

    • Paying Customers

    • Paying Customers: Advanced

    • Paying Customers: Churn Risk

    Audit your marketing campaigns

    1. List your automation campaigns.

    2. Identify legacy campaigns that relate to the legacy forms above.

    3. Review your broadcasts archive. Would you like to export your past broadcasts for reference?

    4. List campaigns that need to be recreated in Userlist.

    Part 2. Set up new forms and campaigns in Userlist

    Recreate your forms and campaigns

    1. Recreate your forms in Userlist.

    2. Recreate your segments in Userlist.

    3. Recreate your lead magnet campaigns in Userlist.

    4. Recreate your marketing campaigns in Userlist (lead nurture, “evergreen newsletter,” etc.).

    5. Set up a new Leads segment (user property “Identifier” has no value). More about leads vs customers in this article.

    Part 3. Check existing campaigns in Userlist (optional)

    If you’ve been already using Userlist for customer email, then you want to double-check your existing setup.

    1. Update your email footer. Previously, it probably said “You’re receiving this email as a user of Sparkle.” Now you want it to say “You’re receiving this email as a subscriber of Sparkle” or something like that.

    2. Check your segments. Previously, you assumed that everyone was a customer. E.g. you might have a segment like “Trials” with the condition “billing_plan is not set.” Given that you now have leads, this is no longer correct.

    3. Check your campaign triggers. Especially e.g. onboarding campaigns that use “first seen in Userlist” as a trigger. They will no longer be correct if you add leads to the mix.

    Part 4. Make the switch

    1. Switch your website forms to Userlist. This way, new marketing leads will start appearing in Userlist.

    2. Export leads from your current email provider, and import them to Userlist. This way, all your previous leads will also appear in Userlist.

    3. Test your setup. Sign up for 1-2 lead magnets and make sure your marketing campaigns run as intended.

    Book your discovery demo

    Let's see how Userlist fits into the bigger picture of your SaaS business. You'll learn about our automation features, integrations, proven lifecycle frameworks, and how we can help you hit your SaaS growth targets.

    Book Your 30-min Demo