Migrating from Constant Contact to Mailchimp

In this article we guide you step by step through the process of how to migrate your contacts from Constant Contact to Mailchimp. But before we get to the steps, you might be asking yourself; should I go to the trouble of migrating from one email marketing platform to another?

Yes you should!

Because we use and recommend Mailchimp we know how robust the platform is when it comes to email marketing, but we’re not the only ones who think this.  In a comparison study after comparison study, experts agree that Mailchimp is the clear winner for its ease of use, advanced features, pricing and customisation.

And importantly, because you’ve made the decision to migrate, it’s easy to transfer your contacts from Constant Contact to Mailchimp.  Follow the step by step instructions below and you’ll be sending your first marketing email via Mailchimp in no time.

Before you get started…

Prepare your list for migration

Whilst both Constant Contact and Mailchimp remove unsubscribed addresses from lists, Mailchimp goes a step further by also removing bounced email addresses from lists.  Before you commence your migration from Constant Contact to Mailchimp it’s important that you ‘prepare’ your Constant Contact for the transfer of active and usable email addresses. 

So, your fist step needs to be to remove those bounced email addresses from your list within Constant Contact by following these steps:

1. Log in to your Constant Contact account and then select Reporting.
2. Scroll to the Detail section, and click the name of a recent campaign that was sent to all or most of your active contacts.
3. In the campaign report, click Bounced.
4. Click the Display drop-down menu – choose Recommended for Removal.
5. Check the box to select all contacts in the Recommended for Removal category.
6. Click Remove Emails.
7. Now your campaign’s bounced emails are in the Unsubscribed category of All Contacts.
8. Export unsubscribed addresses from Constant Contact into a CSV file

Import your undeliverable list

To protect against accidentally adding invalid stale addresses to your audience, Mailchimp recommends that you now import your unsubscribed contacts from Constant Contact to Mailchimp into what is called a ‘suppression list’. Follow these steps to import your unsubscribed addresses into a suppression list.

Export your contacts from Constant Contact to Mailchimp

Your next step is to generate a CSV file of your active Contacts from Constant Contact.

1. Log in to your Constant Contact account.
2. Navigate to the Contacts section.
3. Click Active to view your active contacts.
4. Check the box in the upper left corner of the table to select all active contacts.
5. Click Export.
6. Now go ahead and choose the fields you want to include (an email address is the only required field but you can include additional fields if you choose).
7. Check the List box if you want to transfer your sub-lists names into your Mailchimp audience – refer to ‘create an audience above for why you would do this’.
8. Click Export Contacts. A message will appear at the top of the screen when the export has been completed.
9. Click Download CSV.

Create an audience in Mailchimp

To save time Mailchimp recommends that you import all Constant Contact lists in one batch. Mailchimp will place all contacts in the same audience and store sub-list information in a group that you can view and send to later.  You can read more about groups here.

So go ahead and create an Audience in Mailchimp.

Import your contacts into Mailchimp

1. Log in to your Mailchimp account.
2. Navigate to the Audience tab (if you have more than one audience, choose the correct audience from the drop-down menu).
3. Click Manage Audience from the drop-down menu and then, Import Contacts.
4. Choose Integrated Service – Constant Contact – Next.
5.   To upload your CSV file, click Browse and choose the file from your computer.
6.   Click Next to move on to the Import Subscribers step and match the columns in your CSV file to the columns in your Mailchimp audience. 
7.   Column Match:  Click Save, or click the drop-down menu to select a different field type.
8.   No Column Match:  For columns whose labels did not transfer from your import file, choose New Column name, and type in your label. Or click Skip to exclude the column from the import.  Repeat for all unmatched columns. You must match or skip every column to complete your import.
9.   Mailchimp will display a success message when your file is ready for import.
10. Click Next and review your final import settings – Mailchimp will display the method you chose for your import and the number of columns you matched. You can click Details to view which columns you matched to fields in your audience, or Edit to make changes.
11. After you’ve reviewed your settings, click Import.

Success!

You can now start sending emails from within Mailchimp to your list/s. 

And if you want to turn those leads into raving fans and repeat customers, you’ll want to get your hands on our Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing to learn how to delight your future customers.