Understanding HubSpot Migration
A HubSpot-to-HubSpot portal migration refers to moving data, settings, workflows, and other elements from one HubSpot account or portal to another. This could become necessary for various reasons, such as business restructuring, mergers, or acquisitions.
This migration process, while seemingly straightforward, is actually a multi-step procedure involving several significant elements:
- Data Export and Import: This is the cornerstone of any migration process. It involves the transfer of substantial content that resides in a HubSpot portal. This content can range from contacts, companies, deals, tickets, and more. This data can typically be exported as CSV files, then imported into the new portal. However, it's important to note that certain elements, such as notes or email history, might not be exportable using the built-in tools. These elements may necessitate a manual transfer, which can be more time-consuming.
- Assets Transfer: Another significant aspect of the migration process involves the transfer of various assets. These include, but are not limited to, email templates, workflows, forms, landing pages, blog posts, and more. Unlike data, these assets often require manual recreation in the new portal, as HubSpot does not currently provide a built-in process for their automatic transfer. This aspect of the migration process can be labor-intensive, requiring meticulous attention to detail to ensure that all assets are accurately recreated.
- Recreation of Settings and Integrations: A HubSpot portal is not just about data and assets. Several settings, such as user roles and permissions, domain settings, and integrations with other software tools not available in the HubSpot app marketplace, make the portal unique and customized to your business needs. These settings must also be manually set up in the new portal to maintain the same operational functionality. Similarly, you may need to look at your social media connections, how they’re being used, and whether you need to partition your ad audiences to reflect your new portal setup.
- Re-establishing Automation: Automation is a key feature of HubSpot, and losing this in the migration process would be a significant setback. Automation rules like workflows and sequences help streamline operations and increase efficiency. These must be meticulously recreated in the new portal to ensure business operations continue post-migration. When it comes to your automated workflows, you’ll also need to carefully look at your lists. You want everything locked down and linked to the appropriate portal, so that when you migrate records, the information doesn’t flow incorrectly and your list health is maintained.
- Reconnecting Tracking Codes: If the old HubSpot portal installed tracking codes on a website, you must replace the old ones with the new portal's codes. This is crucial to ensure you continue gathering valuable user interaction data from your website, enabling you to make data-driven decisions.
Seem like a big undertaking? It certainly can be! Because of this, HubSpot (and HubSpot partners like us!) generally recommend a company takes thoughtful consideration before committing. As noted, different scenarios may require a business to make a move, and we’ll discuss these and many other factors throughout.
Use Cases That Call for a HubSpot Migration
Before carrying out any part of a migration, it’s imperative to step back and ask yourself: “Does my company need to do this? Do we have the processes and documentation to be successful? Can we operate efficiently with multiple HubSpot accounts?”
Fortunately, many before you have wondered the same thing. First and foremost, refer to this helpful info for some much-needed insights:
Consider multiple HubSpot accounts if:
- You have any legal or compliance restrictions/concerns between brands.
- You shouldn’t share your contact data and information between brands.
- You want to host data in different global regions.
- You operate multiple independently owned companies.
- Your sales, marketing, or operations processes/workflows/objects are very distinct between brands.
Answer no to any of these? Then a portal migration may be in order. To know for sure, here are some common situations that companies encounter when seeking a migration:
- Business Restructuring: If a company restructures its operations, it may need to move data and assets between HubSpot portals to reflect the new organization. For example, a company might divide into separate business units, each with its own HubSpot portal, or consolidate into one unit.
- Mergers and Acquisitions: When one company acquires another, or when two companies merge, it's often necessary to centralize their marketing, sales, and customer service data into a single HubSpot portal. This consolidation can improve efficiency and provide a unified view of the customer base.
- Region-Specific Portals: Some multinational corporations create separate HubSpot portals for different regions to handle language differences, local marketing campaigns, and regional sales teams. If the company's strategy changes or redefines its territories, it might need to move data between portals.
- Switching From Multiple Portals to a Single Portal: Some companies initially set up separate HubSpot portals for different functions, such as marketing and sales. They might combine these into a single portal for a more integrated approach and easier data management.
- Portal Cleanup or Reorganization: Over time, a HubSpot portal can become cluttered or disorganized, especially if many people have been adding and changing data without a clear structure. Sometimes, it might be easier to start with a new portal and migrate only the necessary data and assets.
- Testing and Development: A company might set up a separate HubSpot portal for testing new features, templates, and strategies. These are known as sandbox accounts. When you use them, you don't affect anything in your live portal. Once these have been tested and refined, they might need to be migrated to the main operational portal.
Understanding Your Current CRM and Data
If you haven’t recognized it yet, migrating from one HubSpot portal to another is a complex process that requires careful planning and consideration. Here are some key aspects to consider to ensure a successful transition.
Audit Your Portal
Before embarking on the migration journey, the first crucial step is thoroughly auditing your existing portal. This process involves identifying and documenting all data, functionalities, and processes currently in use and envisioning what they might look like in a new portal setup.
This step is not merely about taking inventory — it's about understanding the unique needs and usage patterns of all the stakeholders involved. It involves meeting with all users, understanding their interactions with the portal, and identifying their essential requirements. Doing this ensures that the new portal is designed with everyone's needs in mind and that no important features or data are overlooked during the migration.
Read More: 6 Things a HubSpot Portal Audit Will Tell You
Important Consideration: Not convinced that meeting with everyone is necessary? Note that anyone linking file manager files within your HubSpot portal may be disappointed, as they cannot be redirected. You’ll have to recreate them — which is something they’ll definitely want to know about!
Budget Your Migration
The importance of budgeting for a HubSpot portal-to-portal migration cannot be understated. A well-planned budget allows for transparent decision-making and successful execution of the migration process.
Determining who will lead the migration is a critical first step. This could be someone within your organization or an external third-party expert, such as a certified HubSpot partner. The choice will significantly impact your budget, as third-party experts often incur additional costs. Budget planning should also consider which department within your business will allocate the funds. Knowing who controls the budget can help streamline the process and prevent any unexpected financial surprises, whether it's marketing, sales, or another team.
Project leadership is another significant aspect to factor into your budget. The leader will coordinate and oversee the migration process, which may entail additional costs if their regular duties are put on hold. Finally, consider a staggered approach to your migration if budget constraints are tight. This approach may involve migrating in stages to spread out the costs over time, allowing for better financial control and flexibility in managing any complexity.
Outline an Order of Operations
Once you clearly understand what's in your portal and how it's being used, the next step is to establish a clear plan of action for the migration. This involves outlining an order of operations or, in simpler terms, determining what needs to be done and when.
Whether it's transferring data, adjusting settings, moving assets, or something else, the order of these tasks can significantly impact the efficiency and success of the migration. A well-defined order of operations can help avoid confusion and ensure a seamless transition. To aid in this process, we have a downloadable template that guides you through this process. Moreover, working with a certified HubSpot partner like Lynton can also provide invaluable assistance.
Download Now: Your Template for a Seamless HubSpot to HubSpot Portal Migration
Data Integrity and Clean-Up
Another fundamental part of the migration process is ensuring the integrity of your data. Before the migration, it's vital to review your portal once more and clean up your data as much as possible. This involves removing unnecessary or outdated information, rectifying inconsistencies, and ensuring data accuracy.
The goal of migration isn't just to mirror your existing setup in a new portal. It's about optimizing your data, lifecycle stages, automation, objects, and everything else that makes up your portal. Identify what aspects of your data and processes must be changed or improved and what can stay the same. This step helps streamline the migration and sets the foundation for a more effective and efficient new portal.
Read More: How to Maintain a Clean HubSpot CRM
Pro Tip: Don’t know whether you need to move certain contacts or companies? For contacts, look at their last activity date. If it’s been a while, it may not be worth migrating. For companies, you may not need to migrate them. Instead, they can be created by a contact record or contacts associated with existing contacts.
Mapping Objects and Properties
When it comes to your migration, mapping objects and properties involves establishing a correlation between the data structures in your source and destination accounts. This critical step ensures all necessary information is accurately transferred and consistency is maintained.
As part of this process, consider if you'll need new properties or objects, shared ones, or both. Evaluate what aspects of your data structures will change and what will remain the same. Understand that some of your processes might need to be adapted or redefined in the new portal setup. For instance, if your current portals are using objects in completely different ways, it may make sense to create a new one in your destination portal — even going as far as to build a custom object, if appropriate.
Important Consideration: If you’re working with a partner like Lynton, it’s essential to know that engagement data can only be moved over using a full historical sync. This refers to the population of all your existing data from Day 1 and will require the use of an application, such as our Multi-Portal Sync.
Timeline and Resources
Planning a realistic timeline and allocating the necessary resources are vital to a successful migration. It's important to remember that migration is not an instantaneous process. It requires time for preparation, execution, and adjustment.
Make sure to factor in potential downtime and prepare for contingencies. Always keep your timeline in mind during each stage of the process. A rushed timeline can lead to mistakes, overlooked details, and data loss. So, it's crucial to balance the need for a swift migration with the necessity for thoroughness and accuracy.
Also, be sure your new portal has the right resources, including the proper subscriptions, sales seats, and more. Factoring — and budgeting — at the beginning of your timeline will prevent you from running into any issues down the road should you realize you need something in your destination account that you do not already have.
Read More: Planning Your Move to HubSpot in 2023
Legal and Compliance Issues
Lastly, but no less important, are the legal and compliance issues related to data privacy and protection during migration. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other regional data protection laws have strict guidelines regarding the handling of personal data.
Your migration process must be in full compliance with these regulations. This may involve consulting a legal expert to ensure all data handling and transfer processes are lawful. Addressing these concerns protects your organization from potential legal complications and assures your customers that their information is handled with the utmost care and respect.
HubSpot-to-HubSpot Portal Migration Best Practices
Migrating portals involves careful planning, meticulous organization, and active communication, and you can set yourself up for success with these best practices.
Create a Migration Plan
A successful migration starts with a detailed plan. Here's how you can craft one:
- Identify Goals: We’ve touched on it before, but we’re doing it again. Ask: Why are you migrating? Are you looking to improve customer service, streamline processes, or consolidate marketing efforts? Defining clear goals will help you set priorities during the migration.
- Set Timelines: Identify milestones and establish a realistic timeline for each phase of the migration. This could include data analysis, technical setup, testing, and implementation.
- Identify Resources: Determine what human and technical resources you need for the migration. This could include assigning team members to specific tasks or procuring new software or hardware.
- Data and Assets to Migrate: Review your existing portal and decide what data and assets you should bring to the new portal. Follow the rule of thumb: only migrate what is absolutely necessary. Redundant or obsolete data can clutter your new portal and complicate the migration process.
- Documentation: Document everything you might need later. This could include data mappings, workflow descriptions, or user guides. Documentation will make the transition easier and serve as a valuable resource for training new staff in the future.
Account for Change Management
Change management is the key to any successful migration. Remember that migration isn't just about moving data — it's about changing how your organization operates. Consider the following:
- Impacted Teams: Understand which teams will be affected by the migration and consider their needs and concerns.
- Timing: The timing of your migration can significantly impact its success. Avoid migrating during peak sales periods or other high-pressure times.
- Third-party Processes: If you rely on third-party vendors or processes, factor these into your migration plan.
- Access to Current Portals: Wait to cut off access to your existing portals. Users may need to reference old data or content as they adjust to the new portal.
Establish Clear Communication Channels
Effective communication is essential during any major transition. All stakeholders should know the migration timeline, their responsibilities, and where to turn for support. Regular updates can help alleviate any concerns, and user feedback can be invaluable in identifying and addressing issues early. Consider setting up dedicated communication channels, such as a specific email thread, a chat group, or regular meetings, to keep everyone informed and engaged.
Test the Migration Process
Before going live, conduct a test migration. This will help you identify and resolve issues before they impact your data or operations. Here's how to go about it:
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Plan a UAT phase into your timeline. This allows end-users to test the new system in a controlled environment and provide feedback.
- Engage the Right Teams: Get the people using the new portal involved in testing. Their firsthand experience can help uncover bugs or difficulties that might not be immediately apparent.
Remember, your migration process doesn't end when the new portal goes live. Be prepared to provide ongoing support, address user feedback, and continuously improve to ensure your new HubSpot portal meets your organization's needs effectively and efficiently.
Post-Migration Strategies
While it's a significant achievement to migrate portals successfully, it's essential to understand that your journey doesn't end here. The post-migration phase is equally crucial and can determine the success of your migration efforts.
Here are some key strategies to help you succeed in the post-migration stage.
Monitor and Optimize
An essential post-migration strategy is continuous monitoring and optimization. After migration, your HubSpot portal will contain a wealth of data and performance indicators. These metrics provide valuable insights into your portal's functioning and can guide your optimization efforts.
Regular monitoring allows you to identify areas where the portal performs optimally and areas needing improvement. However, take your time to make changes. You should live in your processes before you make any adjustments.
This means fully understanding and experiencing the new techniques and systems as they are, even if they include compromises. Take the time to ensure everything is faithfully implemented and is working as intended. Avoid rushing into making changes for the sake of working with something "shiny" and "new."
Your primary goal should be to optimize for the best results possible, and that requires careful consideration and a deep understanding of how the changes will likely impact your organization.
Read More: What You Can Learn From Marketing Attribution Reports
Train and Educate Your Team
Successful portal migration isn't just about the technology. It's also about people. Your team will be using the new HubSpot account, so they must understand the changes made during migration and how to utilize the new account effectively.
At Lynton, we place a significant emphasis on training teams to use their new accounts. We understand that the migration process can be complex and involve substantial changes to the existing workflows. That's why, in some instances, we lock down the new account and then build a practicum that your team members must take and pass before receiving access.
This practice can include different scenarios like creating workflows and reviewing them. We ensure they understand the core concepts of the new system and provide feedback on anything they've developed. This approach ensures that your team can effectively utilize the new HubSpot account.
Seek Expert Assistance
Finally, don't hesitate to seek expert assistance. The migration process, although rewarding, is a lot. Point blank. Even post-migration, you might encounter situations that require expert advice.
Lynton's migration services are designed to assist you the entire way. Our expert team can guide everything from creating new automation to monitoring and optimization to training your team. Engaging professional services like ours can help ensure a successful HubSpot migration, allowing you to focus on your core business activities while we take care of the technicalities.