How hard is it to switch email platforms?

Indecision and reveries are the anaesthetics of constructive action.

— Sylvia Plath (American poet and novelist)

Thinking of switching email platforms?

Given it’s Halloween, we thought we’d tackle one of those tasks that’s so scary, the easy solution is to put it off.

The pain, the hassle, the interruption, the time. And maybe even the fear of only doing half of it, and being stuck in the middle of a migration forever.

It’s no wonder that so many marketing teams stick to sub-par tools they already know for years, even when they’re really dissatisfied with their setup.

It’s easier to find a reason to put it off this week than to confront starting a migration today.

While it may seem like there is never a right time, ultimately, the day will come.

Your current provider will put its prices up, or have a data breach, or you’ll need a feature it just doesn’t have.

After thousands of migrations, we’ve seen it all. This issue is dedicated to anyone who has put off their email platform migration for one day more than they can handle.

So, whether you feel ready to migrate or not, let’s do this.

The core elements of an email marketing setup

No matter how experienced you are with email marketing, I always find it helps to start at the 10,000-foot overview.

Most setups have the following components that will need to be moved over (or considered):

• Your audience and their data — the email addresses, subscription status, list preferences, tags, and other associated contact data.
• Your forms and integrations — how you get contacts into your audience and build it. Often involves switching out code on your website and understanding and untangling any integrated tools you have.
• Your email templates — the look and feel of the emails themselves. Switching tools is often a good chance to blow the dust off your templates and give them a new lease of life.
• Your email address and sending domain — the most technical part of any switchover. I am yet to meet anyone who enjoys changing DNS records, but it’s a necessary evil, and a good chance to check you’re set up for the best deliverability.
• Familiarity and training — if you’re in a team, no matter how good or amazing the new tool is, there will always be a period of acclimatisation as you and everyone you work with get used to a new interface, terminology, and concepts.

Let’s look at a few of these in more detail and highlight a few common misconceptions so you’re fully prepared to tackle anything a migration will throw at you.

1. Move your audience — your contacts (and their data) come with you

Your contacts, tags and custom fields can be exported as a spreadsheet from every major platform, ready to import into your new tool.

The one thing people sometimes forget (but really mustn’t!) is the most important: bring your unsubscribes, bounces and complaints too. That suppression list is what stops you emailing people who've already said no. Get on the wrong side of your audience and you’ll soon be on the wrong side of the inbox providers too (AKA the spam folder).

2. Consent belongs to you, not your platform

On the subject of moving your audience, a question we are often asked is whether you need to request permission from your contacts again before you can email them on your new provider.

People gave you permission to email them, not your software. Changing provider doesn't mean asking everyone again.

Of course, if you have any uncertainty around your consent and permissions, it’s always best to consult a legal professional with experience in this field. The laws are different around the world, and it’s always a good idea to be watertight here.

You want to bring your consent records (when and where each person signed up, and whether they double opted in), and check whether your privacy notice names your old provider. If it does, update it.

3. Update your forms

There are a million and one ways to build a website, from an off-the-shelf website builder like Squarespace, to a completely custom built, hand-coded website. So every setup will be different when it comes to email signup forms.

It also depends on what you are capturing with your forms — if it’s just a name and an email address, then the switch is relatively easy. If you have extensive data capture forms that ask for your mother’s maiden name and more, the chances are you will want to work with a developer or freelancer to make sure everything is captured and translated correctly from one tool to the next.

If you’re using a form builder like Gravity Forms, the chances are you can switch over your forms without even touching any code on your website.

4. Move your templates

Templates rarely move cleanly, and (whisper it) that's often a good thing.

Most teams are carrying years of clutter and designs that have been handed from one person to another over multiple rebrands.

It can often be a good tactic to rebuild just one simple template in the new tool and use this as the basis for all of your emails in the new system. This way, you’re working off a fresh and strong foundation that you can be sure is native to the new platform you’re adopting.

Chances are, the new platform you’re switching to will offer to migrate your templates for you. That can be an incredibly valuable offer — if you consider the cost of hiring an agency to do this, the fees could be into the thousands. Some providers offer an attractive rate, and some will do it for free to win your business. (We do the latter: our free migration service moves your contacts, segments, templates and sending setup for you.)

If you’d rather start fresh, a free template gallery is a quick way to get a clean foundation.

Before you cancel, if you can, export your campaign reports and previous campaign templates, so you can keep the history for reference.

5. Map out the time it will actually take

For a small team the core move is days, not months.

The most important thing to make sure you can migrate quickly is having all of the access you need in your current tool, and knowing all the right people in your organisation who will need to be involved.

If you can get the right access and the right people around the hypothetical table, and your new provider is sufficiently motivated, a migration can be done in a single day.

6. Keep things running while you move

To play devil’s advocate, let’s assume your migration will take more than a day, but less than a month. This is where the real hassle can hide, so plan for it:

• Pick a quiet moment. This should be obvious but don’t pick the week of your big appeal or launch to switch tools!
• Run both platforms for a few weeks. Just because you’re adopting a new tool it doesn’t mean you have to cancel the old one instantly. Keep the old account around until the new one has sent a couple of campaigns.
• Double check you’ve reconnected all of your signup forms and integrations. This is the step that can get missed. No one wants to look at their reports after a month to realise they’ve silently been losing new subscribers from a missed form.
• Set up your sending domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) before your first send. You will need someone technical. This will be confusing to anyone who hasn’t touched DNS before. It only needs to be done once and you can safely ignore it from then on. (Last week’s issue on what the inbox providers expect from senders explains why it matters.)
• Dip your toes in the water. If you have a larger audience, warm up your sending: start by sending to your most engaged subscribers on the new platform. Don’t send to everyone on day one, just in case you missed anything. Then build up gradually until you’re comfortable all of your numbers look right.

7. Staying put has a cost too

Every month on a tool you've outgrown costs you time, money and can hold you back from sending the kinds of email you actually want to put your name to. Email isn't free, and neither is putting up with something that doesn't fit.

The longest part of a switch is the time it takes to decide. The actual switch and the actual migration will be over before you know it.

Been putting it off? Take a small step today…

Log in to your current platform and export your contacts (and your unsubscribes). You don't have to go anywhere or pick a new tool yet. Just see how easy that first step is (and it's a good backup to have regardless).

Has this raised any questions for you? Any uncertainties? Any fears? Hit reply and let me know, I’d love to hear them.

Until next time,

James

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This week’s illustration is a field pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) from Ignatz Albrecht’s Icones plantarum medico-oeconomico-technologicarum (Vienna, c. 1800–1822), via the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Two hundred years old and still not carved. Some of us are just as good at putting things off.

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Upcoming: email accessibility masterclass

On Tuesday 10th November 2026 we’re hosting an online masterclass on the topic of accessibility. Digital accessibility is going from “nice to have” to a legal requirement, and aside from that, it’s the right thing to do for everyone. So we’re running a workshop with our friends at Conscious Marketing Movement to share everything we know on this topic.

It’s free to join, and you won’t want to miss this! RSVP and get it in your calendar.