Are you familiar with the saying, \u201cChange the way you look at things and the things you look at will change\u201d? It\u2019s about the outlook and attitude when faced with a challenging situation\u2026and migrating from one ESP to another can definitely be challenging. <\/p>\n
We can see an ESP migration as a big, huge hassle <\/strong>or see at as a big, huge opportunity<\/strong>. <\/p>\n There are a lot of details to be managed during this time, and this handy ESP switching checklist<\/a> will help you prepare and move to your new ESP smoothly. But for even better results post-move, take these 5 steps ahead of time to make this move advantageous, as you clean house and start with a clean slate\u2026 <\/p>\n Take a good hard look at how you\u2019re doing things. What\u2019s working? What\u2019s not? What\u2019s working well? What\u2019s a pain in the behind? We want to take stock and produce a list of processes and campaigns that are better off done in a new way in the new platform.<\/p>\n Be clear and differentiate between what has been an ESP issue (and possibly the reason for switching<\/a>) and what\u2019s an internal issue. Talk to your team members and get their input too. Also talk to your boss and any other departments that either use the ESP platform or are served by your email marketing team. <\/p>\n You might discover there\u2019s an elephant in the room. Deal with it before you start the migration. Rather than accept same old, same old behavior, commit to improvement. <\/p>\n Next look at the \u201cbaggage\u201d you\u2019re planning to migrate over. Not everything needs to be taken along. Document all of the pieces that you have: <\/p>\n \u2022\tUsers and permissions While you\u2019re doing this review of your \u201cbaggage,\u201d also get organized in preparation for the move. Make sure to study the new platform and take advantage of any capabilities and flexibility you haven\u2019t had before. <\/p>\n Reorganize your campaigns and how you tag emails. Reorganize your data, fields and especially your data structures, and review your HTML to ensure it works properly in the new platform. Finally, make sure all email reporting and analytics<\/a> are set up the way you need it.<\/p>\n Taking stock and getting organized are important steps for your ESP migration, but it\u2019s also a good time to clean house, quite literally. Definitely do list hygiene before moving! (Get list hygiene tips here.) You will want to separate active from inactive subscribers. <\/p>\n Remember: Reactivation comes before Migration.<\/em> Review automated and triggered emails to make sure they are up-to-date. Ditto for landing pages and subscription forms. Anything that\u2019s out-of-date needs to be revised, replaced or rebuilt. <\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to be on a dedicated IP, work with your new ESP to find out if and how you can start warming up that IP<\/a>, in case you can start ahead of time.<\/p>\n View this move as a clean slate, enabling you to leave old ways of doing things behind. Even if you don\u2019t work your way through these five steps, take some time to review what you\u2019ve done in the past. The typical email marketer is so busy getting emails out the door, they can easily lose sight of the big picture and how well things are working (or not). <\/p>\n Take the time to review and analyze your campaigns, look for trends and outliers. Do a data dump (if you can) so you don\u2019t lose your historical performance. Also talk to the ESP to make sure you know what they expect of you prior to and during the migration<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/span>Step 1: Evaluate your current email satisfaction and performance<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"email-performance\"](\"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/email-performance.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/span>Step 2: Review what you need to move to the new ESP<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n\u2022\tApproval processes
\n\u2022\tLists (including your unsubscribes, bounces and spam complaints)
\n\u2022\tCampaign structure
\n\u2022\tRules for segmenting
\n\u2022\tRules for automated and triggered emails
\n\u2022\tDatabase and schema
\n\u2022\tImages
\n\u2022\tContent, including automated and triggered email content
\n\u2022\tPast emails
\n\u2022\tHosted images
\n\u2022\tCurrent emails and email templates
\n\u2022\tIntegrations, including both data feeds and APIs
\n\u2022\tReporting including custom reporting
\n\u2022\tForms
\n\u2022\tLanding pages
\n\u2022\tWeb analytics<\/p>\n<\/span>Step 3: Organize your data and campaigns<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>Step 4: Clean house, do a final reactivation campaign<\/span><\/h2>\n
\nDo a reactivation campaign ahead of time, at your current ESP. You want to do that before the move, so you can remove the truly inactive from your list (and not take that dead weight with you). <\/p>\n<\/span>Step 5: Start anew and set expectations<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"implementation-marketing-automation-difficult\"](\"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/implementation-marketing-automation-difficult.jpg\")
\nAccording to the Benchmarking Report Marketing automation by B2Bmarketing.net<\/a> and Circle Research, 61% agree that the implementation process of Marketing Automation<\/a> was difficult.<\/p>\n<\/span>How moving to a new Email Marketing Provider can be a fresh start<\/span><\/h2>\n