If your organization has used Mailchimp historically and you're making the jump to Virtuous CRM+ Email, there is a specific process to make sure all your existing data transitions properly.
The steps outlined here are intended to be a one-time process to transition to using Virtuous CRM+ Email as your primary marketing app full-time.
Virtuous CRM+ Prep
Create Email Lists in Virtuous CRM+
Before you can import Contact/Individuals to Virtuous CRM+ and add them to Email Lists, you need to create all the necessary Email Lists first. For a detailed walkthrough of this process, please refer to this Support Article.
As a reminder, Email Lists should be general streams of communication. As an example, having a Volunteer Email List to handle all volunteer-specific marketing items is an excellent use case! However, creating an Email List for each email going out that has volunteer-specific content is not the proper use of Email Lists. When translating your existing Mailchimp Audiences to Virtuous CRM+ Email Lists, keep this best practice in mind and consider if any Mailchimp Audiences should be consolidated into one Virtuous CRM+ Email List.
Create Temporary Tag
In order to target this specific selection of records that are being imported, you will need to create a temporary Tag to use for this process. After this process is complete, you can delete this tag. Be sure to create a descriptive Tag. In this example, we will use "MAILCHIMP MIGRATION" as the Tag. For a detailed walk-through of creating a new Tag, check out this Support Article.
Export From Mailchimp
When building your list of records to export from Mailchimp, it's recommended to consider the Engagement Score. If a record has a notably low Engagement Score, you may not want to migrate that record into Virtuous CRM+.
*Be aware of any records coming from Mailchimp that do not have a First Name and Last Name. These records will need attention before they can be successfully imported to Virtuous CRM+. As you will see below, all Individual records require a First Name and Last Name.*
Once your data has been successfully exported from Mailchimp, you can now begin formatting your file for import to Virtuous CRM+.
Prepare for Import to Virtuous CRM+
For efficient data prep, it's recommended to utilize the Contact Import Template, which can be found on the left-hand side of the Gift and Contact Import Tool. This template is preformatted with column headings that match Virtuous CRM+ import requirements.
Fields Required for Household Contacts
- Contact Type - "Household"
- (Custom Contact Types with the base type as Household are also valid entries)
- First Name
- Last Name
Formatting Tips for Household Contacts
- Contact Name is not a required field. Virtuous CRM+ will automatically populate the Contact Name field based on the Custom Contact Name Settings established in your Settings. To learn more about the formatting options, review this Support Article that covers the setting features in full detail.
- Email Address is the primary unique identifier in Virtuous CRM+. If available, it is always best to enter an Email Address to minimize duplicates.
- First Name and Last Name apply to the Primary Individual
- It's recommended to limit your file formatting to one Individual per row.
Fields Required for Organization or Foundation Contacts
- Contact Type - "Organization" or "Foundation"
- (Custom Contact Types with the base type as Organization or Foundation are also valid entries)
- Contact Name
- First Name
- Last Name
Formatting Tips for Organization or Foundation Contacts
- First Name and Last Name are not always available for Organization/Foundation records. It's recommended to establish a Default First Name and a Default Last Name. Many organizations will use "Friend" as the First Name and "Of Organization Name" as the Last Name. This default entry can be standardized in your Custom Contact Name Settings to have it ignored when identifying potential duplicates. To learn more about Custom Contact Name Settings check out this Support Article.
- The Primary Individual on an Organization or Foundation record is typically the main person you interact with.
- It's recommended to limit your file formatting to one Individual per row.
Add the Temporary Tag to the Import File
In column X of the template file, enter the value for the Temporary Tag created earlier in the process. Be sure this is entered across all rows.
*Do NOT enter any values in the column titled Email List.*
Appending the correct Individuals to the respective Email Lists with the associated subscribe/unsubscribe data will happen further in the process.
Name and save your file in CSV format.
Example Import File
Note: Columns I through M are hidden to simplify the example. You are welcome to use all available fields in the Contact Import template. Do not add additional fields.
Toggle Organization Setting Before Import
Navigate to your Organization Settings. Scroll down and check the option "Enable Ability To Create New Contacts With No Match On Import". Having this feature turned on will allow you to create many contacts at once which is helpful if a lot of your incoming Mailchimp data is for Contacts that do not exist in Virtuous CRM+ already.
Note: Only an Admin User has the ability to edit this setting.
Import to Virtuous CRM+
Before importing be sure the below items are set.
- The temporary Tag has been created
- All necessary Email Lists have been created
- Specific Contact import feature toggled on in Organization Settings
- Final CSV file with migrated data from Mailchimp and the Temporary Tag added to each row
Once you verify all prep steps have been completed you'll jump into Virtuous CRM+ and navigate to the Gift and Contact Import tool.
*It's important to use the Gift and Contact Import tool as this will allow for matching to existing Virtuous CRM+ records and minimize the possibility of duplicate records.*
Select the blue plus in the top-right corner to open a new import.
In the pop-out window, select the "Import Type" dropdown field and change it to "Contact Import".
Select the "Import File" box and select the saved CSV file from your computer.
Select "Save Import".
After your file has completed its initial processing, you will see your records have dropped into the three buckets along the bottom.
First, select the "Actions" dropdown in the top-right corner and select "Create New Contacts".
Next, work through the Matches and Updates identified by Virtuous CRM+. This is your opportunity to attach incoming data to existing Virtuous CRM+ Contact records.
Once all records have moved to "Ready for Import" select the "Import" option in the top-right corner.
At this stage of the process, all the people you pulled from Mailchimp will now exist in Virtuous CRM+ as Individuals.
Export Individuals from Virtuous CRM+
Navigate to the Query Tool and create a new "Individual Query". Be sure to name the query something descriptive.
- In the "Field" box enter "Tag".
- In the "Operator" box enter "Is any of".
- In the "Value" box enter the temporary Tag.
Refer to the example formatting below.
On the results page, select all the Individual records using the top check box and select the phrase "Select all 111 items in the query results" to grab all records beyond the initial 10 records being displayed.
Select "Download CSV" in the top-right corner.
In the pop-out window, select the fields listed below.
- Individual ID
- Home Email (and any other email types imported)
Select "Download CSV" and your file will be prepared for download. Open this file and set it aside for the time being.
Prepare Email Subscription File for the Bulk Data Tools
Navigate to the Bulk Data Tool. This can be found by selecting "Settings" from the left-hand menu. In the slide-out menu, select "Bulk Data Tools".
Formatting the Email List Subscription Import File
Navigate back to the file of exported Virtuous CRM+ Individual IDs and Email Addresses. Add two columns to the right of the EmailAddress column. The first will be titled "EmailList" and the second named "Subscribed". You will format one import file per Mailchimp audience.
Using a VLOOKUP target the column of Email Addresses in your exported Mailchimp file to match the correct email address with the appropriate Subscribed or Unsubscribed. For Subscribed Individuals, the entry must reflect "TRUE". For Unsubscribed Individuals, the entry must reflect "FALSE".
Once your file formatting is complete, name and save the file as a CSV.
Import Subscribes and Unsubscribes
Navigate back to Virtuous CRM+ and the Bulk Import Tool. Scroll down to #5: Email List Subscriptions. Select the dotted box and then select the CSV file to be imported. The file will begin processing.
You will receive an update that there are missing headers. These are not required fields and you can select "Import".
After this file has been processed, the respective Individuals will now be Subscribed or Unsubscribed, as appropriate.