Migration from one CRM to another can be compared to moving houses. Without a plan, the process can be unnecessarily daunting, but all that changes when you know what to do, and at which point. When moving your data from another CRM or legacy system to your new HubSpot CRM, there are several things that you need to have in mind to guarantee a smooth, fault-free onboarding process. From creating enough time to validating the data, here’s a detailed HubSpot onboarding checklist to ensure a successful migration:
1. Create enough time
Since HubSpot migrations can be quite time-consuming, especially when you have lots of data to move and validate, you need to give yourself enough time for the move. Make sure that the planned period accommodates the current contract obligations, and also make sure that the time you’ve set aside is enough to find the right tier and add-ons.
If you’re going to be using professional assistance for the onboarding process, you’ll also need to factor that into your time plan.
2. Engage the right onboarding team
HubSpot migrations are often more demanding than most companies can get a handle on, thus it may be necessary for you to engage an onboarding service provider. When chosen correctly, premier HubSpot onboarding services help you get the most out of the platform, and you don’t even have to get heavily involved in the process.
3. Manage the change
Regardless of the size of your organization, moving to a new CRM tool is a big change that requires sufficient buy-in within your company. It’s commonplace for teams to want to resist change if they are in their comfort zones, so be ready to convince them that the move is necessary and that it will actually streamline operations throughout the organization.
You may even need professional assistance not only to explain the importance of the move but also to train your staff to ensure that everyone is capable of using the new system after you’ve successfully migrated.
4. Ensure accountability
Since the migration process involves several people working together, it’s important to decide who’s accountable for what and when. Here, you can use the model known as DARCI, which is an acronym for:
- Decision makers
- Accountable
- Responsible
- Consulted
- Informed
This creates a reliable workflow that goes a long way to avoid expensive mistakes as the project progresses.
5. Identify data sets
You need to know the data sets and data structures that are most important to your company so that you can move them. Some of the most important elements in any company are:
- Contact details
- Customer interaction records
- Customer Purchase history
- Demographic information
- Customer preference data
Moving the right data sets and identifying the ideal data structures to manage
these data elements will make it a step easier to pick the most appropriate HubSpot tools for your organization.
6. Export!
After identifying the different data sets and picking the right HubSpot tools, you can now export your data records in either Excel, google sheet, or CSV form.
7. Create a backup
You will want to create a backup of all the data files that you were using previously to avoid dealing with data loss later on. Some of the most important fields that you should target are:
- Generated reports
- User documents/files
- Generated exports
- Document templates
- Customer databases
8. Pilot your data
It’s a good idea to have a trial run for the different data sets, structures, and locations in your CRM, rather than trying to migrate everything in one step and possibly encountering errors that take a lot of work to fix. Transferring your data in chunks makes it easier to organize and fix any errors that come up.
9. Validate the data
After transferring your data to the HubSpot CRM, you should confirm that everything is moved correctly and that it’s in the right location and easily accessible before you can start relying on the data.
Make sure to look out for duplicate records, and merge anything that should be merged, then you should be good to go.
10. Go on, switch!
After successfully transferring the entire collection of data files and confirming that everything is working as expected, you can migrate to your HubSpot CRM. That should be a feat worth celebrating because you’ll not only have a single source of truth, but it’s going to be a move that pays off with time.
There you have it
Your HubSpot onboarding process is something that you can do on your own, but there’s always professional assistance to do the heavy lifting for you if you need it. So if you need some extra muscle, make sure to ask RevParners for help.
