Migrate from Altcraft to Mailchimp

Discovery and data audit

We audit the Altcraft account across all tiers (Cloud, Cloud Pro, Private Cloud, on-premise) to enumerate Profiles, custom fields, Segments (static and dynamic), Campaigns, Message Templates, Products, Orders, and Control Groups. We request access to Altcraft's UI-based CSV export and confirm whether the customer has an Albato connection or database credentials that provide an alternative export path. We count profile records, audit custom field types, and flag any fields that exceed Mailchimp's merge field limits or type restrictions. The discovery output is a written migration scope with a field mapping sheet, a segment rebuild checklist, and a timeline estimate.

Mailchimp account preparation

We provision or configure the destination Mailchimp account with the correct audience structure. This includes creating the primary audience, setting the subscribe and unsubscribe settings, configuring double opt-in if required, creating all merge fields to match the Altcraft custom field schema (up to 40 fields), enabling e-commerce product and order tracking if Products and Orders are in scope, and setting up any additional audiences if the customer uses multiple Altcraft profiles for different brands or regions. Mailchimp account settings (timezone, default from name, campaign defaults) are aligned to match the Altcraft send configuration before any contact import begins.

CSV export and data transformation

We run the CSV export from Altcraft's UI for all Profile records. The export includes all standard fields (email, name, phone, address) and all custom fields as columns. We transform the CSV to match Mailchimp's import format: merge field names match Mailchimp's naming convention (FNAME, LNAME, PHONE, or custom MERGE0-MERGE9 labels), dates format as MM/DD for birthday fields, multi-value fields flatten to pipe-delimited text, and JSON or nested data stores as text. We also export segment membership as a separate mapping table that maps each Profile email to each segment it belongs to, since Altcraft's CSV export does not natively tag records with segment names.

Segment rebuild and contact import

We import Contacts into Mailchimp in batches using the API or CSV batch upload with duplicate handling set to 'update'. After each batch we reconcile row counts against the Altcraft source export. We apply segment membership post-import using Mailchimp's Tags API, iterating through the segment mapping table and adding the appropriate tags to each contact email address. Static segments become Mailchimp Saved Segments with tag-based membership. Dynamic segments are documented with their Altcraft definition and the recommended Mailchimp filter conditions for the customer's admin to rebuild.

Campaign metadata and template import

We import campaign performance history (subject, send date, recipient count, open rate, click rate, bounce rate, unsubscribe count) as a structured CSV. This data is for historical reference and baseline reporting; Mailchimp will begin fresh reporting from the cutover date. We import Message Templates via HTML upload, preserving styling and image references where possible. We deliver a template mapping sheet that pairs each Altcraft template ID with its Mailchimp template ID so the customer's team can quickly locate the migrated template when building new campaigns.

Cutover, validation, and rebuild handoff

We freeze writes in Altcraft during the cutover window, run a final delta export of any Profiles modified during the migration, apply those changes to Mailchimp, and then disable the Altcraft integration from sending. We deliver the Automation Rebuild Playbook documenting every Altcraft Scenario with its trigger, conditions, actions, delays, and a recommended Mailchimp Customer Journey configuration. We do not rebuild automations in Mailchimp; that work belongs to the customer's admin or a Mailchimp partner. We support a one-week hypercare window to resolve any import discrepancies raised during the first campaign send.