Migrate from Bolten CRM to Mailchimp

Bolten Contacts map to Mailchimp Members by email address as the dedupe key. We preserve contact status (active, inactive), phone number (mapped to Phone merge field), and any Bolten Tags as Mailchimp Tags applied at import time. Bolten custom field values map to Mailchimp merge fields by type: text to text merge field, date to date merge field, dropdown to radio or dropdown merge field. Multi-select Bolten fields store as JSON strings in a text merge field because Mailchimp does not support native multi-select merge fields. Deduplication is email-based; we merge on email and preserve the most recently updated field values from Bolten.

Bolten Leads with a matching email in the destination Mailchimp audience are updated as Members; Leads with no match are created as new Members. We apply a Bolten_Lead tag to all records sourced from the Lead object so that the customer can segment prospects from converted customers. Lead lifecycle status (new, contacted, qualified) migrates as a text merge field for reporting purposes. Owner assignment on Bolten Leads has no Mailchimp equivalent and is noted as excluded.

Bolten Companies map to Mailchimp as Tags applied to Members (company_name tag) or as a text merge field (COMPANY) on the contact record. The customer selects the strategy during scoping. If the customer uses Bolten Companies primarily for domain-based lead attribution, the domain value migrates as a COMPANY merge field and can be used for Mailchimp audience segmentation by company domain.

Mailchimp has no deal or opportunity object. Kanban Deals, deal values, stage names, assignees, and stage timestamps are exported as a separate CSV archive with Member email as the lookup key. We ask the customer to confirm the intended stage sequence for Bolten Kanban stages (which are free-text labels with no enforced ordering in the API) and write an ordinal position to the archive so the pipeline context is preserved even though it cannot appear as live records in Mailchimp. Customers who need deal tracking post-migration should evaluate Pipedrive, HubSpot, or a dedicated CRM.

Bolten Tags on Contacts and Deals map directly to Mailchimp Tags. Tags are preserved as flat-label strings without hierarchical structure. We import all tag assignments at the Member level using the Mailchimp Tags API endpoint. Bolten tags that are semantically equivalent to lifecycle stages (e.g., hot_lead, customer) are flagged during scoping so the customer can decide whether to map them to Mailchimp Groups or keep them as Tags for segmentation flexibility.

Bolten custom fields per object map to Mailchimp merge fields. Text fields up to 255 characters map 1:1 to Mailchimp text merge fields. Fields exceeding 255 characters are truncated with a _truncated suffix flag in the merge field label and a note in the reconciliation report. Number fields map to Mailchimp number merge fields; date fields to date merge fields; dropdown to radio or dropdown merge field. Multi-select fields store as JSON in a text merge field because Mailchimp does not support native multi-select types. We pre-create all required merge fields in the Mailchimp audience before importing any Members.

Bolten Activity logs (calls, emails, meetings, notes) are condensed into Mailchimp contact notes. Because Mailchimp has no structured activity timeline, we flatten the activity history into a chronological text note attached to each Member, ordered by timestamp. Call disposition and duration migrate as text within the note. Meeting details include attendee list and location. The original HubSpot timestamps are preserved in the note header so that historical ordering is visible. This approach preserves context without creating a separate activity object that Mailchimp does not support.

WhatsApp message threads are stored on Meta's infrastructure, not within Bolten's own database, and are not technically migratable. We preserve contact phone numbers and conversation metadata (last contact date, thread timestamp) as contact fields or merge fields. Customers who need WhatsApp history must submit a separate data-portability request to Meta. We flag this limitation during scoping and include a Meta data-portability request checklist in the migration handoff documentation.

Bolten Users and Assignees do not map to Mailchimp Members. Mailchimp does not have a user or assignee concept at the contact level. We extract a User inventory from Bolten as a reference document for the customer's admin, identifying which Bolten users correspond to which Mailchimp audience segments or tag owners if the customer intends to assign campaign ownership post-migration.

Bolten Workflows are property-triggered automation rules with conditions, delays, and CRM actions. Mailchimp Automations are campaign-based triggers with a different action model. Workflows are not migratable as code. We deliver a written inventory of every active Bolten Workflow with its trigger conditions, actions, and recommended Mailchimp Automation equivalent. The customer's admin rebuilds automations in Mailchimp's Automation builder post-migration using this inventory as the specification document.