Migrate from ELAINE to Mailchimp

ELAINE Contact records map to Mailchimp Members within a target Audience. Standard properties (email, first name, last name, phone) migrate directly to Mailchimp merge fields. Custom field values map to Mailchimp Merge Fields with type conversion (date fields become text in YYYY-MM-DD format, choice fields become text or dropdown merge fields). Contact status (subscribed, unsubscribed, bounced) maps to Mailchimp Member Status to preserve suppression list integrity. GDPR enrichment data added via ELAINE's API migrates as read-only text or tag values depending on the data type.

Target Group membership is resolved during migration and applied as Tags on Mailchimp Members. If the customer uses Target Groups as separate audience buckets rather than segmentation within one list, we create multiple Mailchimp Audiences (one per top-level Target Group) and Tags for sub-group membership. Complex multi-level hierarchies flatten to dot-separated Tags (e.g., 'Tier1.Tier2.Tier3') for manual reconstruction as Segments at the destination. We document the full group tree before cutover so the admin knows what segmentation logic requires rebuilding.

Mail Sequences with multi-step triggers, delays, and conditional branches do not migrate as executable automation logic. Mailchimp's Customer Journey Automations use a different trigger and action model from ELAINE's sequence builder. We extract every sequence with its full step configuration (step order, trigger condition, delay duration, content variation, exit condition) and deliver a written sequence inventory with a step-by-step mapping to Mailchimp Automation equivalents. The customer's admin rebuilds sequences in Mailchimp's builder using this documentation as the guide.

Individual email sends including newsletters and transactional emails migrate as sent Campaign records in Mailchimp. We preserve campaign name, send date, recipient count, and subject line. Full HTML content migrates as campaign body content. Performance metadata (opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes) transfers as Mailchimp Report data. Templates used for recurring sends are migrated separately as Mailchimp Templates.

A/B test configurations with subject line, content, and send-time variants migrate to Mailchimp Campaign A/B testing variants. We extract the test hypothesis, variant definitions, winner criteria, and test duration. Mailchimp's AB Test feature requires configuration at campaign creation time, so we document the full test structure and recommend which test type (subject, content, or send-time) applies for each migrated configuration. A/B test results history migrates as notes attached to the campaign record.

Custom fields on Contacts migrate to Mailchimp Merge Fields. Field type mapping is done during discovery: text fields map directly, date fields become text in ISO format, choice fields become dropdown or text merge fields, and calculated fields migrate as text with the computed value. We document all custom field types before migration and flag any that require conversion or truncation. Mailchimp caps merge field counts by plan tier, which we verify during scoping against the source custom field schema.

Files attached to campaigns or contacts are downloaded from ELAINE and re-associated in Mailchimp as Content Manager files. File names and linked records are preserved. We validate that file types are supported by Mailchimp's content storage (images, PDFs, standard office formats) and flag any unsupported file types for customer handling.

API-based integrations that enrich subscriber data externally (e.g., CRM sync, enrichment API) do not migrate as live integrations. We document each active external endpoint referenced on Contact records and the fields populated by those integrations. Post-migration, the customer re-establishes these integrations with updated endpoint configurations pointing to Mailchimp's API as the destination.