Migrate from Groundhogg to Zoho CRM

Groundhogg's primary object maps directly to Zoho CRM's Contacts module with a 1:1 relationship. The email field serves as the dedupe key during import. Any Groundhogg custom contact properties (crm_object_type, dnl_timestamp, date_of_last_send, GDPR consent flags) migrate as Zoho custom fields with preserved field types. Contact ownership maps from Groundhogg's WP user IDs remapped to Zoho user email addresses.

Available in Groundhogg Plus and above. Companies map 1:1 to Zoho CRM Accounts. The Groundhogg company ID is preserved as a custom field gh_company_id__c for audit and reconciliation. Company names become Account Names; address and phone fields map directly. Multiple Groundhogg contacts sharing the same company_id are linked to the same Account via the company_id foreign key resolved at import time.

Groundhogg uses a flat tag taxonomy with no hierarchy support. Tags migrate as-is into Zoho CRM's Tags module, where they can be applied to Contacts, Accounts, Potentials, and Deals. The tag name is the dedupe key. Groundhogg's contact_to_tag and company_to_tag associations are recreated as Zoho Tag linkages during the Contact and Account import phases.

Groundhogg custom fields map to Zoho CRM custom fields by field type: checkboxes become Zoho checkbox fields, dropdowns become picklist fields with values preserved, date fields become Zoho date fields, and text fields map to Zoho single-line or multi-line text fields. We audit the full custom field schema before migration because Groundhogg supports an unlimited number of custom fields and Zoho enforces a 300-field cap per module. Any schema exceeding this limit is flagged during scoping and resolved with the customer before migration begins.

Groundhogg logs contact activities (email opens, link clicks, form submissions, tag applied/removed, note created, call logged) as timestamped events. We export the full activity log per contact and recreate each entry as a Zoho CRM Activity record linked to the corresponding Contact. Activity type, timestamp, and metadata (UTM source/medium/campaign where available) are preserved. Activity ordering is maintained by setting the Zoho Activity date to the original Groundhogg timestamp.

Groundhogg contact-level notes migrate to Zoho Notes linked to the corresponding Contact. Note body, author attribution (mapped via WP user email to Zoho user), and timestamp are preserved. Notes with no body are assigned the title '[No Title]' in Zoho. Notes without a Groundhogg author receive the migration service account as the Zoho author.

Available in Groundhogg Pro and above. Deals map to Zoho CRM Potentials with deal name, amount, stage name, expected close date, and pipeline assignment. Groundhogg pipeline stage names map to Zoho Potential Stage values configured during schema design. If the customer is on a Groundhogg plan below Pro, Deals do not exist in the database and this mapping step is skipped. We verify the customer's active Groundhogg plan tier during scoping to avoid exporting orphaned deal records from legacy entitlements.

Groundhogg assigns ownership via WP user IDs. We export the WP user table, extract email addresses, and match by email against the Zoho destination org's User table. Any WP user without a matching Zoho User record is held in the Owner Reconciliation Queue for the customer to provision before record import proceeds. Migration cannot complete past Contacts and Accounts because Potential OwnerId references require valid Zoho User records.

Groundhogg Flows store automation logic (trigger type, step sequence, conditional branches, action configurations) in the WordPress database. There is no export mechanism for Flows via the REST API. We export Flow name, trigger type, step count, step names, and conditional logic as a written specification document during discovery. The customer or a Zoho implementation specialist rebuilds this logic in Zoho Blueprint. Flows are listed here to confirm that the automation structure is captured, documented, and available for Blueprint rebuild — it is not a data migration in the traditional sense.

Groundhogg broadcast email metadata (subject, send date, recipient count, open/click metrics) is exported and mapped to Zoho Activity records linked to each recipient Contact. The broadcast HTML content and recipient lists are not migrated as discrete Zoho objects. The broadcast send metadata provides historical context on past campaigns but does not recreate the broadcast itself. Email campaign creation in Zoho (if needed) is handled separately by the customer's marketing team post-migration.