Migrate from HighQ to Mailchimp

HighQ user profiles map to Mailchimp contacts within a single audience. The user's email address is the primary key used for deduplication. First name, last name, and any custom profile properties become Mailchimp merge fields. Status (active/inactive) does not block migration — inactive users can be imported and suppressed before first send.

HighQ iSheets function as structured contact spreadsheets with user-defined columns. Each iSheet becomes a separate Mailchimp audience so column names and data types map cleanly to that audience's merge fields. Multi-sheet sources that represent the same contact list are merged before import to avoid duplicate contacts in Mailchimp.

Each iSheet row maps to one Mailchimp contact. The email address column (if present) is used as the unique identifier. Rows without an email address are flagged for review — contacts without emails cannot be created in Mailchimp and require either email enrichment or exclusion from the import.

Text-type iSheet columns map to Mailchimp text merge fields. Column headers become the merge field name. If the column header exceeds Mailchimp's 30-character field name limit, it is truncated and flagged in the migration plan so your team can rename it post-import.

Numeric iSheet columns map to Mailchimp number merge fields. Integer and decimal values are preserved as submitted. Mailchimp number fields support range-based segment conditions, which enables the same filtering logic that iSheet column sorting provided. If your iSheet contains values outside Mailchimp's supported numeric range, they will be flagged for manual review and can be stored as text fields if needed.

Date-type iSheet columns become Mailchimp date merge fields. Original dates are preserved in ISO 8601 format. Mailchimp date fields support relative date segment filters (e.g., contacts added in the last 30 days), which can replicate iSheet date-range filtering workflows. Time zones are normalized to UTC before import to ensure consistent relative calculations.

Single-select iSheet columns map to Mailchimp radio merge fields with value-by-value mapping. Multi-select columns map to Mailchimp checkboxes plus tag assignments — each selected option generates a tag on the contact so segments can filter by multiple values without requiring complex pick-list value configuration.

Files attached to HighQ records are downloaded and re-uploaded to Mailchimp Content Studio. File size limits (25MB per file in Mailchimp) apply. Files that exceed the limit are flagged for splitting or alternative delivery. Folder structure from HighQ is not preserved — all uploaded files land in the root content folder.

HighQ Workflow engine tasks, approvals, and conditional routing have no Mailchimp counterpart. Workflow definitions are exported as JSON configuration files for reference when rebuilding automation logic in Mailchimp Customer Journeys. This export is delivered as part of the migration package but requires manual rebuild.

Client portal access permissions in HighQ — indicating which contacts were granted portal access — are translated to Mailchimp tags (e.g., 'Portal_User'). Your team can use these tags to segment audiences for client-specific campaigns or to exclude portal users from general marketing sends if needed.

When multiple HighQ sites contain user data, each site can become a separate Mailchimp audience or be consolidated into one audience with a 'Source_Site' tag. The choice depends on whether your team sends site-specific campaigns or treats all contacts as a single audience. We surface this decision in the pre-migration planning phase.

Active HighQ users map to Subscribed contacts in Mailchimp. Inactive or deactivated users are imported as Unsubscribed to prevent accidental sends to contacts no longer engaged with your organization. The status mapping is configurable — if your team prefers to import all contacts as Subscribed for re-engagement, we apply that setting before the final import.