Migrate from InStream to Mailchimp

InStream Contacts map to Mailchimp Audience Members. Standard fields (first name, last name, email, phone) map directly. We preserve the InStream contact ID in a custom merge field for audit and cross-reference. Email address is the primary dedupe key in Mailchimp. InStream's free plan 100-contact cap means any migration exceeding that threshold requires an account upgrade before import proceeds.

InStream Companies map to Mailchimp Address merge fields or a custom text field carrying company name and details. Mailchimp does not have a native Company/Account object; company data is stored per-contact rather than as a shared record. If the customer needs shared company records (multiple Contacts linked to one Company), we recommend storing Company name on each Contact with a custom Company ID merge field for segmentation rather than expecting a separate Company object.

InStream Lists segment Contacts for targeted communication. Each List membership maps to a Mailchimp Tag applied to the Contact in the shared Audience. A Contact belonging to multiple InStream Lists receives multiple Tags in Mailchimp. We extract the full list of Lists during discovery and generate a tag-naming convention that preserves list names (e.g., InStream List 'Newsletter' becomes Tag 'instream-list-newsletter'). This preserves segmentation without creating multiple Mailchimp Audiences, which Mailchimp now discourages for most use cases.

InStream pipeline stages are deal-tracking states (e.g., Qualified Lead, Demo Scheduled, Proposal Sent) with no native Mailchimp equivalent because Mailchimp is an email marketing platform, not a CRM. We offer two strategies during scoping: map pipeline stages to a custom text or picklist merge field on the Contact record (preserving stage name and order), or map them to Tags (e.g., tag 'deal-stage-qualified-lead') for segment-based visibility. The customer chooses based on whether they plan to use Mailchimp for deal tracking or only for email marketing.

InStream deal amounts map to a custom numeric merge field in Mailchimp if the customer wants to preserve deal value data. Mailchimp's standard fields do not include deal value. We create a custom merge field (e.g., 'DEAL_VALUE') during migration. This field can be used for merge tag personalization in emails (e.g., 'Your estimated value is *|DEAL_VALUE|*') but is not used for native Mailchimp reporting.

InStream enriches contacts with LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook profile URLs pulled from external APIs. This enrichment is linked to InStream's API connections, not stored as independent static data, so the enriched snapshot does not export. We extract the social profile URLs from the InStream UI export and map them to custom text merge fields in Mailchimp (e.g., LINKEDIN_URL, TWITTER_URL, FACEBOOK_URL). These store the URL strings but not the full enriched social profile data.

InStream Tags (applied directly to Contacts, separate from List membership) map to Mailchimp Tags. We preserve the tag name exactly and apply it to the corresponding Audience Member. Mailchimp Tags are additive labels, not mutually exclusive, which matches InStream's tagging model.

InStream call and meeting records attach to Contact timelines but have no Mailchimp equivalent. Mailchimp tracks campaign engagement (opens, clicks, unsubscribes), not CRM activity history. We do not migrate activity records as standalone objects. If the customer needs call or meeting history visible, we recommend storing a summary note in a custom text merge field or a linked Google Doc URL. Email history attached to Contacts in InStream can be summarized as a custom field but not as native email records in Mailchimp.

InStream custom fields exist but their schema is not publicly documented via API. We extract available field definitions from the InStream UI export and cross-reference them against Mailchimp's supported merge field types (text, number, date, phone, address, birthday, image). Any unmapped custom fields are flagged for manual review during scoping. We create matching Mailchimp merge fields before migration begins. Type conversion is applied (e.g., InStream dropdown becomes Mailchimp dropdown picklist with the same options).