Migrate from Marketing Star to Zoho CRM

Marketing Star Contacts with an email address or mobile phone map to Zoho CRM Contact. If the contact represents a prospect that has not yet been qualified into a business relationship, we map to Zoho Lead instead. The split rule is defined during scoping based on the customer's criteria for prospect vs. customer status. We preserve the original Marketing Star contact ID in a custom field mstar_original_id__c on both Lead and Contact for audit and reconciliation.

Marketing Star does not have a separate Company/Account object; company information lives within Contact records. We extract distinct company names and domains from Marketing Star contacts, deduplicate them, and create Zoho CRM Account records. The Account becomes the parent of the Contact, satisfying Zoho's Contact-to-Account Lookup. Any contact-level company field maps to the Account's Account Name and Website fields.

Marketing Star Lists map to Zoho CRM Tags on the Contact record plus a Zoho CRM Segment that filters contacts by those tags. Each list membership becomes a tag on the Contact (e.g., List_Q1_Promo, Audience_2024_Beta). The customer chooses during scoping whether to preserve list names as tag prefixes or consolidate into broader segments. List-level send history and list size metadata migrate as notes on the first Contact in each list.

Marketing Star Campaigns map to Zoho CRM Campaign records with Campaign Name, Type (Email, SMS, QR Code), Status, and Start Date preserved. Campaign-level metrics (send volume, open rate, click rate) migrate to Zoho Analytics custom tables for reporting. Individual engagement records (opens, clicks) migrate as Campaign Member activity records or as Notes on the Campaign for historical reference.

SMS contacts in Marketing Star are distinguished by mobile phone number. We preserve SMS opt-in status separately from email opt-in and map to Zoho CRM consent fields: Consent_Label (SMS), Consent_Date, and Consent_Proof fields. If Marketing Star tracks SMS-specific tags, those migrate to Zoho CRM Tags. Mobile phone number migrates to the Contact's Mobile field.

Marketing Star Forms capture leads and populate contact fields. Form structure and field mappings are exportable as a field mapping document. We translate form submissions into Contact property updates in Zoho CRM by creating custom fields matching the form field names. The form itself does not migrate; we recommend Zoho Forms or the customer's preferred form tool as the replacement, with field mapping documented for the admin to configure.

QR codes in Marketing Star are tied to Campaigns or Forms and track physical-to-digital attribution. We export QR code metadata and redirect URL configurations and recreate them as Notes on the relevant Zoho CRM Campaign. The customer rebuilds QR code generation using their preferred tool (Zoho Pages, a third-party QR service, or a custom solution) with redirect URLs documented.

Marketing Star Automation Workflows are documented but not migrated as code. We extract each active workflow's trigger, conditions, delays, and actions and deliver a written Workflow Inventory that maps each Marketing Star workflow to a recommended Zoho Workflow Rule or Blueprint equivalent. The customer's Zoho admin rebuilds the automations post-migration. Zoho Workflow Rules and Blueprints use a different trigger-and-action model from Marketing Star's visual workflow builder.

Marketing Star email engagement history (sends, opens, clicks) maps to Zoho CRM Activity Tasks linked to the Contact. Email content migrates as a Note attached to the Task. The customer may also license Zoho Campaigns for broadcast email functionality post-migration; we document which contacts have existing engagement history to inform segmentation in the new tool.

Marketing Star call engagements map to Zoho CRM Tasks with the Sub-Module field set to Calls. Call duration, disposition, and recording URL (if stored) migrate to custom Task fields. Activity Date preserves the original timestamp for timeline ordering.

Marketing Star Owners map to Zoho CRM Users by email match. We resolve each distinct owner referenced on Contacts, Lists, and Campaigns. Any Marketing Star Owner without a matching Zoho User goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record import resumes.