Migrate from Real Estate CRM to Mailchimp

Every Real Estate CRM contact becomes a Mailchimp audience member. The contact's email address is the unique key — if a contact has no email address it is flagged for manual review before the import runs, since Mailchimp requires an email for every subscriber.

Mailchimp has no company object — the CRM's company name is stored in a custom merge field (COMPANY or REALESTATECOMPANY) on the audience member. If multiple companies are associated with one contact, additional companies are appended as tags (e.g., 'company: Acme Realty') rather than as separate fields.

Mailchimp has no deal or opportunity object. We preserve deal name and amount in merge fields (DEALNAME, DEALAMOUNT) and stage as a tag (e.g., 'deal-stage: Under Contract'). This is a reference snapshot — it does not update after migration. Teams needing live pipeline tracking must use a CRM alongside Mailchimp.

CRM pipeline names have no Mailchimp equivalent. We capture the pipeline name as a tag prefix (e.g., 'pipeline: Buyer Leads') on each contact that had an associated deal. The pipeline structure itself must be recreated in a CRM if continued pipeline tracking is required.

CRM workflows, sequences, and automated follow-up sequences do not transfer. We export a JSON definition file of all workflow logic (trigger conditions, time delays, action steps) so your team can reference it when rebuilding in Mailchimp Customer Journeys. This is a documentation deliverable, not a data migration.

CRM notes attach to a contact and include body text, created date, and owner. We import note body text into Mailchimp's contact note field. Note timestamps are preserved as a custom merge field (NOTE_DATE) since Mailchimp notes do not natively store creation timestamps.

CRM email logs (subject, sent date, open/click status) cannot become native Mailchimp activity because those events belong to a different email system. We tag each contact with campaign-reference tags (e.g., 'email-sent: Q4 Market Update 2024') so the fact of past outreach is visible on the contact record.

CRM call and meeting logs are converted to tags on the contact record (e.g., 'call: 2025-03-15', 'meeting: Open House 123 Main St'). The full call notes are preserved in the contact note field. Mailchimp has no native activity timeline — tags serve as a flat reference log.

Every CRM custom field becomes a Mailchimp merge field. Merge field tags are truncated to Mailchimp's 30-character limit (e.g., 'preferred_neighborhood' becomes 'PREFNEIGHBORHOOD'). Pick-list fields become text merge fields with comma-separated values unless a tag-based split is preferred — we surface this choice in the mapping plan.

Mailchimp does not support user-level record assignment. CRM owner names are stored as a merge field (AGENT or OWNER) and as a tag (e.g., 'agent: Jane Smith') on each contact. This preserves which agent a lead is associated with but does not grant Mailchimp account access.

Mailchimp does not accept file attachments on contacts. Any CRM attachments (documents, CMA PDFs, contracts) are downloaded, uploaded to a cloud storage link provided by you, and the URL is stored in a custom merge field (ATTACHMENT_URL). We do not host files.

CRM lead scores migrate to a numeric merge field (LEADSCORE). Mailchimp has no native lead scoring — scores do not trigger automations automatically. If automated scoring-based routing is needed, a third-party integration (e.g., Zapier or a lead scoring add-on) must be configured post-migration.