Migrate from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement to Mailchimp

Prospects map directly to Mailchimp Contacts by email address, which serves as the unique identifier in both systems. We use a three-pass matching strategy: exact email match, normalised email match (stripped of case and punctuation), then flagged for manual resolution. Pardot's standard Prospect fields (first name, last name, email, phone, address) map to their Mailchimp equivalents. The Pardot prospect_id is stored in a Mailchimp merge field for traceability. Pardot system fields that cannot migrate include Last Activity At, Created Date, Updated Date, First Assigned, Grade, Referrer, Do Not Call, Do Not Email, Opted Out, Hard Bounce, and Prospect ID.

Pardot Custom Fields map to Mailchimp merge fields. We export the field definition (label, type) and populate values per Contact during import. Field types map as follows: text to text, number to number, date to date, and picklist to radio merge tags. Pardot's double-brace merge syntax (%%field_name%%) within Email Templates is rewritten to Mailchimp's asterisk-delimited syntax (*|FIELDNAME|*) as part of the template export step. Custom fields with complex validation rules must be re-created manually in Mailchimp's Audience field editor before import.

Tags are exported from Pardot via the Segmentation | Tags export and assigned per Prospect record. Tags migrate as a one-to-one mapping — a Pardot tag 'enterprise-account' becomes a Mailchimp tag 'enterprise-account' and is applied to matching Contacts. Tags merge cleanly without schema re-creation because Mailchimp uses a flat tag namespace per Audience.

Pardot Static Lists are exported as Prospect record sets per list. Each list becomes either a Mailchimp Tag applied to all members of that list, or a static Mailchimp Segment. We apply the customer's preferred approach during scoping. Dynamic Lists in Pardot with rule-based criteria are not migratable as active segments — the criteria logic must be rebuilt in Mailchimp's segment builder using Mailchimp merge field conditions and engagement filters.

Pardot Scoring Categories (e.g., behavioural score vs demographic grade) are not a Mailchimp concept. We export the category definitions and their weight rules as a written scoring matrix. The numeric score per Prospect is stored in a custom merge field (e.g., PARDOT_SCORE) during Contact migration. Mailchimp segmentation rebuilds these as audience segments filtered by score ranges, or tags prefixed with score bands (e.g., SCORE_HIGH, SCORE_MED). This is a configuration decision made with the customer during scoping.

Pardot Grading (A/B/C/D tier assignment based on firmographic fit) is exported as a text field per Prospect and stored in a Mailchimp merge field (e.g., PARDOT_GRADE). Mailchimp does not have a native grade concept. We recommend either preserving the grade as a static text merge field for reporting or rebuilding grading logic using Mailchimp segments filtered by the underlying firmographic properties (company size, industry, title) as a separate segmentation project.

Pardot Campaigns track marketing initiative performance and link to Salesforce Campaigns. Mailchimp Campaigns are individual sends. We export Pardot Campaign metadata (name, status, created date, cost) and associate each Campaign to the Contacts who have engagement history within it. In Mailchimp, this manifests as a Campaign record linked to an Audience. Campaign-level performance data (opens, clicks, bounces) migrates as engagement records stored in Mailchimp activity logs per Contact.

Pardot Email Templates with HTML content and merge fields migrate to Mailchimp Templates. We export the template HTML, subject line, preview text, and sender profile. Pardot double-brace merge syntax (%%first_name%%) is rewritten to Mailchimp asterisk syntax (*|FNAME|*). Dynamic content blocks and conditional logic require manual review and reconstruction in Mailchimp's template editor because the conditional branching models differ. Templates with complex branching are flagged for marketer-level rebuild rather than automated import.

Engagement Programs and Automation Rules in Pardot reference internal Pardot object IDs (Prospect IDs, Campaign IDs, Form IDs, Landing Page IDs) that do not exist in Mailchimp. These objects are not migratable. We document the existing program structure — trigger conditions, step sequence, wait durations, action types — as a written inventory. The customer's marketing team rebuilds these as Mailchimp Customer Journeys using the documented map. This is scoped as a separate documentation deliverable, not an automated migration.

Pardot Forms capture Prospect data and are tied to Landing Pages and Custom Fields by internal Pardot IDs. Form definitions and field mappings can be exported, but the handler URLs and submission endpoints are Pardot-internal. We do not migrate Forms as functional assets. We recommend rebuilding form capture using Mailchimp's embedded form builder, third-party form tools integrated via API, or a dedicated form platform. Form field labels and types are documented in the migration scope for reference during rebuild.

Pardot Landing Pages are static web assets hosted within or pointing to Pardot. We export page content, layouts, and associated form bindings as HTML and screenshots for reference. However, Landing Pages reference internal Pardot form IDs that do not map to Mailchimp. Mailchimp's Landing Page builder is a separate system with no import path for external HTML. We recommend rebuilding Landing Pages using Mailchimp's native landing page builder or an integrated third-party tool, using the exported content and screenshots as a reference.

Pardot Business Units partition Prospects, Users, and branding within a single Account Engagement account. Mailchimp has no direct equivalent to Business Units at the free or standard tier. At the Mailchimp Plus tier ($1,000/month) or Enterprise tier, multiple sub-accounts can simulate Business Unit separation. We scope each Business Unit as a separate Mailchimp Audience migration. If a single consolidated Audience is preferred, we merge Business Unit Prospects by email address deduplication and add a Business Unit identifier merge field for segmentation.