Migrate from Sierra Interactive to Mailchimp

Sierra Leads migrate as Mailchimp Audience Members via email-address-based matching. Each lead with a valid email address lands as a subscriber. Leads without email are excluded from the migration but surfaced in a separate 'no-email export' for manual handling.

Sierra Contacts also map to Mailchimp Audience Members. In Mailchimp, both Leads and Contacts from Sierra converge into the same audience — Mailchimp has no native distinction between lead and customer status, so this distinction is preserved via merge fields rather than separate objects.

Sierra lead tags migrate as Mailchimp tags 1:1. If a Sierra lead has tags ['buyer', 'first-time', 'tucson-area'], those become Mailchimp tags on the subscriber record. Tags with identical names across tags and contacts are preserved independently.

Sierra Saved Searches define behavior-based lead lists (e.g., 'Viewed properties in Phoenix, budget $300K–$500K'). Mailchimp Segments are filter-based; we evaluate each saved search criteria against the migrated contact data and create equivalent Mailchimp segments. Static saved searches (pre-computed lists) are imported as static segments.

Sierra tracks lead source (Website, Zillow, Realtor.com, Referral, etc.) as a standard field. Mailchimp has no native lead-source field; we create a MERGESOURCE text merge field and populate it from Sierra's lead_source value. This enables segment creation by origin in Mailchimp.

Sierra lead stages (New, Contacted, Qualified, Showing, Contract, Closed) map to a custom LEADSTAGE pick-list merge field in Mailchimp. This preserves the pipeline position at migration time. Note: Mailchimp stages won't update automatically — manual or automation-based updates required post-migration.

Sierra lead and contact notes migrate to Mailchimp subscriber notes. Each note preserves the original author (Sierra user) and timestamp. Multiple notes on one contact are concatenated into a single Mailchimp note in chronological order, with author attribution per note.

Sierra owner (agent) assignments migrate as a AGENTNAME text merge field on the subscriber. If the owner is a known Mailchimp user (matched by email), they also receive a tag matching their agent name for segmentation. This enables teams to segment by assigned agent in Mailchimp campaigns.

Sierra's saved listings and property interest data (which properties a lead viewed, saved, or inquired about) has no Mailchimp equivalent. We export this data as a structured JSON reference file. Teams use this to document property interest manually or to set up Mailchimp automations that reference property IDs.

Sierra Action Plans (automated email/text/voicemail sequences tied to triggers) have no Mailchimp equivalent and cannot be imported. We export each Action Plan definition (trigger, step sequence, delays, conditions) as a structured document your team uses to rebuild in Mailchimp Customer Journeys.

Sierra contacts with unsubscribe or bounce status are imported into Mailchimp's suppression list (not as active subscribers). This prevents accidentally emailing contacts who opted out in Sierra. We map Sierra's unsubscribe status to Mailchimp's Global Suppression List.

Sierra custom lead properties (budget_range, pre_approved, preferred_areas, timeline, etc.) each become Mailchimp merge fields. Field type is preserved where possible: text properties become text merge fields, numeric properties become number merge fields, date properties become date merge fields. Pick-list properties in Sierra become text merge fields in Mailchimp (Mailchimp doesn't enforce pick-list values on standard merge fields).