Migrate from Teamgate to Mailchimp

Discovery and data audit

We audit the source Teamgate portal for People count, Company count, active Deal volume, Pipeline configuration, custom field schema (field names, types, and max character lengths), and tag taxonomy. We identify any email addresses that fail validation (malformed, role-based, or known-bounce), any text custom fields exceeding 255 characters, and any multi-select dropdown options not yet defined in Mailchimp. We also assess whether Teamgate's SmartDialer feature is active and flag it as a separate billing item requiring cancellation in Teamgate post-migration.

Audience schema design and merge field configuration

We create the Mailchimp Audience and define Merge Fields before any data import. For each Teamgate custom field we determine the Mailchimp merge field type (TEXT, NUMBER, DATE, RADIO, CHECKBOX), map the field name to the Mailchimp TAG_NAME convention, and pre-create any RADIO or CHECKBOX option values from Teamgate's dropdown definitions. Text fields exceeding 255 characters are flagged and the truncation or split-field strategy is confirmed with the customer. Company name is mapped to a COMPANY merge field or applied as a tag per the customer's preference.

Data extraction, cleansing, and deduplication

We extract People records with all standard and custom fields via Teamgate's REST API. We run email validation against each record, flagging bounces and role-based addresses. We identify duplicate email addresses (same email on multiple Teamgate People records) and apply a dedupe strategy: the most recently updated Teamgate record wins, and duplicates are flagged in the reconciliation report. Company records are extracted separately for tag and merge field application. Tags are extracted as normalized flat-label lists per contact.

Suppression list import and permission mapping

We export unsubscribed and bounced contacts from Teamgate (identified by status flags in the API) and import them into Mailchimp as suppressed members before the main contact migration. This prevents accidentally emailing contacts who previously unsubscribed. For contacts with a Teamgate creation date before the customer's Mailchimp account creation date, we flag these as potentially pre-permission contacts and recommend the customer send a re-permission confirmation campaign post-migration.

Contact migration and merge field population

We import contacts into Mailchimp in batches via the Mailchimp API (members endpoint), applying the merge field values mapped from Teamgate. Each batch is validated against Mailchimp's field type constraints before submission. Tags from Teamgate are applied via the tags endpoint after the contact is created. Company names are applied as tags (e.g., COMPANY: Acme Corp) or mapped to the COMPANY merge field per the agreed strategy. Row-count reconciliation confirms every imported contact matches the source export.

Cutover, validation, and Deal handoff documentation

We run a final delta check to capture any Teamgate contacts modified during the migration window, import the delta, then freeze writes in Teamgate. We deliver the written Deal Inventory (all open and closed-won Deals with values, stages, and owner assignments), the Pipeline Stage Inventory, and the Activity Count Summary per contact. We do not modify or close Deals in Teamgate. We support a 48-hour hypercare window for contact reconciliation issues. Post-migration the customer's admin evaluates reconnecting Teamgate's native Mailchimp integration or using Mailchimp as the standalone contact and campaign platform.