Moving to HubSpot: CRM migration step by step

Import tool or Smart Transfer: which route fits your old CRM?

Choose the route by where your data is and how much history has to come with it. HubSpot has two free routes, and paid apps cover the rest.

What to move to HubSpot and what to leave behind

Decide what moves before anyone exports a file. A migration copies the old CRM’s mess into the new one unless you leave it behind on purpose.

• Fields. Export the field list with how often each field is filled. A field nobody filled in the last 12 months stays behind. Half the old fields are usually workarounds for limits of the old tool.
• Contacts. Leave out contacts with no email, no activity for years and no reason to keep them. Fewer contacts also means fewer marketing contacts to pay for.
• Deals. Move open deals and the closed deals your reports need. Older lost deals go to the archive.
• Duplicates. Merge them before the import, with one written rule for which record wins: the one with the open deal, then the most recent activity, then the most complete. How to find and merge them: duplicates in HubSpot.
• The rest. Keep a full export of the old CRM, read-only and keyed by its IDs. That is your archive for everything you left behind.

What doesn’t migrate cleanly to HubSpot

Some data can’t be moved, whatever tool you use. Know this list before anyone promises “all the history”.

Prepare HubSpot before the first import

Build the structure first, so every value in the file has a place to land.

1. Step 01

   Check the data centre

   European companies want their data in HubSpot’s EU data centre. Moving an account there later takes it offline for up to 36 hours and has to be scheduled a week ahead, so decide before the first import.
2. Step 02

   Add users and teams

   Every owner in the file has to exist as a user, matched by name or email. Users don’t get a notification for records assigned by import.
3. Step 03

   Create the “Old CRM ID” property

   Create “Old CRM ID” on every object you import, with “Require unique values” ticked. The property links records across files, finds existing records on the second import, and stops duplicates. HubSpot allows ten unique properties per object.

   

4. Step 04

   Create the other properties

   Original create date, old owner, old source and every field you keep. Dropdown values have to exist before the import, and the file has to use their label or internal value.
5. Step 05

   Build pipelines and stages

   Every stage in the file has to exist in the deal pipeline, or the deal is not imported. Build the stages for how you sell now: deal pipeline stages.
6. Step 06

   Switch off what fires on new records

   Workflows that send welcome emails or create tasks would run for every imported record. Also check the setting that creates companies from contacts’ email domains: if contacts use other domains than their company, turn it off.

Import in this order: companies, contacts, deals, activities

Each object links to the one before it. Import companies first, contacts with their company’s old ID, deals with both, then notes, calls and meetings with their dates.

1. Step 01

   Choose the objects

   Go to Data Management > Data Integration, click “Import data” and choose “Advanced imports”. Pick every object in the file. One file can hold companies, contacts, deals and notes, one row per link, or use one file per object with a shared column.

   

2. Step 02

   Map every column

   Map each old ID to “Old CRM ID” on its own object, the old create date to “Original create date”, and set columns you don’t need to “Don’t import column”.

   

3. Step 03

   Fix errors before the import

   HubSpot checks the first 1,000 rows while you map. A stage or dropdown value that doesn’t exist shows as an error. Replace it with an existing option here, or fix the file and start again.

   

4. Step 04

   Set the identifier and the formats

   Choose “Old CRM ID” as the property that finds existing records. Set the date format to day month year and the number format to your country, so 1.234,56 reads as a number. Tick marketing contacts only for people you will email: it decides what you pay (seats and marketing contacts).

   

5. Step 05

   Import activities with their date

   Notes, calls, meetings, tasks and emails need an “Activity date”, or they’re dated the day of the import. Imports create activities but never update them, so import each activity once.
6. Step 06

   Import opt-outs

   Import every address that unsubscribed in the old system with “List of contacts to opt-out of emails”. These addresses aren’t created as contacts and aren’t billed, but they never get a marketing email.

   

Test 50 records before the full import

Import a small sample of each object first, including the messiest records, and let the people who know the data check it.

1. Step 01

   Pick the sample

   About 50 records per object: companies with many contacts, names with umlauts, contacts without email, open and closed deals, and records whose owner has left.
2. Step 02

   Count

   The import summary shows new and updated records, links and errors. Compare every number with the file.

   

3. Step 03

   Check records by hand

   Open a few records and compare them with the old CRM: company, deals, owner, dates, dropdown values and special characters. The person who works with the data every day finds the mapping you got wrong.
4. Step 04

   Delete and repeat

   Delete the test records, fix the file and run the test again until nothing surprises anyone. On Enterprise, test in a standard sandbox instead.

Cut-over: switching from the old CRM

Switch on a fixed date, so nothing is entered in two systems.

1. Step 01

   Set the date

   Tell the team from when the old CRM is read-only and HubSpot is the only system.
2. Step 02

   Freeze the old CRM

   No more edits in the last 48 hours before the switch.
3. Step 03

   Run the final import

   Export again and import with “Create and update” and “Old CRM ID” as the identifier. Records from the test update, new ones are created. With Smart Transfer, stop the sync after the last run.
4. Step 04

   Switch everything that writes data

   Website forms, connected inboxes, phone and ERP connections point to HubSpot from day one.
5. Step 05

   Keep the old CRM readable

   Keep read access for a few months, then cancel. The archive export stays.
6. Step 06

   Check the first 30 days

   In week one, check every day that new contacts and deals land in HubSpot, none in the old CRM. Compare the first monthly report with the old system’s last one. If people still keep their own lists, see getting the sales team to use HubSpot.

Excel, Pipedrive, Salesforce or Dynamics 365 to HubSpot: what’s different

The steps above hold for every source. These are the differences that cost time.

• Excel to HubSpot. A spreadsheet has no IDs and often several sheets. Give every row an ID, keep one sheet per file, split names into first and last name, and put a second email in “Additional email addresses”, separated by semicolons. A German Excel saves CSV files with semicolons and often without UTF-8, which breaks umlauts. Upload the .xlsx file instead.
• Pipedrive to HubSpot. Smart Transfer moves people, organisations, deals, products and activities, the activities only with Data Hub. It moves email activities, not logged emails. Attachments, deal participants and products on deals come in a one-time transfer. Pipedrive’s won time, lost time and expected close date become one close date. Without Smart Transfer, export each item under Tools and apps > Export data. Still choosing: HubSpot or Pipedrive.
• Salesforce to HubSpot. Leads and contacts both become HubSpot contacts, so mark which were leads with the lifecycle stage. Opportunity contact roles become deal and contact links. Formula and lookup fields don’t transfer. Salesforce’s data export includes attachments and runs every 7 days on Enterprise, Performance and Unlimited, every 29 days on Professional. Opportunities, files and the sync-first route: Salesforce to HubSpot.
• Dynamics 365 to HubSpot. Leads and contacts become contacts, accounts become companies, opportunities deals and cases tickets. “Export to Excel” stops at 100,000 rows per export, so large tables need several exports or Smart Transfer. Products on opportunities come in a one-time transfer. Still choosing: HubSpot or Dynamics 365 Sales.

Data protection (GDPR) during the move

A migration copies personal data into a new system. Settle the data protection points before the final import, not after.

• Move only what you may keep. Contacts past your retention period or without a reason to keep them stay behind. Deleting them in the old CRM before the export is easier than in HubSpot after it.
• Set the legal basis. With HubSpot’s data privacy settings on, every import asks for the legal basis for processing the contacts in it. Split the file if contacts have different ones.
• Carry over every opt-out. Someone who unsubscribed in the old system stays unsubscribed. Import the opt-out list before the first marketing email goes out.
• Update the paperwork. Accept HubSpot’s data processing agreement and add HubSpot to your record of processing activities, with the data centre it uses.

How we run a CRM migration

Most of our time goes in before the first file: the audit and the decisions.

1. Step 01

   Audit

   Record counts, field usage, duplicates and connected systems in the old CRM, and what the team actually uses.
2. Step 02

   Decide

   What moves, what stays in the archive, the data model in HubSpot and the mapping, agreed with the people who own the data.
3. Step 03

   Test

   Imports of 50 records per object, checked by the people who use the data.
4. Step 04

   Switch

   Freeze, final import, forms and connections switched, old CRM read-only.

Frequently asked questions