Step-by-step guide: Migration process from Dotdigital to HubSpot
Migrating from Dotdigital to HubSpot is a technically involved process, but the rewards for your sales and marketing operations are significant. At Pixel Lab, we’ve outlined a detailed, step-by-step framework to ensure your move from Dotdigital is structured, compliant, and focused on driving maximum value from HubSpot’s all-in-one platform.
Step 1: Planning and assessment
Review your current Dotdigital configuration: Catalogue all existing campaigns, email templates, landing pages, forms, lists, automation programs, and integrations (such as CRM, webinar tools, or ecommerce platforms). Determine which assets are business-critical for migration into HubSpot.
Define migration objectives: Set out your key goals—whether that’s access to advanced automation, multi-channel segmentation, up-to-date compliance, or deeper analytics.
Develop a timeline: Break down each migration stage, setting realistic milestones with contingency time for troubleshooting.
Step 2: Export data from Dotdigital
Contact and lead export: Extract all contact and lead records from Dotdigital in CSV or compatible formats, including any custom properties, segmentation tags, and consent settings.
Content and assets export: Save your active email templates, landing pages, and forms ready for re-creation in HubSpot.
Automation and campaign export: Document automated journeys or campaign logic, noting triggers, actions, and segments for HubSpot rebuild.
Step 3: Set up your HubSpot account
Account preparation: Confirm your HubSpot subscription (e.g. Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise) is active and meets your functionality requirements.
Custom properties: Replicate all necessary Dotdigital data fields as custom properties within HubSpot to maintain segmentation and data continuity.
Integration readiness: Ensure all third-party integrations (CRM, events, ecommerce, social) are scoped and ready for configuration in HubSpot.
Step 4: Data migration
Import contacts: Upload your exported Dotdigital data sets to HubSpot, mapping each property for data parity.
Test imports: Complete a test import with a small sample to validate property mapping and supporting automation flows.
Audit imported data: After import, examine records for completeness—verifying for missing fields, data formatting consistency, and duplicate detection.
Step 5: Rebuild assets in HubSpot
Email templates: Use HubSpot’s drag-and-drop email builder or custom HTML to match your Dotdigital templates for branding and functionality.
Landing pages and forms: Rebuild landing pages and forms within HubSpot, ensuring all submission triggers and integrations continue to function as intended.
Workflows and automation: Recreate Dotdigital campaign logic as HubSpot Workflows, ensuring all enrolment criteria and branching logic are properly configured.
Automation testing: Rigorously test all workflows to verify triggering events, user journeys, and desired outcomes.
Step 6: Recreate reporting & analytics
Dashboard and reporting: Model your Dotdigital reports and dashboards within HubSpot’s analytics suite to ensure marketers and sales teams have continuous access to important KPIs.
KPI and goal tracking: Enable tracking for core performance metrics, making adjustments to reflect differences between Dotdigital and HubSpot reporting structures.
Step 7: Lead scoring and segmentation
Recreate lead scoring: Build HubSpot lead scoring rules to reflect your prior logic from Dotdigital, prioritising sales-ready leads using HubSpot’s intuitive scoring tools.
List management: Set up static and dynamic lists in HubSpot for audience segmentation based on behaviours and properties migrated from Dotdigital.
Step 8: Integrate HubSpot with key tools
CRM connection: Integrate HubSpot CRM, or connect to your existing platform (e.g. Salesforce), ensuring two-way data flow with existing marketing and sales tools.
Additional integrations: Configure connections to key platforms including social, webinar, and ecommerce tools as previously used within Dotdigital.
Step 9: End-to-end testing
Functional checks: Cross-verify that all HubSpot workflows, email campaigns, forms, and landing pages operate according to business processes and expected user experience.
Data flow validation: Test syncing and data exchanges between HubSpot and connected platforms.
User acceptance: Engage marketing and sales stakeholders in UAT to confirm that new processes in HubSpot meet their requirements.
Step 10: Training your team
HubSpot onboarding: Deliver purposeful training, covering the essentials of campaign creation, workflow automation, data management, and reporting in HubSpot.
Process education: Clarify any new workflows or operational shifts. Highlight functional differences between Dotdigital and HubSpot to ensure full team adoption.
Step 11: Go live
Final import: Complete any last data synchronisation, ensuring records are up-to-date at the point of switchover.
System transition: Move all active campaigns and lead capture processes to HubSpot—turning off Dotdigital workflows where appropriate.
Performance monitoring: Monitor key metrics within HubSpot post-migration for early detection of data or process anomalies.
Step 12: Continuous optimisation
Monitor campaign results: Routinely evaluate campaign data inside HubSpot, adjusting strategy as your team learns more about user engagement.
Iterate workflows: Continue refining automation, lead scoring, and reporting structures as you leverage the expanded capabilities of HubSpot.
Access support: Pixel Lab is on hand for technical support and HubSpot optimisation as your marketing technology ecosystem evolves.
This framework is designed to make your transition from Dotdigital to HubSpot as streamlined and reliable as possible, giving you a robust foundation for scalable growth. If you have questions or want hands-on guidance, our HubSpot specialists at Pixel Lab are ready to support every step of your migration journey.