List Migration Readiness Check (Onboarding)
A checklist with 7 steps: Pull a full subscriber export with engagement timestamps before touching any platform setting.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
What are the steps?
List Migration Readiness Check (Onboarding)
- 01
Pull a full subscriber export with engagement timestamps before touching any platform setting
Request opens, clicks, and last-activity dates for every contact, not just the active segment. Platforms such as Campaign Monitor and MailerLite will suppress or quarantine records that arrive without engagement history, and a bare email list invites deliverability damage on the first send.
- 02
Segment the export into engaged, dormant, and unengaged buckets using a 90-day activity window
Send only to the engaged bucket during the first two weeks on the new platform. Dormant contacts get a single re-permission message; unengaged contacts stay suppressed until the client approves a winback sequence.
- 03
Verify sending domain authentication on the destination account before any campaign goes out
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records must resolve on the client's domain, and the new platform's sending IPs need warm-up. A migration that skips authentication can drop inbox placement for weeks and put the retainer at risk.
- 04
Recreate automations as documented flows, not as copies of the old platform's logic
Map each existing trigger (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase) to its destination equivalent in the new workflow builder. Tools like Moosend and GetResponse structure triggers differently, so a one-to-one clone often breaks silently.
- 05
Run a seed-list test across Gmail, Outlook, and one corporate filter before the first client send
Check rendering, link tracking, and unsubscribe behavior on real inboxes. Capture screenshots for the client file so any rendering dispute has a dated record.
- 06
Freeze the old platform in read-only mode for 30 days after cutover
Keep historical campaign data accessible for reporting comparisons and rollback. Cancel the legacy subscription only after two clean billing cycles and a confirmed deliverability baseline.
- 07
Log the migration in a versioned change record with owner, date, and rollback contact
Name the person accountable for the new account and the trigger conditions for reverting. Undocumented platform switches are a common source of client disputes when performance dips post-move.