Migrating marketing platforms doesn’t have to be a difficult task. Before you get set up with HubSpot, it’s a good idea to download your contacts from your email service provider (ESP) or customer relationship manager (CRM) to add them to your HubSpot account.
Terms to know
Learn how HubSpot refers to the same tools and features you're familiar with from Mailchimp.
| HubSpot | Mailchimp | Definition |
| Marketing email | Campaign | Tool used to create marketing emails |
| Files | Content studio | Tool for uploading and editing files |
| List | Audience | Tool to segment and manage contacts |
| Contact record | Contact profile | A place to store, track, and manage information about an individual in your database |
Export contacts from Mailchimp
Please note:
- If you previously set up double opt-in for an audience in Mailchimp, and you import the audience as a list in HubSpot, you should update the double opt-in status in bulk of the contacts in the imported list. Once you've updated the status of the contacts in any imported lists, you can enable double opt-in in HubSpot.
- For the most up-to-date instructions, refer to Mailchimp's documentation on exporting your contacts.
- In your Mailchimp account, navigate to the Audiences tab.
- Click View Contacts and select the contacts you wish to export. If you wish to export all the contact, click on the downward arrow in the upper left corner of the Audience tab, then click Select all.
- Click Export Audience.
- After the export is done processing, click Export as CSV to download the file to your computer.
You'll receive a zip file via email in Mailchimp, or the zip file will download directly to your computer. Depending on the Audience you export, your zip file may contain up to three separate CSV files (cleaned, subscribed, and unsubscribed contacts).
Open the export files and review the contacts' details. You can also sort your contacts based on property values before importing. Contacts that have expressed consent to receive your emails can be imported into your HubSpot account as a new contact list. Learn more about how to prepare your import file for HubSpot.
If you have a PieSync account, PieSync has built a connector with Mailchimp to sync contact information in to HubSpot through their integration.
Import your opt-out list into HubSpot
- Identify any contacts from your exports with the following statuses, and add them to a separate file for importing:
- Cleaned
- Unsubscribed
- Non-subscribed
- In your HubSpot account, navigate to Contacts > Contacts.
- In the upper right, click Import.
- Click Start an import.
- Select An opt-out list.
- Click select a file. In the dialog box, select the import file from your device.
- Click the Email field column header dropdown menu and select the column header of the column in your import file that has the Email field.
- In the bottom right, click Next, confirm your choice.
- In the text field, enter the number of contacts to confirm they will be opted out from receiving emails.
- In the bottom right, click Begin import.
Manage double opt-in settings in HubSpot
If you previously set up double opt-in in your Mailchimp account, you should import any contacts who confirmed their opt-in status then update their double opt-in status in bulk before you set up double opt-in in HubSpot.
Import your contacts into HubSpot
Follow the instructions below to import a list of contacts into HubSpot. Learn how to import contacts associated with another object type in your HubSpot CRM.
- Set up your import file. Include a header row in your file and match each column's header with a contact property. You can include values for any of the default HubSpot properties or custom properties.
- In your HubSpot account, navigate to Contacts > Contacts.
- In the upper right, click Import.
- Click Start an import.
- Select File from computer, then click Next.
- Select One file, and click Next.
- Select One object, and click Next.
- Click choose a file and in the dialog box, and select your import file. In the bottom right, click Next.
- On the Map properties screen, HubSpot automatically matches columns in your file to your contact's properties. You'll see a preview of the property values from your spreadsheet in the Preview Information column.
- If any columns do not match an existing property, click the corresponding dropdown menu:
- Select an existing property to map the column to.
- Click Create a new property to set up a new custom property in the right panel.
- Select Don't import column to skip importing this column from your spreadsheet. You can select the Don't import data in unmatched columns checkbox to skip any columns without a match.
- After you've mapped all of the columns from your file, click Next.
- On the details screen, enter an Import name.
- If you're importing a file with only contacts, select the Create a list of contacts from this import checkbox to automatically create a list when the contacts are imported.
- If you're importing a file with a date property, use the Date format dropdown menu to confirm how the date values in your spreadsheet are formatted.
- If you've turned on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) functionality in your account, use the Set the legal basis for processing a contact's data dropdown menu to select a lawful basis of processing.
- Once you've set the options for your import, click Finish import in the bottom right.
Manage account preferences and import files
After importing your contacts, configure your email settings and import any image files you want to host in HubSpot:
- In your marketing email settings, enter your company's address. This information is required for your email footer.
- Upload image files to use in your content. Learn how to insert an image into your email.
- Learn more about how to set up your company branding in HubSpot.
