How to Migrate from ActiveCampaign Without Losing Automations

The most common reason marketing teams stay on a platform they have outgrown is migration fear. The thought of exporting thousands of contacts, rebuilding automations, re-authenticating domains, and updating every form on the website feels like a multi-month project. For most SMB teams, it is not. With the right process, a typical ActiveCampaign migration takes one to two weeks.

The comprehensive guide to ActiveCampaign alternatives covers the full decision framework, including when staying on ActiveCampaign is the right call. This article is for teams that have made the decision and need the step-by-step execution plan.

Why Migrations Feel Scarier Than They Are

Most of the migration anxiety comes from thinking about everything at once: all the contacts, all the automations, all the templates, all the integrations, all the DNS records. Viewed as a single task, it is overwhelming. Broken into seven sequential steps, each step is manageable.

The other fear is losing automations — the sequences that have been refined over months and are currently running. The reality is that most teams have far fewer active, performing automations than they think. An audit before migration typically reveals 30% of automations that are paused or have zero recent activity, 30% that are duplicates or near-duplicates, and 40% that are actively running. You are migrating the 40%, not everything that was ever built.

Step 1: Audit Your ActiveCampaign Data

Before touching any export settings, spend 2-3 hours in ActiveCampaign auditing what you actually have:

Contacts audit:

• Total contact count and list breakdown
• Custom fields in use (not just created — actively populated)
• Tag taxonomy — which tags are actively used in automations or segmentation
• Contact score rules in use

Automations audit:

• List all automations with their status (active/paused/draft)
• For active automations: note trigger type, goal, and key branch conditions
• Identify which automations have had contacts flow through in the last 90 days
• Archive everything inactive before migrating

Email templates audit:

• Identify your top 10 most-used templates
• Note which are drag-and-drop builder vs. HTML (affects export approach)

Integrations audit:

• List all external systems that push data to ActiveCampaign (website forms, CRM webhooks, payment processors, product events)
• Each of these will need to be rerouted to the new platform

This audit typically takes 2-3 hours and prevents the most common migration mistakes.

Step 2: Export Contacts with Custom Fields and Tags

In ActiveCampaign, go to Contacts > Export. Select all contacts and include all custom fields and tags in the export. For large lists (100,000+), segment into batches of 25,000 for manageable file sizes.

Before exporting, run list hygiene:

• Remove hard bounces (these should already be suppressed, but verify)
• Identify contacts who have not opened any email in 12+ months
• Consider running a re-engagement campaign before migrating — contacts who do not respond are not worth importing

Build your field mapping document before importing to the new platform. Every ActiveCampaign custom field should have a corresponding field defined in the destination system. Every tag that is used in automation logic or segmentation should map to the equivalent in the new platform's taxonomy. Skipping this step creates a database that takes months to clean up.

Step 3: Document Your Automation Workflows

Do not try to recreate automations from memory. Before leaving ActiveCampaign, document each active automation:

1. Screenshot or export the visual canvas
2. Note the trigger: what starts the automation (form submission, tag applied, event, date-based, etc.)
3. Note the goal: what does the automation accomplish (lead qualified, demo booked, onboarding complete)
4. Note key branch conditions: what splits contacts onto different paths
5. Record any external actions (Zapier webhooks, CRM integrations, SMS sends)

For AI sequences in the destination platform, you will use this documentation to describe the goal and behavior — the AI generates the structure which you then customize. For visual builder platforms, you use it as a blueprint to rebuild the canvas.

Most teams find this documentation step also surfaces improvements: branches that never fire, conditions that are redundant, goals that were never properly defined.

Step 4: Rebuild Automations as AI Sequences

This is the highest-effort step but also the most valuable. Rebuilding is an opportunity to improve.

For each active automation from your audit:

Describe the goal clearly: "Nurture leads who downloaded the ebook but haven't booked a demo within 14 days" is a clear goal. "Follow-up sequence" is not.

Define the trigger conditions: What event or condition starts this automation? What audience does it apply to?

Set the key branch logic: What conditions split contacts? What score thresholds or tag values determine which path they take?

In PipeCrush's AI sequences builder, you provide this goal and parameter information and the system generates the sequence structure. Review the output, customize timing and copy, then activate. For most standard use cases — welcome, nurture, re-engagement, trial onboarding — the generated structure is 80% of the way there on first pass.

The rebuild typically takes 2-4 hours for teams with 10-20 active automations. Teams with 40+ active automations should budget a full day.

Step 5: Transfer Email Templates

ActiveCampaign allows HTML export of email templates from the template library. For templates built with the drag-and-drop builder, the HTML export tends to be messy — most teams find it cleaner to rebuild key templates in the new platform's visual builder using the exported HTML as reference.

Prioritize the templates that are actively used in your best-performing automations:

• Welcome email(s)
• Core nurture sequence templates
• Re-engagement campaign templates
• Any templates used in high-volume broadcast campaigns

Do not try to migrate every template. Most are obsolete. Focus on the 10-15 that are actively earning opens and clicks.

Step 6: Re-Authenticate Sending Domains (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)

This step requires DNS access and is the one most likely to affect deliverability if rushed.

What needs to happen:

1. Add the new platform's sending infrastructure to your SPF record (or replace the ActiveCampaign entry)
2. Add the new platform's DKIM public key as a DNS TXT record
3. Verify that your DMARC policy aligns with the new configuration

Important timing: Do not start sending high-volume campaigns until DNS propagation is confirmed (allow 24-48 hours after making changes). Tools like MXToolbox can verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured before you begin sending.

Domain warming: Start with small sends to your most engaged contacts (those who regularly open). Gradually increase volume over 5-7 days. Do not send a full-list broadcast until the domain has warmed.

Step 7: Update All External Triggers and Forms

This is the step teams most often forget, then discover a week into the migration when leads stop appearing in the new platform.

Website forms: If any forms on your website submit directly to ActiveCampaign via embed code or API, they continue sending to ActiveCampaign after you migrate. Audit every form on your site. Update integrations to point to the new platform.

External API integrations: Any system that pushes contact data to ActiveCampaign via API (your product, Stripe webhooks, Typeform, etc.) needs to be rerouted. Check your ActiveCampaign API activity log to identify what systems are calling the API.

Zapier/Make workflows: Any existing automation workflows that route data to ActiveCampaign need to be recreated pointing to the new platform.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Cutting over everything on day one. Run old and new platforms in parallel for two weeks. New leads go into the new platform; existing contacts stay in their active ActiveCampaign sequences until those sequences complete.

Skipping the automation audit. Migrating 60 automations when only 25 are actively running wastes time and creates debt in the new platform.

Importing without field mapping. A messy import creates a messy database. Define the mapping before touching the import.

Cancelling ActiveCampaign immediately. Keep it active until you have verified that every integration has been rerouted, every active sequence has completed, and the new platform is confirmed operational. Two to four weeks of parallel operation is typical.

Timeline: 1 Week for Most SMB Teams

Day	Task
Day 1	Audit contacts, automations, templates, integrations
Day 2	Export contacts, build field mapping document, document automations
Day 3	Update DNS records, set up sending domain in new platform
Day 4-5	Import contacts, rebuild top automations, rebuild key email templates
Day 6	Configure integrations, test forms and webhooks
Day 7	Parallel testing — send test campaigns, verify deliverability metrics
Week 2	Route new leads to new platform, wind down old sequences, verify cutover

The fear of migration is usually larger than the migration itself. A systematic approach turns a week of focused work into a platform you will not be paying to maintain alongside four other tools.