Migrating from 1 selling exertion level to different is breathtaking and terrifying astatine the aforesaid time. The bigger the organization, the scarier it gets.

But nary substance the institution size, moving from 1 level to different is an intricate dance. You person to get each the steps close to win from the start.

Moving to a caller level tin look daunting due to the fact that you don’t larn however to bash it successful college. You larn done experience. Not everyone has had that experience; if they did, it astir apt was bad. Every migration is antithetic due to the fact that each institution has antithetic needs and setups. 

COVID-19 spurred companies’ dissatisfaction with martech

Migrations are connected my caput due to the fact that much companies are present moving done the request-for-proposal process (RFPs) oregon migrating betwixt platforms. 

Dig deeper: 4 selling takeaways from 2022 to assistance you conquer 2023

Many discovered their martech partners weren’t accelerated oregon innovative capable to enactment their demands for velocity and flexibility successful a changing COVID economy.

Pre-pandemic, companies switched martech platforms chiefly due to the fact that they were unhappy with the cost, features oregon support. Now their patience has expired with platforms that aren’t blase enough. 

Getting realistic astir migration

There exists the thought that migrations are elemental and fast. I’ve had to counsel companies that deliberation they tin marque a monolithic level alteration successful conscionable 4 months. Sure, it tin beryllium done, but astatine 4 times the cost.

As I mentioned astatine the start, a migration has galore steps, and you person to bash them correctly if you privation to succeed. You tin program connected spending 3 to 18 months successful a migration based connected your program’s sophistication. Take that timeline into relationship successful your planning. 

These are the 4 astir communal complaints from companies that privation to analyse caller technology. Which 1 applies to you?

• “My strategy is wonky.”
• “We request a batch of hacks, workarounds, and manual processes to marque things work.”
• “I request Mary successful IT to determination information astir for me.”
• “I request outer processes to get the reporting I need.”

These hap due to the fact that idiosyncratic hurried done the migration.

4 absorption areas for palmy migrations

Although each migration is different, astatine a minimum, you should absorption connected these 4 areas erstwhile you migrate your systems from 1 martech level to another:

1. Discovery

This is the astir important measurement and often the astir overlooked. That’s due to the fact that cipher ever thinks to look astatine interior systems first. I volition walk a just magnitude of clip connected this measurement due to the fact that your occurrence hinges connected it.

Sure, you’re excited due to the fact that you conscionable signed a declaration for a caller shiny tool. You’re dreaming astir everything you privation to bash with your caller ESP. And you can’t hold to commencement sending emails. But to usage your caller instrumentality effectively, with each the features you drooled implicit successful your demo, you indispensable cognize what to bash archetypal arsenic you migrate to your caller platform.

Your archetypal captious measurement is to inventory each your martech systems, utilizing your team, consultants with your ESP oregon a third-party agency. This means heavy diving into wherever your information lives, however it gets there, and your processes, APIs, information fields, access, and governance.

Ask galore questions. Talk to everyone who touches your email process, from your information and originative teams to the radical who propulsion “Send” and your CMO. 

Don’t skip this measurement oregon unreserved done it. An effectual find process ensures you tin get the astir from your caller instrumentality due to the fact that it volition uncover unexpected strengths, weaknesses, gaps and different things.

A due find takes a planetary position of the full operation. It’s not conscionable idiosyncratic teams successful their silos and responsibilities. 

Also, papers everything successful a manual. This volition place your important integrations, what’s utile and what isn’t, what has to determination to the caller level and what doesn’t. 

It takes time, and it indispensable beryllium comprehensive, but it’s captious for the occurrence of your adjacent steps.

Dig deeper: Martech stack documentation is vital, present are immoderate tips to bash it right

2. Moving to the caller platform 

Your caller ESP tin usage the manual you created successful find to specify concern cases and place processes to move. The find process besides reveals the bid successful which to determination things over. 

Migrating to a caller level isn’t astir chucking each your triggers, templates and lists into your caller level and past hitting “Go.” It’s a systematic attack not driven by an IP warm-up plan. 

I laughter (to myself) if the archetypal question I perceive from a lawsuit aft signing a caller martech declaration is if the ESP mentions an IP warm-up plan. That’s measurement 325 successful the migration. We’re astatine measurement four. Let your integrations and readying travel to fruition archetypal earlier you program your archetypal campaign.

Maybe you deliberation your caller ESP volition grip each this for you. Surprise! It apt can’t get into your existent ESP to bash immoderate of this enactment for you. Your interior teams oregon outer companies bash the work, not conscionable to conscionable migration timelines but besides to debar disrupting concern during the move. 

Every concern portion affected by the migration has its ain objectives and KPIs. Migrating to a caller level means you’ve added to their work. You’re ripping information retired of 1 spot and putting it determination else. That takes planning, agreements and negotiations.

This becomes a systematic and precise orchestration of moving systems, processes and originative contented from 1 level to the other. Each constituent indispensable beryllium moved successful the close order. I cannot stress this enough. Migration is not astir speed; it’s astir accuracy.

A bully find process pays disconnected here, too. If you bash it well, you volition person those things successful place. Migration is simply a squad effort, similar an orchestra, and you’re the conductor.

3. User acceptance testing

This is different often-overlooked step. When you determination from Place A to Place B, you indispensable trial to marque definite everything is moving correctly, with your aged ESP arsenic a backup if it doesn’t. That means you volition request to person immoderate runway with your soon-to-be aged ESP. That gives you clip to determination everything over. 

Develop a program for idiosyncratic acceptance investigating that shows what’s being tested and approved. Test each 1,000 of your triggers. Test each iterations of your templates and each of your inbound APIs.

A disciplined investigating regimen keeps you from breaking things connected your caller platform. User acceptance investigating is simply a large measurement that gets you person to pushing that “Go” button. But you’re inactive not acceptable to propulsion it. 

4. Send an email run — but lone astatine the close time

You mightiness nonstop an email aboriginal successful the process to trial the strategy oregon person a impervious of concept. But don’t hurry this step. Do it erstwhile it’s harmless and makes sense, not due to the fact that a timetable says you should.

When sending an email campaign, don’t effort each caller diagnostic connected your level each astatine once. Patience is simply a virtuousness successful migration. Wait until you get to parity, oregon a spot beyond parity, erstwhile you bash things you did connected your aged level but bash them faster, amended oregon cheaper.

A caller level brings changes everyplace successful your email operation. Phase successful your caller implementation, and trust connected your caller ESP spouse to help. Pushing “Send” is the past measurement successful this process, not the beginning.

Wrapping up

In the past 23 years of being progressive successful RFPs and migrations, I’ve seen conscionable astir everything. Three cardinal concepts get overlooked:

• It takes a massive, coordinated interior effort.
• Plan your cutover from the aged level to the caller one, and that means perchance renewing with the aged ESP for a abbreviated time. 
• Give yourself capable clip betwixt the RFP and the end-contract date.

In our enactment with endeavor lawsuit migrations, we urge a minimum two-year process betwixt moving an RFP and shutting down the aged platform. ESPs are not large astatine extending contracts if the migration process takes longer than expected. It gets expensive, and it tin beryllium cumbersome.

Planning and partnerships tin assistance you recognize the innovation arc you privation to beryllium connected and admit the imaginable for your caller program.

The pandemic showed america we indispensable pivot rapidly to enactment up of changing concern conditions. Maybe you saw close distant that your aged exertion couldn’t conscionable the challenge, truthful you tin beryllium forgiven for wanting to measurement connected the state to power platforms.

Don’t effort to marque the migration process from RFP to pushing “Go” determination conscionable arsenic fast.