It's not just the website that's getting moved. Your business is being migrated, improved, and optimized...when it's done right. And that's about the best outcome you can achieve from a website migration.
First, know that HubSpot is an application. You can't simply download and zip your current website and then unzip it into HubSpot. What gets migrated is the content. Content includes obvious things like text and images, as well as less obvious things like redirects, special codes, and contact properties. Everything else is rebuilt...templates, page layouts and design, animations, content modules and more are a result of new development efforts.
To facilitate this technical process, a HubSpot website migration expert manages it. This expert oversees the transfer of digital assets from your current website platform to HubSpot's CMS (Content Management System) and potentially the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, too - because forms and conversion pages overlap multiple HubSpot Hubs. It is possible to do CMS and CRM migrations separately or together.
Managing the process well is critical. Get it right, and incredible opportunities present themselves. Getting it wrong will likely experience frustration, downtime, and job insecurity. Website migrations offer an opportunity for businesses looking to leverage the advanced features of HubSpot to grow their business.
First, check out the considerations, then learn what can and cannot be migrated.
The first step in the migration process is to involve the right people. This doesn't necessarily mean the CEO needs to be involved in every detail, but relevant team members should be included. The involvement of users increases confidence and accuracy of migration results.
Website migration experts coordinate with these key stakeholders to ensure a streamlined migration process. This includes project managers, marketing and sales teams, and IT personnel. Their input and cooperation are essential to identify the current system's limitations and set expectations for the new HubSpot system.
A head's up to sales and marketing execs, great website migrations are never not hands-off, nor are they something to delegate to a junior or external firm. Too many strategic decisions are made during the process to risk in the hands of newbs. It's best practice (and smart) to assign an internal stakeholder to the process who'll work closely with the migration team.
Next, the expert will determine the method of migration. This could involve using HubSpot's built-in tools or third-party services, or good old manual labor. The method chosen will be based on the business's specific requirements and the complexity of the migration.
The expert will evaluate the current system's structure, the volume of data, and the types of data to be migrated. They will then choose the most efficient and risk-adverse method to ensure the smoothest migration possible.
The migration expert leads a team who will then work with your team to determine which data to move and what to exclude. This step is crucial to avoid transferring unnecessary or outdated information to the new system. The data to be migrated could include contacts, sales data, marketing data, and content such as blog posts and pages. The expert creates a migration plan outlining what data will be moved, ensuring that all stakeholders are aware and in agreement.
Before the actual migration, your internal team must perform a cleanup of the data. This involves addressing issues such as invalid email addresses, contacts with no owner, duplicates, and lost deals, discontinued offers, etc. This step ensures that only clean, useful data is transferred to HubSpot. There's no sense paying to transfer outdated content or data.
The migration team may assign setup tasks or undertake them for you. Adding users, assigning permissions, etc are typically your responsibility. If your process involves the export/import of data, decide cut-off dates well before execution. This step ensures that the new system is ready to receive the data and function as expected and the old system worked as long as needed. Ask the expert to set up HubSpot CMS and CRM if you're not as familiar with the tools.
Finally, a cut-off date should be established for entering data into the old system. This date is used to migrate the most up-to-date data and prevent loss of updates or new records. After this date, any new actions should be performed in HubSpot. Be prepared for the switch.
Throughout the migration process, the expert will be in regular communication to keep your team informed. Post launch, you'll collaboratively perform testing to ensure that all components of the new system are working as anticipated. Once the migration is complete, consider engaging the migration team to support and train your team make the most of your website on HubSpot.
A website migration expert manages the process of transferring your company's digital assets to HubSpot's CMS and CRM systems. They'll need your participation to ensure a smooth and efficient migration process to meet your business goals.
When migrating to HubSpot, a wide range of data and content can be transferred. Here are some of the key items that can be migrated:
While HubSpot supports the migration of a wide range of data, there are some limitations to be aware of:
While a website migration expert can migrate a wide range of data and content to HubSpot, these are some of the limitations. And it's not just HubSpot...similarities hold true whenever you transition between different platforms. It's important to understand these limitations and plan your migration accordingly. Got a question? Reach out.