Moving data into a new CRM without breaking everything requires careful planning. This checklist walks you through cleaning, mapping, and importing your data properly.
Why Data Migrations Fail
Most teams export from the old CRM and import into the new one, bringing 10 years of dirty data along for the ride. A migration is your chance to start clean.
Before You Start
Audit Your Current Data
- Count total contacts, companies, and deals
- Identify duplicate records
- Find records missing critical fields
- Count inactive records (18+ months no activity)
Decide What Migrates
| Migrate | Archive | Delete |
|---|---|---|
| Active contacts and customers | Closed deals older than 2 years | Duplicate records |
| Open deals | Inactive contacts for reference | Test data |
| Recent prospects (6-12 months) | Historical campaign data | Bounced emails |
Clean Data BEFORE Migration
- Merge duplicates in old system
- Standardize company names
- Fix email formatting
- Standardize phone numbers
- Clean dropdown values
- Fill or mark missing required fields
Field Mapping
Create a spreadsheet mapping every old field to new field. Include transformation rules.
Example: Old "Status" (text) → New "Lead Status" (dropdown)
Transformations: "hot lead" → "Qualified", "cold" → "New", "dead" → "Unqualified"
Transformations: "hot lead" → "Qualified", "cold" → "New", "dead" → "Unqualified"
Test Import First
1 Export 50-100 test records
2 Clean and transform data
3 Import to new CRM
4 Verify everything worked
5 Delete and retry until perfect
Full Import Order
- Companies first
- Contacts second (link to companies)
- Deals third (link to contacts/companies)
- Activities last
Common Issues
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Duplicates created | Use email as unique ID, enable deduplication |
| Dates import as text | Format as YYYY-MM-DD |
| Phone numbers lose formatting | Import as text, not number |
| Special characters break | Save CSV as UTF-8 |
| Dropdowns do not match | Create dropdown options first |
Post-Migration Checklist
- Run duplicate detection
- Verify associations (contacts to companies)
- Check critical fields have data
- Test workflows still trigger
- Have team spot-check records
- Keep old CRM read-only for 3 months