{"id":1447,"date":"2026-10-06T20:29:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fluidcrm.io\/blog\/?p=1447"},"modified":"2026-10-06T20:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:42:17","slug":"crm-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fluidcrm.io\/blog\/crm-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"CRM Migration: Move Less Data, Lose Nothing (9 Steps)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The fear with switching CRMs is losing data. What usually happens is the opposite, and the new CRM opens on day one stuffed with five years of leads nobody will ever call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRM migration is moving your contacts, companies, deals and history from one system to another. For a small team the safe way is to back up everything, move only the live pipeline and the people in it, test with a small messy batch, then freeze the old CRM and switch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing gets deleted in that plan. The data you leave out of the new CRM stays in an archive file you can open any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>What CRM Migration Is and What Actually Moves<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

CRM migration is the move of your sales data from one system into another. A CRM holds more kinds of data than most people count before they start a migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of it moves in a file, some has to be rebuilt by hand and some should stay where it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data<\/th>Moves by file import?<\/th>What to do with it<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Contacts<\/td>Yes<\/td>Move the active ones<\/td><\/tr>
Companies<\/td>Yes<\/td>Move the ones your active contacts belong to<\/td><\/tr>
Deals<\/td>Yes<\/td>Move open deals, archive the rest<\/td><\/tr>
Links between records<\/td>Often breaks<\/td>Import in the right order so contacts attach to companies and deals<\/td><\/tr>
Pipeline stages<\/td>No<\/td>Rebuild them in the new CRM first<\/td><\/tr>
Custom fields<\/td>Only if they exist first<\/td>Create them in the new CRM before importing<\/td><\/tr>
Owners<\/td>Sometimes, if the users exist first<\/td>Invite the team before you import<\/td><\/tr>
Permissions<\/td>No<\/td>Set them up by hand<\/td><\/tr>
Notes and call history<\/td>Sometimes, as text<\/td>Move as a notes column, or keep in the archive<\/td><\/tr>
Emails<\/td>Rarely<\/td>Keep in your inbox and the archive<\/td><\/tr>
Files and attachments<\/td>Rarely<\/td>Keep in a shared drive and link to them<\/td><\/tr>
Automations and forms<\/td>No<\/td>Rebuild them after the import, and only the ones you used<\/td><\/tr>
Opt-outs and unsubscribes<\/td>Yes, as a field or a label<\/td>Move every one of them, always<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rows that do not say a plain “yes” are where migrations go wrong. People plan the contact file carefully and forget that stages and custom fields have to exist before the first row goes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automations are the other trap. Rebuild them after the import, because a live automation can fire on every row you bring in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>What To Move and What To Keep in the Archive<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every record goes to one of two places. It moves to the new CRM, or it stays in an archive file, which is the full export you saved, and the migration deletes nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what I’d move for a team of one to ten people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n