Migrating to Ortto from Mailchimp

Overview

Ortto and Mailchimp are two of the leading email marketing platforms, each providing a wide array of features aimed at improving email campaigns. While both offer strong automation, segmentation, and design tools, Ortto provides several advantages that make it a superior option for businesses looking to take their email marketing efforts to the next level.

Migrating to Ortto


Export audiences or segments from Mailchimp

If you need to export multiple lists or segments from Mailchimp, you’ll need to do this one at a time. Here’s how you can export both:

Export an audience

  1. Go to the Audience menu and click on All Contacts.
  2. Use the dropdown on the top of the page to select the audience you'd like to export
  3. Click Export audience.
  4. Select Confirm export
Example of how to export an individual Mailchimp audience.

Export all audiences on the account

  1. Click on your profile icon on the top right, select Account & Billing
  2. In the Settings dropdown option, click Manage my data
  3. On this page, select the Audiences checkbox
  4. Click Export my data
  5. The export will take some time to process. Once it has finished, click the Completed Export link on the page to download the export.
Example of how to export all Mailchimp audiences.

Export a segment

  1. From the Audience menu, click on the Segments option
  2. Use the dropdown at the top of the page to select the Audience that your intended segment is stored in
  3. Click the dropdown arrow for the segment you're interested in exporting
  4. Choose Export as CSV.

Learn more about exporting your contacts from Mailchimp.

Example of how to export your segment from a Mailchimp audience.

Import contacts to Ortto

Once you've downloaded your Mailchimp CSV file, follow these steps to import your contacts into Ortto:

  1. Log in to Ortto.
  2. Navigate to CDP > People.
  3. Select More > Import.
  4. On the Connect a data source page > Select Spreadsheet import.
  5. Upload the CSV file you downloaded from Mailchimp.
  6. Map the columns from your CSV file to the fields in Ortto.
    1. If some fields don’t exist yet in Ortto, you can create them by navigating to:
      1. Settings > Customer data > Fields > New custom field.
    2. Learn more about creating custom fields.

TIP: Similar to how Mailchimp uses checkbox fields to organize groups, Ortto uses multi-select checkbox fields. To import Mailchimp groups, you’ll need to create the custom multi-select field with those existing values beforehand.

Learn more about managing multi-select fields.


Create audiences in Ortto

To recreate your Mailchimp audiences in Ortto, use the tags added during import:

  1. Go to CDP > Audiences and click New Audience.
  2. Under Filter, search for and select the tag you applied during import.
  3. Click Next.
  4. Give your audience a name and icon.
  5. If you want this audience to appear in the preference center for contacts to manage their subscriptions, check the box.
Example of a filter to use when creating an audience.

Learn more about creating audiences.


Platform terminology comparison

Function

Mailchimp

Ortto

Description

List

Audience

Tag

A set of contacts organized within a list. The only inherent trait that these contacts share is that they were added into the same list.

Filter

Segment

Filter or Audience

A subset of your contacts filtered based on specific attributes or behaviors. The Ortto filter can be saved as an audience for repeated use, similar to a Mailchimp segment.

Multiple selection field

Group or checkbox field

Multi-select field

A field that supports multiple values for a single contact.

Single selection field

Radio field

Single-select field

A field that supports only one value for a contact.

Forms

Signup Forms

Capture widgets

Forms or pop-ups used to collect information.

Connected applications

Integrations

Data sources

Apps integrated to extend functionality or synchronize data.