How to migrate from Mailchimp to beehiiv

In order to successfully migrate from Mailchimp to beehiiv, you’ll need to do two things:

• Migrate your subscribers.
• Migrate your newsletter content.

This guide walks you through each process so you can transition smoothly and continue sending without interruption.

1. Log in to your Mailchimp account and go to Audience.
   
   
   
2. Here, you’ll see all of your contacts. Click on the Export audience button. In the pop up that appears, select Export CSV. 
   
   
   
3. Mailchimp will display an in-progress notice while the file is being generated.
   
   
   
4. When the export is ready, go to the Audience exports page and click Download on the right side of the screen.
   
   
   

1. In your beehiiv account, go to Settings > Subscribers Import and click the New Subscribers Import button. 
   
   
   
2. When prompted to choose an import method, select Upload a CSV file, then upload the CSV you exported from Mailchimp. Click Next to continue.
   
   
   
3. Under Advanced Configuration (Optional), you can apply tags to all subscribers in your file. Any tags or custom fields included in your CSV can also be mapped in the next step.
   
   When ready, click Confirm subscribers import.

4. A confirmation will appear asking you to verify that all contacts in the import have knowingly opted in to receive emails from you. Click the Import button to proceed.
    
5. Next, you’ll start mapping out the fields. Match the columns from your CSV file to fields in beehiiv. 

• For any fields that don’t already exist, create new ones using Create new custom field under the Custom Field column.
• Tags from your CSV can be mapped using the Subscriber Tags option
  
  
  

6. Once your mapping is complete, click Import at the bottom of the screen.
    
7. Review your results. After processing, you’ll see how many subscribers were successfully imported.
   
   If some were rejected, refer to the FAQs in this article for common reasons and troubleshooting steps.
    
8. To view the subscribers from your newly imported list in your account, go to Audience > Subscribers.
   
   To view custom fields for an individual subscriber, click their email address, then scroll to the Custom Fields section on the left side of the subscriber profile.
   
   
   

To help protect email deliverability while you transition to beehiiv, we recommend excluding unengaged subscribers from your initial sends (for the first 2-4 weeks). Ideally, you should also choose to remove these subscribers entirely during migration.

Here’s how to identify and exclude them:

1. Create a segment of your Mailchimp subscribers in beehiiv. Use your Mailchimp engagement data to identify unengaged subscribers. We recommend segmenting subscribers who have a Mailchimp Contact/Member Rating of 1 or 2. 
   
   
   
   
   For more details on how Mailchimp’s contact ratings work, refer to their documentation.
    
2. Exclude that segment when sending posts. When publishing a post, go to the Audience page of the Post Builder and select the segment under Excluded segments.
   
   
   

Before migrating your content, it’s best to create a newsletter template in beehiiv with your preferred styling. When creating the template, select Set as default post style so those design choices automatically apply to your imported posts.

After migration, styling can only be adjusted on a post-by-post basis.

beehiiv offers several pre-built templates you can use as a starting point. For step-by-step instructions on creating templates and setting a default post style, see: Getting started with the Post Builder: Creating newsletter templates.

1. In your beehiiv account, go to Settings > Content Import and click the Start Import button. 
   
   
   
2. Select your import source. Choose Mailchimp and click Next in the top-right corner.
   
   
   
3. Click the Connect button to authenticate with your Mailchimp account. 
   
   
   
4. Log in to your Mailchimp account and follow the prompts until you see a success message.
   
   
   
5. If you have campaign folders in Mailchimp and want to import only specific ones, select them now.
    
6. Under Select campaigns to import, choose:

• All campaigns to import all past campaigns, or
• Customized by campaign folders to import only selected folders.
• Click Next when finished.
  
  
  

7. Imports typically take 5-15 minutes, depending on the number of posts you are moving over. During this time, your import status will display as Pending or Processing on your Historical Imports table.
    
8. Refresh your browser to check progress. Once the import is complete, the status will show Completed, along with the number of posts successfully created.
   
   
   
9. After migration, your imported posts will appear under Posts in your beehiiv dashboard. You can also view live versions of your posts on your beehiiv website. For details on backdating your imported posts see: Manually migrating post content to beehiiv.

While our goal is to make migrating from Mailchimp to beehiiv as smooth as possible, there are a few limitations to be aware of. Our content importers generally work well for most publishers, but complete accuracy isn’t always possible due to how third-party platforms structure and change their systems.

The Mailchimp importer supports campaigns created with Mailchimp’s New Email Builder (launched in 2022). Campaigns created using the Legacy Email Builder will not be imported.

Our team is continuously improving migration tools, but for now you may need to manually recreate emails built with the legacy builder.

If your Mailchimp publication uses a custom domain for sending email, you can add that custom domain in beehiiv. 

• Custom Domains: We’ve partnered with Entri, a DNS management service, to make the custom domain configuration process seamless. No manual DNS changes are required. Refer to this step-by-step guide: How to use a custom domain for your publication.
• Subscribe Forms: If you previously used Mailchimp’s embedded subscribe forms on your website, you can recreate them in beehiiv. For details refer to: Creating an embedded subscribe form.
• Automations: Any Mailchimp automation workflows you relied on can be recreated using beehiiv’s Automations feature. You can build workflows from scratch or start with pre-made templates. Start with this guide: Types of workflows: How to create automations for your subscribers.

If you prefer hands-on help with your migration from Mailchimp to beehiiv, you can work with a specialist from the beehiiv Experts Directory. These trusted partners offer professional migration services to help ensure a smooth transition to your new platform.