16-STEP MIGRATION CHECKLIST
A checklist for moving your newsletter.
Export each audience state as its own file — active, unsubscribed, bounced, suppressed — rebuild and authenticate the sending domain, then prove it on a small group before you move everyone. Cancel the old account last.
Open the checklistThe text file lists every step with your progress and what the checklist leaves out. It is created on this device.
Save exports, screenshots of settings, billing dates, DNS records, and counts for every audience state.
Prove it on a small opted-in group: personalization, replies, unsubscribe handling, and one automation you cannot afford to break.
Send one real email, reconcile the counts, and keep both the original exports and a rollback path you have tested.
STOP THE MIGRATION IF
Do not cut over without these safeguards.
- Suppression records cannot be mapped reliably.
- Domain authentication is incomplete.
- Paid status or entitlement data cannot be preserved.
- Test sends show unexplained delivery or rendering failures.
INCLUDE THESE COSTS
Count the work that never appears on an invoice.
- Your hours and any outside help.
- Archive, form, automation, and template rebuilding.
- Overlapping subscriptions during testing.
- Expected disruption and rollback time.
What this checklist does not cover
It is platform-neutral, so it gives you no export or import steps for a particular pair of platforms. Follow each provider’s own documentation, or the two moves we have written up: leaving Substack, paid subscribers and Stripe included, and leaving Mailchimp, including what its export drops.
It is not deliverability, legal, or consent advice, and it does not price the move: use the cost calculator for plan prices and the payback calculator below for the switch.
PRICE THE SWITCH
Turn the checklist into a payback period.
Add your hours, outside help, subscription overlap, and disruption allowance, then compare that one-time total with the monthly saving.