How to switch from ActiveCampaign

Scope it honestly first

ActiveCampaign is two products in one: marketing automation and a light CRM (Deals). WeZend replaces the automation side outright. For Deals you choose: model what you need as events and custom fields (fine for "deal won → start onboarding journey"), or keep a dedicated CRM and connect it as an integration. Decide this before you start — it defines what "done" means.

Step 1 — Exclusion list first

Export ActiveCampaign's exclusion list (their do-not-send registry) and any unsubscribed-contact exports, and import them into WeZend under Audience → Suppressions before anything else. Same logic as every migration: once suppressions are in, no later mistake can message an opted-out contact.

Step 2 — Contacts, tags and fields

In ActiveCampaign, export contacts to CSV (from the Contacts overview; include tags and custom fields in the export). In WeZend, import via Audience → Contacts → Import, creating custom fields in the mapping screen as needed. Tags survive as tags — and since ActiveCampaign workflows often encode state in tags (welcome-done, vip), having them intact means your rebuilt journeys can branch on them immediately.

Step 3 — Site tracking → event tracking

Replace ActiveCampaign's site-tracking snippet with WeZend's tracking snippet. You gain granularity: instead of page-visit tracking, you send named events with properties (product_viewed, order_completed with revenue) that drive segments, journey triggers and ROI attribution. Map your most-used "visited URL" automation conditions to explicit events — it's more work than copying a snippet, and it pays back every day after.

Step 4 — Domain and warm-up

Verify your sending domain (Settings → Email domains) and ramp volume over 2–3 weeks, engaged contacts first. If SMS is part of your ActiveCampaign setup, register your sender IDs now — some countries need pre-registration lead time.

Step 5 — Automations become journeys, deliberately

ActiveCampaign automations can't be exported in a portable form; you rebuild them on the journey canvas. Practical translation guide:

• Start triggers (subscribes, tag added, event) → journey triggers (event, segment_enter, list join).
• If/Else → branch nodes on profile fields, tags or events.
• Wait until → wait_event nodes ("wait until customer replies / clicks / purchases, max N days").
• Goal blocks → journey goals — with the upgrade that goals also attribute revenue.
• Tag operations → update_contact nodes.

Rebuild in revenue order, test-enroll yourself in each, and prune the automations nobody can explain anymore — every mature ActiveCampaign account has a few.

Step 6 — Forms and cutover

Swap ActiveCampaign forms for lead forms with double opt-in, run both platforms in parallel for 2–3 weeks, activate journeys one at a time while pausing the matching automation, then delta-export late unsubscribes and archive the account.

What does NOT come along

• Automation history and contact timelines — export what you need for records; journeys start fresh.
• Deal pipelines — by design (see scope note above).
• Email opens/clicks history — stays in ActiveCampaign's reports.