Free migration for new customers, and when it pays

Free migration means you move a new customer's data from their old tool into yours, at no charge, so the effort of switching stops being the reason they stay put. It works when your product replaces something people already use and the main objection is "it is too much work to move". It is expensive to run, so it fits products with high customer value and a data move that you can mostly repeat.

How to do it

1. Confirm migration really is the objection. Check lost-deal notes and sales calls for phrases like "we would have to rebuild everything". If few people say it, a free migration will not help.
2. Decide what you will move and what you will not. For an email tool that might be subscribers, tags and templates, with automations rebuilt only for larger accounts. Write it down so every customer gets the same offer.
3. Set the conditions. Kit, for example, includes migration with paid plans and does more for larger lists (see Examples). A condition like that keeps the cost aimed at customers who pay.
4. Build a repeatable process before you advertise. A checklist, an export-and-import script for each popular competitor, and a staging step where the customer checks the result before you cut over.
5. Put it where switchers look: a "switch from X" page for each competitor, the pricing page, and the sign-up flow. See comparison pages.
6. Track the cost per migration against what a migrated customer pays you, and compare their retention to non-migrated customers.

Examples

Kit (formerly ConvertKit). Kit's migrations page says free migration comes with paid plans. Creators with fewer than 10K subscribers get an "Essentials" move of contacts, tags, lists and segments, usually in 2 to 5 business days. Creators with 10K+ subscribers get a "Concierge" move that also rebuilds forms, automation emails, templates and integrations. Failory's April 2024 write-up credits the early concierge migrations with ConvertKit's growth from "$1300 per month to $5000 per month" in six months, and with churn of about 1.5% for migrated accounts against 5.5% usual. That is one secondary account, and the 5.5% baseline has no stated source, so treat the numbers as a story and not a benchmark.

Mailsoftly. This email tool says migration help is included with every plan, with no setup fee. Its page says automations and templates "cannot be exported from most platforms, so we rebuild them with you", and that SPF, DKIM and DMARC are set up on the customer's domain during onboarding. It is a useful model of a clear, limited offer.

When it backfires

• Cost scales with customers. Each migration is staff time. If you win ten times more customers, you need ten times the people or a script. Cap it with a plan or size condition.
• Data does not always move. Automations usually have to be rebuilt, since most tools cannot export them. Check what history can come across before you promise it. Say so up front, so "free migration" does not become a refund request.
• Customer data and privacy. You are handling another company's customer list. Get the customer's written permission and delete the exports when you are done. Check that the list was collected with consent that covers the new tool. This is not legal advice.
• Deliverability. Moving a large list to a new sending setup can hurt inbox placement if authentication and volume are not handled. Mailsoftly, for example, sets up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for the customer during onboarding.
• Attracting the wrong customers. A free service pulls in people who only want the freebie. Tying it to a paid plan filters them out.

Questions people ask

What is free migration? A vendor moves the customer's existing data and setup into the new product at no charge, as part of signing up.

Which email platforms offer free migration? Kit says it comes with its paid plans. Mailsoftly says it includes it on every plan. Terms differ by size and plan, so check each vendor's migration page before you decide.

Does free migration work for non-email products? The same idea applies anywhere switching means moving data, such as a CRM, helpdesk or store. The question is whether the data move is mostly repeatable.

Sources

• Kit: free migration, read Oct 8, 2026
• Failory: How ConvertKit grows through concierge migrations, read Oct 8, 2026
• Mailsoftly: free migration, read Oct 8, 2026