How to Migrate from HubSpot to Klaviyo Without Losing Revenue

TL;DR

• Data Storage Differences: HubSpot is a relational CRM (Contacts > Companies > Deals); Klaviyo is an event-driven profile engine. Migrating requires converting CRM fields into Klaviyo profile properties to maintain customer context.
• The Attribution Gap: HubSpot attribution is often modeled around B2B-style "Deal" cycles. Klaviyo’s native Shopify/BigCommerce integration provides a real-time event stream that allows for more accurate revenue-to-flow mapping.
• Using HubSpot for Sales and Klaviyo for Retention: Many brands do not fully exit HubSpot; they keep it for B2B/Wholesale management and move all DTC retention to Klaviyo.
• Replacing Lead Scores with Predictive Metrics: Klaviyo replaces HubSpot’s manual lead scoring with data-science models for Expected Next Order Date and Churn Risk.
• Revenue Potential: Brands that rebuild their flows around real-time behavioral data often see stronger email performance within the first 90 days.

Introduction

HubSpot is an excellent CRM for managing leads, pipelines, and sales processes. Klaviyo is purpose-built for ecommerce retention, with native support for real-time purchase and browsing events. Moving between these platforms is not just a software change; it is a shift from CRM-based marketing to event-driven retention.

Actual Hubspot to Klaviyo migration timelines and performance improvements vary depending on list quality, integration complexity, and the maturity of your existing lifecycle program. At Propel, we’ve worked on 5+ HubSpot-to-Klaviyo migrations for ecommerce brands looking to bridge the gap between their customer data and their marketing execution.

Should You Migrate from HubSpot to Klaviyo?

Before diving into the technical steps, use this framework to determine if a migration from Hubspot to Klaviyo is the right move for your current growth stage.

The migration is likely beneficial if:

1. You face sync latency: If you rely on third-party connectors to sync Shopify data to HubSpot, your data is often delayed. Klaviyo’s native integration is real-time, firing "Started Checkout" flows the moment an email is entered.
2. Operational Complexity: If your team spends hours each week manually moving contacts between lifecycle stages to keep audiences clean, Klaviyo’s dynamic segments can automate this process.
3. Omnichannel Needs: If your SMS and email efforts feel disjointed, Klaviyo allows for unified "if/then" logic across both channels in a single builder.
4. Pricing Efficiency: Depending on your contact volume and how you use each platform, Klaviyo may offer a more efficient pricing model for retention-focused ecommerce teams compared to HubSpot’s Marketing Hub.
5. Attribution Needs: If you cannot confidently link a specific email to a SKU purchase, your DTC revenue and LTV attribution may be limited by HubSpot's B2B-centric reporting.

Hold off if:

1. Wholesale Dominance: If most of your revenue comes from sales reps closing manual deals, HubSpot should remain your primary tool.
2. Peak Season Proximity: Avoid migrating within 8 weeks of BFCM. Mailbox providers evaluate your sending reputation based on engagement and authentication, so a gradual warm-up is essential to avoid the spam folder during high-traffic periods.

How HubSpot and Klaviyo Store Customer Data Differently

The most common mistake in a HubSpot-to-Klaviyo migration is attempting a 1:1 data import. To do this successfully, you must understand how the two platforms differ:

• HubSpot’s Model: Relational. A "Contact" is linked to a "Company," which is linked to a "Deal." Information is siloed across these different objects.
• Klaviyo’s Model: Profile-Centric. Every action—every purchase, site visit, or support ticket—is an "Event" tied directly to a single "Profile."

When you migrate from Hubspot, you must convert CRM fields into Klaviyo profile properties. For example, a "Wholesale Tier" that lived at the Company level in HubSpot must be mapped as a Profile Property in Klaviyo. This ensures you can still use that data for customer segmentation in lifecycle marketing.

What Transfers and What Doesn’t

A HubSpot to Klaviyo migration is a data-syncing process, not a mirror-image copy. To manage stakeholder expectations, you must distinguish between "portable" data and "non-portable" infrastructure.

A. Transfers Cleanly

• Identity Fields: Standard fields like Email, First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number map directly to Klaviyo profile properties.
• Custom Properties: Any bespoke property created in HubSpot (e.g., "Favorite Product Category") can be exported via CSV and imported as a Custom Property in Klaviyo.
• Suppression Lists: Your unsubscribes and hard bounces are portable and must be moved first to ensure compliance.
• Purchase History: This is technically not "transferred" from HubSpot. Instead, it is backfilled through Klaviyo’s native integration with Shopify or BigCommerce.

B. Requires Rebuilding

• Email Templates: HubSpot uses a proprietary language (HubL). These cannot be imported and must be rebuilt in Klaviyo’s editor.
• Workflows: HubSpot’s "Workflows" do not translate to Klaviyo "Flows." Every automated sequence must be re-architected.
• Segments: Logic for dynamic lists must be recreated using Klaviyo’s builder.
• Lead Scoring: Points-based scores do not exist in Klaviyo and should be replaced with predictive metrics.

C. Does Not Transfer

• Historical Engagement: Historical engagement data (opens and clicks) typically remains in HubSpot and is not available in Klaviyo.
• Campaign Reporting: Your history of which campaigns performed best stays in HubSpot’s analytics dashboard.

The Operator's View: While losing open/click history feels like a loss, purchase behavior is a much stronger signal for mastering customer retention metrics. Knowing a customer bought three times in six months is more valuable for segmentation than knowing they opened a newsletter in 2022.

HubSpot to Klaviyo Migration Checklist

1. Pre-Migration Audit

• Inventory all active HubSpot Workflows (Triggers, Filters, and Content).
• Document all third-party integrations (Loyalty, Reviews, Customer Service).
• Export your current HubSpot "Property Settings" to identify custom fields.
• Identify B2B/Wholesale vs. DTC contacts if you are keeping a split stack.

2. Data Preparation

• Export "All Contacts" with your audited list of properties.
• Export "Unsubscribed" and "Hard Bounce" lists for suppression.
• Segment your active list into engagement "buckets" (30, 60, 90-day openers).
• Scrub the list using a tool like NeverBounce to remove dormant emails.

3. Platform Setup

• Verify the sending domain (DKIM/SPF) in Klaviyo.
• Install the native Shopify/BigCommerce integration.
• Create Custom Properties in Klaviyo to match your HubSpot export columns.
• Upload Suppression Lists before active contact lists.

4. QA and Launch

• Rebuild and test core flows (Welcome, Abandoned Cart).
• Place a test order to verify "Placed Order" and "Started Checkout" events.
• Send your first campaign to the most engaged 30-day segment only.
• Set up a reporting dashboard in Klaviyo to monitor RPR and AOV.

The Technical Migration: Step-by-Step

Step 1 — The Property Audit

HubSpot accounts often accumulate 200+ custom properties over time. Export your "Property Settings" and identify the "Money Properties"—those that define customer behavior (e.g., Skin Type, Preferred Flavor, or Birthday).

How to identify high-value properties: Look at your most successful HubSpot workflows. If a property is used as a filter or a personalization tag, it must be migrated. Everything else is likely "data noise" that can be left behind to keep your Klaviyo instance clean.

Step 2 — Suppression List Priority

This is the most critical step for compliance. Export HubSpot's "Unsubscribed" and "Hard Bounce" lists and upload them to Klaviyo’s Suppression List before you import any active subscribers.

Why it matters: If you import active contacts first while an automated Welcome Flow is live, Klaviyo could accidentally email an unsubscribed customer within the minutes it takes you to upload the second file. This leads to immediate spam complaints and can damage your reputation before the first campaign is sent.

Step 3 — Connecting the Data Stream

Install the Klaviyo app on Shopify or BigCommerce. Once connected, immediately place a test order and a test checkout.

The Operator Move: Do not assume the integration is working because the dashboard says "Connected." Verify the activity feed in Klaviyo to ensure "Started Checkout" and "Placed Order" events are firing with the correct SKU data and price values. This event stream is the foundation for improving customer retention in ecommerce.

Step 4 — Importing in Engagement Buckets

Do not import your database as one giant file. Export contacts from HubSpot based on their "Last Click Date" and import them into separate Klaviyo lists (e.g., 30-day active, 90-day active, and lapsed).

Why engagement buckets? These buckets are your insurance policy for deliverability. By starting your sending only with the 30-day bucket, you ensure a high open rate, which signals to Gmail and Yahoo that you are a legitimate sender.

Rebuilding Flows: Strategy Over Replication

Do not simply replicate your HubSpot workflows. HubSpot workflows are often "if/then" chains based on property updates. Klaviyo flows should be "event-based."

1. Welcome Series (Priority: High)

Structure: Email 1 (Immediate - Value & Offer), Email 2 (24 hrs - Brand Story), Email 3 (48 hrs - Social Proof/Best Sellers).

Why it matters: This is your highest-volume flow. Use a conditional split: Has Placed Order zero times. This ensures customers who buy from the first email are moved to a post-purchase track instead of getting further "first-purchase" reminders.

2. Abandoned Cart (Priority: Critical)

Structure: Email 1 (1 hour - Reminder), Email 2 (24 hours - Trust/Scarcity), Email 3 (72 hours - Final Nudge/Offer).

Why it matters: This flow has the highest RPE (Revenue Per Email). Triggering on "Started Checkout" is more accurate for ecommerce than HubSpot’s property-based triggers, which can suffer from sync delays.

3. Post-Purchase (Priority: High)

Structure: Split by Order Count.

• First-time Buyers: Focus on "How-to-use," product care, and community invitations.
• Repeat Buyers (VIPs): Focus on early access, referral rewards, and replenishment reminders.
• Why it matters: This is where you drive top retention marketing strategies. Personalizing based on whether it’s their first or fifth order drastically changes the customer experience.

4. Win-Back (Priority: Medium)

Structure: Triggered by "Expected Next Order Date" (if using Klaviyo’s predictive analytics) or 60–90 days since the last purchase.

Why it matters: Re-engaging customers before they churn is far cheaper than acquiring new ones. Using time-based triggers allows you to automate the "Save" before the customer becomes truly inactive.

The Deliverability Warm-up

When you begin sending from Klaviyo, mailbox providers evaluate your sending reputation based on engagement, authentication, and list quality.

Managing Stakeholder Expectations When Migrating from Hubspot to Klaviyo

Marketing Team Workload: Expect a significant "front-heavy" workload. Rebuilding 5–10 flows and dozens of templates from scratch is time-consuming. During the first 4 weeks, the team will likely spend 70% of their time on infrastructure and only 30% on creative strategy.

Engineering Involvement: If you are on a custom Shopify or BigCommerce theme, you may need 2–5 hours of developer time to ensure the "Added to Cart" and "Active on Site" snippets are correctly placed in the theme code. For standard themes, this is usually a one-click installation.

Leadership & Revenue: Brief leadership on the "migration curve." Total email revenue may fluctuate in the first 30 days because you are restricting send volume to only your most engaged segments. This is a deliberate trade-off to ensure long-term deliverability.

Revenue Expectations: The 90-Day Timeline

• Days 1–30 (Deliverability Stabilization): Revenue may dip or stay flat. The focus is on warming the sending domain and ensuring technical events (like checkouts) are tracking 100% accurately.
• Days 31–60 (Baseline Recovery & Optimization): As volume expands to your full engaged list, revenue typically returns to the HubSpot baseline. During this phase, you begin A/B testing flow timing and subject lines.
• Days 61–90 (Incremental Lift): Many brands see stronger email performance as real-time flows, cleaner data, and predictive segmentation begin to outperform the previous setup. This is the stage where SKU-specific triggers and churn-risk segments start to drive incremental ROI.

The Migration Opportunity: A Lifecycle Reset

Migrating from HubSpot to Klaviyo is a chance to audit your entire retention strategy. If you simply move your old templates and logic, you are missing the opportunity to leverage a more specialized engine.

Our Hubspot to Klaviyo migration framework focuses on data integrity, behavioral automation, and deliverability stability. Our approach is designed to turn a platform switch into a long-term growth catalyst. As a specialized Klaviyo agency, we help brands bridge the gap between their customer data and their revenue goals.

Book a HubSpot-to-Klaviyo migration assessment to receive a tailored roadmap covering data mapping, flow rebuild priorities, and deliverability planning.