Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Last year, I was working with a Shopify client who had built something most marketers dream of: over 200 collection pages, each pulling organic traffic, and each with its own tailored lead magnet. Sounds like a goldmine, right?
Well, it was. But there was one massive problem lurking beneath the surface. They were using Mailchimp for their email automation, and what started as a simple setup had become a tangled mess of workflows, outdated segmentation, and lead magnets that weren't properly connected to their collection-specific audiences.
The client came to me frustrated. "We're getting signups, but our email engagement is terrible, and we can't track which lead magnets actually convert to sales." They were essentially flying blind with a $50K+ email list.
Here's what we discovered during the migration process, and why most businesses completely botch this transition:
How to migrate 200+ lead magnets without losing subscriber data or breaking existing automations
The hidden costs of keeping segmented lead magnets on the wrong platform
Why most migration guides miss the crucial step of maintaining collection-specific targeting
The exact workflow I used to increase email engagement by 40% during the transition
How to set up personalized lead magnet systems that actually scale with your business
If you're running multiple lead magnets and feeling stuck with your current email platform, this case study will show you exactly how to make the switch without losing momentum. Let's dive into what actually works.
Industry Reality
What most migration guides won't tell you
When you Google "email list migration," you'll find hundreds of articles with the same tired advice. Export your lists, import to new platform, map your tags, test your automations. Sounds simple enough, right?
The problem is, most of these guides assume you're dealing with a simple newsletter setup. They're written by people who've never managed multiple lead magnets across different product categories, each targeting specific audience segments with unique value propositions.
Here's what the industry typically recommends for email migrations:
Export all contacts at once - Usually in one big CSV file
Map your tags and segments - Hoping the new platform's structure matches your old one
Recreate your automations - Copy-paste your workflows and pray they work
Test everything - Send test emails to make sure nothing broke
Sunset the old platform - Cancel your subscription and move on
This approach works fine if you're running a simple blog newsletter. But when you have 200+ collection pages, each with its own lead magnet, targeting different customer segments, this strategy is a recipe for disaster.
The conventional wisdom ignores three critical issues: first, it assumes all your lead magnets have the same conversion value (they don't). Second, it doesn't account for the complex automation trees you've built around different product interests. And third, it completely misses the opportunity to improve your segmentation strategy during the migration process.
Most businesses following standard migration advice end up with a new platform that's just as messy as their old one, except now they've lost months of behavioral data and broken their most profitable email sequences. There had to be a better way.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When this Shopify client approached me, they had what looked like an email marketing success story from the outside. Over 200 collection pages, each getting organic traffic from SEO work we'd done previously, and each page had its own tailored lead magnet created through AI automation workflows.
But underneath this impressive setup was a growing problem. They were stuck on Mailchimp, and what had started as a simple email setup had evolved into something Mailchimp wasn't designed to handle efficiently.
Here's what was happening: Each collection page was pulling in qualified traffic (people searching for specific product types), and each had a unique lead magnet - buying guides, size charts, style recommendations, care instructions - you name it. The variety was incredible, and the signup rates were solid.
The problem became obvious when we dug into their email analytics. Open rates were hovering around 18%, click rates were under 2%, and most importantly, they couldn't track which lead magnets were actually driving sales. Their segmentation was a mess of outdated tags, and their automation sequences were firing the same generic content regardless of what specific interest brought someone to their list.
The client's exact words were: "We're collecting emails, but we're not making money from them. Something's fundamentally broken."
I knew immediately what the issue was. They were treating their diverse, interest-based audience like a single newsletter list. People who downloaded a "men's formal wear sizing guide" were getting the same email sequence as someone who grabbed a "summer dress styling tips" PDF. No wonder engagement was terrible.
The solution wasn't just migrating to a better platform - it was rebuilding their entire email strategy around the specific interests that brought people to each lead magnet. But first, we had to figure out how to migrate 200+ lead magnets without losing the data that mattered.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After analyzing their setup, I realized this wasn't going to be a standard migration. We needed a system that could preserve the connection between each lead magnet and its corresponding audience segment while upgrading to a platform that could actually handle this level of complexity.
We chose Klaviyo for this migration because of its ecommerce-focused segmentation capabilities and its ability to track behavior across multiple touchpoints. But the platform choice was less important than the migration methodology itself.
Phase 1: Lead Magnet Audit and Prioritization
Before touching any data, we spent two weeks auditing all 200+ lead magnets. We tracked which ones were actually getting downloads, which collection pages were driving the most traffic, and most importantly, which lead magnets were connected to customers who eventually made purchases.
This audit revealed something crucial: about 60% of their lead magnets were generating signups but contributing virtually nothing to revenue. These were generic guides that attracted tire-kickers rather than qualified buyers.
Phase 2: Smart Segmentation Strategy
Instead of just copying their existing Mailchimp tags, we built a new segmentation system based on purchase intent and product categories. We grouped the 200+ lead magnets into 12 core customer journey stages and product interests.
For example, instead of having separate tags for "summer-dress-guide," "cocktail-dress-guide," and "formal-dress-guide," we created broader segments like "dress-enthusiast" with behavioral triggers that would identify specific style preferences over time.
Phase 3: Sequential Migration by Performance
Here's where we broke from conventional wisdom entirely. Instead of migrating everything at once, we moved the highest-performing lead magnets first. We started with the top 20% that were driving actual sales, got those working perfectly in Klaviyo, then gradually moved the rest.
This approach had two massive advantages: first, we could test our new segmentation strategy on our most valuable subscribers before risking the entire list. Second, we could keep the old Mailchimp setup running for lower-priority segments while we perfected the new system.
Phase 4: Automation Reconstruction
Rather than recreating their old automations, we built entirely new email sequences based on the lead magnet category and the customer's position in the buying journey. Someone who downloaded a "first-time buyer guide" got a very different sequence than someone who grabbed an "advanced styling tips" PDF.
The key insight was treating each lead magnet as the beginning of a specific customer journey, not just another way to get on a generic newsletter list.
Performance Tracking
Monitor signup rates and engagement metrics during migration to avoid drops
Data Mapping
Create detailed spreadsheets connecting old tags to new segments before starting
Automation Testing
Set up parallel automations to test new sequences before shutting down old ones
Revenue Attribution
Track which lead magnets drive actual sales, not just email signups
The results from this migration approach were immediate and significant. Within the first month of completing the transition, we saw engagement metrics that proved the new segmentation strategy was working.
Email engagement jumped by 40% across the board. Open rates went from 18% to 26%, and click-through rates improved from under 2% to 3.8%. But the real win was in revenue attribution.
For the first time, the client could see exactly which lead magnets were driving sales. They discovered that 12 specific lead magnets were responsible for 73% of their email-driven revenue. This insight alone was worth the entire migration effort.
The new Klaviyo setup also revealed behavioral patterns that were invisible in Mailchimp. We could see that people who downloaded product care guides were 3x more likely to become repeat customers than those who downloaded general style guides. This led to a complete restructuring of their lead magnet strategy.
Timeline-wise, the entire migration took about 8 weeks, but we started seeing improved performance within the first two weeks as the highest-value segments moved over to the new system.
Perhaps most importantly, they didn't lose a single engaged subscriber during the transition. The sequential migration approach meant that people kept receiving valuable content throughout the process, and many didn't even realize a platform change had occurred.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Audit before you migrate: Not all lead magnets are created equal. Identify your revenue drivers before moving anything.
Rebuild, don't just copy: Migration is the perfect opportunity to fix your segmentation strategy. Don't just recreate your old mistakes on a new platform.
Sequential beats simultaneous: Moving high-value segments first lets you test and refine your approach before risking your entire list.
Platform choice matters for complex setups: Mailchimp works fine for simple newsletters, but ecommerce businesses need platforms built for behavioral segmentation.
Behavioral data is gold: The insights you gain from proper segmentation are often more valuable than the improved delivery rates.
Test everything in parallel: Run old and new systems simultaneously during transition periods to catch issues before they impact subscribers.
Revenue attribution changes everything: Once you can see which lead magnets actually drive sales, your entire content strategy becomes data-driven instead of guess-driven.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies running multiple lead magnets:
Segment by feature interest and company size rather than just industry
Track trial conversion rates by lead magnet source
Set up behavioral triggers based on product usage patterns
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores with diverse product catalogs:
Group lead magnets by customer lifecycle stage and product category
Use purchase behavior to refine segmentation over time
Connect email platform to your product recommendation engine