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You can move contact data and email designs from Mailchimp to Benchmark Email, but there is no one-click account migration. Export contacts with their subscription statuses intact, map the fields during import, and transfer design HTML separately. Automations, drafts, and past reports need their own plan.
What transfers—and what needs separate work
| Item | What to expect | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Contact fields | Mailchimp contact exports include audience fields; Benchmark supports file imports and field mapping. | Map fields and review import results, including skipped rows. |
| Subscription status | Mailchimp exports can separate subscribed, non-subscribed, unsubscribed, and cleaned contacts. Benchmark’s migration guide describes importing unsubscribed contacts separately as unsubscribed. | Keep status files separate and preserve each contact’s permission state. |
| Sent email designs | Benchmark describes copying sent-campaign HTML into its Custom HTML editor. This transfers code, not necessarily the original builder structure. | Preview and test the email; repair rendering, links, or images as needed. |
| Draft designs | Benchmark’s migration guide says its described HTML route is not available for Mailchimp drafts. | Confirm the current Mailchimp interface and capture or rebuild drafts you still need. |
| Automations | Benchmark says automations do not transfer. | Document triggers, messages, timing, and conditions, then rebuild or replace them. |
| Reports and engagement history | Benchmark says past reports do not transfer. Mailchimp also says campaign reports and audience statistics cannot be imported during account combining. | Retain any records your team needs before leaving Mailchimp. |
| Forms and connected systems | Mailchimp’s account export excludes website and landing-page content; forms and integrations need separate attention. | Audit signup forms, embedded links, and integrations and update them for the new setup. |
Benchmark’s migration article, authored by its VP of Growth Marketing, says: “There is no one-click import from Mailchimp, so plan on a CSV upload for contacts and some copy and paste for templates.” Treat its product instructions as vendor guidance and check the current interface before you migrate.
1. Inventory your Mailchimp account
Before exporting, make a list of what the team uses and what must remain accessible. Mailchimp’s account-data export can include audiences, templates, campaign email content, reports, and other listed account data, but it does not include deleted audiences or certain content such as websites, landing pages, and ads. Do not assume one export captures every operational asset.
The Tool Desk
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- Identify templates, sent campaigns, and drafts worth preserving.
- Record automations, triggers, timing, and messages that will need rebuilding.
- Decide which campaign reports, audience statistics, and other records must be retained.
- Locate signup forms, embedded forms, and connected services that may need new links or configuration.
Mailchimp describes account-data exports and their included and excluded content in its export and backup guide.
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2. Export contacts without mixing their statuses
Use Mailchimp’s audience contact export and keep the resulting status files separate. Depending on the audience, exports may include CSVs for subscribed, non-subscribed, unsubscribed, and cleaned contacts. Mailchimp warns that importing a file with the wrong status can turn an unsubscribed contact into a subscribed contact.
Contact exports can include audience fields and some marketing-permission and opt-in information, but they do not include email report data such as opens and clicks. If you need reporting records, save them separately. Mailchimp says export history and CSV files remain available in the account for 30 days; download and store the files you need rather than relying on that window.
See Mailchimp’s instructions for exporting contacts and its notes about what contact exports contain.
3. Prepare lists, statuses, and field mapping in Benchmark
Decide how your Mailchimp audiences should be represented before uploading anything. Benchmark’s migration article suggests consolidating multiple audiences into fewer lists and tagging contacts by origin or audience. That may simplify organization, but retain separate distinctions wherever they matter for consent, targeting, or reporting.
- Sign in to Benchmark and open the contact or list import workflow. Labels and paths can change, so use the current interface rather than relying on a remembered menu path.
- Upload the subscribed CSV to the intended list and map its email-address column. Benchmark’s import documentation requires an email-address field and describes mapping file columns to contact fields.
- Map names and custom fields to the corresponding Benchmark fields. Check that dates, text, and other field types are represented appropriately for how you use them.
- Import the unsubscribed CSV separately, explicitly retaining unsubscribed status. Do not add those contacts as active subscribers.
- Handle non-subscribed and cleaned contacts according to their exported status and your lawful basis for contacting them; do not silently treat either group as subscribed.
- Review the import summary, rejected or skipped rows, and sample records before using the list.
Benchmark’s help center documents contact imports and field mapping. Its Mailchimp-specific migration steps are in its migration guide; because that guide is vendor-authored, verify the current workflow in your account.
4. Transfer designs as HTML, not as native templates
Mailchimp’s account export can include HTML files for templates and campaign content. Benchmark’s migration guide describes copying HTML from sent campaigns and pasting it into its Custom HTML editor. This is a code-transfer route, not a guaranteed automatic conversion of a Mailchimp template into an editable Benchmark drag-and-drop design.
Mailchimp warns in its account-combining guidance that importing HTML can remove access to drag-and-drop content blocks. That illustrates the distinction: the email’s appearance may be carried by its HTML, while the source builder’s native editing controls may not be. Benchmark says custom HTML is sent as-is, so inspect the code and rendered result rather than expecting the destination editor to reconstruct the original blocks.
Benchmark’s migration guide says drafts do not expose the HTML route it describes for sent campaigns. If a draft is important, confirm what the current Mailchimp interface allows and preserve or rebuild it before you stop using the account. The same Benchmark guide advises removing the old Mailchimp footer or unsubscribe block because Benchmark says it adds its own footer. Verify that the destination supplies a working, compliant unsubscribe mechanism before removing any unsubscribe functionality.
For account-combining limitations and Mailchimp’s template-sharing guidance, see Mailchimp’s audience and account-combining help. Benchmark’s guidance on how its Custom HTML editor handles pasted code can help you understand the destination behavior.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.5. Rebuild the pieces that do not move
Benchmark’s migration guide states that “Automations, drafts, and past reports don’t transfer.” Make a replacement plan rather than assuming these assets are included in a contact or design import.
- Automations: Recreate the entry condition, delays, branching rules, messages, and exit conditions. Compare the rebuilt flow with your inventory before enabling it.
- Drafts: Recover usable HTML where possible or recreate the design in the destination editor. Keep a copy of important text, images, links, and settings.
- Reports: Save the campaign and audience records your team needs for business, compliance, or planning purposes before abandoning the old account.
- Forms and integrations: Replace embedded forms and update links or connected services that still point to Mailchimp.
6. Test before moving live campaigns
Use a small, controlled test before relying on the new account for live activity. Benchmark’s migration guide recommends previewing and testing because email rendering can vary across clients.
- Preview each transferred HTML design on desktop and mobile.
- Send a test message and check layout, images, links, and footer behavior.
- Confirm the sending domain and account configuration are ready for the intended campaign.
- Submit each signup form and verify the resulting contact, fields, and status.
- Run a small campaign and inspect the result before shifting all live activity.
Benchmark’s October 6, 2026 migration article states that its Free plan covers up to 500 contacts and 2,500 emails per month. These are vendor-stated plan limits from that publication date, not independent figures; check Benchmark’s current plan terms before choosing a plan or scheduling sends.
Quick Recap
Sources
- Mailchimp: Export or back up your data
- Mailchimp: Export contacts
- Mailchimp: About exporting contacts
- Mailchimp: Combine audiences
- Benchmark Email: How to migrate from Mailchimp to Benchmark Email
- Benchmark Email: How to import contacts
- Benchmark Email: Using the Custom HTML editor
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