Move from Omnisend

This page takes you from Omnisend to a working IGSendMail account. Contacts and unsubscribes take about 20 minutes. Email designs and automations take longer, and automations need the most planning, because Omnisend's run on store events.

What comes across, and what doesn't#

Step 1: Set up your sending domain#

Go to Sending domains, add the domain you send from, and publish the DNS records it shows you. Authenticate your domain walks through each record.

Omnisend had you add SPF, DKIM and DMARC records under Store settings > Domains. A domain may only have one SPF record, so add our include to the existing one rather than creating a second. Once Omnisend has sent its last email, remove its SPF include and DKIM record. Keep your DMARC record.

Step 2: Export your contacts#

You need an Owner, Admin or Analyst role to export.

Omnisend also has non-subscribed contacts: people it captured from a purchase or a cart who never opted in to marketing. Leave them out. Emailing them marketing without consent is the fastest way to earn spam complaints.

Step 3: Import your contacts#

Step 4: Bring your unsubscribes across#

Omnisend keeps bounces and spam reports as unsubscribe reasons, so the unsubscribed export from step 2 covers all three. If you'd rather check them separately, build a segment in Omnisend with Opted out > Reason and export it.

Go to Blacklist and import the file. The Blacklist import reads the email address from the first column, so move the email column to the front first if it isn't there already.

Don't skip this. Emailing someone who unsubscribed from you on Omnisend earns spam complaints and may break the law, and emailing addresses that bounced damages your sender reputation. Blacklisted addresses are never emailed, from any list. Blacklist and suppression explains how it works.

Step 5: Move your email designs#

Omnisend has no template export, but you can copy the HTML:

1. Open the email in Omnisend's builder.
2. Click the arrow next to Preview & Test and choose Inspect Element, then copy the code.
3. In IGSendMail, create a new template, choose your own HTML, and paste it in.

Product blocks and discount codes are filled in by Omnisend at send time, so they won't work in the copied HTML. Replace them with fixed products and links, or rebuild the email in the email builder.

Then replace Omnisend's merge tags. [[contact.first_name|default: "there"]], [[unsubscribe_link]] and [% if %] blocks won't work here; insert tags with the editor's personalization control, as described in Personalization tags. Check the footer has your unsubscribe link and postal address.

Step 6: Rebuild your automations#

Omnisend can only copy automations to another Omnisend store, so each one is rebuilt by hand. Before you start, screenshot each workflow and note its trigger, each email and the delay before it, and any conditions. Copy each email's HTML while you're there.

Then rebuild under Automations. How depends on the trigger:

• Welcome series and birthdays: these have direct equivalents. See Triggers and timing and the worked Welcome series.
• Cart abandonment: on WooCommerce, connect your store and use the built-in abandoned cart trigger. On Shopify or a custom store, your store starts the automation through the API or by adding a tag. Abandoned cart recovery covers both.
• Order confirmation, browse abandonment and post-purchase: use the same approach, with your store sending the event through the API or a tag. Order confirmations are usually better sent by your store itself.

Switch each automation on here only when you switch the Omnisend one off, so nobody gets the same email twice.

Step 7: Before your first send#

• Verify the list. Old lists always contain dead addresses. Run email verification before your first campaign.
• Start with your most engaged people. Your domain is new to our servers, so send to recent openers first and build up over a week or two. Warm up a new domain has a schedule.
• Replace your forms and pop-ups with IGSendMail forms, switch off Omnisend's, and remove the Omnisend script or app embed from your store theme.
• Then close Omnisend down: disconnecting a store needs Omnisend support, and cancelling is under Store settings > Pricing and usage. A cancelled account stays read-only on Omnisend's free plan and is deleted after three months without a login.