# CRM Migration – Definition, FAQs & How Dedupely Helps > CRM migration explained: how a CRM data migration works, why duplicates travel with it, and when to dedupe before and after the move to a new CRM. - URL: https://dedupe.ly/glossary/crm-migration - Section: glossary - Site index: https://dedupe.ly/llms.txt - Any page: append `.md` to its URL for this plain-text form --- [Glossary](https://dedupe.ly/glossary) CRM Migration ## CRM Migration CRM migration is the process of moving records, fields and the links between them from one CRM to another, so a team can keep working with its customer history in the new system. It's also called CRM data migration, and it covers contacts, companies, deals, activities and the associations that tie them together. A migration runs in four stages: understanding what the old system holds, cleaning and mapping the data before the move, moving it, and keeping the new CRM clean afterward. Duplicates matter at each stage. Records duplicated in the old CRM arrive as duplicates in the new one, the import can add a second record for people already there, and once the new CRM is live, forms, imports and syncs start adding more. See how Dedupely finds and merges migration duplicates in your CRM [Try for free](https://v2.app.dedupe.ly/signup) [Talk to sales](https://meetings.dedupe.ly/meetings/gaby-salinas/talk-to-sales) Overview CRM migration is moving customer data from one CRM to another. It runs in stages: understand the old system, clean and map the data, move it, then keep the new CRM clean. Deduplicating before and after the move keeps old duplicates from carrying over and new ones from forming. On this page - What Is CRM Migration? - How CRM Migration Works - Why CRM Migration Matters for CRM Teams - Getting Started With CRM Migration - Key Takeaways: CRM Migration - Frequently Asked Questions About CRM Migration - Related Terms and Concepts See how Dedupely finds and merges migration duplicates in your CRM [Try for free](https://v2.app.dedupe.ly/signup) [Talk to sales](https://meetings.dedupe.ly/meetings/gaby-salinas/talk-to-sales) ### What Is CRM Migration? CRM migration is a one-time move with lasting effects: what the new CRM holds on its first day is the starting point for every report, workflow and list built on it. It moves more than rows. Each object has its own fields, required values and links, and objects don't always line up between systems. Contacts, companies and deals in HubSpot; accounts, contacts and leads in Salesforce; people, organizations and deals in Pipedrive; and leads and opportunities in Close each map in their own way, so a lead in one CRM may become a contact in another. A short example shows how duplicates travel. The old CRM holds two records for one person, "Dana Lopez, dana@acme.com" and "D. Lopez, dana.lopez@acme.com," created by a form and a list import. The new CRM already has a Dana Lopez from a trial sign-up. After the move, one person has three records, and her calls, deals and notes are split across them. Teams handle duplicates in a migration in a few ways. Deduplicating in the old CRM before export works while the history and links are still in place, so merged records keep their activities together. Cleaning the exported file in a spreadsheet or a data tool suits an old system that's hard to work in or about to be switched off. Some import tools match incoming rows to existing records on a key, such as email, and update them instead of creating new ones. Deduplicating in the new CRM after import is where migrated records meet the ones already there. Many migrations combine several of these. Resources: - [What is a duplicate?](https://dedupe.ly/blog/what-is-a-duplicate) - [How to Approach CRM Deduplication](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-approach-crm-deduplication) (KB) ### How CRM Migration Works A CRM data migration often follows the same order, whichever two systems are involved: - **Understand the old system.** List the objects, fields and custom fields in use, how records link to each other, and which fields are empty or out of date. Look for where duplicates come from, such as a form, an import or a sync, so the cause doesn't move with the data. - **Clean the data.** Merge duplicate records, remove the ones no longer needed, and standardize formats such as phone numbers, country names and capitalization. Every record cleaned here is one less to map, move and check. - **Map fields and objects.** Decide where each object and field goes in the new CRM, how dropdown values translate, and which value identifies each record, such as an email address, a website domain or the old record ID. - **Move the data.** A small test batch often goes first, then the full load, in an order that keeps links intact, such as companies before contacts and contacts before deals. Record counts and a sample of records are checked against the old system. - **Keep the new CRM clean.** Check for duplicates after the import, since migrated records can match records the new CRM already holds, and keep checking as forms, imports and syncs add records. Record IDs often change in the move, so teams often keep the old ID in a field for reference while the old system is still in use. Resources: - [Finding Duplicates](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/find-duplicates) (KB) ### Why CRM Migration Matters for CRM Teams A migration sets the data a team will work from for years. Duplicates moved from the old CRM arrive with everything else, and the new system counts them as real customers from its first day. Contact counts, pipeline totals and conversion rates in the new reports start inflated, and any comparison with the old system's numbers is off by the same amount. Billing follows the count. Many CRMs and the tools connected to them bill by contact or record count, so each duplicate that moves is a record the company pays for in the new system too. Split records also break the links a migration is meant to keep. When one customer exists as two records, their deals, calls and notes land on different records, and associations to companies can point to the wrong one. Owners and routing rules then treat one person as two leads, and the same customer can get the same email twice. Timing changes the cost of cleanup. Before the move, a duplicate is a row to merge or remove. After go-live, workflows, lists, integrations and reports already depend on each record, so every merge has more to check. Cleaning first also means fewer records to map and move, and a test load that shows real problems instead of duplicate noise. Resources: - [Why your CRM database is turning into a mess (and how to fix it)](https://dedupe.ly/blog/why-your-crm-database-is-turning-into-a-mess) ### Getting Started With CRM Migration Start with an inventory of the old system: the objects in use, the fields people actually fill in, how records link to each other and where the duplicates come from. That shows what's worth moving and what can stay behind. Deduplicate before the move. Merge the clearest duplicates first, such as records that share an email address, then work through the looser ones, and decide which values each merged record keeps. If the old CRM is hard to work in, export the data and clean the file instead. Then map each field and object, choose the value that identifies each record, and run a small test import before the full load. Deduplicate again after the move. Migrated records can match records the new CRM already holds, and objects that changed type in the mapping can hold the same person twice. Once the first cleanup is done, keep checking new records as forms, imports and syncs start adding them, so the new CRM stays as clean as it started. In Dedupely, you can connect the old CRM, if it's one Dedupely supports, or upload its export as a CSV, which is matched only against itself, and merge the duplicates before the move. Once the records are in the new CRM, Duplicate Searches find the duplicates there, and Auto Match and Auto Merge keep checking new records as they arrive. Resources: - [Merge duplicates in spreadsheets](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/connect-csv) (KB) - [Connect your CRM](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/connect-your-crm) (KB) ### Key Takeaways: CRM Migration CRM migration moves records, fields and links from one CRM to another, in four stages: understand the old system, clean and map the data, move it, and keep the new CRM clean. Duplicates travel with the data, and the import can add more, so deduplication belongs both before and after the move. Cleaning first means fewer records to map and pay for, and fewer split histories in the new system. In Dedupely, you can clean the old data by connecting the old CRM or by uploading its export as a CSV, which is matched only against itself. After the move, Duplicate Searches find duplicates in the new CRM, Merge Rules decide what each merge keeps, and Auto Match and Auto Merge keep checking new records as they arrive. Resources: - [Dedupely product overview](https://dedupe.ly/product) ### Frequently Asked Questions About CRM Migration #### Should you dedupe before or after a CRM migration? Both, because each stage catches duplicates the other can't. Deduplicating before the move stops the old CRM's duplicates from traveling, cuts the number of records to map and import, and works while each record's history and links are still in place. Deduplicating after the move catches what the import itself creates: migrated records that match records the new CRM already holds, and records that landed twice because of a mapping choice. Skipping either pass leaves one kind of duplicate behind, so the new CRM still needs a check once the data lands. In Dedupely, you can connect the old CRM, if it's one Dedupely supports, or upload its export as a CSV and merge the duplicates in the file. After the import, Duplicate Searches find duplicates in the new CRM, and Auto Match and Auto Merge keep checking as new records arrive. #### Why does customer data get messy during a CRM data migration? Because a migration moves the old system's problems and adds a few of its own. Duplicates, outdated records and inconsistent formats in the old CRM arrive in the new one unless they're cleaned first. The move itself adds more. Fields that don't map one to one can lose values or land in the wrong place, dropdown values may not translate, and objects that change type, such as leads becoming contacts, can put the same person in two places. Imports that create new records instead of matching existing ones add a second record for people already in the new CRM. Links between records can break when objects load in the wrong order. Cleaning and mapping before the move, then checking the new CRM after it, prevents much of this. In Dedupely, Duplicate Searches compare the fields you choose with Match Options such as Exact, Similar and Fuzzy, so duplicates that differ by a typo or format are found too. #### How do you avoid importing duplicates into a new CRM? Clean the data before it goes in, and choose a field that tells the import which records already exist. Merge duplicates in the old CRM, or in the exported file, before the move. Then pick a unique value for each object, such as an email address for contacts or a website domain for companies, so an import that supports matching can update existing records instead of creating new ones. Run a small test import first and check it for duplicates before the full load. Values that differ only slightly, such as a typo or a phone number in another format, can still slip through an import's own check, so a duplicate check after the import is worth running too. In Dedupely, a CSV upload is matched only against itself, so you can clean an export before importing it, then export the clean data. CSV records don't count toward the record limit. #### What should you do if you already migrated duplicates into the new CRM? Deduplicate the new CRM in order of confidence: merge the clearest duplicates first, check the results, then work through the rest. Start with matches on strong fields, such as email address, then add looser matching for names, companies and phone numbers. Set merge rules before merging, so each record keeps the right values, and look at how many records the new CRM can merge at once. Native merge tools are often built for a few records at a time; Salesforce, for example, merges up to three records at once, while a migration can leave thousands of duplicate leads. Fix the import or sync that created the duplicates too, so they don't come back. In Dedupely, Bulk Merge merges many duplicate sets at once, Merge Rules decide what each merge keeps, and activities and associations are preserved. Dedupely can't merge across objects, such as a Lead with a Contact, and merges can't be undone, so check a first batch before merging the rest. #### Can you deduplicate across the old and the new CRM? The practical way is to bring the records into one place first, and deduplicate there. While a migration is running, the old and new CRM hold separate records, and merging a record in one doesn't change the other unless the two are synced. So teams clean each side, then deduplicate the new CRM once the migrated records land, which is where old and new records finally meet. If both CRMs stay in use and sync with each other, duplicates in one can create duplicates in the other, so the sync settings matter as much as the cleanup. In Dedupely, one account can hold several CRMs, each in its own workspace and handled independently, so records aren't matched or merged across different CRMs. The one exception is the HubSpot–Salesforce sync: with an active integration, Dedupely merges the duplicates in both CRMs at once. For a migration, connect the old CRM to clean it before the move, then deduplicate the new CRM after the import. ### Related Terms and Concepts #### [CRM import](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/crm-import) A CRM import is the step of a migration where the data actually lands in the new system. How the import matches incoming rows to existing records decides how many new duplicates the migration creates. #### [Spreadsheet deduplication](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/spreadsheet-deduplication) Spreadsheet deduplication cleans an exported file before it's imported. It's one way to clean migration data when the old CRM is hard to work in or is about to be switched off. #### [CRM implementation](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/crm-implementation) CRM implementation is setting up the new CRM well from the start. A migration fills that new setup with data, so the two are planned together. #### [Merging CRM data after an acquisition](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/crm-data-after-an-acquisition) Merging CRM data after an acquisition often includes a migration from one company's CRM into the other's. The same customer can exist in both, so deduplication after the move matters even more. #### [Multi-CRM deduplication](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/multi-crm-deduplication) Multi-CRM deduplication deals with duplicates when several CRMs stay in use. It applies when a migration runs in phases, or when the old CRM keeps running alongside the new one. #### [Associations](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/associations) Associations are the links between records, such as a contact's company and deals. A migration has to rebuild them in the new CRM, and merging duplicates first keeps each customer's links on one record. Skip to content