Why Migrating Your eCommerce Data Doesn’t Have to be Scary
It’s October—spooky season. In the spirit of the season, we’d like to address the topic that often scares many wineries and breweries—switching eCommerce systems, specifically migrating your data. We understand switching systems is scary. It’s like opening up a door into the unknown. Are you about to walk into a messy room full of skeletons, or a room full of your favorite candy?
We understand this fear. It’s very real when you are running a business and responsible for making changes in order to improve your company. But, we want you to know that the data migration process doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With the right tools and teams, it can be a quick and painless project.
Here are some things to consider to ensure a smooth migration when you’re switching systems.
How to Ensure a Smooth Migration
CREATE A UNIQUE IDENTIFIER
When migrating your data from your old system to your new, it’s vital to create a unique identifier for each customer so all of their information stays together. Some legacy systems will require some data clean up, but it shouldn’t be prohibitive.
A SECURE BILLING MIGRATION
One of the most important pieces of data to migrate is payment information. The last thing that you want is to have to go back to your wine club members and ask them to update their billing information. But, as you know, credit card and billing information is sensitive and should remain secure. Whichever system you’re switching to should take this seriously.
In the case of VineSpring, if the system a client is switching from works with Stripe or Authorize.net, we can easily transfer all encrypted information while keeping customer's payment details safe and secure so you can rest assured that there won’t be a breach in security.
KEEP YOUR NOTES ORGANIZED
Many wineries and breweries keep detailed notes on their customers within their eCommerce system. We encourage this practice since it allows you to personalize your relationship with your customers. When switching systems, make sure that none of your notes will be lost in the migration but instead will be grouped with each customer so you can access your notes history and continue to nurture the relationship.
WINE CLUB AND PURCHASE DATA STAYS INTACT
Another concern for wineries is losing vital wine club data. With DTC sales soaring and making up a lucrative revenue channel, an interruption in wine club membership and fulfillment would be more than unfortunate. Ensure that the system you’re switching to keeps club records and historical purchase data attached to customer email address or ID. If that can be done, you will maintain a history of what your customers purchased and will be able to group members accurately. Your sales won’t skip a beat.
Conquer the Fear of Switching Platforms
As we said, we understand that one of the biggest fears is losing data in the switch to a new eCommerce system. Their customer and order history data is irreplaceable. We’ve all heard horror stories of companies losing data, having to start over again, or having their data so disorganized that it became useless.
But, we want you to know that there’s a way to make data migration a quick and painless part of the eCommerce switching process. If you want to switch systems—you have options! And, a switch can take just a few days, not weeks, and all of your customer billing, shipping, notes, and order details can be maintained.
If the headache of data migration is holding you back, take our word that it’s not nearly as bad as you think. In fact, if you choose to switch to VineSpring you’ll have the attention of a dedicated migration specialist and barely have to lift a finger. With all of your data in place on VineSpring in just a few short days and a support team to answer any questions, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running in no time.
If you’d like to talk about transitioning your winery or brewery to VineSpring, please reach out to us at any time!
