With the launch of their beefed up HubSpot CMS, HubSpot made a statement that they were committed to making a migration to their CMS platform a no-brainer. In addition to the relatively cheap $300 a month CMS starter package, HubSpot also offers an Enterprise version at $900 a month that includes everything an Enterprise level company needs to run its website- making the HubSpot CMS an extremely attractive CMS for any organization that runs HubSpot as their CRM or Marketing platform.
To sweeten the deal, HubSpot also offers a free migration service with these plans to even further reduce the friction that comes with changing content management systems. That means that HubSpot will take your currently existing website and rebuild it in the HubSpot CMS for free with the purchase of a CMS plan.
Sounds too good to be true? Actually, it is not. HubSpot just knows that customers who migrate their site will be more likely to stick around. So they make migrating to the platform as easy as possible. And they know once CMS users get a taste of how easy it is for Marketers to make web edits in the platform without developers, and the advantages that come with full integration between your CRM and CMS- they will never want to go back.
However, there are some limits to the migration service and what HubSpot will do. For example, do not expect to get a full site redesign out of this migration- the migration is only a migration of a currently existing site. Read below for what to expect when using HubSpot's migration service.
For larger sites, expect an extended migration time
HubSpot’s current estimates for the full migration of a site is about 4 weeks. However, some of you out there with websites of 600+ pages might be wondering if that applies to your Enterprise-level sites. And you might be wondering if the migration service is still free for those monster-sized sites or if you might have to pay for an additional fee.
The answer is that HubSpot will still migrate these large websites for free, but it will take them longer. For a 600+ page site, HubSpot adds an additional 2-3 weeks on top of the 4 week estimate.
We recommend working directly with a HubSpot Migration Specialist to understand the roadmap for your website migration, and to make sure the timeline fits in with your plans.
Custom JavaScript functionality will not be migrated
Your HubSpot Migration team will generally try to mirror any simple functionality that you have on your site. But pages that require custom javascript will generally not be covered in the migration.
An example here would be if you are a real estate company and have a calculator page that calculates interest rates and mortgage payments. HubSpot will not recreate this page in its CMS: You will need to hire an outside developer to recreate the functionality after the migration is complete.
Forms requesting PII will not be migrated
Some websites often have order forms or checkout forms for customers to enter sensitive personally identifying information (PII) like passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers and driver’s license numbers.
HubSpot hates dealing with PII.
HubSpot will not migrate these forms into HubSpot Form Modules because HubSpot’s CRM is not built to contain PII. However, HubSpot's new payment system will work for accepting credit cards directly on your HubSpot website.
The likeliest recommendation will be that these forms should be housed on a subdomain of your site. If you want these forms hooked into your HubSpot CRM, you will need to do so via the Contacts API for fields that do not contain PII.
Be sure to secure technical help before the migration process begins.
Your pop-ups will not migrate
Pop-ups that appear without viewer prompt from a button or link will not migrate because these are usually triggered via JavaScript. JavaScript-savvy customers may be able to install pop-up scripts and then apply to their content. For developers, creating this in HubSpot should be just as easy as any other CMS. Otherwise you will need outside help to implement custom pop-ups.
The HubSpot CMS does support the use of HubSpot Pop-up Forms, but these are not the exact same thing as normal pop-ups, so be sure to review the functionality of Pop-Up Forms to figure out if you need a separate developer to implement this.
Login and password databases will not be migrated
Login and password databases will not be migrated to the HubSpot CMS by HubSpot. The reasoning is similar to why they will not migrate checkout forms: They do not want to deal with personally identifying information (PII) or databases that contain PII.
The recommendation here would be to move any client login portals to a subdomain. Some good general advice would be to move any product use pages to a subdomain, with your main site and domain thought of as a marketing site.
Forms will become Form Modules, but any action afterward will need to be set up
HubSpot will replace your website’s forms with HubSpot Form Modules, which will send data into the HubSpot CRM. That means your Gravity Forms plugins and your hardcoded HTML forms will be translated into HubSpot's native Form Modules. Though this will recreate your website experience for your visitors, it means some changes for you on the back end.
Primarily, it means that any automations you have in place or any Thank You pages linked from your forms will need to be redone by your team.
Expect to wait until the migration is complete to add in your form follow-up actions. Quick tip: the best way to implement form follow-up actions would be to edit the pages and templates on which the forms appear.
Videos
HubSpot will migrate your videos as they appear on your site using the same or similar functionality. They will not be migrated using native HubSpot video features or any other video integrations, which means if your videos have any special designs coded into the structure of how they are displayed, you may need to handle that in-house.
Website will be migrated using default and custom modules
The HubSpot CMS comes prepared with default modules and also allows the creation of custom modules to address other functionality or design needs.
Like many WordPress themes, HubSpot allows the building of pages via pre-coded building blocks called modules. When possible, HubSpot will use its own default modules to recreate your site. If the migration team cannot do that, then they will build custom modules specific to your site's design.
In practice, there is usually little difference between default and custom modules- but you should note that while you will be able to edit the content of custom modules in the HubSpot page editor, editing the structure, design, or behavior of custom modules may require external design assistance.
Your content will be mobile-responsive, with changes:
HubSpot will do its best to retain the look and feel of your content while rebuilding it in our responsive platform. However, small changes in formatting and spacing are likely to occur due to the switch in platform.
The platform is responsive by default, but HubSpot may need to add minor adjustments for Desktop, Tablet, Mobile Portrait, and Mobile Landscape. Another note- HubSpot uses emulators to test responsiveness, and not the mobile devices themselves.
You may further customize the responsive design when the migration is complete, using a HubSpot Partner or your own design resources.
Your website will be secured with SSL
HubSpot offers free SSL that is automatically applied to your HubSpot website upon launch. HubSpot is unable to migrate any existing, external SSL certificates you may have.
If you prefer to use a custom SSL certificate, please reach out to your HubSpot contact to discuss your options.
Summary
Though this post covers what is not included in a migration, you should not be discouraged as the Migration service comes at the fantastic price of Free with the purchase of a CMS Hub.That is an incredible value since if you use HubSpot as your CRM or your Marketing platform, you should already be considering the CMS Hub due to its native integrations with these hubs.
There's a lot that goes into a successful HubSpot CMS migration. If you need help, or just want 30 free minutes to chat with a pro, contact us here:
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