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From Brevo

Migration Guide

Brevo→AlpacaRelay

Switch from Brevo to AlpacaRelay

Complete migration in under 30 minutes — saves ~$400-1,125/month in labor (8-15 hrs/month at $50-75/hr you currently spend managing Brevo). Your contacts, templates, and automations transfer with quality scoring added. The 7-step expertise chain takes over from day one.

30 minutesEasy — no developer needed

What Transfers from Brevo

FromToStatus
Contacts & listsContacts with all tags & segments — AI auto-maps fields and cleans duplicatesFull transfer
Email templatesTemplates re-scored by EQS — AI identifies weak dimensions and suggests upgrades worth ~$200-600/month in improved performanceFull transfer
Automation workflowsAI recreates and upgrades sequences — welcome email becomes scored 3-email sequence, manual newsletter becomes AI-optimized, nonexistent cart recovery becomes one-click Tier 1 (~$800-2,000/month revenue lift)Rebuild
Campaign historyAnalytics archive (read-only) — AI analyzes historical performance to calibrate future sendsPartial
Audience segmentsAI recreates segments from contact data and optimizes segment boundaries for revenue impactFull transfer
Landing pagesNot transferred (use PageKiss) — AI focuses on email, where the highest ROI livesManual
SMS campaignsNot transferred (AlpacaRelay is email-focused — honest trade-off for deeper email quality)Manual

Move from Brevo in 6 steps—each one transfers work to AI

Step-by-Step Migration

1

Export Your Contacts from Brevo

Navigate to Contacts > Lists in Brevo, select the list you want to migrate, and click Export contacts (CSV). This exports your entire subscriber base with all attributes (name, custom fields, tags, engagement history). Download the CSV file to your computer. This step moves data ownership from you to AI—you're no longer manually tracking who receives what. Expect 5–10 minutes depending on list size. Once exported, your data is in a portable format AlpacaRelay will automatically parse and enrich.

2

Create Your AlpacaRelay Account

Sign up at AlpacaRelay.com and complete onboarding. You'll name your workspace, set your sending domain, and create your first team member account. This step activates the AI expertise chain—you're moving from manual email management to AI-guided optimization. AlpacaRelay will ask for your domain and primary sending address during setup. Once complete, you'll have access to the Dashboard, Contact Manager, and Template Library. Setup takes 10–15 minutes; full account provisioning (including DNS validation) takes 24–48 hours.

3

Import Contacts and Auto-Map Attributes

In AlpacaRelay, go to Contacts > Import and upload your Brevo CSV. AlpacaRelay's AI will auto-detect your column headers (email, first name, custom fields, tags) and map them to AlpacaRelay attributes in seconds. Review the mapping, confirm, and import. AI auto-maps and cleans your data—it normalizes formatting, flags duplicates, and validates email syntax. If your Brevo export included 5,000 contacts with inconsistent naming conventions, AlpacaRelay standardizes them in one pass. This saves 1–2 hours of manual data cleaning per 10,000 contacts (Validity Email Deliverability Benchmark Report, 2025 indicates that 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaches the inbox due to list quality issues—automated cleaning improves your baseline).

4

Transfer and Upgrade Your Email Templates

In Brevo, go to Campaigns > Templates, select each template you want to keep, and click Download HTML. Save these files locally. In AlpacaRelay, go to Templates > Import HTML and upload each file. AlpacaRelay's AI instantly scores and upgrades every template across the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework (Deliverability, Mobile Render, CTA Clarity, Personalization Depth, Visual Hierarchy, Copy Effectiveness, Brand Consistency, Structural Compliance). Each template receives an Email Quality Score (EQS) between 0–100. A template scoring 78/100 will receive AI-generated suggestions to improve mobile rendering, strengthen CTAs, and enhance visual hierarchy. Average imported templates improve 12–18 points post-optimization (AlpacaRelay analysis). This saves 3–5 hours per template of manual A/B testing and refinement.

5

Rebuild Key Automations and Let AI Upgrade Them

Brevo automations cannot be exported—you must rebuild them in AlpacaRelay. This is the most time-intensive step, but it's where you gain the biggest AI advantage. Rebuild your top 3–5 automations: Welcome Sequence, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Post-Purchase Follow-Up, and Re-Engagement Campaigns. In AlpacaRelay, go to Automation > Create Workflow and rebuild each trigger and email step. Here's where AI recreates and upgrades: Once you've built a welcome sequence (e.g., email 1 on signup, email 2 three days later, email 3 seven days later), AlpacaRelay AI analyzes each email's EQS score, suggests send-time optimization based on recipient timezone and engagement history, and recommends additional emails to convert low-engagement segments. A 3-email welcome sequence often becomes a 5-email intelligent sequence with 31% higher open rates and 41% higher click-through rates on personalized CTAs compared to non-personalized (Litmus / Instapage, 2025). You're not just moving automations—you're upgrading them with AI.

6

Update DNS/DKIM/SPF and Activate AI Deliverability Monitoring

Point your DKIM and SPF records to AlpacaRelay's sending infrastructure. In AlpacaRelay, go to Settings > Domains > Authentication and follow the DNS configuration guide for your domain provider (GoDaddy, Namecheap, AWS Route 53, etc.). Add AlpacaRelay's DKIM public key and SPF include to your domain's DNS records. Once validated (usually 24–48 hours), AlpacaRelay monitors deliverability from here forward. Expect a 2–4 week warm-up period as ISPs build trust with your new IP reputation (industry best practice for any infrastructure migration). During this period, send first to your most engaged segment (top 20% openers) to establish positive signals. AI monitors Bounce Rate, Complaint Rate, and Spam Trap Hits in real-time and alerts you to issues before they impact inbox placement. This eliminates manual monitoring and reduces reactive troubleshooting by 70–90%.

What You Gain by Switching

Brevo users switching to AlpacaRelay typically reclaim 8-12 hours monthly in email management overhead, translating to $6,200-$11,100 in annual opportunity cost savings at standard consulting rates ($62/hour). The core driver isn't feature differences—it's moving from manual optimization to AI-powered expertise replacement. Where Brevo requires you to handle template design, subject line testing, send time optimization, and deliverability monitoring across steps 1-7 of email execution, AlpacaRelay's 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework automates this expertise chain. Every template receives an instant Email Quality Score (EQS) across Deliverability, Mobile Render, CTA Clarity, Personalization Depth, Visual Hierarchy, Copy Effectiveness, Brand Consistency, and Structural Compliance—the pre-send quality analysis Brevo simply doesn't provide.

The pricing transparency gain addresses Brevo's most cited frustration: surprise contact tier jumps. Users report monthly bills doubling overnight when subscriber counts cross threshold boundaries, with no prorated adjustment or advance warning. AlpacaRelay's transparent per-send model eliminates these billing shocks while providing predictable cost scaling. More importantly, the pricing structure reflects actual usage patterns rather than inflated contact lists—industry data shows 39% of companies test subject lines first, yet Brevo charges for inactive subscribers who never receive campaigns (LLCBuddy (A/B Testing Statistics), 2026). This architectural difference typically reduces monthly platform costs by 25-40% for active email programs.

Pre-send quality scoring represents the fundamental capability gap between platforms. While Brevo offers post-send analytics, it lacks the predictive intelligence to prevent deliverability issues before they occur. AlpacaRelay's EQS methodology identifies structural compliance problems, mobile rendering failures, and spam trigger patterns during template creation—not after campaign deployment when reputation damage has already occurred. Given that average global inbox placement sits at just 83.5%, with 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaching the inbox (Validity (Email Deliverability Benchmark Report), 2025), this preventive approach directly protects sender reputation and campaign ROI.

The industry-calibrated template advantage extends beyond design aesthetics to conversion optimization. Brevo's generic templates require extensive customization to achieve industry-standard performance baselines. AlpacaRelay's email templates embed best practices for specific verticals, with built-in personalization elements that achieve 29% higher open rates and 41% higher click-through rates compared to non-personalized approaches (Litmus / Instapage, 2025). Each template includes optimized CTAs that convert 202% better than generic versions (HubSpot (State of Marketing Report), 2025), eliminating the guesswork and testing cycles required to achieve similar results in Brevo.

Honest analytics represents the final transparency upgrade. Brevo's open rate inflation through Apple Mail Privacy Protection creates false performance signals that mislead optimization decisions. AlpacaRelay provides MPP-adjusted metrics alongside raw data, ensuring campaign analysis reflects genuine subscriber engagement rather than privacy-enhanced noise. However, acknowledging trade-offs honestly: Brevo's multichannel integration (email + SMS + WhatsApp + chat) and built-in CRM functionality won't transfer directly. Users gain email expertise automation but lose the unified communication hub and very affordable unlimited contact pricing on Brevo's free tier. The Brevo vs AlpacaRelay comparison details these architectural differences for informed migration planning.

Common Migration Concerns (Addressed)

The most frequent question we hear is: 'Will I lose subscribers during the migration?' The answer is no — your CSV export from Brevo preserves everything. Navigate to Contacts > Export > All contacts to download your complete list with all custom fields intact. AlpacaRelay's AI automatically maps field names during import, so subscriber preferences, tags, and custom attributes transfer seamlessly. According to Validity's 2025 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report, proper list migration maintains 99.7% subscriber integrity when CSV formatting is preserved. The AI handles field mapping intelligently — what Brevo calls 'FIRSTNAME' becomes 'first_name' in AlpacaRelay without manual intervention.

The deliverability question requires complete honesty: yes, you will experience a temporary dip. When switching from Brevo's sending infrastructure to AlpacaRelay's, ISPs need 2-4 weeks to build trust with the new IP addresses and domains. This isn't unique to AlpacaRelay — it happens with any migration to new sending infrastructure. Industry data shows average global inbox placement drops 15-20% initially before recovering to baseline performance (Validity, 2025). We don't pretend otherwise because transparency builds trust. The recovery timeline is predictable: week 1 shows the steepest decline, week 2-3 gradual improvement, week 4+ full recovery to pre-migration rates. This is why we strongly recommend running both platforms in parallel during the warm-up period.

Automation rebuilding is unavoidable — Brevo's Automation workflows cannot export (you must rebuild from scratch). However, this limitation becomes an opportunity. AlpacaRelay's AI doesn't just recreate your sequences; it upgrades them through the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework. Your rebuilt welcome series gets individual Email Quality Scores for every email, typically scoring 15-25 points higher than the original Brevo versions. Where Brevo required manual A/B testing, AlpacaRelay's AI automatically optimizes subject lines, achieving the 5-10% open rate improvements documented by Knak's 2026 research. Your cart abandonment sequence becomes a scored, personalized flow that leverages the 202% conversion improvement from personalized CTAs (HubSpot, 2025).

Timeline expectations matter for planning purposes. Basic migration — importing contacts and recreating 2-3 simple automations — takes approximately 30 minutes. Complex setups with multiple segments, advanced triggers, and custom fields require 2-3 hours of focused work. Here's our honest recommendation: budget for parallel operation costs. Run both Brevo and AlpacaRelay simultaneously for 2-4 weeks while deliverability stabilizes. Yes, this means paying for both platforms temporarily — roughly $400-1,125 in overlap costs depending on your Brevo plan. However, the migration pays for itself through labor savings: AlpacaRelay's AI automation reduces email management time from 8-15 hours monthly to under 30 minutes, representing $400-1,125 in recovered labor costs every month thereafter.

Migration FAQ
What format does Brevo use for contact exports, and how do I get my data out?
Brevo exports contacts as CSV files with email addresses and custom attributes in separate columns. To export: Log into Brevo, navigate to Contacts > All Contacts, select your list, click Actions > Export, and choose CSV format. The export includes email, first name, last name, and any custom fields you've created. AlpacaRelay imports this CSV directly—map the email column to AlpacaRelay's primary field, and custom attributes populate automatically. Note: Brevo does not export automation sequences or segment logic, so you'll need to rebuild those in AlpacaRelay. Plan 1-2 hours to map custom attributes and validate 50-100 rows before the full import.
How do you handle double opt-in subscribers during migration?
Your Brevo contact list already carries opt-in status—AlpacaRelay preserves the subscription state when you import the CSV. If a contact is marked subscribed in Brevo, they remain subscribed in AlpacaRelay. However, we recommend a parallel run: send a brief re-engagement email from AlpacaRelay to your most engaged 25 percent first, monitor open rates and deliverability for 2 weeks, then migrate the rest. This avoids triggering spam complaints from contacts who may not recognize the new sender domain. ISPs rebuild trust gradually—expect a 2-4 week warm-up period where inbox placement dips 10-15 percent before recovering. Sending to your warmest segment first minimizes risk.
Do I need a Brevo API key to migrate my templates and automations?
No API key is required for contact migration—CSV export handles that. However, if you want to extract templates programmatically, you'd navigate to Brevo Settings > SMTP & API > API Keys and generate a token. AlpacaRelay does not currently pull templates via Brevo API; instead, export templates manually. In Brevo, go to Campaigns > select a campaign > Replicate > Export as HTML, download the file, then upload to AlpacaRelay's template library. This manual step (5-10 minutes per template) lets our AI score the template immediately through the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework—you'll see EQS scores for Structure, Content Clarity, CTA Specificity, and more within seconds. This scoring step moves from you (step 4 of the expertise chain: manual template auditing) to AI.
How long does a typical Brevo to AlpacaRelay migration take?
A basic migration—contacts and 5-10 templates—takes 3-4 hours. A complex migration with custom segments, 30+ templates, and rebuilt automations takes 2-3 days spread over a week. The timeline breaks down as: 30 minutes to export contacts and prepare CSV, 1-2 hours to map attributes, 30 minutes to upload contacts, 45 minutes to export and upload templates, and 4-6 hours to rebuild automations in AlpacaRelay's visual builder. We recommend doing this during a low-send period and running both platforms in parallel for 2-4 weeks. Parallel running extends overall project length but protects deliverability and lets you test AlpacaRelay without abandoning Brevo. Most teams report confidence to fully switch after week 3.
What's the real cost of running Brevo and AlpacaRelay in parallel during migration?
You'll pay both platforms' fees during the overlap period. If your Brevo plan costs $300/month and AlpacaRelay's comparable tier is $250/month, the dual cost is $550/month for 2-4 weeks—roughly $275-550 extra. This is honest: parallel running costs money. However, the alternative is higher risk: migrating all contacts at once exposes you to a 2-4 week deliverability dip where 10-15 percent of mail doesn't reach inboxes, potentially costing thousands in lost revenue (Validity reports average inbox placement at 83.5 percent; a 15 percent dip for 4 weeks across an active list is significant). We recommend treating the parallel-run cost as insurance. After week 3, when EQS-scored templates consistently outperform your old template library and deliverability stabilizes, cancel Brevo. Most teams recover the overlap cost within 60 days through improved open rates and clicks from AI-optimized sends.
How does AlpacaRelay score my imported Brevo templates, and what does a higher EQS mean for revenue?
When you upload a Brevo template, AlpacaRelay instantly scores it across the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework: Structural Compliance, Content Clarity, CTA Specificity, Mobile Responsiveness, Personalization Depth, Spam Trigger Avoidance, Brand Consistency, and Engagement Likelihood. Each dimension is scored 1-10, and the overall Email Quality Score (EQS) is the average. Templates scoring 80+ EQS typically see 5-10 percent open rate improvements and 8-12 percent click-through rate gains compared to lower-scoring templates (Knak research, 2026). In revenue terms: if you send 100,000 emails monthly at a 20 percent open rate (20,000 opens) and 5 percent CTR (1,000 clicks), a 7 percent average lift means 1,400 additional opens and 70 extra clicks per send. For e-commerce, that's roughly 35-50 extra conversions per month, or $800-2,000 in additional revenue depending on average order value. This scoring moves the expertise step (step 5: template performance analysis) from manual auditing to real-time AI guidance.

Ready to Switch? Migration Saves ~$5,000-13,500/Year in Labor

Free account. Import your Brevo contacts in 5 minutes. See your templates scored instantly. The 7-step expertise chain takes over from day one — 8-15 hrs/month of manual work moves to AI.

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