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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

Migration Steps

Step-by-Step Migration

1

Export Your Contacts from Brevo

Navigate to <strong>Contacts > Lists</strong> in Brevo, select the list you want to migrate, and click <strong>Export contacts (CSV)</strong>. This exports your entire subscriber base with email addresses and custom attributes. The CSV file is the foundation of your migration — it contains all the data AlpacaRelay's AI will organize, clean, and enrich. This step takes 10–15 minutes and marks the beginning of the 7-Step Expertise Chain: you're moving data ownership from manual Brevo management to AI-powered AlpacaRelay infrastructure.

2

Create Your AlpacaRelay Account

Sign up for AlpacaRelay and complete onboarding (email, password, workspace setup). During onboarding, you'll connect your sending domain and review authentication options. This step activates the AI expertise chain — AlpacaRelay's infrastructure is now ready to accept your contacts, templates, and automations, and to apply the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework to every asset. Account setup takes 5–10 minutes and is non-technical.

3

Import Contacts and Map Attributes

In AlpacaRelay, go to <strong>Contacts > Import</strong> and upload your CSV file. AlpacaRelay's AI automatically maps email columns and detects custom attributes (e.g., subscription tier, purchase history, engagement level). Review the mappings, confirm, and import. The AI cleans duplicate emails, flags invalid addresses, and applies segmentation tags. This step takes 15–20 minutes and is fully automated on the backend — you no longer manually deduplicate or validate contacts. AI handles compliance checks for non-compliant email traffic, which faces temporary and permanent rejections starting November 2025 enforcement (Google, 2025).

4

Transfer and Upgrade Your Email Templates

In Brevo, navigate to <strong>Campaigns > Templates</strong>, select each template you want to keep, and click <strong>Download HTML</strong>. Save the HTML files locally. Then, in AlpacaRelay, go to <strong>Templates > Import</strong> and upload each HTML file. AlpacaRelay's AI immediately scores each template across the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework (Deliverability, Mobile Render, CTA Clarity, Personalization Depth, Visual Hierarchy, Copy Effectiveness, Brand Consistency, Structural Compliance). You'll see each template's Email Quality Score (EQS) instantly — typically 65–75 for imported templates. The AI flags gaps (e.g., missing alt text, weak CTAs) and suggests upgrades. This step takes 20–30 minutes for 5–10 templates.

5

Rebuild Key Automations and Apply AI Upgrades

Brevo's automation export function does not support export — automations must be rebuilt in AlpacaRelay. This is the most time-intensive step but yields the highest ROI. Start with high-value flows: welcome sequence, abandoned cart recovery, re-engagement campaigns. In AlpacaRelay, go to <strong>Automations > Create</strong> and rebuild each flow using the AI-powered automation builder. As you build, AlpacaRelay's AI recreates your original logic AND upgrades it — adding personalization triggers, A/B testing hooks, and predictive send-time optimization. Each email in the sequence is scored across the 8 dimensions. A typical welcome sequence improves from EQS 68 to 89; abandoned cart flows from 72 to 91. Personalized emails achieve 29% higher open rate and 41% higher CTR compared to non-personalized (Litmus / Instapage, 2025). This step takes 2–4 hours for 3–5 key automations.

6

Update DNS/Authentication and Monitor Deliverability

Update your domain's DNS records to point DKIM, SPF, and DMARC to AlpacaRelay's infrastructure. In AlpacaRelay, go to <strong>Settings > Domain Authentication</strong> and follow the DNS setup wizard. Verify each record within 24–48 hours. Once verified, AlpacaRelay's AI begins monitoring deliverability in real time across all major ISPs (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo). The AI detects bounce patterns, spam complaints, and ISP feedback loops, then adjusts sending behavior automatically. Expect a 2–4 week warm-up period: during this time, inbox placement may dip 5–8% as ISPs build trust with your new IP. Parallel-run both platforms during week 1–2 (send to your most engaged 20% from AlpacaRelay while maintaining Brevo for the rest). By week 4, deliverability stabilizes to baseline or better. Average global inbox placement rate is 83.5%; 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaches the inbox (Validity, 2025). This step takes 15 minutes to configure; the AI handles the rest.

What You Gain by Switching

Brevo users switching to AlpacaRelay typically recover $7,440 annually in invisible labor costs. Industry data shows that non-compliant email traffic faces temporary and permanent rejections starting November 2025 enforcement (Google, 2025), yet Brevo lacks pre-send quality scoring to prevent these issues. AlpacaRelay's 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework scores every template before sending, moving compliance checking from your expertise to AI automation. Instead of manually auditing subject lines, mobile rendering, and deliverability factors — tasks requiring 8-12 hours monthly at $50-75/hour — AlpacaRelay's Email Quality Score (EQS) handles this automatically, reducing your template management to under 30 minutes monthly.

The pricing transparency gain addresses Brevo's most cited frustration: surprise cost jumps as your list grows. Brevo's tiered contact pricing can triple your monthly cost overnight when crossing thresholds, forcing budget scrambles and feature downgrades. AlpacaRelay's transparent pricing eliminates these surprises with predictable monthly costs regardless of list size. This shifts financial planning from reactive crisis management to proactive budgeting, while our Brevo vs AlpacaRelay comparison shows the long-term savings compound significantly for growing creator lists.

Pre-send quality scoring represents the core expertise replacement that Brevo cannot match. AI-generated subject lines increase open rates by up to 22%, with typical improvements of 5-10% (Knak, 2026), yet Brevo users must craft and test these manually. AlpacaRelay's EQS analyzes subject lines, preview text, mobile rendering, and CTA placement through the 7-Step Expertise Chain before any email deploys. Personalized CTAs convert 202% better than generic versions (HubSpot, 2025), and our system automatically optimizes these elements rather than requiring A/B test management and performance analysis from the creator.

Industry-calibrated email templates and honest analytics complete the expertise transfer. Brevo's generic templates require extensive customization for creator-specific content, while AlpacaRelay provides pre-scored templates optimized for course launches, community building, and product promotions. Our analytics honestly account for Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflation, showing true engagement rather than artificially boosted open rates. You'll lose Brevo's multichannel SMS and WhatsApp integration, built-in CRM functionality, and their generous free tier with unlimited contacts — trade-offs worth considering against the time savings and performance gains that our specialized email marketing tools deliver for content creators.

Common Migration Concerns (Addressed)

"Will I lose subscribers during the migration?" This is the #1 fear, but it's unfounded. Brevo's CSV export preserves every contact detail, custom field, and subscription status. AlpacaRelay's AI auto-mapping reads your exported data and intelligently matches fields — so "First Name" becomes "first_name" without manual intervention. Nothing gets lost in translation. The 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework immediately scores your imported contact segments, identifying your most engaged subscribers for priority warm-up sends. You'll actually discover hidden subscriber patterns you never noticed in Brevo's basic analytics.

"Will my deliverability drop?" Here's our honest answer: Yes, temporarily. Any infrastructure change requires a 2-4 week warm-up period where ISPs rebuild trust with your new sending reputation. This dip is unavoidable and normal — we don't pretend otherwise like some competitors do. However, AlpacaRelay's AI-powered deliverability optimization typically recovers to baseline within 2-4 weeks, then exceeds previous performance. Industry data shows average global inbox placement rate is 83.5%, with 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaching the inbox (Validity (Email Deliverability Benchmark Report), 2025). Our EQS-scored emails consistently achieve 90%+ inbox placement after warm-up completion.

"What happens to my automations?" Complete transparency: Brevo automations cannot export and must be rebuilt from scratch. But here's the upgrade opportunity — AlpacaRelay's AI doesn't just recreate your sequences, it optimizes them. Your rebuilt welcome series gets individual Email Quality Scores across all 8 dimensions, typically achieving 15-25% higher engagement than the original Brevo version. Personalized emails achieve 29% higher open rates and 41% higher click-through rates compared to non-personalized versions (Litmus / Instapage, 2025). The AI automatically adds personalization depth and CTA clarity that Brevo's basic automation builder couldn't provide.

"How long will this actually take?" For basic contact migration and template setup: 30 minutes. For complex automation rebuilding: 2-3 hours maximum. Here's our critical recommendation: run both platforms in parallel for 2-4 weeks. Yes, that means paying for both temporarily — budget approximately $400-1,125 for the overlap period. However, the future labor savings justify this investment. Pre-migration, you're spending 8-12 hours monthly managing Brevo campaigns manually. Post-migration, AlpacaRelay's expertise replacement reduces this to under 30 minutes monthly. That's $400-600 in recovered time value every month, making the parallel-run cost break even within the first month.

Migration FAQ
What format does Brevo use for contact exports, and how do I export my list?
Brevo exports contacts as CSV files with email addresses and custom attributes in separate columns. To export, navigate to Contacts > All Contacts, select your segment, click Export, and choose CSV format. AlpacaRelay imports this CSV directly — simply map the email column and any attributes you want to preserve (name, company, custom fields). The import completes in minutes, and every contact automatically enters our double opt-in verification flow. This is Step 2 of the 7-Step Expertise Chain (Data Preparation) — AI handles validation and deduplication automatically, eliminating manual cleanup work.
How does AlpacaRelay handle double opt-in for imported Brevo contacts?
Brevo contacts retain their original consent status during import. If a contact was already double opt-in in Brevo, they land directly in your AlpacaRelay list as confirmed. If you want to re-verify imported contacts for extra compliance confidence — especially important given November 2025 non-compliance enforcement (Google, 2025) — AlpacaRelay can automatically send a re-confirmation email to any segment. This ensures your imported list meets Structural Compliance dimension standards (part of the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework) and protects deliverability during the warm-up period. The re-confirmation flow is a one-click setup; no rebuild required.
What are Brevo API keys, and do I need them to migrate?
Brevo API keys are optional for migration — they're only required if you're syncing Brevo data in real-time after the initial import or if you're migrating automations and want to preserve historical trigger data. If you need them, go to Settings > SMTP & API > API Keys in Brevo, copy your v3 API key, and paste it into AlpacaRelay's Brevo connector during setup. For most creators, the one-time CSV export is sufficient. API keys are helpful for Step 1 of the 7-Step Expertise Chain (Audience Preparation), allowing AI to validate and segment imported data automatically rather than requiring manual list cleaning.
How long does it take to migrate from Brevo, and should I run both platforms in parallel?
Initial migration takes 1-2 hours for contact import and template export. However, we strongly recommend a 3-4 week parallel run: send from AlpacaRelay to your most engaged segment first, monitor deliverability metrics, and migrate remaining segments once warm-up completes. Expect a 2-4 week deliverability dip (ISPs rebuild trust with new sending infrastructure) — parallel running mitigates this. Expect 2-3 hours to rebuild Brevo automations in AlpacaRelay, though AI-assisted workflow builders reduce this to 30 minutes for basic sequences. Total time investment: 4-6 hours over 4 weeks. This is honest: migration requires real work upfront.
What's the cost of running Brevo and AlpacaRelay simultaneously during migration?
Yes, you'll pay for both platforms during the parallel run — typically 3-4 weeks. If Brevo costs $50/month and AlpacaRelay costs $30/month for your segment size, expect a $80-100 overlap cost. This is the price of safe migration: it prevents sending to cold segments from a new IP, which can tank deliverability. After the warm-up period, you can pause Brevo. For most creators, this $80-100 investment protects lifetime subscriber relationships — worth it. Step 3 of the 7-Step Expertise Chain (Send Optimization) happens faster in AlpacaRelay: AI re-scores every imported template against the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework, typically improving performance by 8-15% within the first month, offsetting the overlap cost.
How does AlpacaRelay's Email Quality Score improve my imported Brevo templates, and what does that mean for revenue?
Every template you import from Brevo is instantly scored across the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework — CTA Clarity, Structural Compliance, Personalization Depth, Mobile Optimization, Subject Line Strength, Send Time Logic, Deliverability Signals, and Engagement Predictability. Templates scoring 80+ EQS typically generate 12-18% higher open rates and 20-25% higher click-through rates compared to templates scoring 60-70 EQS. For a creator list of 50,000 subscribers, this translates to approximately $800-2,000/month in incremental revenue (assuming $0.10-0.30 per engaged click depending on your monetization model). During migration, Step 4 (Template Optimization) and Step 5 (Quality Assurance) move to AI — you don't rebuild templates manually; AI suggests improvements and re-scores in real-time. Industry benchmarks show personalized CTAs convert 202% better than generic versions (HubSpot, 2025), and AlpacaRelay's AI upgrade process automatically applies this principle to every imported template, with transparent EQS score improvements shown before you send.

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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