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Migration Guide

Braze→AlpacaRelay

Switch from Braze 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 Braze). 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 Braze

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

Move from Braze to AlpacaRelay in 6 steps

Step-by-Step Migration

1

Export Your Contacts from Braze

Navigate to Braze Account Settings > Data Management > Export Users. Select your audience segment (or all contacts), choose CSV format, and download. This transfers data ownership from manual Braze management to AI-powered handling in AlpacaRelay. Exporting typically takes 5–15 minutes depending on list size. You'll receive a CSV file with subscriber fields: email, first name, last name, custom attributes, and subscription status. <strong>Time investment: 10 minutes. Labor savings: $8–13/month (assuming 2 exports/year at $50–75/hr).</strong>

2

Create Your AlpacaRelay Account

Sign up at AlpacaRelay.com and complete the onboarding wizard. Provide your company name, industry (Arts & Crafts), and primary use case (e.g., customer newsletters, abandoned cart recovery). This step activates the 7-Step Expertise Chain, meaning every subsequent action is augmented by AI. AlpacaRelay's onboarding takes 5–10 minutes and generates your workspace, API keys, and sending credentials automatically. Once complete, you have immediate access to the Email Quality Score (EQS) dashboard—the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework that scores every email across Deliverability, Mobile Render, CTA Clarity, Personalization Depth, Visual Hierarchy, Copy Effectiveness, Brand Consistency, and Structural Compliance. <strong>Time investment: 8 minutes. No labor cost—this is foundational setup.</strong>

3

Import Contacts with AI-Powered Mapping

In AlpacaRelay, go to Audience > Import > CSV Upload. Drag and drop your exported Braze CSV file. AlpacaRelay's AI auto-detects column headers, maps standard fields (email, first name, last name), and offers intelligent suggestions for custom attributes. You confirm the mapping in one dialog, and AlpacaRelay handles deduplication, validation, and list cleaning automatically. This step removes the manual data-cleaning workload you previously handled in Braze. According to industry benchmarks, 39% of companies test contact data quality manually; AlpacaRelay eliminates this step (LLCBuddy, 2026). Import typically completes within 2–5 minutes for lists under 100,000 subscribers. <strong>Time investment: 12 minutes. Labor savings: $25–38/month (eliminating manual deduplication and validation work).</strong>

4

Transfer and Upgrade Your Templates

In Braze, navigate to Campaigns > select a campaign > Template Settings > Export as HTML. Download each template's HTML code. In AlpacaRelay, go to Templates > Import > Paste HTML. AlpacaRelay immediately scores every imported template across the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework, assigning an Email Quality Score (EQS) out of 100. For example, a Braze template scoring 72/100 might identify gaps in mobile responsiveness or weak CTA clarity that you can fix in seconds using AlpacaRelay's inline editor. This transfers template optimization responsibility to AI guidance. You no longer manually audit templates for compliance or performance—the EQS does it. Honest trade-off: Braze's drag-and-drop builder is more visual; AlpacaRelay requires HTML import for complex templates, though the visual editor handles most rebuilds. <strong>Time investment: 25–40 minutes (5 templates × 5–8 min each). Labor savings: $50–100/month (eliminating manual compliance audits and A/B test setup). Each template upgraded typically sees a 5–10% open rate lift.</strong>

5

Rebuild Key Automations with AI Enhancement

Braze automations (welcome sequences, abandoned cart, re-engagement) cannot be exported directly—you must rebuild them in AlpacaRelay. Here's the payoff: while rebuilding, AI does the heavy lifting. Create a Welcome Sequence automation in AlpacaRelay: trigger on subscription, add 3–5 emails over 10 days. AlpacaRelay's AI automatically scores each email in the sequence with EQS, suggests send-time optimization based on subscriber behavior, and flags subject lines that underperform personalization standards. For example, a generic welcome subject like 'Welcome to Our Newsletter' might score 58/100 for Personalization Depth; AI suggests subject lines that reference subscriber interests (drawn from your Braze segment data) that score 85+/100. Abandoned cart automation rebuilds similarly—you set the trigger and email copy, AI handles timing optimization and CTA strength scoring. This transforms manual sequence management into guided AI optimization. <strong>Time investment: 60–90 minutes (welcome sequence 20 min, abandoned cart 15 min, re-engagement 10 min, testing 30 min). Labor savings: $150–225/month (eliminating manual send-time testing and subject-line iteration). Expected performance lift: 22% higher open rates on AI-optimized subject lines (Knak, 2026).</strong>

6

Update Authentication & Enable AI Deliverability Monitoring

In AlpacaRelay, navigate to Account Settings > Sending Domains > Add Domain. Point your sending domain's DKIM and SPF records to AlpacaRelay's mail servers (instructions provided in-app). This typically takes 15–30 minutes and requires access to your DNS provider (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap, Route 53). Once authenticated, AlpacaRelay's AI continuously monitors deliverability metrics—inbox placement rate, bounce rates, spam complaints—and alerts you to issues before they cascade. According to Validity's 2025 Email Deliverability Benchmark, the average global inbox placement rate is 83.5%, with 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaching the inbox. AlpacaRelay's AI proactively prevents this by flagging sender reputation risks and suggesting corrective actions. This eliminates manual ISP relationship management. Honest trade-off: ISPs require a 2–4 week warm-up period when you switch sending infrastructure. During this period, expect deliverability to dip 5–15% before stabilizing. We recommend running Braze and AlpacaRelay in parallel for the first 2 weeks, sending to your most engaged segment via AlpacaRelay first, then migrating the rest as reputation builds. <strong>Time investment: 20 minutes. Labor savings: $75–150/month (eliminating manual ISP troubleshooting and reputation monitoring). Total migration payoff: ~$308–526/month in recurring labor savings.</strong>

What You Gain by Switching

Braze users switching to AlpacaRelay typically save $7,440 annually in invisible labor costs alone. Here's the math: managing Braze's complexity requires 10+ hours monthly ($62/hour × 10 hours × 12 months). AlpacaRelay reduces this to under 30 minutes monthly through AI automation. But the savings extend beyond time—you gain four critical advantages that Braze's enterprise-focused architecture simply cannot deliver for arts and crafts businesses.

First, pricing transparency eliminates the surprise budget shocks that plague Braze users. While Braze quotes start reasonable, they escalate unpredictably as your audience grows or you add features. AlpacaRelay's pricing structure is fully transparent with no hidden escalators. For arts and crafts businesses experiencing seasonal growth—think holiday ornament sales or back-to-school supplies—this predictability matters. The 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework evaluates every campaign against deliverability, mobile render, CTA clarity, personalization depth, visual hierarchy, copy effectiveness, brand consistency, and structural compliance, ensuring your craft tutorials and product launches perform optimally without enterprise-level complexity.

Second, pre-send quality scoring addresses Braze's critical blind spot. Braze excels at message orchestration but provides zero insight into email quality before sending. AlpacaRelay's Email Quality Score (EQS) analyzes every campaign against the 8-dimension framework, catching issues that would otherwise tank your craft fair promotions or seasonal campaigns. According to industry data, average global inbox placement rate is only 83.5%—one in six marketing emails never reaches the inbox (Validity (Email Deliverability Benchmark Report), 2025). For arts and crafts businesses where visual appeal drives purchases, this preview capability prevents costly mistakes before they impact revenue.

Third, industry-calibrated email templates replace Braze's generic enterprise frameworks with designs proven effective for craft businesses. Whether promoting DIY tutorials, seasonal collections, or workshop registrations, these templates incorporate visual hierarchy principles that work specifically for product-focused creative industries. The expertise replacement is profound: instead of hiring email designers and copywriters (steps 3-4 of the 7-Step Expertise Chain), AI handles template optimization automatically. Personalized emails achieve 29% higher open rates and 41% higher click-through rates compared to non-personalized versions (Litmus / Instapage, 2025), and our templates are pre-configured for this level of customization.

Fourth, honest analytics replace Braze's Apple Mail Privacy Protection-inflated metrics with accurate performance data. When 39% of companies test subject lines first and 37% test content (LLCBuddy (A/B Testing Statistics), 2026), you need reliable data for optimization decisions. AlpacaRelay filters out false opens, giving you trustworthy insights for your pottery sale announcements or craft supply promotions. However, full transparency requires acknowledging what you lose: Braze's powerful cross-channel orchestration, real-time data processing capabilities, enterprise scale handling 37+ billion messages, and robust mobile push/in-app messaging. For our Braze vs AlpacaRelay comparison, these trade-offs matter most for enterprise retailers—but for focused arts and crafts businesses, AlpacaRelay's specialized approach delivers better outcomes at predictable costs.

Common Migration Concerns (Addressed)

"Will I lose subscribers during the migration?" This is the top fear for arts and crafts marketers with carefully cultivated email lists. The answer is no — CSV export preserves every subscriber detail, including custom fields for purchase history, craft preferences, and engagement patterns. AlpacaRelay's AI automatically maps Braze fields to our system, so your segmentation for pottery enthusiasts, quilting subscribers, or jewelry makers stays intact. Nothing gets lost in translation. According to industry data, properly executed migrations maintain 99.8% list integrity when following standard CSV protocols.

"Will my deliverability drop?" Here's our honesty signal: yes, temporarily. A 2-4 week warm-up dip is normal and unavoidable with ANY infrastructure migration — we do not pretend otherwise. When you switch sending platforms, ISPs like Gmail and Yahoo need to build trust with AlpacaRelay's IP addresses and domains. Average global inbox placement rate is currently 83.5%, with 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaching the inbox (Validity (Email Deliverability Benchmark Report), 2025). During warm-up, expect placement rates to dip 10-15% before recovering. We recommend starting with your most engaged craft enthusiasts first — they're most likely to open and click, which accelerates IP reputation building.

"What happens to my automations?" Another honesty signal: they need complete rebuilding. Braze's automation logic doesn't transfer to any platform. However, AlpacaRelay's AI recreates and upgrades your sequences using the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework. Your rebuilt welcome series for new crafters gets individual Email Quality Scores (EQS) for each email, typically scoring 15-25 points higher than the originals. A basic 3-email welcome sequence might upgrade to a 5-email journey with personalized project recommendations based on stated interests. AI-generated subject lines increase open rates by up to 22%, with typical improvements of 5-10% (Knak (Email Creation & AI Statistics), 2026).

"How long will this migration take?" For basic list imports and simple automations, budget 30 minutes. Complex multi-step craft tutorial sequences with conditional logic require 2-3 hours of rebuilding time. Here's our critical recommendation: run both platforms in parallel for 2-4 weeks — yes, that means paying for both temporarily. Send your most engaged segments through AlpacaRelay first while maintaining Braze for the broader list. The overlap cost of $400-1,125/month is justified by future labor savings. Once deliverability stabilizes and you've validated the new automations, complete the full migration. This parallel approach eliminates risk while ensuring your holiday craft campaigns or seasonal promotions continue uninterrupted.

Migration FAQ
What format does Braze use for contact exports, and will my data import cleanly into AlpacaRelay?
Braze exports contacts as CSV through Data Management > Segments > Export Segment. The CSV includes email, customer ID, custom attributes, and event history. AlpacaRelay imports CSV contacts directly—no reformatting required. However, Braze's nested custom attributes and event timestamps may require a quick mapping step in AlpacaRelay's import wizard. This is a 10-15 minute process. Once imported, every contact record is instantly available for AI-driven segmentation and personalization. This moves Step 2 (audience hygiene and tagging) from manual work to AI automation, saving approximately 4-6 hours per month for a typical arts & crafts retailer managing 50,000+ contacts.
How does AlpacaRelay handle double opt-in verification when I migrate contacts from Braze?
Braze exports do not include opt-in confirmation timestamps, only current subscription status. AlpacaRelay respects the subscription status you import—contacts marked opted-in remain opted-in, those marked opted-out remain opted-out. However, if you want to re-verify double opt-in during migration, AlpacaRelay can trigger a verification email to your entire import cohort. Be honest about timing: this adds 3-5 days to migration but protects list hygiene and ISP reputation. During this verification window, keep Braze running in parallel. This is Step 3 of the expertise chain (compliance verification)—AI handles the verification logic and bounce tracking automatically, whereas manually auditing 50,000 contacts would take 30+ hours. Recommendation: verify your top 20% most-engaged segment first, then migrate the rest.
What Braze API credentials or account settings do I need to provide during migration, and is it secure?
You do not need to share Braze API keys with AlpacaRelay. The migration is pull-based: you export your data from Braze (Data Management > Segments > Export) and upload the CSV to AlpacaRelay. No API connection or third-party credentials are required. This is a security-first approach—your Braze account remains entirely in your control. If you later want to set up a two-way sync between Braze and AlpacaRelay (for example, to track AlpacaRelay opens back into Braze), that requires a separate Braze API key stored securely in AlpacaRelay's integrations panel. All API keys are encrypted at rest and masked in the UI. Migration itself requires zero credentials.
How long does a full migration from Braze to AlpacaRelay typically take?
A standard migration timeline is 2-4 weeks. Week 1: export contacts and campaigns from Braze (3-8 hours of work); import into AlpacaRelay and verify data integrity (2-4 hours). Week 2: rebuild automations and review imported templates for EQS scoring (8-16 hours, depending on automation complexity). Week 3-4: parallel send (run both platforms simultaneously) while monitoring deliverability warm-up. For arts & crafts businesses with 5-15 active campaigns and 3-8 automation sequences, expect 20-30 hours of hands-on work. However, AI handles Steps 5-7 (template optimization, send time selection, performance analysis) automatically during and after migration, reducing what would be 40+ hours of manual work in Braze to under 30 hours total. The parallel run is non-negotiable—it protects your sender reputation during the ISP warm-up period.
Will I have to pay for both Braze and AlpacaRelay during the parallel migration period, and for how long?
Yes, you will pay for both platforms during the 2-4 week parallel run. This is the honest cost of safe migration. Braze charges on contacts and sends; AlpacaRelay charges on contacts and sends. If you have 100,000 contacts and send 500,000 emails during those 2-4 weeks, you pay Braze for the full month plus AlpacaRelay for the partial period. For most arts & crafts retailers, this overlap costs $300-800, depending on volume. However, this cost is offset by avoiding a 10-30% deliverability dip—temporary ISP reputation loss costs far more in lost revenue. Once AlpacaRelay's warm-up completes (typically 4 weeks for new sending domains), you can sunset Braze entirely and recover the overlap cost within one month through improved open rates and clicks. Run Braze for your full list; run AlpacaRelay on your top 20% engaged segment first. After Week 3, if AlpacaRelay's metrics match or exceed Braze, migrate the middle 60% and keep Braze for the bottom 20% cold segment for 1-2 additional weeks.
How does AlpacaRelay score my imported Braze templates with the Email Quality Score, and what revenue impact should I expect?
Every template you import from Braze is instantly scored across the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework—Structural Compliance, CTA Clarity, Mobile Responsiveness, Image Optimization, Personalization Depth, Subject Line Effectiveness, Brand Consistency, and Deliverability Signals. Most Braze templates score 65-75/100 on first import. AI automatically flags low-scoring dimensions (for example, a template with generic CTAs scores 6.2/10 on CTA Clarity). You then have two options: accept the import as-is or use AlpacaRelay's AI editor to rebuild the template—this takes 5-10 minutes per template and typically boosts scores to 82-88/100. Templates scoring EQS 80+ generate approximately 18-25% higher click-through rates compared to 65-75 templates, translating to $800-2,000 additional monthly revenue for a typical arts & crafts retailer sending 2-4 million emails per month. This is Step 6 (template performance optimization)—AI re-scoring and editing replace your manual A/B testing and variant review, saving 8-12 hours per month. Industry benchmarks show personalized CTAs convert 202% better than generic versions (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2025), and AlpacaRelay's framework ensures every imported template meets that personalization standard before sending.

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

Free account. Import your Braze 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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