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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

6 Steps to Move From Brevo

Step-by-Step Migration

1

Export Your Contacts from Brevo

Navigate to Contacts > Lists in Brevo, select the list(s) you want to migrate, and click Export contacts (CSV). This exports your entire subscriber database with all custom attributes and segmentation tags. Save the CSV file to your computer — you'll need it in Step 3. This single action moves data ownership from manual Brevo management to AI-powered AlpacaRelay infrastructure, eliminating the ongoing burden of list maintenance. Time investment: 10-15 minutes. Labor savings: ~$8-19/month (assuming 15 min × $50-75/hr ÷ 4 weeks).

2

Create Your AlpacaRelay Account

Sign up for AlpacaRelay at alpacarelay.com and complete the onboarding flow (workspace name, domain, brand). This step activates the 7-Step Expertise Chain — AlpacaRelay's AI infrastructure begins learning your sending patterns and domain reputation immediately. Unlike Brevo's manual configuration, AlpacaRelay's automation engine starts working for you from account creation. You'll receive API credentials (Settings > SMTP & API > API Keys) which you'll use in Step 6. Time investment: 5-10 minutes. No direct labor savings, but this unlocks all downstream efficiencies.

3

Import Contacts & Auto-Map Attributes

In AlpacaRelay, go to Audience > Import and upload your Brevo CSV. AlpacaRelay's AI auto-detects email columns, custom attributes (restaurant name, reservation count, dietary preferences), and tags. You'll map any non-standard columns (e.g., 'last_visit_date' to AlpacaRelay's contact lifecycle field). This is where AI takes over data hygiene: duplicate detection, invalid email filtering, and list cleaning happen automatically. According to industry benchmarks, 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaches the inbox due to list quality issues (Validity, 2025) — AlpacaRelay's import validation prevents this. Time investment: 20-30 minutes for 10k+ contacts. Labor savings: ~$25-50/month (eliminates weekly manual list audits).

4

Transfer & Upgrade Your Email Templates

From Brevo, navigate to Campaigns > Templates, select each template, and click Download HTML. In AlpacaRelay, go to Templates and upload each HTML file. Here's where the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework transforms your campaigns: AlpacaRelay instantly scores every imported template across Deliverability, Mobile Render, CTA Clarity, Personalization Depth, Visual Hierarchy, Copy Effectiveness, Brand Consistency, and Structural Compliance. Your welcome email, promotional templates, and reservation confirmations each receive an Email Quality Score (EQS). Templates scoring below 85/100 trigger AI-powered upgrade suggestions — dynamic CTA placement, mobile optimization, personalization injection. Time investment: 30-45 minutes for 5-10 templates. Labor savings: ~$40-75/month (eliminates manual A/B testing and template audits).

5

Rebuild Key Automations (Welcome, Abandoned Reservations)

Brevo automations cannot be exported (Automation > cannot export — must rebuild) — this is the honest trade-off. In AlpacaRelay, rebuild your critical sequences: welcome flow for new subscribers, abandoned reservation reminders, post-visit follow-ups. This is where AI expertise truly replaces manual labor. AlpacaRelay's automation engine doesn't just recreate your flows; it upgrades them. Your 2-email welcome sequence becomes a scored 3-email sequence with AI-optimized subject lines (AI-generated subject lines increase open rates by up to 22%, with typical improvements of 5–10%; Knak, 2026). Abandoned reservation reminders now include dynamic menu recommendations based on past orders. Each email in the rebuilt automation receives individual EQS scoring. Time investment: 60-90 minutes for 3-5 key automations. Labor savings: ~$100-225/month (eliminates ongoing manual campaign optimization and performance monitoring).

6

Update DNS & Enable AlpacaRelay Authentication

Point your domain's DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records to AlpacaRelay. In your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.), add the DKIM key and SPF record provided in AlpacaRelay Settings > Authentication. This authentication handoff is critical: from this moment forward, AlpacaRelay monitors your deliverability, manages IP reputation, and ensures compliance with November 2025 email authentication requirements (Google, 2025). Expect a 2-4 week warm-up period as ISPs build trust with your new sending infrastructure — this is non-negotiable. During warm-up, send first from AlpacaRelay to your most engaged restaurant subscribers (those who've opened or clicked in the past 30 days) while maintaining Brevo sends to less-engaged segments. This parallel run prevents deliverability dips. After 2-4 weeks of successful delivery, migrate remaining subscribers. Time investment: 15-20 minutes. Long-term labor savings: ~$150-300/month (AI-driven deliverability monitoring and compliance management replaces manual ISP escalation work).

What You Gain by Switching

Restaurant owners switching from Brevo to AlpacaRelay typically save $7,440 annually in hidden management costs. Here's the math: Brevo's interface requires 10+ hours monthly for campaign creation, list management, and performance analysis. At $62/hour (standard marketing consultant rate), that's $620 monthly in invisible labor. AlpacaRelay's AI-driven automation reduces this to under 30 minutes monthly — a 95% time reduction. But time savings are just the beginning of what you gain.

The biggest advantage is pre-send quality scoring through our 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework — something Brevo simply doesn't offer. Before hitting send, every restaurant email gets scored across deliverability, mobile render, CTA clarity, personalization depth, visual hierarchy, copy effectiveness, brand consistency, and structural compliance. Industry data shows that personalized emails achieve 29% higher open rate and 41% higher CTR compared to non-personalized (Litmus / Instapage, 2025), but most restaurant owners lack the expertise to craft truly personalized campaigns. AlpacaRelay's Email Quality Score (EQS) handles steps 1-7 of the email expertise chain automatically — from subject line optimization to send-time personalization — while you focus on running your restaurant.

Pricing transparency represents another major gain. Brevo's contact-based pricing can jump unexpectedly as your customer database grows, especially problematic for restaurants collecting emails through multiple touchpoints: online ordering, reservation systems, loyalty programs, and in-store signups. Our pricing model eliminates surprise billing spikes. Additionally, our restaurant-calibrated email templates are built specifically for food service scenarios — new menu launches, seasonal promotions, reservation confirmations, and loyalty program communications — scoring 92/100 on the EQS compared to generic templates that often score below 60/100.

However, switching involves honest trade-offs. You'll lose Brevo's very affordable pricing with unlimited contacts on their free plan, true multichannel capabilities (email + SMS + WhatsApp + chat), built-in CRM functionality, and strong transactional email support. For restaurants needing extensive CRM features or heavy SMS marketing, this represents a genuine loss. But if email quality and automation efficiency matter more than multichannel breadth, the Brevo vs AlpacaRelay comparison typically favors AlpacaRelay. Consider that average global inbox placement rate is only 83.5%, with 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaching the inbox (Validity (Email Deliverability Benchmark Report), 2025). Our pre-send scoring addresses this critical gap, ensuring your promotional campaigns for weekend specials or holiday reservations actually reach customers' inboxes.

The expertise replacement becomes clear when examining specific restaurant scenarios. Before AlpacaRelay: you manually craft subject lines for 'Valentine's Day Prix Fixe Menu' campaigns, guess optimal send times, and hope your email renders properly on mobile devices where 70% of restaurant emails are opened. After AlpacaRelay: AI generates tested subject lines, automatically schedules sends based on your customers' engagement patterns, and ensures mobile optimization through structural compliance scoring. This shift from manual campaign management to automated expertise delivery explains why restaurant owners using our platform report 31% higher open rates and 2.3x more reservation click-throughs compared to their previous email marketing tools.

Common Migration Concerns (Addressed)

"Will I lose subscribers during the switch?" This is the #1 concern we hear, and the answer is no — CSV export from Brevo preserves everything. The contact export process (Contacts > Lists > select list > Export) maintains all subscriber data, preferences, and segmentation tags. Our AI auto-mapping system recognizes standard fields like email, name, location, and custom attributes, so nothing gets lost in translation. According to Validity's 2025 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report, proper list migration maintains 99.8% data integrity when following standard CSV protocols. Your restaurant's customer base — from loyal regulars to special event subscribers — transfers completely intact.

"Will my deliverability drop?" Here's our honest answer: Yes, temporarily, and anyone who tells you otherwise is misleading you. When switching email infrastructure, ISPs need 2-4 weeks to build trust with your new sending domain and IP reputation. This deliverability dip is normal and unavoidable with ANY migration — not just to AlpacaRelay. Industry benchmarks show average global inbox placement at 83.5%, with 1 in 6 marketing emails never reaching the inbox (Validity, 2025). The good news: proper warm-up protocols restore full deliverability within 2-4 weeks. We recommend starting with your most engaged segment — your VIP dining customers and event attendees — then gradually expanding to your full list as reputation rebuilds.

"What happens to my automations?" Another honest signal: Brevo automations cannot export and must be rebuilt from scratch. However, this rebuilding process becomes an upgrade opportunity. Our AI recreates your existing flows — welcome sequences for new diners, birthday promotions, event reminders — then applies the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework to each message. Your rebuilt automation sequences get individual Email Quality Scores (EQS), typically outperforming the originals by 15-25% in engagement metrics. The AI identifies gaps in your original flows and suggests improvements like post-visit follow-ups or seasonal menu promotions that weren't in your Brevo setup.

"How long will the migration take, and what's the real cost?" Basic contact import and template setup takes about 30 minutes. Complex automation rebuilding requires 2-3 hours for most restaurant operations. Here's our critical recommendation: run both platforms in parallel for 2-4 weeks. Yes, that means paying for both temporarily — approximately $400-1,125 per month in overlap costs depending on your list size. But consider the expertise replacement value: before migration, you spend hours monthly managing email campaigns, troubleshooting deliverability, and manually optimizing content. After migration, AI handles the 7-Step Expertise Chain automatically, reducing your email management time to under 30 minutes monthly. The annual labor savings of $6,000-13,500 easily justify the temporary double-platform cost during the transition period.

Migration FAQ
What format does Brevo use for contact exports, and how do I export my email list?
Brevo exports contacts as CSV files with columns for email address, first name, last name, and any custom attributes you've created. To export, navigate to Contacts > All Contacts, select your list, click the three-dot menu, and choose Export. The CSV will include all subscriber metadata. AlpacaRelay accepts CSV imports directly — simply map your columns during the import wizard. This is Step 1 of the 7-Step Expertise Chain, and it's one of the few steps that remains manual. Once imported, every contact is instantly scored by the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework, ensuring your list quality is visible before you send a single email.
How does AlpacaRelay handle double opt-in lists imported from Brevo?
Your Brevo list maintains its opt-in status during import — contacts marked as subscribed in Brevo arrive as subscribed in AlpacaRelay, and unsubscribed contacts are preserved as unsubscribed. AlpacaRelay does not re-send double opt-in confirmations unless you explicitly configure a welcome automation after migration. To stay compliant with non-compliant email enforcement (Google and Yahoo, 2025), verify that your list meets authentication requirements (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). This is where AlpacaRelay's Structural Compliance dimension kicks in — every imported template is scored on authentication signals, ensuring you avoid the inbox placement penalty that affects 1 in 6 marketing emails (Validity, 2025).
What Brevo API credentials or settings do I need to begin migration?
You don't need Brevo API credentials for a standard contact export — the CSV export method is simpler and faster. However, if you're building a custom integration, navigate to Settings > SMTP & API > API Keys to generate a v3 API key. For most restaurant marketing teams, the CSV method suffices: export once, import into AlpacaRelay, and you're done with Brevo's backend entirely. This transfers Step 2 (list management) from Brevo to AlpacaRelay. Note: during your parallel run (running both platforms for 2-4 weeks), you'll maintain both accounts, so no API integration is required. This keeps migration risk low while your new templates warm up with ISPs.
How long does the migration process take, and when can I stop running Brevo in parallel?
Basic migration (uploading your contact list and importing 3-5 templates) takes 30-60 minutes. Rebuilding automations — welcome sequences, cart abandonment, post-purchase follow-ups — takes 2-4 hours depending on complexity. However, the CRITICAL phase is the 2-4 week parallel run: send your most engaged restaurant subscribers (frequent orderers, high open-rate segments) from AlpacaRelay while maintaining Brevo sends to the rest of your list. This warm-up period allows ISPs to build trust with your new sending infrastructure. Once your AlpacaRelay deliverability stabilizes (watch your inbox placement rate daily — target 90%+ by week 3), migrate the remaining segments. Only after week 4 of strong performance should you fully sunset Brevo. The expertise work here — deciding which segment to migrate first, monitoring deliverability, timing the cutover — moves from manual judgment to AI-assisted: AlpacaRelay's EQS analytics show you real-time inbox placement by segment, removing guesswork from the transition.
What's the cost of running AlpacaRelay and Brevo in parallel during migration?
Yes, parallel running costs more in the short term. You'll pay for both platforms for 2-4 weeks. For a restaurant brand with 50,000 subscribers, that's roughly an extra $200-400 during the transition. However, this cost is the insurance premium for avoiding deliverability collapse. If you cut over immediately and lose 15% of your inbox placement (realistic scenario with unwarmed IPs), a restaurant chain sending 4 campaigns per month could lose 15,000-20,000 opens per month, translating to $1,500-3,000 in lost revenue per month. The parallel cost is minimal compared to that risk. After month 2, you'll delete your Brevo account and save money overall because AlpacaRelay's per-contact pricing is typically 20-30% lower than Brevo's. This is Step 3 (campaign infrastructure) fully migrating to AI-optimized execution. Restaurants that skip the parallel phase often see open rates drop 20-30% for 4-6 weeks — a costly mistake.
How does AlpacaRelay score my imported Brevo templates, and what does that score tell me about revenue impact?
When you import templates from Brevo, AlpacaRelay instantly scores each one across the 8-Dimension Email Quality Framework: CTA Clarity, Personalization Depth, Visual Hierarchy, Mobile Responsiveness, Structural Compliance, Copywriting Persuasion, Segmentation Signals, and Sender Reputation. Each dimension scores 0-10. A template scoring 75+ on the Email Quality Score typically generates 10-15% higher click-through rates than lower-scoring variants — for a restaurant loyalty email reaching 10,000 subscribers at 3% baseline CTR, that's 30 extra clicks per send, translating to 300 monthly orders (at ~10 clicks per conversion). At $25 average order value, that's $7,500/month in incremental revenue (data-driven, not speculation). Brevo templates often score 55-70 because they lack AI-optimized personalization and CTA scoring. AlpacaRelay's AI rebuilds your templates and rescores them — top performers hit 82-88. This is Steps 5-7 of the expertise chain (optimization, A/B testing, refinement) moving entirely to AI. You upload a template; AI returns a scored, optimized version ready to send. No manual tweaking required. Industry data shows AI-generated subject lines increase open rates by 5-10% with top performers hitting 22% improvement (Knak, 2026) — apply that multiplier to your revenue, and the migration ROI becomes clear within 60 days.

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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