How to Switch from Mailchimp to Envoke: A Complete Guide
Mailchimp — now owned by Intuit — is the most widely used email marketing platform in the world, but it's a US product storing subscriber data in US infrastructure with no native support for CASL (Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation). Envoke is a Toronto-built email marketing platform designed from the ground up for Canadian compliance, with CASL consent tracking, express vs. implied consent separation, and Canadian data hosting built in by default — not as premium add-ons.
What You'll Gain
- Native CASL compliance: Envoke was built for CASL from the start. Express and implied consent are tracked separately, consent records are maintained automatically, and 10-day unsubscribe processing is enforced by the platform.
- Canadian data residency: Subscriber data and email campaign data stored in Canada. Your contact list stays under Canadian legal jurisdiction.
- CASL consent forms: Envoke's signup forms include the required CASL disclosure language and consent capture. You get compliant forms without legal consultation for every form build.
- Canadian support team: When you have a compliance question at 9am EST, you get a Canadian support team who understands CASL, not a US team that has to look it up.
- Transparent pricing: Envoke's pricing is straightforward and designed for Canadian SMBs — no surprise overage charges that catch Mailchimp users off-guard as lists grow.
What You Might Miss
- Smaller template library: Mailchimp has hundreds of design templates. Envoke's library is smaller, though the quality for Canadian business use cases is excellent.
- E-commerce integrations: Mailchimp's Shopify and WooCommerce integrations are deep with revenue attribution. Envoke's e-commerce integrations are more limited.
- Automation complexity: Mailchimp Customer Journey Builder allows complex multi-branch automations. Envoke's automation is solid but less visually complex.
- Brand recognition: Mailchimp's chimp logo at the bottom of emails is familiar. Envoke's branding is less widely recognized.
What You'll Need
- Admin access to your current Mailchimp account for data export
- Envoke account (trial available)
- 2–4 hours for initial setup and configuration
- A test group of 5–10 users for the pilot phase
- A communication plan for your team about the transition
Step-by-Step Migration
- Export Mailchimp contacts: In Mailchimp, go to Audience → All Contacts → Export Audience. Export as CSV. Export each list/audience separately if you have multiple.
- Document consent sources: Before importing to Envoke, document where each contact's consent came from: website form, in-person signup, purchase (implied consent), or explicit opt-in. This is required for CASL compliance.
- Set up Envoke account: Create your Envoke account and configure your sending domain. Set up DKIM and SPF records for your sending domain — Envoke provides the DNS records you need.
- Import contacts with consent data: Import your CSV to Envoke. Map consent type (express vs. implied) and consent date for each contact. Envoke's import wizard supports consent field mapping.
- Migrate email templates: Rebuild your key email templates in Envoke's editor. Focus on your 3–5 most-used templates first; rebuild the rest as needed.
- Recreate automations: Rebuild your active Mailchimp automations (welcome series, abandoned cart, etc.) in Envoke. Test each automation with a test address before activating.
- Update signup forms: Replace Mailchimp signup forms on your website with Envoke forms that include proper CASL consent language. This is an opportunity to improve your consent capture.
- Send test campaign: Send a test campaign to your team before the first live send. Verify tracking, unsubscribe links, and mobile rendering.
Tips for the Transition
- Take the migration as an opportunity to clean your list — suppress contacts with no engagement in 12+ months before importing to Envoke.
- CASL implied consent expires after 2 years. Use the migration to identify and remove expired implied consent contacts.
- Envoke's CASL-compliant unsubscribe handling is automatic — you don't need to build unsubscribe logic into your templates.
- Canadian anti-spam law requires your physical mailing address in every commercial email. Envoke handles this automatically with your account address.
The Canadian Angle
CASL violations carry fines up to $10 million per violation. Canadian businesses that store subscriber consent records in a CASL-native system like Envoke — rather than Mailchimp's US-governed infrastructure — are in a far stronger position if the CRTC ever comes knocking.
Timeline
A full Mailchimp-to-Envoke migration typically takes 1–2 weeks: 1–2 days for contact export and import, 3–5 days for template rebuilds and automation recreation, and 1 week of parallel running.