What order should I migrate things in?

The order systeme.io uses

Five platform migration guides exist. Three of them lay out the same nine steps in the same sequence, and the other two run a shortened version of it.

Why funnel pages go first

systeme.io's stated reason is that sales funnels are at the heart of its customers' content, so they are generally migrated first to get them online quickly.

The step is not finished when the pages exist. Once a funnel's pages are built, the links between them are checked and tested, which is only possible when the whole set is there.

Where websites fit

Generally with the blog. Every guide that has a blog step says websites are generally migrated through it, using the same technical process as the funnel pages, rather than giving them a step of their own.

Why contacts go near the end

Importing the contact list is described as completed at the end of the migration, and there is a gate in front of it. The list goes to the deliverability team for verification first, and the contacts and their tags are imported once that is approved.

Emails and campaigns move at step five, one step ahead of the people they will be sent to. The content is rebuilt and tested internally before there is anybody in the account to receive it.

The two steps that depend on everything before them

The last two are last for a reason, and it is the same reason both times.

• The domain, at step eight. It is integrated once the content exists, so the old addresses can be reused and the URLs can keep the structure and links they had on the old platform. Authenticating it at the same time generates the DKIM or SPF records.
• Course access, at step nine. It needs the contact list imported and the URLs already updated with the domain. Students are then enrolled by automation, based on the tags their contacts carry.

That is the dependency worth keeping if you are moving yourself. Nobody can be enrolled in a course that has not been rebuilt, and a domain cannot be pointed at pages that do not exist.

Where the five guides differ

• The GoHighLevel guide has no blog step. It runs funnels, courses, physical products, emails, contacts, automations, domain, course access.
• The Podia guide has seven. It has no physical products step and no automations step of its own. Instead, the automations that send the newsletters and campaigns are created at the same time as those emails, in its fourth step.
• ClickFunnels, Kartra and Kajabi carry all nine, in the order in the table above.

Apart from Podia's automations, the steps the guides share come in the same order in all five. systeme.io still describes funnel pages as generally migrated first, and none of the five guides says the order has to be kept.

What that means in practice

Work forward through the table and stop at anything the business does not have. A course seller with no physical products and no blog runs seven steps, in the same relative order.

The one thing not to reorder is the tail. Contacts, then the domain, then course access, because course access is the step that needs both of the others done first.