Jimdo to Volusion Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

Making the strategic decision to transition your e-commerce store is a pivotal step towards growth and enhanced capabilities. If you're currently operating on Jimdo and eyeing Volusion as your next powerful platform, this comprehensive guide will walk you through every essential stage of the migration process. Volusion offers robust features, scalability, and dedicated e-commerce functionalities that can significantly elevate your online business. While Jimdo offers a straightforward website builder, migrating to Volusion unlocks advanced inventory management, detailed analytics, and sophisticated marketing tools.

This article details a secure and efficient data transfer, ensuring that your valuable products, customer data, orders, and other crucial entities make a seamless move. We'll outline the necessary preparations, guide you step-by-step through the migration using CSV files for your Jimdo data, and cover vital post-migration checks to ensure your new Volusion store is perfectly optimized for success.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before embarking on your store transition, it's crucial to lay the groundwork. Proper preparation ensures a smooth data transfer and minimizes potential downtime or data integrity issues.

For Your Jimdo (Source) Store: Exporting Data

As Jimdo does not offer a direct API connection for automated migration tools, your data will need to be exported into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. This method allows you to transfer your store's foundational elements.

• Export Products: Collect all product data, including SKUs, product names, descriptions, pricing, images, and any variants.
• Export Customers: Gather customer details such as names, email addresses, shipping, and billing information.
• Export Orders: Extract your complete order history, including order IDs, purchased items, customer details, and order statuses.
• Export Other Data: If applicable, export categories, manufacturers, reviews, and CMS pages into separate CSV files.

Ensure your CSV files are well-organized and cleaned of any redundant or irrelevant information. For more detailed preparation, refer to our guide on how to prepare your Source store for migration.

For Your Volusion (Target) Store: Setup and Configuration

Preparing your Volusion store is equally important to receive the incoming data.

• Set Up a New Volusion Store: If you haven't already, create your new Volusion e-commerce store. This will be the destination for all your Jimdo data.
• Install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration Module: Volusion requires a specific plugin to facilitate the data transfer. This module acts as a bridge, allowing the migration tool to connect securely with your new store. You may need FTP access to your Volusion store's root folder to install this module. For more information on access credentials, read The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart.
• Admin Access: Ensure you have full administrative access to your Volusion store, including your admin login, password, and URL.

Detailed instructions on how to prepare your target store can be found in our Target Store Preparation FAQ.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your data prepared and your Volusion store ready, you can now begin the automated migration process. We'll guide you through the wizard steps to ensure a smooth transition of your e-commerce data.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Navigate to the migration wizard to begin the process. You'll be presented with options to start a do-it-yourself migration or explore guided services.

Step 2: Set Up Your Source Store (Jimdo via CSV)

Since Jimdo exports data as CSV files, you will select 'CSV File to Cart' as your source platform. You will then upload the meticulously prepared CSV files containing your product information, customer records, order history, and other relevant data.

Step 3: Set Up Your Target Store (Volusion)

Next, specify Volusion as your target e-commerce platform. Provide the URL of your new Volusion store along with your administrative login credentials. Ensure that the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration Module, as mentioned in the prerequisites, has been successfully installed to establish the connection.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Migration

This crucial step allows you to choose exactly which types of data you wish to transfer from your Jimdo CSV files to Volusion. You can select all available entities or handpick specific ones based on your business requirements.

• Products: Including SKUs, names, descriptions, prices, images, variants, and categories.
• Customers: All customer accounts and their associated details.
• Orders: Complete order history with order statuses and customer information.
• Product Reviews: Transferring valuable social proof.
• CMS Pages: Important static content.
• Other entities such as Manufacturers, Taxes, and Coupons as available in your CSVs.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options & Data Mapping

To optimize your data transfer, you'll be presented with various additional migration options and the opportunity to map data fields.

• Additional Options: Consider essential features like "Preserve Product IDs," "Preserve Orders IDs," and "Password Migration." A particularly important option for maintaining your SEO rankings is "Create 301 SEO URLs," which helps redirect old Jimdo URLs to their new Volusion counterparts, preserving valuable link equity. You may also opt to "Clear Target" store data before migration if you're starting fresh. For more on these options, consult our FAQ: How Preserve IDs options can be used? and Clear current data on Target store before migration option.
• Data Mapping: This step ensures data consistency by allowing you to match customer groups (e.g., 'Wholesale' to 'B2B Customer') and order statuses (e.g., 'Processing' to 'Awaiting Shipment') from your Jimdo CSVs to the corresponding fields in Volusion. This prevents data integrity issues post-migration.

Step 6: Run Demo Migration & Full Migration

We highly recommend performing a free demo migration first. This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities to your Volusion store, giving you a chance to review the data integrity, check mappings, and address any potential issues without committing to the full transfer. Once satisfied, you can proceed with the full data migration.

During this final step, you might also consider adding a Migration Insurance Service for added peace of mind, offering options for remigrations if needed. Learn more about how Migration Insurance works.

Post-Migration Steps

Your data has been transferred, but the journey to a fully operational Volusion store isn't quite over. These post-migration steps are crucial for launching a successful and optimized e-commerce presence.

1. Review Migrated Data Thoroughly: Access your Volusion admin panel and meticulously check all migrated entities. Verify product details, SKUs, images, pricing, customer accounts, order histories, and reviews. Ensure that all data has transferred accurately and completely.
2. Configure Store Settings: Set up essential store configurations within Volusion, including shipping zones, tax rules, payment gateways, and currency settings. This ensures your store is ready to handle transactions.
3. Implement 301 Redirects: Even with the migration tool's 301 URL creation option, it's vital to manually verify or set up 301 redirects for any old Jimdo URLs to their corresponding new Volusion URLs. This preserves your SEO rankings and prevents broken links, maintaining link equity and a smooth user experience.
4. Customize Your Volusion Theme and Design: Personalize your Volusion storefront to reflect your brand's identity. Customize layouts, colors, fonts, and ensure a responsive design across all devices to enhance the user experience.
5. Set Up Payment Gateway & Shipping: Integrate your preferred payment processors (e.g., PayPal, Stripe) and configure shipping methods and rates in Volusion. Conduct test purchases to ensure everything functions correctly.
6. Conduct Comprehensive Testing: Before going live, perform extensive testing of all critical store functions. This includes the entire checkout process, customer account creation and login, product search, contact forms, and mobile responsiveness.
7. Update DNS Records: Once you're confident that your Volusion store is fully functional and ready, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new Volusion store. This will direct all traffic from your old Jimdo domain to your new platform.
8. Go Live and Monitor: Announce your new store! Closely monitor your website analytics, sales, and customer feedback in the initial days and weeks after launch. Consider using our Recent Data Migration Service to catch any new data that accumulated during your final preparations.

Migrating from Jimdo to Volusion is an exciting venture that promises greater control and potential for your e-commerce business. By following these steps and leveraging powerful migration tools, you can ensure a smooth, secure, and successful transition. Should you encounter any challenges or require expert assistance, our team is always ready to help through our Contact Us page or various data migration service packages.