Teachable to Square Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

Seamlessly Transitioning Your E-commerce Store from Teachable to Square

As your e-commerce business evolves, you may find the need to switch platforms to better align with your growth strategies and operational requirements. Migrating from Teachable, often favored for its course-centric approach, to a more comprehensive retail platform like Square, can unlock new capabilities for physical goods, payments, and broader retail management. This guide will walk you through the entire process, ensuring a smooth data transfer and minimal disruption to your online operations.

Given Teachable's nature as primarily an online course platform, direct API-based migration tools for a full e-commerce transfer are typically not available. Therefore, the migration process will largely involve exporting your valuable data from Teachable into CSV files and then preparing it for import into your new Square store. This method ensures that critical information such as products, customer data, and orders are accurately moved to your new environment.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before initiating your migration from Teachable to Square, thorough preparation is crucial. Adhering to these steps will safeguard your data and ensure a more efficient transition.

• Backup Your Teachable Store Data: Always start by performing a full backup of all your Teachable data. This includes course content, customer lists, order histories, and any custom pages. While you'll be exporting CSVs, a complete backup provides an additional layer of security.
• Prepare Your Teachable Data for Export: Identify all the data entities you wish to transfer. This typically includes:
  • Products (courses, digital products, physical products if applicable)
  • Product Categories
  • Customer Information
  • Order History
  • Reviews (if supported by Teachable export)
  • CMS Pages and Blog Posts (if applicable)

  You will need to manually export this data from Teachable's admin panel into CSV files. Ensure that the data is well-organized and clearly labeled, as this will be your primary source for the migration.

• Set Up Your Square Store: Create and configure your Square Online store. This involves setting up your basic store settings, payment gateways, shipping zones, and any themes or design elements you plan to use. While you won't import data yet, having the basic structure in place is essential. Read our guide on preparing your target store for more details.
• Understand Square's Import Capabilities: Familiarize yourself with how Square handles data imports. Square Online typically supports CSV imports for products and customers. Understanding its specific CSV format requirements will be vital for mapping your Teachable exported data correctly.
• Review SEO Strategy: Plan your SEO strategy for the new Square store. If you have custom URLs in Teachable, you'll want to plan for 301 redirects to maintain link equity and prevent drops in search engine rankings.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

The core of your migration will involve leveraging a specialized migration tool to facilitate the transfer of your CSV-exported Teachable data into Square. While direct API connections are not feasible for Teachable, tools like Cart2Cart support CSV file imports, making it the ideal solution for this scenario.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Navigate to the migration wizard to begin. Here, you'll typically be presented with options to start a new migration.

Step 2: Source Store Setup

In this crucial step, you will specify your source platform as 'CSV File to Cart' since Teachable data will be provided via CSV exports. You will then upload your prepared CSV files containing all your Teachable store data.

• Choose 'CSV File to Cart' as Source: From the dropdown menu, select 'CSV File to Cart' as your source shopping cart. This indicates that your data will be sourced from CSV files.
• Upload Your Teachable Exported CSV Files: Upload the CSV files you exported from your Teachable store. These files contain your products, customers, orders, and other essential entities.

Note on Teachable Specifics: As Teachable is not directly supported by traditional e-commerce migration tools, using CSV file import is the recommended approach. There are no plugin requirements for this method as you are simply importing file data.

Step 3: Target Store Setup

Next, you will configure your new Square store as the target for your migration. Select Square as your target platform.

• Select Square as Target Cart: From the available options, choose 'Square' as your target shopping cart.
• Provide Square Store URL: Enter the URL of your Square Online store.
• Establish Connection: The migration wizard will guide you to establish a connection to your Square store. This typically involves providing API keys or access tokens, which you can generate from your Square Developer Dashboard or your Square Online admin settings. (Specific connection methods for Square are not detailed in the provided platform data, but the wizard will prompt you for necessary credentials.) For more information on access credentials, refer to The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Migration

Now, choose which specific data entities you want to transfer from your Teachable CSV files to your Square store. Based on the capabilities of CSV migration, you can transfer a wide range of data.

• Choose All Entities: For a comprehensive transfer, select the 'All entities' checkbox.
• Select Specific Entities: Alternatively, you can pick and choose specific entities such as: Products, Product Categories, Customers, Orders, Invoices, Taxes, Coupons, CMS Pages, and Blog Posts. This gives you precise control over what data moves to Square.

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options

This step allows you to customize your migration further by selecting various additional options that enhance data integrity and SEO. Consider these options carefully based on your business needs.

• Clear Target Store Data: The option to clear current data on Target store before migration is available. This can be useful if you're starting with a fresh Square store and want to ensure no pre-existing data conflicts with the imported Teachable data.
• Preserve IDs: Options like Preserve Category IDs, Preserve Product IDs, Preserve Customers IDs, and Preserve Orders IDs are highly recommended. These maintain the original IDs of your data entities, which can be crucial for historical data consistency and external integrations.
• Create Variants from Attributes: If your Teachable products have attributes that should translate into product variants in Square (e.g., different course tiers as variations), select 'Create Variants from Attributes'.
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensure that images embedded within product or page descriptions are also migrated.
• SEO URLs: Activating SEO URLs helps maintain your search engine rankings by attempting to transfer SEO-friendly URLs or setting up redirects.
• Password Migration: If customer passwords are part of your Teachable export and compatible with Square's security protocols, you may opt for password migration.

Step 6: Map Data Fields

Data mapping is a critical step to ensure that information from your Teachable CSVs is correctly aligned with the corresponding fields in Square. This ensures data consistency and integrity.

• Match Customer Groups: Map your Teachable customer groups (if any) to equivalent customer segments or groups in Square.
• Match Order Statuses: Align your Teachable order statuses (e.g., 'Completed', 'Pending') to the appropriate order statuses within Square.

Step 7: Perform Demo Migration and Full Migration

Before committing to the full migration, it's highly recommended to perform a demo migration. This transfers a limited number of entities (e.g., 10-20 products, 10-20 customers, 10-20 orders) free of charge, allowing you to review the results and ensure data accuracy.

• Run Demo Migration: Initiate the demo migration and thoroughly check the transferred data in your Square store. Verify product details, customer accounts, and order information.
• Review and Adjust: If you identify any issues, you can adjust your CSV files or mapping settings and run the demo again.
• Purchase Migration (Optional Insurance): Once satisfied with the demo, you can proceed with the full migration. Consider adding a Migration Insurance Plan, which offers additional remigrations in case you need further adjustments after the full transfer. Learn how Migration Insurance works.

Post-Migration Steps

Once your data has been successfully transferred from Teachable to Square, a few essential post-migration tasks will ensure your new store is fully operational and optimized.

• Thorough Data Verification: Manually check all crucial data in your Square store. This includes:
  • Products: Verify SKUs, pricing, descriptions, images, variants, and stock levels.
  • Customer Accounts: Confirm that customer information, especially contact details, is correct.
  • Orders: Check order history, status, and associated customer details.
  • Redirects: Test your 301 redirects to ensure that old Teachable URLs correctly point to their new Square counterparts, preserving your SEO rankings.
• Update DNS Settings: Point your domain name to your new Square store. This step makes your new Square store live to the public. Plan this carefully to minimize downtime.
• Configure Payment Gateways and Shipping: Double-check that all payment methods (e.g., Square Payments) and shipping options are correctly set up and tested. Process a few test orders to ensure everything works seamlessly.
• Install Essential Apps/Plugins: If your Teachable setup relied on specific integrations or functionalities, find equivalent apps in the Square App Marketplace or configure built-in features to replicate that functionality.
• Notify Customers: Inform your customers about the platform change. Provide clear instructions on how they can access their accounts, view past orders, or find their favorite products on your new Square store.
• Monitor Performance: Keep a close eye on your new Square store's performance, including website speed, user experience, and sales. Collect feedback and make any necessary adjustments.
• Decommission Teachable Store: Once you are confident that your Square store is fully operational and stable, you can safely decommission your old Teachable store.

Migrating from Teachable to Square is a strategic move that can significantly enhance your e-commerce capabilities. While it requires careful planning and execution, following this guide and utilizing the right tools will ensure a successful transition. If you encounter any challenges or require custom solutions, consider our Migration Customization Service or Contact Us for expert assistance.