Cleverbridge to Squarespace Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from Cleverbridge to Squarespace

Replatforming your e-commerce store is a significant undertaking, but choosing the right new platform can unlock tremendous growth opportunities. If you're currently operating on Cleverbridge and considering a move to Squarespace, you're looking at a transition to a platform renowned for its intuitive design, robust e-commerce features, and excellent user experience. This guide will walk you through the entire process of migrating your store data from Cleverbridge to Squarespace, ensuring a smooth and secure data transfer.

Given that Cleverbridge primarily focuses on subscription billing and e-commerce for digital goods and typically does not offer a direct, publicly accessible API for data migration tools, the most effective method for transferring your valuable store data will involve exporting your data from Cleverbridge into CSV files. This data, encompassing everything from products and customer information to order history, will then be meticulously imported into your new Squarespace store, facilitated by a specialized migration service like Cart2Cart.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before embarking on your data transfer journey, a few essential preparations are needed to ensure a successful and efficient migration process.

• For your Cleverbridge Store (Source): Your primary task will be to export all relevant data into CSV files. This includes critical entities such as:
  • Products: SKUs, product names, descriptions, pricing, inventory levels, images, and any product variants.
  • Customers: Customer names, email addresses, billing, and shipping information.
  • Orders: Order IDs, purchase dates, product details within each order, customer information, and order statuses.
  • Product Categories: The structure and names of your product categories.
  • Product Reviews: If your Cleverbridge setup includes customer reviews, ensure these are exportable.
  • Coupons: Existing discount codes and their parameters.
  • CMS Pages & Blog Posts: Any static content or blog articles you wish to carry over.

  Thoroughly clean up your data before export. Remove any outdated, redundant, or incorrect information to ensure data integrity on your new Squarespace store. For more details on preparing your source store, refer to our guide on How to prepare Source store for migration?.

• For your Squarespace Store (Target): Set up your new Squarespace account and ensure you have administrative access. You will need to provide specific connection details for the migration tool to interact with your Squarespace store. These typically include:
  • Squarespace Admin URL: The URL to your Squarespace administration panel.
  • Admin Email and Password: Credentials for an administrator account with full permissions.
  • API Credentials: Depending on the Squarespace API integration, you may need an apiKey, apiSecret, accessToken, and refreshToken. These are crucial for secure programmatic access.

  It's important to note that Squarespace requires a secure HTTPS connection for API interactions and adheres to API rate limits. Furthermore, specific migrations may necessitate custom app development to bridge certain data gaps. To streamline this, the Cart2Cart Squarespace Migration App is required for a successful data transfer. For detailed preparation steps for your target store, please see How to prepare Target store for migration?.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these detailed steps to migrate your e-commerce store from Cleverbridge (via CSV) to Squarespace using a migration wizard.

Step 1: Initiate Your Migration

Begin by navigating to the migration service platform. Here, you'll be presented with options to start your migration journey, calculate costs, or seek assisted services. Choose the option to start a do-it-yourself migration with the wizard.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Store (Cleverbridge via CSV)

Since Cleverbridge does not offer a direct integration for migration tools, we will connect it as a CSV File to Cart source. From the list of available shopping cart platforms, select "CSV File to Cart" as your source store type.

Next, you will upload the CSV files containing your Cleverbridge data. Ensure these files are correctly formatted, containing all the essential data entities you exported, such as products, customers, and orders. This step is crucial for establishing the data foundation for your new Squarespace store. For comprehensive guidance on CSV migrations, visit our CSV.File Data Migration service page.

Step 3: Connect Your Target Store (Squarespace)

Now, it's time to connect your destination store. From the dropdown menu, select "Squarespace" as your target shopping cart.

You will then need to provide the necessary connection credentials for your Squarespace store. This includes your Squarespace Admin URL, admin email, admin password, and any required API keys (apiKey, apiSecret, accessToken, refreshToken). These details allow the migration service to securely access and populate your new Squarespace store with your Cleverbridge data. Remember that the Cart2Cart Squarespace Migration App is essential for facilitating this API connection. For more information on securing your access credentials, refer to The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Transfer

In this step, you will specify exactly which types of data you wish to transfer from your Cleverbridge CSV files to your Squarespace store. The migration tool typically supports a wide range of entities. For a Cleverbridge to Squarespace migration, you can usually select:

• Products: Including SKUs, product variants, descriptions, and images.
• Product Categories: Your store's organizational structure for products.
• Product Reviews: Valuable social proof for your new store.
• Customers: All customer accounts and their associated details.
• Orders: Historical order data, essential for continuity.
• CMS Pages: Static content pages like 'About Us' or 'Contact Us'.
• Coupons: Discount codes and promotional offers.
• Blogs Posts: Your existing blog content to maintain an active presence.

While most core entities are supported, some platform-specific data like Manufacturers (from Cleverbridge via CSV) or Gift Cards (specific to Squarespace) might require manual transfer or custom migration services if not directly available through the common entities list. You can choose to migrate all entities or select specific ones based on your needs.

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options

This step offers various optional features to refine your data transfer and optimize your new Squarespace store. Consider these critical options:

• Clear Current Data on Target Store: This option is useful for new Squarespace setups or if you want to ensure a clean slate. For more details, see What does the option 'Clear current data on Target store before migration' mean?
• Preserve Order IDs: Maintain your original order numbering for consistency. Find out more about this at How Preserve IDs options can be used?
• Create 301 SEO URLs: Crucial for maintaining your SEO rankings and link equity by redirecting old Cleverbridge URLs to their new Squarespace counterparts.
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensure product descriptions with embedded images transfer correctly.
• Password Migration: While supported by CSV exports, direct customer password migration to Squarespace via API is generally not feasible due to security protocols. Customers may need to reset their passwords on the new platform.

Select the options that best align with your business requirements.

Step 6: Map Data Fields

Data mapping is a vital step that ensures your Cleverbridge data correctly aligns with Squarespace's data structures. Here, you will typically map:

• Customer Groups Mapping: Match customer roles or groups from your Cleverbridge data (e.g., "Retail Customer," "Wholesale Client") to their corresponding designations within Squarespace.
• Order Status Mapping: Ensure your order statuses (e.g., "Pending," "Processing," "Completed") are accurately transferred and recognized by Squarespace's system.

This process is essential for data integrity and to maintain consistent user experience and backend management.

Step 7: Perform a Demo Migration and Launch Full Migration

Before committing to a full data transfer, it's highly recommended to perform a free demo migration. This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities to your Squarespace store, giving you a preview of the migration quality and an opportunity to verify data accuracy. Once satisfied with the demo, you can proceed with the full migration.

During the final setup, you may also consider a Migration Insurance Plan. This service provides a set number of remigrations for a specific period, offering peace of mind in case you need to re-run the process. Learn more about How Migration Insurance works?

Review all selected entities, additional options, and the total cost, then launch your full e-commerce data transfer.

Post-Migration Steps

Once your data migration from Cleverbridge to Squarespace is complete, several crucial post-migration tasks are necessary to ensure your new store is fully operational, optimized, and ready for customers:

1. Data Verification: Thoroughly check your Squarespace store to ensure all migrated data is present and accurate. Pay close attention to product details (SKUs, variants, images), customer accounts, order history, and category structures. Verify that pricing, inventory levels, and descriptions are correct.
2. Configure 301 Redirects: Implementing 301 redirects is paramount for maintaining your SEO rankings and link equity. Map your old Cleverbridge URLs to their corresponding new Squarespace URLs to prevent broken links and preserve your search engine optimization efforts.
3. Test Store Functionality: Perform comprehensive testing of your Squarespace store. This includes testing the checkout process, creating test orders, logging in with customer accounts, verifying search functionality, and ensuring all payment gateways are working correctly.
4. Update DNS Settings: Once you are confident that your new Squarespace store is fully functional and all data is verified, update your domain's DNS settings to point to your new Squarespace site. This will direct your visitors to your new platform.
5. Theme and Design Customization: While data migration covers the backend, take time to customize your Squarespace theme to match your brand's aesthetic and optimize the user experience.
6. Review Integrations: Reconnect any third-party integrations or apps that were part of your Cleverbridge setup and are compatible with Squarespace.
7. Announce Your New Store: Once everything is finalized, proudly announce your new Squarespace store to your customer base!

Migrating from Cleverbridge to Squarespace can be a seamless process with careful planning and the right tools. If you encounter any challenges or require expert assistance, don't hesitate to Contact Us for support.