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

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning Your E-commerce Store from Kartra to Volusion

Embarking on an e-commerce platform migration can feel like a daunting task, but with the right guidance, it becomes a streamlined process that unlocks new opportunities for your online business. If you're considering moving your store from Kartra to Volusion, you're looking to transition from an all-in-one marketing and sales platform to a dedicated, feature-rich e-commerce solution known for its robust shopping cart capabilities and extensive product management features.

This expert guide is designed to provide clear, actionable steps for a successful data transfer, ensuring minimal downtime and preserving your valuable customer data, product details, and order history. Since Kartra is primarily a marketing platform and does not offer direct API integration for shopping cart migrations like many traditional e-commerce platforms, the migration process will involve exporting your data from Kartra into CSV files, and then importing these files into your new Volusion store using a specialized migration tool.

Prerequisites for a Smooth Migration

Before initiating the data migration process, thorough preparation of both your source (Kartra) and target (Volusion) stores is paramount to ensure data integrity and a seamless transition. This groundwork will minimize potential issues and help preserve your SEO rankings and link equity.

Preparing Your Kartra (Source) Store

• Data Export: Your primary task will be to export all essential e-commerce data from Kartra into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. This includes product information (SKUs, variants, descriptions, images), customer records, order history, and any relevant CMS pages or blog posts. Kartra's native export functionalities will be key here.
• Data Review and Cleanup: Take this opportunity to review your exported data. Clean up outdated product listings, remove duplicate customer entries, and ensure all information is accurate. This improves data quality in your new Volusion store.
• Backup Your Data: Always create a complete backup of your Kartra store and all exported data. This provides a safety net in case of any unforeseen issues during the migration.

For more detailed preparation tips, refer to our guide on How to prepare Source store for migration?

Preparing Your Volusion (Target) Store

• Set Up Your Volusion Store: Ensure your Volusion store is fully set up and accessible. While you don't need to populate it with products yet, basic configurations like currency, time zone, and language should be in place.
• Install Cart2Cart Volusion Migration Module: To facilitate the connection between the migration tool and your Volusion store, you will need to install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module. This typically requires FTP access to your Volusion store's root directory. The module acts as a bridge, allowing secure data exchange. For detailed instructions on setting up FTP and installing the bridge, consult The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart and What is a root folder and where can I find it?
• FTP Access: Volusion supports FTP access, which is necessary for installing the bridge connector file into your store's root folder.

For comprehensive target store preparation, read How to prepare Target store for migration?

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Leveraging a specialized migration tool simplifies the complex process of moving your e-commerce data. Here's a step-by-step walkthrough using Cart2Cart:

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Begin by navigating to the Cart2Cart website and initiating a new migration process. You'll be prompted to define your source and target platforms.

Step 2: Configure Your Source Store (Kartra via CSV)

Since Kartra is not directly integrated, you will select 'CSV File to Cart' as your Source Cart. You will then upload the CSV files containing your exported Kartra data. This method allows the migration tool to interpret and prepare your data for transfer.

For more details on this method, visit our CSV.File Data Migration service page.

Step 3: Set Up Your Target Store (Volusion)

Next, select 'Volusion' from the dropdown list as your Target Cart. You will then need to provide your Volusion store's URL. The system will prompt you to install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module, which establishes a secure connection between the migration service and your new Volusion store. Ensure the bridge connector is correctly installed in your Volusion root directory via FTP.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Migration

This crucial step allows you to choose exactly which types of data you want to transfer from your Kartra CSV files to Volusion. You can migrate a wide range of entities, including:

• Products: Including product categories, manufacturers, and reviews.
• Customers: All customer records.
• Orders: Complete order history.
• Invoices, Taxes, Stores, Coupons, CMS Pages.

You can select all entities with a single click or pick and choose specific data types based on your requirements. This ensures only the desired data, such as product SKUs, variants, and customer data, makes its way to your new platform.

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options

To further customize your migration, select from a range of additional options. These are vital for preserving SEO, maintaining data integrity, and enhancing the overall user experience on your new Volusion store:

• Preserve Product IDs, Preserve Orders IDs, Preserve Customers IDs: Highly recommended for maintaining existing relationships and historical data. Learn more about How Preserve IDs options can be used?
• Create 301 SEO URLs: Essential for maintaining your search engine rankings and directing old links to new pages, preserving link equity.
• Password Migration: Migrate customer passwords securely.
• Clear Target: If you're starting with a fresh Volusion store, this option will remove any sample data before migration. Understand What does the option Clear current data on Target store before migration mean?
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensure product and category images embedded within descriptions are transferred.

Step 6: Data Mapping

This step is crucial for ensuring that your Kartra data fields are correctly matched with their corresponding fields in Volusion. You will map various attributes such as customer groups, order statuses, and product attributes. Accurate data mapping is essential for maintaining data integrity and ensuring your new store functions as expected.

Step 7: Run Demo Migration & Full Migration

Before committing to the full data transfer, we highly recommend running a Migration Preview Service (demo migration). This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) for free. Review the results in your Volusion store to check for accuracy, formatting, and any potential issues. Once satisfied, you can proceed with the full migration.

Consider adding Migration Insurance Service for peace of mind, allowing for additional remigrations if needed.

Post-Migration Steps

A successful data transfer is only part of the migration journey. Several critical steps follow to ensure your new Volusion store is fully operational and optimized.

• Thorough Data Verification: After the full migration, meticulously check all migrated data in your Volusion store. Verify product details, images, customer accounts, order history, and CMS pages. Ensure product variants and SKUs are correct.
• Configure 301 Redirects: This is paramount for SEO. If you selected the 'Create 301 SEO URLs' option during migration, the system will handle many of these automatically. However, it's wise to review and manually set up any additional redirects for pages that may have changed URLs. This preserves your SEO rankings and link equity.
• Set Up Payment and Shipping Gateways: Configure your preferred payment processors and shipping methods within your Volusion administrative panel.
• Customize Your Storefront: Tailor your Volusion theme and design to reflect your brand identity and enhance the user experience.
• Install Essential Apps/Plugins: Integrate any necessary Volusion apps or plugins for functionalities not natively available (e.g., advanced analytics, marketing tools).
• Perform Extensive Testing: Conduct thorough testing of all core functionalities: product search, adding to cart, checkout process, customer account creation, contact forms, and email notifications.
• Update DNS Settings: Once you're confident that your Volusion store is fully operational, update your domain's DNS settings to point to your new Volusion store. This will officially switch your live store.
• Ongoing Monitoring: Continuously monitor your site's performance, traffic, and search engine rankings to quickly address any post-migration anomalies.

By following these steps, you can achieve a successful transition from Kartra to Volusion, unlocking the full potential of your new e-commerce platform. For further assistance or managed migration services, please don't hesitate to Contact Us.