How to move from EmailOctopus to MailNesto
Export your contacts and designs from EmailOctopus, bring them into MailNesto and send your first campaign — usually within a day.
Moving from EmailOctopus to MailNesto
EmailOctopus keeps things lean, which suits newsletters and small lists. Teams move to MailNesto when they need more around the newsletter: segments on orders and behaviour, recipes for stores and leads, landing pages with A/B tests, event ticketing and plans billed in rupees with GST invoices, paid by UPI, card or netbanking.
Contacts export from each list as a ZIP containing a CSV, with all fields or just the visible ones. Templates have no documented export, and automations, forms and landing pages don’t move. Because each EmailOctopus list stands alone, one person can sit on two lists with different details; MailNesto keeps one contact per email and puts them on both lists.
Five steps to switch
- 1
Export from EmailOctopus
Open the list > select contacts (checkboxes or select-all dropdown) > Actions > Export > choose all fields or displayed fields; downloads a ZIP containing a CSV.
- 2
Import into MailNesto
Contacts → Import: upload the CSV or Excel file (or paste it), map the columns, choose a list. Import only subscribed people, then paste unsubscribed, bounced and complained addresses into Audience → Suppression list so they never get email again.
- 3
Bring your designs
No template export documented. Then import the .html or .zip in Templates, or start from one of ours.
- 4
Authenticate your domain
Add the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records MailNesto shows you, then send a test. New senders ramp up gradually to protect your reputation.
- 5
Rebuild automations
Start from a recipe (welcome, birthday, win-back, abandoned cart) or build your own journey with branches and goals. Note: Lists are billed separately, so merge duplicates into one list. Automations, forms and landing pages do not carry over.
A short checklist
Keep EmailOctopus running until your first campaigns from MailNesto look right.
- Export unsubscribed, bounced and complained contacts too — they must stay suppressed
- Note when and how people subscribed (consent) and keep it in a field
- Download reports you want to keep; engagement history doesn’t move between tools
- Replace merge tags — MailNesto uses
{{first_name}}with optional fallbacks{{first_name|there}} - Update signup forms on your website to MailNesto’s forms or the WordPress plugin
- Send to your most engaged people first while the new sender warms up
Exporting everything from EmailOctopus
Menu names change from time to time — the steps below follow EmailOctopus’s own help pages, linked at the bottom.
- 1
Open the list. Open the list you want. Use the search bar or filters if you only want some of its contacts.
- 2
Select everyone. Tick contacts on the left, or use the drop-down next to the Email address header to select all contacts in the list rather than just this page.
- 3
Export. Click Actions → Export and choose all fields or only the fields on screen. EmailOctopus generates a ZIP; extract it to get the CSV.
- 4
Separate unsubscribed, bounced and complained. Campaign reports show who unsubscribed, bounced or complained. Make sure those people are in a file of their own, by filtering the list view or the CSV, so they go to the suppression list.
- 5
Copy code templates and keep reports. Copy the HTML of custom-code templates into files and import them under Templates, as .html or as a .zip with images. EmailOctopus’s help centre has a separate article on exporting a report; save the ones you want to compare later.
EmailOctopus terms and merge tags in MailNesto
| In EmailOctopus | In MailNesto | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lists | Lists | |
| Fields | Custom fields | |
| Tags | Tags | |
| Segments | Segments | |
| {{FirstName}} | {{first_name}} | |
| Field merge tags (auto-assigned from the label) | {{field_key}} | |
| Default value set when inserting a tag | {{first_name|there}} | |
| Automations | Automations | |
| Double opt-in per list | Double opt-in per list | |
| Forms and landing pages | Forms and landing pages |
Rebuilding your EmailOctopus automations
- Welcome automation → Welcome series, or Personal note from the founder for a newsletter with one writer.
- Tag-triggered automation → any recipe that starts on a tag, such as Free guide follow-up (“guide”) or Workshop or class prep (“workshop”).
- Date-based email → Birthday treat, or Membership anniversary on a member_since date field.
- Fading readers → Offer fewer emails, which offers topics or fewer emails to people who have started opening less.
Common mistakes when leaving EmailOctopus
- A leftover {{FirstName}} doesn’t show as text in MailNesto; it renders blank, so “Hi {{FirstName}},” becomes “Hi ,”. Replace every EmailOctopus tag before sending, and send yourself a test to check the greeting.
- If the same person is on two lists with different names, the file you import last wins when “Update contacts that already exist” is on. Import your most reliable list last.
- The export is a ZIP. Extract it and upload the CSV inside; the importer reads CSV and .xlsx, not ZIP archives.
- A custom tracking or landing page domain can only point to one service. Set up your MailNesto link domain under Sending → Link domain on a new subdomain, or re-point the old one after the switch.
- Lists you kept separate only to stay organised can become one MailNesto list with tags. Keep separate lists only where the sender, sign-up pages or opt-in settings really differ.
- Pending contacts who never clicked the double opt-in link aren’t subscribers yet. Leave them out of the import; an import adds people as subscribed, and mailing unconfirmed addresses is a quick way to collect spam complaints.
Questions about moving from EmailOctopus
Can I keep several newsletters separate?
Yes. Make each newsletter a list and show them as topics in the preference centre, so readers can choose one, both or snooze for a while.
Can emails arrive when each reader usually opens?
Yes. Send-time optimisation delivers to each contact at their usual opening hour, and time-zone sending delivers at the same clock time wherever readers live.
Can I resend to people who didn’t open?
Yes. Resend to non-openers from the campaign report in one click, with a new subject line, now or scheduled.
What happens to my EmailOctopus landing pages?
They stay on EmailOctopus until you close the account. Rebuild them as MailNesto landing pages, which can run their own A/B tests, and update any links pointing to the old ones.
Where these facts come from (37 sources)
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/326-how-to-use-bulk-actions-in-a-list
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/70-how-to-insert-a-merge-tag
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/83-information-available-in-a-report
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/253-what-can-i-code-into-emailoctopus
- emailoctopus.com/integrations/hubspot
- emailoctopus.com/pricing
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/9-how-does-emailoctopus-pricing-work
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/8-data-storage-and-gdpr-compliance
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/317-what-options-are-available-in-automations
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/214-how-to-a-b-test-your-campaign
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/443-how-can-my-subscribers-manage-their-details
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/189-invite-users-to-your-account
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/190-switching-between-your-accounts
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/34-importing-contacts-into-a-list
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/188-segmentation
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/187-campaign-tracking
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/36-how-to-edit-double-opt-in
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/159-what-is-the-difference-between-emailoctopus-and-emailocto
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/171-do-you-integrate-with-shopify
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/474-integrating-woocommerce-with-emailoctopus-using-eo4wp
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/314-webhooks
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/92-integrating-with-wordpress
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/199-can-i-send-transactional-emails-with-emailoctopus
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/475-how-to-send-a-campaign-gradually
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/63-scheduling-a-campaign
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/61-how-to-send-a-second-campaign-to-those-who-didnt-open-your
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/352-preview-and-test-your-campaign
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/389-how-to-warm-up-my-sending-domain
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/354-setting-up-your-branding
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/215-how-to-change-your-landing-page-domain
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/177-testing-your-campaigns-deliverability
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/160-verifying-a-new-domain
- help.emailoctopus.com/category/216-forms-and-landing-pages
- help.emailoctopus.com/category/88-integrations-and-api
- emailtooltester.com/en/reviews/emailoctopus/pricing/
- emailoctopus.com/the-facts
- help.emailoctopus.com/article/7-how-to-configure-a-custom-action-domain-and-tracking-domain
EmailOctopus is a trademark of its owner. This comparison is our own, made from public information on each vendor’s website (checked Invalid Date); we aren’t affiliated with them. Plans and prices change — check the vendor’s site before you decide, and tell us if something here is out of date and we’ll fix it.