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Migration guide

How to move from Kit (formerly ConvertKit) to MailNesto

Export your contacts and designs from Kit (formerly ConvertKit), bring them into MailNesto and send your first campaign — usually within a day.

Start freeMailNesto vs Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Overview

Moving from Kit (formerly ConvertKit) to MailNesto

Kit is built for creators: tags rather than lists, sequences, link triggers and a plain-text look. Creators who move to MailNesto keep all of that, with unlimited tags, tag and link triggers and plain-text campaigns, and pick up what a growing business needs next: store orders and revenue, event tickets with QR codes, a deals board and billing in rupees with GST invoices.

Subscribers export with first name, email, tags, location and custom fields in one file. Kit doesn’t document a template export, so custom HTML templates are copied by hand. Sequences, visual automations, forms, landing pages and Commerce products stay in Kit.

Step by step

Five steps to switch

  1. 1

    Export from Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

    Grow > Subscribers > tick the header checkbox > 'Select all # subscribers' > Bulk Actions > Export; CSV download link is emailed (expires after 5 days).

  2. 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. 3

    Bring your designs

    No template export documented; HTML templates must be copied manually. Then import the .html or .zip in Templates, or start from one of ours.

  4. 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. 5

    Rebuild automations

    Start from a recipe (welcome, birthday, win-back, abandoned cart) or build your own journey with branches and goals. Note: Personalisation uses Liquid, e.g. {{ subscriber.first_name }}. Tags map to tags/segments elsewhere; visual automations and sequences do not carry over.

Before you cancel Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

A short checklist

Keep Kit (formerly ConvertKit) 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
In Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Exporting everything from Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Menu names change from time to time — the steps below follow Kit (formerly ConvertKit)’s own help pages, linked at the bottom.

  1. 1

    Select every subscriber. Go to Grow → Subscribers and tick the checkbox at the top of the list. Click the “Select all # subscribers” option that appears, so you get everyone and not just this page.

  2. 2

    Export. Click Bulk Actions → Export. Kit emails a download link to the account address (exports by team members send a copy to the owner too). The link expires after five days; the circle icon next to your profile picture shows progress.

  3. 3

    Check what’s in the file. The export includes first name, email address, created date, tags, location (city, state, country) and custom fields by default. Keep the created date as a custom field: it’s the closest thing to an opt-in date.

  4. 4

    Export segments the same way. Open a segment from the right-hand sidebar on the Subscribers page, select all and run the same bulk export. Any page with bulk actions, including reports, can export too.

  5. 5

    Separate bounced, complained and cancelled people. Kit marks subscribers as bounced or complained, and cancelled when they leave. Make sure those people end up in a file of their own for the suppression list. Kit’s export article doesn’t describe filtering by status, so check the file before importing.

  6. 6

    Copy custom templates. Copy the HTML of any custom email template from Kit’s template editor into a file and import it under Templates in MailNesto.

Translation guide

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) terms and merge tags in MailNesto

In Kit (formerly ConvertKit)In MailNestoNotes
TagsTagsAutomations can start when a tag is added or removed.
SegmentsSegments
SequencesAutomations with wait steps
{{ subscriber.first_name }}{{first_name}}
{{ subscriber.first_name | strip | default: "there" }}{{first_name|there}}
{{ subscriber.email_address }}{{email}}
{{ subscriber.photography_experience }}{{photography_experience}}Both tools use lowercase keys with underscores, so custom fields are a simple swap.
Link triggersLink-clicked triggerLimit it to one campaign or to links containing a path such as /pricing.
Incentive emailDouble opt-in confirmation per list
Liquid if/else on tagsConditional blocks by tag
Automations

Rebuilding your Kit (formerly ConvertKit) automations

  • Lead-magnet sequence → Free guide follow-up (tag “guide”) or Deliver a free download (tag “freebie”).
  • Evergreen email course → Getting-started course: four short lessons over two weeks.
  • Link trigger on a sales page link → Follow up on interest, or Clicked but didn’t buy two days after a click without an order.
  • Cold subscriber clean-up → Sunset unengaged subscribers, which asks once more and then unsubscribes people with no opens in 180 days.
Watch out for

Common mistakes when leaving Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

  • Liquid filters such as strip and default don’t work in MailNesto; put the fallback after a pipe instead. Unlike Kit, the fallback also works in subject lines, so “{{first_name|Hi}}, new post” is fine.
  • With dozens of Kit tags, a file per tag gets slow. Import everyone once, then re-import only the slices for tags that start automations or that you segment on. The rest can live in a kit_tags custom field for reference.
  • Kit’s incentive email doubled as the confirmation. In MailNesto the confirmation email and the pages after it belong to each list’s double opt-in settings, so edit them there before your first form goes live.
  • People half-way through a Kit sequence won’t resume where they were. Decide whether to restart them from email one or skip them by ticking “Don’t start automations for this import”.
  • If you used Kit’s Shopify connection, connect the store to MailNesto directly; only customers who accept marketing become subscribed contacts, and orders feed revenue reports.
FAQ

Questions about moving from Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Can I keep working with tags instead of lists?

Yes. Put everyone in one list and use tags and segments for the rest. Tags work as automation triggers, segment rules and conditions on email blocks.

Does MailNesto send plain-text emails?

Yes. A plain-text campaign sends text only, with no HTML part and no open pixel, which suits personal notes and founder updates.

Can subscribers choose what they get?

The preference centre shows the lists you choose as topics, lets people snooze emails for a while, and lets them request their data, so fewer people unsubscribe outright.

What replaces my Kit forms and landing pages?

MailNesto forms come as inline, pop-up, bar, slide-in or full-screen, and landing pages are hosted with their own A/B tests. On WordPress, the plugin adds them as a block or widget.

Where these facts come from (30 sources)

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is a trademark of its owner. This comparison is our own, made from public information on each vendor’s website (checked November 2026); 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.