Zoho To HubSpot Migration Checklist: Pre‑Migration, Migration & Post‑Migration Steps

Moving from Zoho to HubSpot is a shift in how teams work with data, automation, and customers. This guide walks you through what to think about before, during, and after a Zoho to HubSpot move, without the usual jargon or scare tactics. It explains why organisations are making this change, what the migration actually involves, and how to avoid common mistakes. If you want clarity rather than complexity, this checklist is written for you.

If you are considering a move from Zoho to HubSpot, chances are something already feels harder than it should. Reports do not line up the way you expect. Teams use the CRM differently, or sometimes avoid it altogether. Automations exist, but they feel brittle, heavily dependent on workarounds, or owned by one or two people who “know how it works”.

A Zoho to HubSpot migration is often triggered by a desire for simplicity, consistency, and better adoption across teams. HubSpot’s appeal is not just its features, but how those features work together without constant manual effort. That said, migration is not something you rush into. Done well, it can reset how sales, marketing, and service operate. Done poorly, it can simply move existing problems into a new system.

This checklist is meant to help you think through the migration as a structured change, not just a data transfer. Consider it advice from someone who wants you to avoid the mistakes others have already made.

Why Organisations Are Moving From Zoho to HubSpot

Zoho works well when teams are comfortable managing separate applications and reconciling data across them. Over time, though, that separation can slow decision-making and create confusion about which numbers are correct. HubSpot takes a different approach by placing sales, marketing, service, and content on the same data foundation, so everyone sees the same customer record at the same moment.

Another reason organisations consider a Zoho to HubSpot migration is how AI is used. Zoho’s AI layer largely offers suggestions and insights that still rely on people to act. HubSpot’s newer AI capabilities are designed to assist directly within everyday workflows, whether that means supporting sales follow-ups, helping service teams respond faster, or assisting marketers with campaign execution. The practical outcome is less context-switching and fewer manual steps.

There is also a human factor that should not be underestimated. Many teams find HubSpot easier to adopt because the interface feels more intuitive. When a CRM feels easier to use, people use it more consistently, which improves data quality and reporting over time. That improvement alone is often enough to justify the change.

What HubSpot Offers That Zoho Struggles to Match

The table below highlights areas where HubSpot tends to stand apart in real-world usage, especially for teams that want fewer workarounds and clearer visibility.

The value here is not about having more features, but about having fewer disconnects between them. This becomes especially relevant during a HubSpot CRM migration, when organisations want to simplify rather than replicate past complexity.

Pre-Migration Checklist: Step-by-Step Preparation Before Anything Moves

Step 1: Get brutally clear about what exists in Zoho today

Before you think about HubSpot at all, spend time understanding your current Zoho setup in detail. This means reviewing contacts, accounts, deals, activities, attachments, custom fields, and any custom modules that have been added over the years. Most teams discover duplicates, half-used fields, and legacy data that no longer serves a purpose. This step is less glamorous than configuration work, but it sets the tone for everything that follows.

Step 2: Review automations and workflows with fresh eyes

Zoho workflows often evolve as fixes rather than intentional design choices. Go through each automation and ask whether it supports how the business operates today. Some workflows will need to be recreated in HubSpot, others can be simplified, and a few can be retired altogether. Treat this as an opportunity to reduce complexity rather than carry it forward.

Step 3: Understand how people actually use the CRM

Talk to sales, marketing, and service teams about what slows them down. You will learn more from these conversations than from any system audit. Adoption gaps, workarounds, and shadow spreadsheets usually surface here, and those insights should directly influence how HubSpot is designed.

Step 4: Define success before defining configuration

Decide what “better” looks like after migration. It could be shorter sales cycles, cleaner reporting, improved visibility across teams, or higher daily usage. These outcomes should guide every architectural decision during the Zoho to HubSpot migration process, ensuring the move delivers practical value rather than cosmetic change.

Migration Checklist: How to Move Data Without Creating New Problems

Step 5: Design HubSpot before importing a single record

HubSpot should be shaped around how your teams work now and how they plan to work next year, not how Zoho happened to be set up. This includes defining objects, relationships, pipelines, properties, permissions, and reporting needs upfront. Importing data into an unfinished structure almost always leads to rework.

Step 6: Clean and prepare Zoho data with intention

Export data from Zoho in stages and clean it thoroughly before migration. Remove duplicates, standardise formats, correct inconsistencies, and decide what historical data genuinely needs to come across. This step protects the long-term health of your HubSpot instance and makes HubSpot CRM data migration far smoother.

Step 7: Map fields and relationships carefully

Every Zoho field should have a clear destination in HubSpot, whether that is a standard property, a custom property, or an association. Pay close attention to data types and relationship logic so contacts, companies, and deals connect correctly. This mapping document becomes your single source of truth during migration.

Step 8: Test with a partial migration before going live

Move a small but representative sample of data into a HubSpot test environment. Check associations, activity history, custom fields, and timelines. Fix issues here rather than after a full import. This step alone prevents most post-migration surprises.

Step 9: Execute the full migration in controlled phases

Start with core records such as companies and contacts, then move on to deals, activities, and service data if applicable. Validate each phase before moving to the next, keeping Zoho exports as backups until everything is confirmed. This phased approach reduces risk and builds confidence across teams.

Post-Migration Checklist: Turning a Successful Move Into Real Adoption

Step 10: Validate real-world scenarios, not just record counts

After migration, teams should review actual deals, customers, and tickets they work on daily. Confirm timelines, notes, and associations make sense in context. Numbers matching on a spreadsheet is important, but usability matters more.

Step 11: Test automations, workflows, and reporting thoroughly

Trigger lead assignments, lifecycle changes, notifications, and sequences to ensure everything behaves as expected. Dashboards used by leadership should be reviewed carefully to confirm they reflect reality. This is where HubSpot CRM migration moves from technical success to operational readiness.

Step 12: Train teams based on how they use HubSpot

Training works best when it is role-specific and practical. Sales teams care about pipeline management and follow-ups, marketing teams focus on segmentation and campaigns, and service teams want clarity on tickets and communication. Tailoring enablement builds confidence quickly.

Step 13: Support adoption during the first few weeks

The initial weeks after go-live shape long-term behaviour. Create space for questions, feedback, and small adjustments. Minor refinements made early prevent frustration and help HubSpot become part of daily workflows rather than another system to tolerate.

Why Work With Vajra Global for Your HubSpot Migration

A well-planned migration from Zoho to HubSpot is less about technology and more about alignment. When approached thoughtfully, it creates a shared view of customers, reduces manual effort, and supports better decision-making across teams. By treating the migration as a reset rather than a direct copy of the past, organisations can see value quickly and build confidence in the new system.

At Vajra Global, we approach Zoho to HubSpot migration projects with the belief that CRM changes should make life easier, not more complicated. Our team looks beyond data movement to understand how your teams operate and what they need from HubSpot on day one and beyond. From planning architecture and handling HubSpot CRM migration with care to supporting post-go-live adoption, we focus on practical outcomes. If you want a migration that feels steady, well-thought-through, and aligned with real business goals, we would be glad to help.