Brevo (Sendinblue) → AcelleMail Migration — Visual Walkthrough

Before you start#

You'll need:

• A Brevo account with contact-list export permission
• An AcelleMail installation up and running
• ~30 minutes for <50k contacts

Export from Brevo#

In Brevo's left sidebar, click Contacts → Lists → choose the list to export. On the list detail page, click Export contacts in the top-right.

Brevo asks for export format — pick CSV. The file is prepared in the background; check Export history for the download link (usually <2 minutes).

The exported CSV includes: email, all custom attributes (FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME, custom fields), list memberships, opt-in date, blacklist status.

For attribute mapping, note Brevo's field names — they map to AcelleMail's custom fields in the next step.

Import into AcelleMail (the same 6 clicks for every source)#

Once you have the CSV exported from your previous platform, the import flow in AcelleMail is identical regardless of where the data came from.

1. Open your destination list#

In AcelleMail's sidebar, click Audience → choose the list that will receive the migrated subscribers (or create a new one — New list button top-right).

You'll see a per-list overview card with subscriber counts:

2. Click "Import" in the list toolbar#

The wizard entrypoint is on the list detail page:

3. Upload your CSV#

Drop the CSV file from the previous platform into the upload area:

AcelleMail parses the file and confirms detection:

4. Map the columns#

The wizard auto-detects standard columns (email, first_name, last_name) and shows green Mapped to EMAIL chips. Adjust manually for any non-standard column from the source:

5. Pick duplicate handling#

In the same screen, choose what AcelleMail does when a subscriber already exists in this list:

• Skip — keep the existing row, don't overwrite
• Update — overwrite name/tags/custom fields with values from the CSV
• Unsubscribe — mark existing rows as unsubscribed (rare; used when re-importing an opted-out list)

6. Run the import#

Click Start import. The job runs in the background — close the popup, work elsewhere, return to Audience → [list] → Import to see progress:

You'll see Pending → Running → Complete per import job, with rows-imported / rows-skipped / errors counts.

After the import#

• Verify list count matches your expected size (rows that failed validation appear in the Errors column with a downloadable error CSV).
• Re-tag if needed — for behavioural data that doesn't fit a CSV column (e.g. "opened campaign X"), you may need to re-create the tag via segmentation rules.
• Pause for warm-up — if the imported list is large (>10k) and your sending IP is new or recently rotated, run a short warm-up campaign to your most-engaged 10% before the full send. See IP warm-up best practices for the schedule.

Rebuilding workflows#

Brevo's "automations" map to AcelleMail's Automation workflows. Equivalent triggers:

Re-create each automation via Automations → New automation in AcelleMail — same drag-and-drop builder, same step types.

Merge-tag syntax differences#

Brevo uses {{contact.FIRSTNAME}}; AcelleMail uses {{ subscriber.first_name }}. Find/replace patterns:

curl -X GET "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts?limit=1000&offset=0" \
  -H "api-key: <BREVO_API_KEY>" \
  -o brevo-contacts.json

ACELLE_TOKEN="..."
ACELLE_LIST_UID="..."

jq -c '.contacts[] | {email: .email, first_name: .attributes.FIRSTNAME, last_name: .attributes.LASTNAME}' brevo-contacts.json \
  | while read subscriber; do
      curl -X POST "https://acellemail.com/api/v1/subscribers" \
        -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACELLE_TOKEN" \
        -d "{\"list_uid\":\"$ACELLE_LIST_UID\",\"subscriber\":$subscriber}"
    done

Related articles#

• Importing contacts CSV — best practices and field mapping
• Migration from Mailchimp to AcelleMail
• Building a welcome email series in AcelleMail
• Email list hygiene