How to import paid subscribers

To import paid subscriber data into beehiiv, you must have an active Stripe account connected to your publication. This guide will walk you through the process, ensuring that your paid subscribers are successfully migrated from your previous platform to beehiiv.

The steps outlined below involve adding information from your Stripe account to your beehiiv account. To streamline the process, keep a window or tab open for both your beehiiv and Stripe accounts, allowing you to easily switch between them as you enter the required information.

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Watch and learn: Migrating Stripe Premium/Paid Subscriptions

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How to import paid subscribers into beehiiv

Connect your beehiiv publication to your Stripe account and mirror paid subscriptions

1. Log into your beehiiv account. From the left panel go to Settings > Publication, then click on the Paid tab up top.
   
   
2. In the Tier Configuration section, ensure Stripe is connected and shows in green. If not connected, follow this guide to connect Stripe. Keep this window open for reference.
   
   Toggle the option on to Enable Paid Subscriptions (it should turn pink), then click on Create New Tier.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. In another browser window, log into your Stripe account and review the current customers and products offered to your paid subscribers. Keep this window open for reference.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Refer back to your beehiiv account window and then set up your monthly and annual subscription tiers in beehiiv to match those on your previous platform exactly.
   
   Note: Price and currency cannot be changed during the import process.

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Migrate your Stripe customer data into beehiiv

1. In your beehiiv account, go here to Stripe Migrations, then click on the Get Started button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. You’ll be brought to a modal with 5 steps for the Stripe Migration process.
   
   The first step is to Migrate PAN Data where you’ll upload your paid subscriber data in CSV format.
   
   
3. Refer back to your Stripe account window and go to Customers from the left panel. You’ll see all of your current customers for your previous platform.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. From your Stripe account, click Copy, then select Copy all customers from the dropdown. A popup will appear for you to Enter recipient’s account ID.
   
   The recipient account ID is the account ID of the Stripe account that these customers will be migrating to, which is the account ID that is currently linked to your beehiiv account.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. To find this account ID within Stripe, go to the top navbar and click on Settings, then select Profile.
   
   
6. Your profile page will open. Scroll down to the Accounts section and locate the account ID of the account that is connected to your beehiiv publication. Copy this account ID.
   
   
7. Go back to the popup box for the recipient’s account ID and paste in the account ID. Click Continue.
   
   
8. You’ll be asked to Confirm your data copy request, click Confirm request.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Once you confirm the request, you will see a message on this page in Stripe that your copy request has been created and is pending acceptance by your Stripe account that is connected to your beehiiv publication.
   
   
10. From your Stripe account window, navigate to the left panel and click on Customers. At the top of this page, you’ll see a message that states are sending a copy of your customer data to this account. Click on Accept in the message.
    
    This part of the process can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the amount of customers being migrated. When completed, the message will change to say New customers have been added and the new customers will be listed below.
    
    
11. To get the file for these customers within Stripe, go to the top navbar and click on Settings, then select Documents. Locate your recent data migration file from the list and click Download to download the migration document (a CSV file) to your device.
    
    
12. Go back to the window with your beehiiv account. In the PAN Mapping File field, click Choose File to select the CSV file with your paid subscriber data from your device. Once added, click Continue. 
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. You’ll be brought to the next step for Enter Account Details, which is where you add the Stripe account details from the previous newsletter platform that you are migrating from.
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. Refer back to your Stripe account window. From the Settings > Profile page, scroll down to Accounts and copy the account ID that was linked to your previous platform.
    
    
15. Go back to your beehiiv account window and paste it into the Account ID field.
    
    
16. Refer back to your Stripe account window and navigate to the Developers section. Access the API keys tab and then click on Create restricted API key.
    
    
17. Enter in a Key name and then ensure it has all read permissions.
    For Stripe CLI permissions, select None. Click Create Key.
    
    
18. A verification will be sent automatically to your connected device. Enter the 6-digit code and click Continue.   
    
    
    
    
    
    
19. Your new API key will be presented, copy the API key to your device.
    
    
    
    
    
    
20. Go back to your beehiiv account window and paste the API Key into the field. Ensure that you have entered both an Account ID and an API Key, then click Continue. 

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Map the subscriber details and import

1. You’ll be brought to the Map Products step in beehiiv. Click on Smart Mapping in the bottom right corner to use our convenient Smart Mapping feature to map your previous subscriptions to your new beehiiv subscriptions.
   
   
2. If necessary, you can Add Additional Price Points in beehiiv to match those from your previous platform. Once mapping is complete, click Next.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. You’ll be taken to the Preview Subscriptions step where you’ll see all of the subscription details that were found by the system.
   
   Review all of the subscriptions details to make sure they are correct, then click on Start Import on the bottom right.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. When the progress bar in your beehiiv account reaches the Finished mark, the mapping products portion is complete.
   
   
   
   
   
   

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Confirm verification and cancel old billing

1. Once done, you can verify this by clicking Check Subscribers (which brings you to Audience > Subscribers in your beehiiv account) where you will see the recently migrated paid subscribers included in your subscribers list.
   
   
2. Log into your previous platform and be sure to cancel or pause the paid subscription billing to prevent double charges. Otherwise, your paid customers may get charged twice, once through through beehiiv, and then again from the old platform.
   
   
3. Finally, go back to your Stripe account window and verify that the new beehiiv subscription plan is correctly assigned to the right customers in Stripe.