Salesforce Marketing Cloud Migration and Journey Automation for Toptal

Toptal needed to reduce dependence on separate legacy marketing platforms and establish a more centralized Salesforce Marketing Cloud foundation for audience management, email content, lifecycle automation, product events, consent, suppression, testing, and long-term marketing operations.

WebSolo supported Toptal through a phased Salesforce Marketing Cloud modernization spanning two connected initiatives. The 2025 phase focused on HubSpot assessment, data preservation, property mapping, email and workflow migration, sender configuration, API integration, and transition planning.

The 2026 phase focused on moving the Toptal Resume marketing operation from Mailchimp into a dedicated Salesforce Marketing Cloud Business Unit, including audience and suppression migration, backend event integration, Automation Studio processing, Content Builder assets, eleven Journey Builder flows, detailed testing, and go-live hardening.

Success Story

Connected Salesforce Marketing Automation

HubSpot and Mailchimp migration, audience architecture, consent and suppression controls, API events, Automation Studio, Content Builder, eleven lifecycle journeys, testing, and production-readiness support.

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Client Profile

Business Challenge

Toptal used HubSpot and Mailchimp for different marketing, audience, email, and lifecycle-automation processes. The organization needed a more scalable Salesforce Marketing Cloud foundation that could support marketing content, product-driven events, customer lifecycle communication, audience eligibility, consent, suppression, and future expansion.

The migration required more than copying email templates. Toptal needed to understand the existing legacy systems, preserve important data, identify which assets should be migrated, replace tag-based automations with standardized events, connect backend product activity through APIs, and ensure that contacts with restricted communication status remained suppressed.

• Audit HubSpot email templates, workflows, properties, contacts, companies, campaigns, lists, dashboards, reports, and related data.
• Preserve important HubSpot information before transition work.
• Determine which HubSpot templates and workflows should be migrated, redesigned, archived, or replaced.
• Map required HubSpot contact properties into Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
• Configure Marketing Cloud sender identities, domains, Business Units, and access.
• Plan dedicated-IP warm-up and controlled initial sending.
• Move Toptal Resume audiences from Mailchimp without treating suppressed contacts as sendable subscribers.
• Exclude cleaned and organically unsubscribed addresses from the new audience model.
• Replace Mailchimp tags with standardized product and website events.
• Connect backend application events to Salesforce Marketing Cloud through a secure API.
• Create a maintainable contact-state and journey-eligibility model.
• Rebuild multi-step lifecycle email journeys.
• Migrate and test email assets associated with the defined journey scope.
• Document repeatable testing, troubleshooting, and future journey-development procedures.
• Prepare the implementation for controlled production activation and internal team ownership.

Key Requirements

• Perform a structured HubSpot migration audit before moving assets.
• Export and preserve HubSpot contacts, companies, deals, campaigns, lists, reports, dashboards, and subscriber data.
• Inventory HubSpot email templates and group them into migration batches.
• Review HubSpot workflows and identify active automation requiring migration or redesign.
• Map required HubSpot properties into Salesforce Marketing Cloud Data Extensions.
• Configure Sender Profiles, sending domains, Business Units, and email identities.
• Plan dedicated-IP warm-up using controlled and engaged audiences.
• Support No-Comms, consent, unsubscribe, and suppression requirements.
• Create a dedicated Salesforce Marketing Cloud Business Unit for Toptal Resume.
• Classify subscribed, forced-unsubscribed, cleaned, and organically unsubscribed Mailchimp records.
• Maintain separate audience and suppression layers.
• Receive website and backend events through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API.
• Translate source event names into standardized internal events.
• Create and update master contact records through Automation Studio.
• Set journey-specific eligibility flags and lifecycle state.
• Create journey entry Data Extensions.
• Rebuild eleven named lifecycle journeys in Journey Builder.
• Migrate related email content into Content Builder.
• Create manual and API-based journey testing procedures.
• Support client validation, event-purge processes, script hardening, and production-readiness preparation.

Delivered Solution

Phased Marketing Cloud Modernization

WebSolo supported Toptal through two connected Salesforce Marketing Cloud initiatives.

The first phase focused on HubSpot discovery, preservation, migration planning, Content Builder, selected workflow migration, sender configuration, and API integration.

The second phase applied the Marketing Cloud foundation to a defined Toptal Resume migration from Mailchimp, using a dedicated Business Unit, event-driven data architecture, audience and suppression processing, eleven lifecycle journeys, detailed testing, and go-live hardening.

HubSpot Audit and Migration Discovery

WebSolo reviewed the existing HubSpot environment before recommending what should be migrated, rebuilt, replaced, archived, or retained.

The discovery process reduced the risk of copying obsolete or unsuitable HubSpot configuration directly into Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

• Email-template inventory.
• Workflow and journey inventory.
• Contact-property inventory.
• Active automation review.
• Template grouping and prioritization.
• Assessment of direct HTML migration versus native Content Builder development.
• Identification of fields required in Marketing Cloud.
• Review of data updated automatically by existing HubSpot processes.

HubSpot Data Backup and Export

WebSolo supported structured backup and export work before transition activities continued.

• Contact exports.
• Company exports.
• Deal exports.
• Campaign exports.
• List and audience exports.
• Dashboard and report exports.
• Blog-subscriber data.
• Marketing and operational information.

This provided Toptal with a stronger record of the HubSpot configuration and data being reviewed during the migration.

Contact Property Mapping and Data Model Design

WebSolo reviewed HubSpot contact properties and designed corresponding Salesforce Marketing Cloud data structures.

• Identification of required HubSpot properties.
• Documentation of automatically updated fields.
• Creation of Marketing Cloud contact fields.
• Initial contact migration proof of concept.
• Contact-state design.
• No-Comms and suppression considerations.
• Data-type and field-mapping review.

Marketing Cloud Environment and Sender Configuration

WebSolo supported Salesforce Marketing Cloud environment, sender, and access configuration across the migration program.

• Business Unit planning.
• User and access discussions.
• Sender Profiles.
• Sender names and email addresses.
• Reply-to configuration.
• Sending-domain configuration.
• Sender authentication coordination.
• DNS-related planning and verification.
• Separate sending considerations for different brands or operating contexts.

Content Builder Email Migration

HubSpot and Mailchimp email assets were reviewed and migrated into Salesforce Marketing Cloud Content Builder according to the defined implementation scope.

• HubSpot template grouping.
• Multiple email-template migration batches.
• Native Content Builder development.
• Reusable content-block considerations.
• Mailchimp lifecycle email migration.
• Multi-step email sequences.
• Test-mode timing adjustments.
• Email-delivery validation.

The archive supports migration of selected HubSpot assets and the email assets associated with the defined Toptal Resume journey scope. It does not establish that every historical HubSpot asset was migrated.

Selected HubSpot Workflow Migration

WebSolo reviewed HubSpot workflows and helped translate selected active automation into Salesforce Marketing Cloud architecture.

• Workflow and journey assessment.
• Trigger and action mapping.
• Selected active workflow migration.
• Hire Global sequence work.
• Permission-related automation.
• Evaluation of Journey Builder and Automation Studio patterns.
• Migration approach documentation.

Dedicated-IP Warm-Up Planning

The HubSpot transition phase included deliverability planning for Salesforce Marketing Cloud sending.

• Dedicated-IP warm-up considerations.
• Engaged-audience segmentation.
• Controlled initial sends.
• Newsletter and scheduled-send planning.
• Sender-domain considerations.
• Brand-specific sending requirements.

The archive documents planning and preparation. The success story does not claim that every proposed warm-up step was completed exactly according to the original schedule.

Platform-to-Marketing Cloud API Integration

WebSolo supported integration between Toptal systems and Salesforce Marketing Cloud through installed-package access and Marketing Cloud APIs.

• Marketing Cloud installed-package configuration.
• API access planning.
• Development environment support.
• Postman API testing.
• Contact and event synchronization requirements.
• Data Extension event testing.
• Feature-flag planning for controlled platform transition.
• Backend processing validation.

CloudPages Form Proof of Concept

The migration also included a Salesforce Marketing Cloud CloudPages proof of concept for external form processing.

• Marketing Cloud-hosted form.
• External website embedding through an iframe.
• Form submission testing.
• Storage of submitted information in a Data Extension.
• Review of CloudPages as an alternative form-capture approach.

Toptal Resume Business Unit

The 2026 migration established a dedicated Salesforce Marketing Cloud Business Unit for Toptal Resume.

• Dedicated Business Unit setup.
• User and access planning.
• Sender-name configuration.
• Sender-address configuration.
• Reply-to configuration.
• Toptal sending-domain use.
• Sender authentication coordination.
• Email-asset migration planning.
• Audience and automation migration planning.

Mailchimp Audience Migration

WebSolo classified and prepared four distinct Mailchimp audience categories for migration into Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

The migration classified 47,656 unique records. Subscribed contacts and forced-unsubscribed contacts were deliberately placed into different Salesforce Marketing Cloud data layers.

Consent and Suppression Architecture

The migration was designed to preserve communication eligibility and prevent restricted contacts from entering inappropriate journeys.

• Separate subscribed audience layer.
• Separate forced-unsubscribe suppression layer.
• Consent evaluation at event-processing time.
• Suppression eligibility checks.
• Exclusion of cleaned email addresses.
• Exclusion of organic unsubscribes.
• No-Comms considerations.
• Contact-state and journey-eligibility fields.

The forced-unsubscribe records were retained for suppression purposes and were not imported as sendable subscribers.

Three-Layer Data Extension Architecture

WebSolo implemented a reusable Salesforce Marketing Cloud data architecture built around three primary layers.

This approach replaced direct dependence on Mailchimp tags with a more structured event and contact-state model.

REST API Event Intake

Website and backend activity was sent into Salesforce Marketing Cloud through REST API events.

Depending on the event, the submitted payload could include:

• Unique event identifier.
• Contact key.
• Email address.
• First and last name.
• Source event name.
• Event date.
• Consent state at the time of the event.
• Report URL or related content link.

WebSolo tested event creation, Data Extension storage, Automation Studio processing, master-contact updates, journey eligibility, and Journey Builder entry.

Website and Product Event Standardization

The migration replaced direct copying of Mailchimp tags with standardized product and website events.

The reviewed event scope included:

• Initial Resume Checker submission.
• Resubmitted resume.
• Resume Checker paywall interaction.
• Resume Builder submission or save activity.
• Resume Builder paywall interaction.
• Cover letter generated.
• Cover letter downloaded.
• Cover Letter Builder paywall interaction.
• Cover Letter Template generated.
• Cover Letter Template downloaded.
• Cover Letter Template paywall interaction.
• Blog or newsletter signup.
• Successful purchase or conversion event.

Automation Studio Event Processing

The central Automation Studio process translated incoming events into current contact state and journey eligibility.

The TR_Event_To_Master_Sync processing flow included:

1. Read new event records from the event Data Extension.
2. Translate source event names into standardized internal event names.
3. Evaluate consent and suppression eligibility.
4. Create or update the corresponding master contact.
5. Set journey-specific flags and lifecycle fields.
6. Record the latest event and synchronization timestamps.
7. Mark the source event as processed.
8. Populate journey-specific entry Data Extensions through query activities.
9. Allow Journey Builder to admit eligible contacts into the appropriate lifecycle flow.

Eleven Journey Builder Flows

WebSolo built and tested eleven named Salesforce Marketing Cloud lifecycle journeys within the defined Toptal Resume migration scope.

1. Resume Checker Primary
2. Resubmitted Resume
3. Resume Checker Paywall
4. Cover Letter Generated
5. Cover Letter Downloaded
6. Cover Letter Builder Paywall
7. Cover Letter Template Generated
8. Cover Letter Template Downloaded
9. Cover Letter Template Paywall
10. Resume Builder - Resume Submission
11. Resume Builder - Paywall

The April 2026 implementation status confirmed that the required journeys and associated email assets in the defined migration scope had been migrated and tested, subject to client validation and conversion of test wait periods back to production timing.

Journey Entry and Re-Entry Controls

Each journey used event, contact-state, consent, suppression, and journey-specific fields to determine eligibility.

• Journey entry Data Extensions.
• Journey-specific flags.
• Consent checks.
• Suppression checks.
• Event processing status.
• Master-contact lifecycle state.
• Test-mode entry validation.
• Journey progress verification.
• Re-entry and repeat-event considerations.

Journey Testing and Documentation

The project included detailed testing and handoff documentation so Toptal users could validate the implementation and create future journeys using the same architecture.

Nine journeys received dedicated step-by-step testing guides, and the remaining Resume Builder journeys followed the same documented architecture.

• Required Marketing Cloud permissions.
• Manual test-record creation.
• API event submission.
• Unique event-identifier requirements.
• Expected source event names.
• Consent requirements.
• Manual Automation Studio execution.
• Expected event Data Extension values.
• Expected master Data Extension values.
• Journey-flag verification.
• Journey Builder progress checks.
• Email-delivery checks.
• Test timing compared with production timing.
• Troubleshooting procedures.
• Instructions for creating new journeys.

Postman and End-to-End API Testing

WebSolo used Postman and Salesforce Marketing Cloud tools to test the complete event-processing flow.

• REST API request testing.
• Event-row creation.
• Event Data Extension validation.
• Automation Studio execution.
• Master-contact verification.
• Suppression testing.
• Journey-entry validation.
• Email-delivery validation.
• Error and field-mapping troubleshooting.

Go-Live Hardening and Production Handoff

Following journey implementation, WebSolo supported additional preparation for controlled production use and internal team ownership.

• Toptal Resume user and team access.
• Filtering of test-event email addresses.
• Controlled pausing and re-enabling of event processing.
• Processed-event purge functionality.
• Blog-event routing adjustments.
• Processing-script hardening.
• Backend feature-flag preparation.
• Subscribed and forced-unsubscribe Data Extension verification.
• Review of unsubscribe behavior.
• Production event-validation planning.

WebSolo completed the defined migration, journey implementation, testing, documentation, and go-live-hardening work. Final broad production activation and reconciliation between the custom suppression layer and native Salesforce Marketing Cloud unsubscribe behavior continued as client-side follow-up work.

Engagement Period

The Toptal engagement is documented across 2025 and 2026. The work progressed from legacy-platform discovery and HubSpot migration planning into a dedicated, event-driven Salesforce Marketing Cloud implementation for Toptal Resume.

Results and Benefits

The engagement helped Toptal establish a more structured Salesforce Marketing Cloud foundation for email content, audience processing, lifecycle communication, backend events, consent, suppression, testing, and future marketing automation.

• Created a structured inventory of HubSpot email templates, workflows, and contact properties before migration.
• Preserved HubSpot contacts, companies, deals, campaigns, lists, dashboards, reports, and related data through export and backup work.
• Migrated selected HubSpot email and workflow assets into Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
• Introduced a dedicated Toptal Resume Marketing Cloud Business Unit.
• Classified 47,656 unique Mailchimp audience records.
• Introduced 22,342 subscribed contacts into the subscribed and master audience layer.
• Introduced 24,415 forced-unsubscribed contacts into a separate suppression layer.
• Excluded 899 cleaned or organically unsubscribed records.
• Prevented suppressed contacts from being treated as sendable subscribers.
• Replaced legacy Mailchimp tag dependence with standardized event-driven processing.
• Connected website and backend activity to Salesforce Marketing Cloud through REST API events.
• Created a reusable three-layer Data Extension architecture.
• Implemented centralized Automation Studio event-to-master processing.
• Built and tested eleven named lifecycle journeys.
• Migrated and tested the email assets associated with the defined journey scope.
• Delivered detailed manual and API testing procedures.
• Provided guidance for creating future journeys using the same architecture.
• Added event cleanup, routing, and processing-script improvements during production-readiness preparation.

Platform and Technologies

• Salesforce Marketing Cloud
• Journey Builder
• Automation Studio
• Content Builder
• CloudPages
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API
• Marketing Cloud installed packages
• Marketing Cloud Business Units
• Sender Profiles
• Sender authentication
• Sending-domain configuration
• Dedicated-IP warm-up planning
• Data Extensions
• Event Data Extensions
• Master subscriber Data Extensions
• Suppression Data Extensions
• Journey entry Data Extensions
• SQL Query Activities
• Automation Studio schedules
• Contact and lifecycle-state processing
• Journey flags and eligibility controls
• Consent processing
• Forced-unsubscribe suppression
• HubSpot migration
• HubSpot data export and backup
• Mailchimp audience migration
• Content Builder email assets
• Backend event integration
• REST API event intake
• JSON payload processing
• Postman API testing
• Feature-flag transition planning
• Journey testing documentation
• Production-readiness support

WebSolo Services Provided

• Salesforce Consulting
• Salesforce Implementation and Enhancements
• Custom Salesforce Development
• Salesforce Integration and Data Migration
• Salesforce Support and Training

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of Salesforce Marketing Cloud work did WebSolo perform for Toptal?

WebSolo supported HubSpot assessment and migration, HubSpot data backup, Mailchimp audience migration, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Business Unit setup, sender configuration, Data Extensions, Content Builder, Automation Studio, Journey Builder, REST API integration, consent and suppression processing, testing documentation, and production-readiness support.

Was this only a HubSpot-to-Salesforce Marketing Cloud migration?

No. The engagement included two connected phases. The 2025 work focused on HubSpot audit, preservation, migration, sender configuration, selected workflow migration, and API integration. The 2026 work focused on moving Toptal Resume audiences and lifecycle journeys from Mailchimp into Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

How many Mailchimp audience records were reviewed?

The reviewed migration files contained 47,656 unique records. The implementation introduced 22,342 subscribed contacts into the subscribed audience layer and 24,415 forced-unsubscribed contacts into a separate suppression layer. Another 899 cleaned or organically unsubscribed records were excluded.

Were the forced-unsubscribed contacts imported as sendable subscribers?

No. The 24,415 forced-unsubscribed contacts were retained in a separate suppression layer so they could remain ineligible for future journey and communication processing.

How many Salesforce Marketing Cloud journeys were built?

WebSolo built and tested eleven named lifecycle journeys covering Resume Checker, Resume Builder, Cover Letter Builder, Cover Letter Templates, resubmission, download, generation, and paywall events.

How did website and product events enter Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Toptal systems submitted backend events through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API. The events were stored in an event Data Extension, standardized and processed through Automation Studio, applied to the master contact state, and routed into eligible Journey Builder flows.

Did WebSolo migrate every historical HubSpot asset?

The archive supports structured HubSpot audits, data backup, property mapping, several email-template migration groups, and selected workflow migration. It does not establish that every historical HubSpot template, workflow, property, or list was migrated.

Was the Salesforce Marketing Cloud implementation tested?

Yes. WebSolo used manual records, Postman API submissions, Automation Studio execution, Data Extension validation, Journey Builder checks, and email-delivery testing. Nine detailed journey-testing guides were delivered, along with instructions for API testing and future journey creation.

Was the final production rollout fully completed?

WebSolo completed the defined migration, journey implementation, testing, documentation, and go-live-hardening work. The reviewed records indicate that final broad production activation and reconciliation with native Salesforce Marketing Cloud unsubscribe behavior continued as follow-up work.

Can WebSolo support similar Salesforce Marketing Cloud migrations?

Yes. WebSolo can help organizations assess HubSpot or Mailchimp, preserve legacy data, migrate audiences and email content, design Data Extensions, connect backend events, implement Automation Studio and Journey Builder, manage consent and suppression, create testing documentation, and prepare Salesforce Marketing Cloud for production use.