Planning Center has served many churches well, but as your communication needs grow, you may find yourself wanting more powerful email marketing, better automation, and AI-assisted content creation. This guide walks you through the complete migration process from Planning Center to sendifai, step by step.
Why Churches Are Making the Switch
Before diving into the how, let's briefly address the why. Churches typically migrate from Planning Center to sendifai for several reasons:
- AI-powered content creation: Generate sermon summaries, newsletter content, and personalized messages in seconds
- Advanced email marketing: Sophisticated automation, A/B testing, and analytics that Planning Center doesn't offer
- Better segmentation: Target communications based on engagement, interests, and lifecycle stage
- Unified platform: Email, SMS, and contact management in one place instead of separate modules
- Cost efficiency: Competitive pricing especially for growing churches
For a detailed comparison, see our Planning Center vs sendifai comparison.
Pre-Migration Checklist
Before you begin, gather these items:
- Planning Center admin access (you'll need export permissions)
- List of all active email lists and segments
- Any custom fields you use in Planning Center
- Recent email templates you want to recreate
- Current automation workflows documented
Set aside about 2-3 hours for the initial data export and import. The whole transition can be completed in a week while running both systems in parallel.
Step 1: Export Your Data from Planning Center
Planning Center allows you to export your people data in CSV format. Here's how:
- Log into Planning Center People
- Go to Lists and select your main contact list (or "Everyone")
- Click the Export button in the top right
- Choose CSV format
- Select all fields you want to migrate (at minimum: name, email, phone, address)
- Include any custom fields like membership status, campus, service time preference
- Download the export file
Important: Export each list or segment separately if you want to preserve that organization in sendifai. Label your files clearly (e.g., "volunteers.csv", "young-adults.csv").
Step 2: Prepare Your Data for Import
Before importing into sendifai, clean up your data:
- Remove duplicates: Planning Center may have duplicate entries. Excel or Google Sheets can help identify these.
- Standardize fields: Make sure phone numbers and addresses follow a consistent format.
- Map custom fields: Identify which Planning Center fields correspond to sendifai's standard fields.
- Check email validity: Remove obviously invalid emails (missing @ symbol, etc.).
sendifai accepts CSV files with the following standard columns: first_name, last_name, email, phone, address, city, state, zip, country. Custom fields can be mapped during import.
Step 3: Set Up Your sendifai Account
If you haven't already, create your sendifai account. During setup:
- Choose your organization type (Church/Religious Organization)
- Enter your church name and basic information
- Verify your sending domain for better email deliverability
- Set your timezone and default sending preferences
Domain verification typically takes 24-48 hours, so start this process early. You can continue with data import while waiting for verification.
Step 4: Import Your Contacts
sendifai's contact management system makes importing straightforward:
- Go to Contacts → Import
- Upload your CSV file
- Map columns to sendifai fields (the system will auto-detect most standard fields)
- Create new custom fields for any Planning Center data that doesn't have a direct equivalent
- Choose how to handle duplicates (update existing, skip, or create new)
- Preview the import and confirm
For large imports (over 10,000 contacts), the process runs in the background. You'll receive an email when complete.
Step 5: Recreate Your Segments
Now that your contacts are imported, recreate your key segments. In sendifai, go to Contacts → Segments and create segments based on:
- Custom fields: Service time, campus, membership status
- Engagement: Email opens, clicks, event attendance
- Demographics: Age range, location, family status
- Tags: Ministry involvement, volunteer roles, small groups
sendifai's segmentation is more powerful than Planning Center's lists. You can create dynamic segments that automatically update as contact data changes.
Step 6: Recreate Email Templates
While you can't directly import Planning Center templates, recreating them in sendifai is straightforward:
- Go to Templates in your sendifai dashboard
- Choose from 180+ church-specific templates or start from scratch
- Use the drag-and-drop editor to match your existing design
- Save templates for weekly newsletters, event announcements, and other recurring emails
Pro tip: Take this opportunity to refresh your templates. sendifai's AI can suggest improvements for better engagement.
Step 7: Set Up Automations
This is where sendifai really shines compared to Planning Center. Recreate your essential automations:
- Welcome series: Automated emails for new visitors or members
- Birthday and anniversary emails: Personalized celebrations
- Event reminders: Automated notifications before services or events
- Follow-up sequences: Post-event or post-visit nurture campaigns
- Re-engagement campaigns: Reach out to inactive members
sendifai's automation builder allows for complex branching logic that Planning Center doesn't support, like sending different messages based on engagement patterns.
Step 8: Train Your Team
A successful migration requires team buy-in. Schedule training sessions covering:
- Admin training: Full platform walkthrough for staff members
- Content creator training: Email builder and AI tools
- Analytics overview: Understanding email performance metrics
sendifai offers free onboarding calls for new churches. Our team can walk through the platform with your staff and answer questions specific to your setup.
Step 9: Run Systems in Parallel
For the first 2-4 weeks, we recommend running both Planning Center and sendifai:
- Send your newsletter through sendifai
- Keep Planning Center active for scheduling and check-ins (if you use those features)
- Monitor email deliverability and engagement in sendifai
- Gradually migrate other communications
This parallel period helps catch any issues before fully committing to the switch.
Step 10: Complete the Transition
Once you're confident in sendifai:
- Send a final "where to find us" email through Planning Center
- Update any website signup forms to connect to sendifai
- Cancel your Planning Center email subscription (if applicable)
- Archive your Planning Center data export for records
Common Migration Questions
Will I lose my email history?
Planning Center doesn't export email history, but this rarely matters for ongoing communications. Your contact data and segments are what's most important, and those migrate fully.
What about email preferences and unsubscribes?
Export your unsubscribed contacts from Planning Center and import them as "unsubscribed" in sendifai. This maintains compliance and respects people's preferences.
Can I keep using Planning Center for check-ins?
Yes. Many churches use Planning Center Check-Ins alongside sendifai for communications. The systems don't conflict, though you'll want to manually sync important contact updates.
How long does migration typically take?
Most churches complete the migration in 1-2 weeks. Data import is same-day; the time is mainly spent recreating templates and training staff.
What support is available?
sendifai offers free migration assistance for churches coming from Planning Center. Contact our support team to schedule a migration planning call.
Migration Checklist
Ready to Make the Switch?
Migrating church management systems can feel daunting, but thousands of churches have successfully made the transition to sendifai. With proper preparation and our support team's help, your migration can be smooth and straightforward.
The investment in migration pays off quickly through better email engagement, time saved with AI-assisted content creation, and more powerful automation capabilities.