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Your Data Import Options and Costs
Your Data Import Options and Costs

Data Migrating, Data Importing, Getting Started with Trail, Onboarding Process

Chuck Slogrove avatar
Written by Chuck Slogrove
Updated this week

As part of the initial onboarding process, or during your time at Trail, you may need to import data from another CRM or data storage system into Trail. It’s important you read through this article to make sure you understand the best method for getting other CRM data into Trail. 

Important Data Import Considerations

  • Get in touch ASAP

    Importing data is a time-consuming process for our data specialists.


    Please keep 2-4 weeks aside for the import process to be completed once we receive a copy of your data.

  • CRM Export & Request
    Depending on your existing CRM, there may be a charge for you to get a copy of your existing data. This process may be a long one depending on your CRM provider, so request your data ASAP.

  • Overlap Your Access
    We ask all of our new clients to consider keeping their existing CRM live until the data import process is completed, as it will help us review your data's existing format.

  • Data Review During Process
    Once your data is imported, you will need to double-check data and report any issues to us. Prompt communication with Trail can massively speed up and ensure the import is completed to a high standard.

  • Nature of Data Importing
    Importing data is a challenging process, and we may not always be able to get it 100% right due to reasons that may be outside of our control. For example, data not being stored correctly in your existing CRM.

  • One Import per Business
    We can usually only import one CRM worth of data per business. If you are currently running your business off two systems, you will need to decide which dataset is the most valuable and up to date, and use this as your foundation within Trail.
    One CRM import (Method 1, 2, or 3) can be combined with multiple provider spreadsheets from Method 4 to create a rich dataset.

Please note that if additional import work is required, our hourly fee is $150 +GST.

Method 1: Supported CRMs

If your CRM is on the following list, Trail will complete your CRM data import for a fee, as long as you are able to receive the data in our prescribed format.

Depending on the size of your data, the price may vary. As a rule of thumb, the pricing is generally:

  • $750 +GST for single advice businesses

  • $1,200 +GST for businesses with multiple advisers

Click on your CRM for specific instructions for sending us your data.

Method 2: Other CRM systems

  1. Xplan is much more complex than other CRM systems to migrate data from. It takes us a large amount of time to map the data as each Xplan version is unique. Therefore we need to charge one-off fee for import.

  • $1,200 +GST for single adviser businesses

  • $2,400 +GST for multiple adviser businesses

Unsupported CRMs

If your CRM system is not on the list above, we can still perform a data migration for you. An unsupported data import can take anywhere from 20-40 hours. Some of the CRMs under this category are:

We will undertake a bespoke data import from an unsupported CRM for a one-off fee of $2,500 +GST.

There is the possibility the data format will be easy to work with, in which case we may be able to do the import at a lower cost, and refund you a portion of the fee. This will be discussed and confirmed during your data import consultation.

Method 3: DIY Data Import (Free)

If you are happy to format your data into our DIY Data importing spreadsheet yourself, then we will be able to complete the data import for free. Click below to download this:

This is a free option to migrate your data into Trail if your data is not currently stored in a supported format. This is also recommended if you only have a small number of clients you want to enter into Trail. The process may take you time, but avoids the need for a paid custom import. 

Essential information we need on the sheet:

  • Please complete the Contacts and Profiles sheets (as a bare minimum) to let us know who the individual clients are (Contacts) and what groupings/ family groups they belong in (Profiles).

  • Make sure you have unique client identifiers (such as numbers) in the Contacts and the Profiles sheet. You can create your own and it can be as simple as 1, 2, 3.... etc. This is helpful as some people may have the same initials or names but are completely separate entities.

  • For any other sheets where there is a reference to a Contact or a Profile - use the same unique client identifier you set up for that person in the Contact sheet. This is to ensure we connect the right Products/ Opportunities connected to the right Contacts/ Profiles.

Method 4: Upload Supported Insurer's Data (Free)

Import your insurance information for free using Trail's Policy Importer.

You can do this in conjunction with a data import to keep your clients policy information up-to-date. Understanding how the Policy Importer works will be a great benefit to you, as you can continue to update information as frequently as you wish.

In order to import this data, you'll need to first get your hands on a data extract that will work with Trail's Policy Importer. Learn how to download supported insurer policy information here.

Once you have that information, click here to learn how to use the Trail Policy Importer. It's really easy!

We currently have support for the following insurers: 

  1. Partners Life

  2. Fidelity Life

  3. AIA/Sovereign

  4. NIB

  5. Asteron

Next Steps

The good news is we have done over 100 data imports from a range of CRMs and have a team of skilled data technicians ready to get your data into Trail. While the process might take a bit of time and effort, once it’s done it will have been worth the effort. Your business data is an incredibly valuable part of your business IP. Trail’s data structure is uniquely designed for financial advisers, and will help you build and maintain your client data much more effectively in the future.

Your best next step is to request a copy of your data from your existing provider. Once you've done this, you can send us the data and we'll arrange a data consultation call for you with one of our data specialists.


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