Inside IronPlane’s Magento 2 Migration Services (With 2 Examples)

The Problem with Most Magento 2 Migration Services

When it comes to Magento 2 migration services, there's a laundry list of problems that can keep you second guessing yourself. If you've ever considered making the switch, you've probably heard horror stories about the process. Here are some of the worst case scenarios and issues you can see when it comes to Magento 2 migration services:

Downtime: It's the worst enemy of every eCommerce business — downtime can swallow up your sales and leave your customers in the lurch. When it comes to migrations, it's almost always caused by lackluster planning and execution.

Lack of Support: Imagine that you've migrated to Magento 2, but upon opening your store there are bugs, glitches, and quirks galore. You reach out for help, and what do you get? Radio silence or canned responses that sound like they were written by robots.

Data Disasters: Losing your precious data during migration is a nightmare — and it happens more often than you'd think. Why? Because many migration services don't prioritize data migration, leaving critical information behind.

Communication Failures: Ever felt like you're in the dark about the migration process? You're not alone. The lack of a clear plan and transparent communication can leave you feeling lost and frustrated.

Any of this sound familiar? Then it's time for a change. You deserve better — you deserve a migration service that doesn't just talk the talk but walks the walk.

What is Magento 2 Migration Service?

A Magento 2 migration service helps you transfer your Magento 1 store to Magento 2 with the help of a Magento development agency. Full Magento 2 migration services usually include the upgrade to Magento 2, data migration, customization services, security updates, and more. 

Magento 2 migration services often include a comprehensive assessment of your current store to determine the scope and feasibility of the migration before action is taken. Most Magento 2 migrations are highly complex, so it’s crucial to find an experienced Magento development agency or freelance developer(s) to partner with.

Inside IronPlane’s Magento Migration Process

Partner with us to take advantage of our complete migration services and achieve greater return on your eCommerce investment. Here's how we adapt our Magento 2 Migration solutions to your business needs.

Step 1: Consultation Call

Before we take on any client or website project, we start with a consultation call — this gives us a chance to learn about your current website, the challenges with it, and your interest in Magento. During this brainstorming, we discuss the goals you have for your Magento site, in both the short and long term, so we can devise the best plan to build out your website with your timelines in mind. 

Note: We can also help you compare eCommerce solutions and decide if Magento is the right option for your business. (And if so, choose which version of Magento — Magento Open Source, Adobe Commerce, or Adobe Commerce Cloud — suits you best.)    

Step 2: Audit

Our next step is kicking off one of our three audit options. The specific audit you select will depend on the urgency of your migration and your readiness to make it happen. For companies just starting out, we provide a low-impact, high-value free audit. For companies seeking a robust evaluation of their existing code quality, we offer the Code Audit. Companies needing a comprehensive view of their existing online store will choose our Comprehensive audit. 

Let’s briefly review our audit options: 

The Free Audit

This includes a brief analysis of your site's theme, extensions, modules, and security. Our team looks for problem areas and provides recommendations to improve website performance. (You can schedule a free code audit with our team here.)

The Code Audit

This option offers a more detailed analysis of both the frontend and backend code of your website. We consider factors such as user experience, site speed, and search engine optimization and provide suggestions to improve the performance and functionality of your site.

The Comprehensive Site Audit

This is our most recommended option because it combines an in-depth look at your website code with virtually every other aspect of your online activity including site security, SEO, infrastructure, privacy, and accessibility. This approach allows us to learn more about your operational processes and business goals to determine how your eCommerce site can better achieve those goals. This not only helps us plan the migration, but it allows us to get a clear view of the projects we need to add to our docket and the results we are working to achieve.

Step 3: Migration Project Planning

After we wrap up the audit, and we know the steps to get from A to B, we can estimate the scope, timing, and pricing of the migration (and any other website projects we want to tackle).

Before we kick off the migration, you are paired with a Solution Specialist who acts as your strategic partner throughout our work together. They are familiar with Magento best practices and have past experience with B2B and B2C businesses, so they can help you make informed decisions about website projects, suggest ways to optimize your site, and track the results of everything we do. 

Your Solution Specialist keeps you in the loop during projects so you know what we’re working on and what’s ahead. (We also give you access to our team’s project management dashboard so you can check on our progress when it’s convenient for you.)  

Step 4: The Migration

Then, we’re ready to start the migration. Our Magento developers adhere to a strict protocol to ensure the process goes smoothly.

Base Site Preparation and Store Data Migration

We follow a structured approach for base implementation and data migration, with additional research as needed in preparation for the next phase. Our process ensures there’s no data loss, and your site remains live while we conduct our work.

Development, Staging, and QA

This phase includes custom design and development, followed by deployment to the staging environment and quality assurance testing.

Launch to Live

Upon successful testing, we push to the live environment and conduct a final round of user testing.

Important Migration Considerations

During the migration, we’re careful to consider SEO enhancements, ADA compliance, and site security and monitoring, and we’ll look for opportunities to optimize conversion rates, UX, and site speeds. Our top priority is to successfully migrate your site with minimal downtime, and ensure it meets all your business requirements. 

Step 5: Post-Migration Options

Migrating to Magento 2 is just the first phase of our work together. We offer comprehensive post-migration support and management as your site and their business needs evolve. Your assigned Solution Specialist keeps you informed about current work and future projects, and they monitor the results of website changes to help you customize your Magento store, optimize conversion rates, and enhance the customer experience. Plus, our expert Magento developers can update your site when Adobe releases new features and security patches.

A Look Inside Two Successful Magento 2 Migrations

Below, we review two case studies where our dedicated Magento developers seamlessly migrated online stores to Magento 2 (from Volusion and Magento 1, respectively). 

Russell Marine Products: Migration from Volusion to Magento

Prominent fishing technology retailer, Russell Marine Products (RMP), originally built its website on Volusion’s eCommerce platform, but as they planned for future growth, it became clear that Volusion could not meet the needs: the platform lacked integration opportunities, automated order fulfillment capabilities, mobile optimization, and the ability to implement custom functionality. 

These limitations led Russell Marine Products to consider alternative platforms — when they contacted IronPlane, we helped them compare options and identify Magento as the best solution for their eCommerce business. 

We started the migration process by utilizing our Colibri Foundation. We use this lightweight build as the starting point for all migrations and upgrades because it guarantees code quality, performance, scalability, and a lower total cost of ownership.

Next, we focused on:

• Sourcing a hosting partner and completing the setup.
• Custom data migration and extension migration.
• Designing and developing a mobile-optimized Magento site with a modern look, intuitive UX, and fast page speeds.
• Redesigning and optimizing complex integrations with each integration partner.
• Implementing shipment automation.

After the migration, Russell Marine Products had a mobile-ready, highly usable, and SEO-friendly Magento website. They experienced improved operational efficiencies through successful integrations, which reduced manual data management and resolved complex commission structure issues. These changes also gave their staff the ability to generate pre-built reports for quick sales data analysis. In addition, our work created a foundation to tackle their next project, a custom Boat Builder. 

After migrating RMP to Magento and rolling out site changes, we saw:  

• Conversion rates increase by over 27%
• Average page load times decrease by over 54%

Bosca: Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2

Leather product retailer, Bosca, originally built their website on Magento 1 and knew they needed to migrate to Magento 2 (and make sure their site was on the latest version of Magento). Aside from upgrading their Magento site, Bosca wanted to create a visually appealing and user-friendly site design, and improve page-load times, conversion rates, and mobile user experience — all in six weeks. 

Since we were working on a tight timeline, our project management team worked closely with Bosca to prioritize their requirements and determine the best order in which to complete website projects. Then we utilized the Colibri foundation to start the Magento 2 migration process, which allowed us to speed up project completion.

We also developed the following key elements:

• Customized home page layout
• Product monogramming
• Custom RMA forms
• Configurable product swatches
• Migration of non-native product and customer data
• ERP/Magento sync
• Google Shopping product feeds
• Google Tag Manager integration

With proper planning and strategic collaboration, IronPlane was able to launch Bosca’s new, user-friendly Magento 2 website within six weeks. Then, we continued to work with the Bosca team after migration to help them achieve long-term goals; we made a number of additional optimizations that resulted in faster page load speeds and improved conversion rates. 

In the five months following the launch, they experienced:

• 36% faster page loading times
• 10.8% increase in transactions
• 7.8% increase in revenue
• 45% increase in organic conversions

Read more: IronPlane Magento 2 Development Services | 2023 Guide

How Much Does Magento 2 Migration Cost?

Magento 2 migration costs vary from site to site and depend on multiple factors. We've found that most costs range between $300 to $2000, but the price can be much higher depending on the amount of work your site needs. There are a few factors to consider while accounting for Magento migration cost, including the Magento license fee, theme customization, extensions, and more. Perhaps the most important charge, however, is the cost of your chosen Magento 2 migration agency partner.

Getting Started with IronPlane for Your Magento Migration

Moving your eCommerce website to Magento from another platform is a risky endeavor if you don’t have an experienced development company by your side. Failed migrations often lead to ‘Magento Rescues’, which involve bringing your site to a new agency after another developer failed to launch it successfully. 

IronPlane has been developing and migrating sites to Magento since 2011, and our team of Magento experts knows how to perform smooth migrations that enhance your eCommerce store, leading to better performance and increased conversions. We work closely with our clients to understand their business needs and identify the most effective ways Magento can help them achieve their goals. 

Related reads: 

• Magento Enterprise Developers: IronPlane + 5 Alternatives
• Theme Development in Magento: The Benefits of an Agency
• BigCommerce vs Magento: Which Is Right for Your Business?