Switching from Waalaxy to lemlist: a step-by-step migration checklist

Why teams switch from Waalaxy to lemlist

Switching outreach tools usually comes down to a ceiling. Waalaxy automates prospecting and generates leads on LinkedIn and email, with pre-built message templates and campaign setup in a few clicks. For teams focused on LinkedIn-first outreach, it works well. The friction appears when you want to do more than LinkedIn and basic email.

Waalaxy’s key features include automated LinkedIn sequences (profile visits, invitations, and messages), combined LinkedIn and email campaigns, an integrated Email Finder, and AI-assisted message writing. What it doesn’t include is a native dialer for cold calls, SMS or WhatsApp steps, built-in email warm-up, or waterfall enrichment across multiple data providers. Once a team’s outreach strategy extends beyond LinkedIn connection requests and follow-up emails, those gaps start costing meetings.

Here’s what typically triggers the switch:

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  LinkedIn-only ceiling: Waalaxy covers LinkedIn and some email, but lacks native calling, SMS, and WhatsApp as campaign steps

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  No deliverability infrastructure: Teams sending cold email at scale want warm-up and inbox placement monitoring, which Waalaxy doesn’t provide

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  Single-source enrichment: Waalaxy doesn’t run waterfall enrichment across multiple providers for verified emails and phone numbers

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  Scattered replies: Without a unified inbox across all channels, conversations get lost between LinkedIn, email, and other tools

The good news is that the actual migration is straightforward if you follow a clear sequence. Let’s walk through it.

What you can (and what you can’t) export from Waalaxy

Before you move anything, you want to know exactly what comes out of Waalaxy and what stays behind.

Data that transfers cleanly

Waalaxy CSV exports include last name, first name, email address, phone number, LinkedIn URL, Sales Navigator URL, company name, position, region, whether the prospect is a jobseeker, and LinkedIn account type.

You’ll also get Waalaxy-specific data: prospect tags, date of first LinkedIn connection, date of first message sent, whether a message was replied to (yes/no), whether an email was sent or replied to, and which prospect list the contact belongs to. All of this comes out in a standard CSV file.

Data you’ll lose and how to work around it

Campaign analytics (open rates, reply rates, step-level performance) and LinkedIn message history do not export. Sequence templates and branching logic also stay inside Waalaxy.

The workaround is simple: before you cancel Waalaxy, screenshot your top-performing campaign stats and copy your best message templates into a Google Doc. LinkedIn conversation threads remain accessible through LinkedIn’s native inbox regardless of which tool you use, so those aren’t truly lost.

How to export your Waalaxy prospects to CSV

The CSV export feature is available on all Waalaxy subscriptions, both free and paid. You have three ways to pull data out, depending on what you want to migrate.

1. Export all prospects

To export all your leads from Waalaxy, go to the “Leads” tab, select them all, click on Export, choose the CSV format, and download your file. This gives you a complete backup.

2. Export from a specific campaign

If you’re only migrating certain campaigns, go to “Campaign,” select your campaign, go to the “Prospects” tab, select the prospects, and export. This keeps your imports into lemlist cleaner because you can segment contacts by campaign context.

3. Filter by status before exporting

Waalaxy tags prospects with statuses like “Connected,” “Replied,” and “Not Connected.” Filter by status before exporting so you can separate contacts into groups: those who already replied (do not re-sequence), those who connected but didn’t reply (warm follow-up), and those never contacted (cold campaign). This segmentation prevents awkward double-outreach after you switch.

4. Clean and format the CSV for lemlist

lemlist expects Row 1 to contain column names (email, firstName, companyName, etc.) and no spaces in column names, especially for URLs (see lemlist’s CSV import guide). Rename Waalaxy’s headers to match lemlist’s default variables: firstName, lastName, companyName, linkedinUrl, email. Remove duplicates and any rows missing both email and LinkedIn URL, since lemlist will use one or the other to identify a lead.

How to import your Waalaxy leads into lemlist

With a clean CSV ready, the import itself takes a few minutes.

1. Create your campaign first

Before importing leads, you need a campaign where the leads will land. In lemlist, go to Campaigns, click “New Campaign,” and name it. You can build the full sequence later. The campaign just has to exist so leads have somewhere to go.

2. Upload and map CSV fields

Open the campaign, click “Leads list,” then click “Import new leads.” Select “CSV import,” then click the upload area or drag and drop your CSV file.

During the “Set up imported custom variables” step, assign each CSV column to the correct lemlist variable type. This is what makes lemlist recognize fields like {{email}} and {{linkedinUrl}} in your campaign steps. lemlist auto-maps common column names, but you’ll want to verify any custom columns (like Waalaxy tags) are assigned to custom variables so they’re available for personalization.

3. Set duplicate rules

This step is especially important during migration, when you might be importing the same contacts across multiple campaign exports.

lemlist offers three duplicate prevention settings. Option 1, “Don’t import leads that are already in this campaign,” checks only the current campaign. Option 2, “Don’t import leads currently in progress in another campaign,” checks other campaigns but excludes completed ones. The third option blocks leads already in any campaign across your workspace (full details in lemlist’s help center).

For migration, Option 2 is usually the right choice. It prevents active double-contacting while letting you re-import leads from campaigns that have already finished.

4. Enrich leads on import

If your Waalaxy contacts lack verified emails or direct phone numbers, this is where lemlist immediately adds value. On the “Enrich leads data” step, choose whether you want lemlist to find/verify emails, find phone numbers, or enrich LinkedIn data. When you’re ready, click “Import leads” to finish.

lemlist runs waterfall enrichment across multiple data providers in a single pass, and only charges for successful finds. Many teams see enrichment fill gaps that Waalaxy’s single-source email finder couldn’t cover.

How to handle prospects mid-campaign during migration

This is the part most migration guides skip, and it’s the part that actually determines whether you disrupt active conversations.

Prospects who haven’t been contacted yet

These are the simplest to handle. Export them from Waalaxy, import them into a fresh lemlist campaign at step one, and launch. No special treatment required.

Prospects with pending connection requests or open threads

If a prospect has an outstanding LinkedIn connection request, an unanswered message, or an active conversation, pulling them into a new automated sequence risks sending conflicting touches.

Instead, import these contacts into lemlist with a custom variable tag (e.g., migrationStatus = mid-conversation). Then either add them to a later step in your sequence using lemlist’s advanced conditions, or manage them manually through the unified inbox until the existing thread resolves. The key principle: let active conversations finish before layering on new automation.

Rebuilding your Waalaxy sequences as lemlist multichannel campaigns

Waalaxy sequences typically follow a pattern like Visit → Connect → Message → Follow-up. In lemlist, those same LinkedIn actions are available, but you can now combine them with email, calls, SMS, and WhatsApp in a single campaign.

Mapping Waalaxy templates to lemlist steps

Take the message templates you saved earlier and drop them into lemlist’s sequence builder. A Waalaxy “Message” step becomes a lemlist LinkedIn message step. A Waalaxy “Email” step becomes a lemlist email step. The interface is different, but the logic maps directly.

Adding channels Waalaxy doesn’t support

This is the biggest upgrade. Between LinkedIn touches, you can now add an email step that fires if the prospect hasn’t connected within 3 days, a call step triggered by an email open, or an SMS follow-up after a missed call. lemlist’s conditional branching lets you route leads through different paths based on their behavior across channels.

If you’re adding cold email for the first time, though, you’ll want to set up deliverability infrastructure first (covered in the next section).

Using lemAgent to build sequences faster

Rather than manually recreating every Waalaxy campaign, you can describe your goal to lemAgent in plain language (“book meetings with marketing directors at ecommerce companies”) and it generates a multichannel sequence with timing, branching, and messaging. You can review and edit before launching. This typically compresses hours of campaign setup into minutes.

Setting up email deliverability before you send

If your team was running Waalaxy primarily for LinkedIn, adding cold email requires some infrastructure groundwork. Even if you’ve sent email before, migration is a good moment to reset your sending setup.

1. Connect or buy a sending domain

In lemlist, you can connect your own domain or purchase a new sending domain directly inside the platform. Using a domain separate from your primary company domain protects your main domain’s reputation if deliverability issues arise.

2. Start lemwarm before launching campaigns

lemwarm is lemlist’s built-in warm-up tool. It gradually builds your sending reputation by exchanging real emails with real inboxes at a controlled pace. Start it as soon as you create your lemlist account, even while you’re still migrating data. By the time your campaigns are ready to launch, your inboxes will have a healthy sending history.

3. Run a Deliverability Boost pre-check

Before your first campaign goes live, Deliverability Boost scans for risky content patterns, authentication issues (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and inbox placement problems. It flags issues you can fix before a single email is sent, which is far better than discovering spam problems after 500 emails have gone out.

Reconnecting your CRM and integrations

Waalaxy’s major CRM integrations run through Zapier/Make, including Pipedrive and HubSpot. lemlist offers native two-way sync with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive, plus Zapier/Make support for custom workflows.

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  HubSpot / Salesforce: Native sync handles contacts, activities, and deal stages without third-party tools

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  Zapier / Make: Any automations you previously connected to Waalaxy can be replicated with lemlist’s Zapier triggers and actions

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  API and MCP: For teams using custom-built workflows or AI agent setups, lemlist provides full API access and MCP integration for Claude and other AI clients

Waalaxy vs lemlist feature map for migrating teams

Your first 14 days after migration

Migration is only useful if it doesn’t stall your pipeline. Here’s a compressed timeline:

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  Days 1–2: Export all Waalaxy data, clean CSVs, create your lemlist account, and connect sending domains. Start lemwarm immediately.

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  Days 3–5: Import leads, build your first multichannel campaigns (or let lemAgent generate them), and verify field mappings look correct in email previews.

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  Days 6–10: Launch initial campaigns. Monitor deliverability in the Deliverability Hub. Iterate on subject lines and messaging based on early open and reply signals.

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  Days 11–14: Review campaign performance, adjust sequences, connect your CRM, and wind down your Waalaxy subscription.

lemlist allows you to upload up to 40,000 leads total via CSV, split into batches of 10,000 leads per campaign, so even large Waalaxy databases can be imported without splitting files into tiny chunks.