The date of Microsoft’s planned removal of the Outbound Marketing module from Customer Insights – Journeys is coming up soon on June 30, 2025. If you’re preparing to move your marketing operations from Outbound Marketing to Customer Insights – Journeys (CIJ, former Real-Time Marketing), the process involves more than simply copying assets over, it’s a full strategic shift. Based on our experience migrating several environments, we share a 5 Phase step-by-step guide, which will make the migration smoother for your team. Also shared at the end is the timeline we follow at Radin Dynamics to complete this project done for our clients without any breaks in their marketing processes or event deadlines. If you are interested in Radin taking care of this for your company, please reach out to us at info@radindynamics.com
Phase 1: Planning & Assessment
Step 1: Evaluate Dependencies
Start by reviewing your current Outbound Marketing setup. Take stock of all features you’re actively using:
- Emails, journeys, forms, segments, subscription centers, and lead scoring models.
- Look for any workflows, plugins and Power Automate Flows tied to these assets.
Step 2: Audit Your Marketing Assets
Document all the components:
- Marketing emails, templates, and content blocks;
- Journeys;
- Static and dynamic segments;
- Marketing Forms;
- Lead scoring models;
- Subscription Centers.
Step 3: Build Your Migration Plan
Categorize each asset:
- Migrate – actively used and must be rebuilt;
- Retire – outdated and no longer needed;
- Postpone – waiting on future CIJ feature release.
Assign internal owners for each asset / category, and agree on a timeline.
Phase 2: Customer Insights Journeys Setup
Step 4: Enable Real-Time Journeys
From the Customer Insights – Journeys Settings area, confirm that Real-Time Journeys is installed and enabled.
Then configure the following basic elements:
- Domain authentication;
- Brand profile;
- Consent Management.
Step 5: Set Up Consent Management
Customer Insights – Journeys introduces a purpose-based consent model. You’ll need to:
- Define your purposes and legal bases for communication for each of your Compliance Profiles;
- Set up subscription topics (they replace outbound lists);
- Set up Preferences centers for your Compliance Profiles.
Phase 3: Rebuilding Assets in RTM
Step 6: Rebuild Segments
Segments from Outbound Marketing cannot be imported to Real-Time Journeys. They should be created with the new Segments builder.
Start with dynamic segments and only create static ones where needed.
Step 7: Rebuild Emails
Emails, templates, and content blocks must be rebuilt using the new Customer Insights – Journeys email editor:
- Use the drag-and-drop layout tool;
- Add personalization;
- Set up conditional content where needed.
Every email must be linked to a Compliance Profile and its purpose to ensure compliance.
Step 8: Rebuild Forms and Landing Pages
Use the new form editor to rebuild forms:
- Map forms to leads or contacts (there is no option to use one form for both anymore).
- Update embedded forms on your website and retire any legacy forms to avoid broken links.
Step 9: Rebuild Customer Journeys
Real-Time Journeys are event-based or segment-based and offer more flexibility. Recreate them using:
- Real-time triggers (e.g., form submissions, segment entry, etc.);
- Branching logic based on conditions, delays, and interactions.
Focus on rebuilding journeys that are still active or high-value, many outbound journeys can be simplified or improved using new features.
Step 10: Recreate Lead Scoring
Customer Insights – Journeys brings improved Lead Scoring Models and Qualification Models:
- Set up Scoring Models based on leads attributes and their actions;
- Create a new Qualification Model based on points allocated in your Scoring Models.
Phase 4: Testing & Launch
Step 11: Test Everything Thoroughly
Before going live, test every asset:
- Send test emails to internal users;
- Submit forms and verify data flows into leads/contacts;
- Confirm consent values are updated properly;
- Walk through each journey to ensure triggers, branches, and email steps behave as expected.
Step 12: Monitor Performance
Use Real-Time Journeys built-in analytics tools:
- Check open and click-through rates;
- Monitor form conversion metrics;
- Review journey-level performance (e.g., drop-off rates, goal completion)
Extend reporting with Power BI using the CIJ data if needed.
Phase 5: Decommission Outbound Marketing
Step 13: Archive Legacy Assets
- Disable all outbound journeys and forms;
- Double-check that there are no live campaigns still pointing to outbound assets.
The Outbound Marketing module will be removed from Customer Insights – Journeys on June 30, 2025
Step 14: Train Your Team
Run hands-on training sessions for marketers covering:
- Consent models and subscription topics;
- Segment building in CIJ;
- Real-time journeys logic;
- Email design and dynamic content.
Step 15: Continuously Improve
Track Microsoft’s release notes, updates are frequent, and feature parity is improving steadily.
Collect feedback from users as they start working in CIJ;
Log any missing features or process gaps;
