Is Delighted shutting down permanently?
The answer is yes, precisely on June 30, 2026. The platform won’t receive any support or any feature updates after this day, and is fully moving to its parent company.
The platform stops renewing annual subscriptions after July 1, 2025. So transitioning to a different platform should be a top priority, because a delayed transition could lead to rushed migrations, data loss and even unhappy stakeholders.
If you’re a Delighted user, this news might be alarming but don’t worry. We’ve created this guide to help you make a smooth transition and keep your customer feedback program running without disruption. Whether you’re still evaluating platforms or have already chosen your next solution, this blog offers you all information on how to migrate from Delighted to SurveySparrow or any other alternative, while making sure your valuable data is intact.
Understand Why Delighted Is Shutting Down
Qualtrics just announced they're shutting down Delighted. Many businesses now need to find other options. Let's get into why this is happening and what it means for your customer experience program.
Timeline of the shutdown
Delighted users are now on a countdown. Qualtrics laid out a clear plan to phase out the platform:
- Effective immediately: Delighted won't get any new features
- July 1, 2025: New users can't sign up for Delighted anymore
- After July 1, 2025: Annual contracts won't be renewed. All customers will move to monthly subscriptions
- May 31, 2026: Monthly subscriptions will end
- June 30, 2026: Everyone loses access to Delighted
You have about a year to find another solution and move your data. At the same time, you shouldn't wait until the last minute. Data migration needs to be carefully planned and handled.
What it means for your data and workflows
Delighted's shutdown affects more than just finding a new survey tool. Qualtrics will delete all customer data after June 30, 2026, following local regulations. Saving your historical information is now crucial.
When Delighted goes away, you could lose:
- Previous data that drives strategic decisions
- Automated feedback at key touchpoints
- Instant alerts about unhappy customers
- Insights into what works in your customer experience strategy
McKinsey's research shows companies that lead in customer experience grow revenue twice as fast as their competitors. So keeping your feedback collection running smoothly helps you stay ahead.
The platform will start showing its age without updates. You might see problems with survey delivery, broken tool connections, and less support. These issues could pop up well before the final shutdown, making an early switch a smart move.
Considering Qualtrics?
Qualtrics wants Delighted users to switch to their platform. But there are good reasons to look elsewhere. They're shutting down Delighted to focus on their state-of-the-art XM Suites and boost their core experience management products.
Qualtrics might own Delighted, but what they offer is something entirely different from what Delighted offers to their audience. Delighted kept things simple with no learning curves or complicated dashboards. Qualtrics, however, is a complex enterprise suite that might be too much for many CX teams.
Qualtrics is mainly for bigger companies because of its higher prices and complete offerings. These include enterprise-level voice of customer programs and advanced customer journey mapping. Teams that love Delighted's simple approach might struggle with Qualtrics' complexity.
Thankfully, if Qualtrics is still something you’d be interested in, they do offer help with data migration through self-service tools or partner solutions. But many businesses are learning about alternatives that match Delighted's user-friendly style while offering better features and insights.
Take time to review options based on what you need. This approach works better than automatically moving to Qualtrics and could lead to a better solution for your customer feedback program.
Step 1: Recreate Your Surveys in the SurveySparrow
A successful migration from Delighted to SurveySparrow simply starts with accurate survey recreation. SurveySparrow's Survey Migration app makes this process quick and simple.
Match question types and logic
SurveySparrow does come with a wide range of question types that match or improve what Delighted offers. These include:
- Text Input - Single-line or multi-line options for open-ended feedback
- Email Input - Collects valid email addresses from respondents
- Number Input - Works great for numerical data like age or zip codes
- Multiple Choice - Gives respondents preset answer options
- Picture Choice - Uses images instead of text to make surveys engaging
- Yes/No Questions - Simple binary response options
- Rating - Reviews customer satisfaction levels
- Opinion Scale - Measures behaviors using scales like NPS
On top of that, SurveySparrow has advanced options like Bipolar Matrix, Matrix Grid, Signature, Slider, Photo Capture, Date, File Upload, Heat Map, Group Rank, and Group Rating. You can recreate any question structure from your Delighted surveys with these options.
Preserve branding and layout
Your brand identity plays a huge role in customer experience during migration. Make sure you keep that in tact irrespective of which platform you move to. Thankfully, SurveySparrow lets you match your existing Delighted branding through customization:
Click the edit icon next to your survey or select "Edit" from the three-dot menu to access the survey editor. You can customize:
- Brand/product name
- Logo (PNG, JPG, and GIF formats work)
- Color schemes for top bars and buttons
- Overall layout and design elements
These customization options will keep your brand experience consistent through and through. Your respondents won't notice any difference in how the surveys look and feel after migration.
Avoid starting from scratch
SurveySparrow's Survey Migration app stands out as its most useful feature for Delighted users. This app helps you move surveys between platforms without the pain of manual rebuilding.
The app brings over your:
- Existing questionnaires
- Survey logic and skip patterns
- Design elements and layouts
Your survey operations will face little to no disruption during the switch. You won't spend hours recreating what you've already built in Delighted.
SurveySparrow's migration tools help you keep the workflows you've refined over time. You’d still be able to collect customer feedback while making the switch. The platform offers more survey options than Delighted, with diverse question types and customizable templates.
The Build section lets you edit your migrated surveys anytime. You can change questions, adjust settings, and improve designs as needed. Your surveys will grow with your business needs even after migration.
Step 2: Define and Map Contact Properties
The next significant step in your migration trip after recreating surveys involves contact properties. These are the data fields that give meaning to your customer feedback and what makes it useful.
List of common contact fields
Your customer profiles need several contact properties mapped during migration from Delighted. These properties serve as simple building blocks that link feedback to specific customers and their traits.
The most common contact fields you need to transfer include:
- Basic identifiers - Name, email, phone number
- Demographics - Age, gender, region
- Account information - Account ID, customer segment, subscription type
- Behavioral data - Last survey taken, last purchase date, interaction history
- Custom properties - Any unique fields you've created in Delighted
Users of Delighted with Salesforce integration should also map properties such as case status, account name, opportunity stage, and contact department that automatically moved between systems.
Importance of segmentation and personalization
Your contact properties mapping directly affects knowing how to segment customers and personalize interactions. You can use the Segments feature to group contacts based on demographics, priorities, and shared interests.
Contact properties that are well-laid-out help you:
- Spot patterns in feedback from different customer groups
- Send relevant follow-up questions to specific segments
- See sentiment changes in particular demographics
- Adjust survey timing and frequency for each customer
These properties make the difference between basic feedback and analytical insights. To cite an instance, learning about NPS score variations by region or subscription type reveals chances for targeted improvements.
A migration specialist explained it best: "Contact properties turn isolated survey responses into a complete customer story."
How to handle custom fields
Custom fields create the biggest challenge during migration solely because they're unique to your business. SurveySparrow lets you define as many custom properties as needed for deeper personalization.
Here's how you can map custom fields:
- Document all existing custom properties in Delighted, including their names, data types, and purposes
- Determine compatibility between platforms, for example, text properties in Delighted should match text fields in SurveySparrow
- Watch for formatting differences as platforms might handle whitespace or special characters differently
- Choose field types carefully because matching dropdown fields to open text fields can create data inconsistencies
Complex custom fields might need equivalent properties created in SurveySparrow before data import. This preparation helps your historical data map correctly to the new system.
Our migration expert suggests: "Don't rush this step; proper contact property mapping now prevents problems when analyzing previous trends later."
Your thoughtful approach to defining and mapping contact properties preserves the context that makes customer feedback valuable. This also sets up more powerful segmentation features in your new platform.
Step 3: Export and Import Historical Data
Keeping your historical feedback stands as the most vital part of moving away from Delighted. The platform handles over 300+ million surveys each year, and 45 people complete a Delighted survey each second. You can't risk losing this goldmine of information.
How to export from Delighted
Getting your survey history out of Delighted needs a simple but careful approach. Here's how you can start the export:
- Go to your Delighted Dashboard
- Look at the left side and click "Export data"
- Pick one of these options: "Survey responses," "Sent surveys," or "Scheduled surveys."
- Set your preferred date range (like "This week" or pick custom dates)
- Hit "Export as CSV"
The CSV files you get will show timestamps, person fields, and survey properties. You'll also see columns for each answered question in survey responses and sent surveys exports.
Your main focus should be the "Survey responses" option. This contains the core of your customer experience data, with each response taking up one row.
Mapping data to a new platform
The next big task comes after getting your data out - mapping it to your new platform. This step matters because:
- Your historical responses keep their meaning
- Survey timestamps stay exact
- All respondent details and metadata move correctly
- Answers and scores line up right
- Tags and custom fields keep their connections
You'll need to match each column from the Delighted CSV with its counterpart in SurveySparrow. This way, "Q1" in Delighted will still mean "How satisfied are you?" in the new system.
Different platforms often use different formats. You'll need time to study, map, and transform your data to bridge these differences.
Ensuring no data loss or mismatch
Your data's accuracy needs checking at every step. Here are some proven methods:
Make complete backups before you start moving anything. This gives you a safety net if things don't go as planned.
Use validation checks throughout the process. Compare hash values or run checksums to spot any corrupted data. Many companies run both systems side by side for a while to make sure everything moves over correctly.
The final step involves checking both systems against each other. Make sure you can find and use every piece of data. This careful approach means you'll keep all your valuable historical trends when you move away from Delighted.
Step 4: Test, Validate, and Go Live
The last step of your move to Delighted needs thorough testing. This is so essential because this will give you confidence that nothing gets lost. A solid strategy helps you verify your setup and launch with certainty.
Run test surveys and check reports
Your surveys and data need a proper test drive once they're in place. Send multiple rounds of test surveys to different audience segments. This will help you spot any problems before your real customers see the surveys.
Your report checks should focus on:
- Dashboard visualization accuracy
- Survey response recording
- Filter functionality with your custom properties
- Automated alerts and notifications
A systematic testing checklist helps teams track every aspect of their feedback program. You won't know exactly how your customers will respond to your survey program until you try. Use multiple channels, A/B test various subject lines, and try different survey cadences to figure out what works best for you.
Compare old vs. new data
A practical check needs direct platform comparison. Your imported historical data should match up perfectly. Look for these key points:
- Response counts between systems match
- NPS and satisfaction scores stay consistent
- Similar segmentation results
- Historical trends display correctly
This step builds your confidence that everything works right. Your survey setup, logic, data, and insights should work just like they did in Delighted, maybe even faster and with more features.
Start sending live surveys
A successful verification says you're ready to switch completely. Start with rolling out gradually.
Pick a small audience segment first, then expand as you see positive results. SurveySparrow lets you migrate without any downtime—you can send your first survey the same day you move your data.
Companies often find ways to improve their feedback program beyond Delighted's capabilities during this process. The launch phase gives you a chance to try new features like multi-channel surveys that work with email, WhatsApp, and in-app touchpoints.
Want to join the companies that switched from Delighted successfully? SurveySparrow makes moving so easy that your organization can set new standards in customer experience measurement. Export your Delighted data, import it to SurveySparrow, and continue collecting valuable feedback without missing a step.
Conclusion
Moving away from Delighted before it shuts down doesn’t have to be intimidating. The four-step process mentioned in this blog gives you exactly how you need to maneuver this change. You'll need to recreate surveys, map contact properties, move historical data, and test everything a few times before launch. These steps build on each other to help you keep all the customer insights you've worked hard to gather.
The existing customer feedback that you have is so much more than just data, it’s years of relationships that you’ve built, insights you’ve collected, which together makes it a strategic value. Saving this is important in maintaining and growing your customer experience efforts. Fortunately, with careful preparation, you can migrate without disrupting your ongoing feedback programs.
Switching platforms may not be something that you had in your cards, but now that you are, it is also an opportunity to elevate your capabilities. SurveySparrow has some advanced features like a diverse range of question types, smart automations, and more ways to share surveys, which goes beyond what Delighted offers. Many businesses have already made the switch and are seeing stronger feedback loops and deeper customer insights. You can be next.
Early movers get the most benefit. So, instead of scrambling at the last minute, you'll be confidently collecting feedback on a more powerful platform while gaining an edge in customer experience. A smooth transition today means better data, smarter decisions, and greater customer loyalty tomorrow.
