Getting your clients into AdvicePay is one of the biggest milestones in setting up your account.

If you’ve ever tried to move a book of business by hand (or copy/paste your way through a long client list), you already know the problem: manual data entry is slow, it’s easy to miss a field, and one small typo can turn into billing gaps or duplicate records later.

The good news: you now have three faster paths—depending on whether you’re doing a one-time migration, a firm-to-firm merge, or you want ongoing automation.

Below is a practical overview of the newest options and when to use each.

Quick comparison: which option fits your situation?

Bulk Client Data Import 

If you want the fastest self-service route for a large initial move for your firm or a new advisor, Bulk Client Data Import via CSV is your friend.

When Bulk Import is the best choice

Bulk Import is ideal when you:

• Are moving a large list (hundreds or thousands of clients)
• Want a self-service workflow 
• Are a new firm or advisor starting fresh in AdvicePay
• Need a phased rollout (e.g., pilot one team/office first, then scale)
• Want to bring over custom fields you track internally 
  
  

Key capabilities 

Bulk Import is available for Professional and Enterprise plans and is designed to reduce the most common migration pain:

• • Upload via CSV: You download and populate a template, then upload it—no “enter clients one by one” required.
  • Handles large volumes: Built to reliably process thousands of rows with error logs so you can isolate and fix issues.
  • Supports custom fields: If your firm uses custom fields for clients, the dynamic import template will automatically include them.
  • Prevents duplicates: The system checks for existing clients and skips duplicates automatically.

Firm Merge Service

If you’re paying attention to what’s happening in the RIA and broker-dealer space, you’ve probably noticed the same thing we have: there’s a lot of M&A activity right now, and the integration phase is where deals get real.

On paper, an acquisition can feel clean. In practice, absorbing another firm means aligning people, processes, and systems—and doing it while clients still expect a seamless experience.

Why a firm merge isn’t “just an import”

A typical CSV import is one firm bringing data into one AdvicePay account.

A firm merge is different: you’re combining two existing AdvicePay firms into one operational home. That introduces real-world complexity—like duplicate households, conflicting workflows, and questions about what should happen to current billing setups—before you ever touch a spreadsheet.

This is also something customers have asked us for over the years. For a long time, we said “no” because we didn’t have a responsible, repeatable way to do it at the level of care these transitions require.

What changed? Customer demand (and the pace of consolidation) made it clear this needed a better answer. So we built one.

When a firm merge is the best choice

Firm Merge Service is designed for M&A scenarios where:

• One AdvicePay firm is fully absorbing another AdvicePay firm
• You need the move done carefully, with minimal disruption
• You want a clear plan and accountability (instead of juggling edge cases internally)
  
  

How it works (high level)

This is an Enterprise-only service performed by AdvicePay under a Statement of Work (SOW) for a fee.

Instead of you trying to orchestrate exports, imports, edge cases, and record ownership—AdvicePay partners with you to run a scoped merge process built for M&A reality.

If your firm is interested in merging 2 or more AdvicePay accounts, contact your Customer Success Manager to learn more.

Zapier

Bulk import is great for a one-time move. But what if your real need is: “Every time we add a client in our CRM (or book a meeting, or receive a form submission, etc), we want that client created in AdvicePay automatically.”

That’s where Zapier comes in. By creating a Zap, firms can define a trigger (ie, something that happens in another app) to automatically create a client record in AdvicePay. No heavy engineering required.

Zapier is available for Professional and Enterprise plans and is best for ongoing automation—not just migrations.

When Zapier is the best choice

Use Zapier when you want:

• Always-on automation (not a one-time project)
• Cleaner handoffs between systems (client intake → billing workflow)
• Less manual work for operations teams and admins
• Fewer missed steps that lead to billing delays
  
  

Example Zaps you can use to create Clients

Here are a few practical examples of Zaps you could use to create client records in AdvicePay:

• Google Sheets: Row added → Create client in AdvicePay
  Great for teams that track onboarding in a shared sheet.
• Calendly: Meeting booked → Create client in AdvicePay
  Useful if “a booked meeting” is your real onboarding trigger.
• HubSpot: Contact property changed → Create client in AdvicePay
  Example: when lifecycle stage becomes “Client” or “Customer.”

You can find other helpful Zap templates on our Zapier directory page.

Getting Started

No matter which path you choose, the goal is the same: get clients into AdvicePay faster, with fewer errors, less manual work, and fewer billing gaps.

If you’re an existing customer, check out our Knowledge Base to help you map the right approach to getting client data into AdvicePay.

If you’re evaluating AdvicePay, book a demo and we’ll walk through your current client data flow, billing practices, and the fastest path to getting you live.