Before you start
This guide is for existing Drift customers who still have account access. Clari + Salesloft is retiring Drift on January 31, 2027, or at your contract end date if it comes first. New buyers should evaluate current alternatives rather than build a new long-term process around Drift. Check the official Drift Sunset FAQ, checked October 30, 2026, before making changes to your account.
Start by writing down the main job Drift performs on your website: greeting visitors, answering pricing questions, qualifying leads, routing target accounts, booking meetings, or collecting email addresses. That list will guide both the setup checks and the replacement plan.
Check the current restoration limits first
The separate official restoration guide, checked October 30, 2026, says Drift became accessible again but some functions remain limited. Playbooks and the widget are initially turned off, integrations are being restored in phases, Drift Email is not live, and some report exports remain unavailable. Confirm the current state of your account before relying on an old workflow or assuming every feature is restored.
The restoration guide also says to reconnect calendars, review routing fallbacks and test the playbooks you plan to turn on. Some features may still be unavailable in a given account, so follow the current account-specific instructions before enabling a visitor path.
1. Check the widget and installation
The official Manage Chatbot Settings guide, checked October 30, 2026, explains how administrators find the widget appearance and install options.
- Sign in with an administrator account that can manage Drift settings.
- Open the profile menu and choose Settings.
- Under App Settings, open Chatbot.
- Use the Appearance tab to check the icon, shape, primary color, font, language and branding options.
- Open the Install tab and copy the installation method that matches your site, such as JavaScript, WordPress, Google Tag Manager or Drupal.
- Confirm that the Drift script is installed only once. The official install guide warns that duplicate installation can affect widget behavior.
Do not change the production widget without testing it on a controlled page or during a planned release. Check the desktop and mobile layout, the open and closed states, and whether the chat launcher covers important page controls.
2. Review business hours and routing
Open the settings and playbooks that control when visitors see a bot and how conversations reach your team. Confirm the business hours, online and offline messages, target inbox, routing rules, calendar connection and escalation owner. The aim is to make the live path predictable before the team edits copy or changes a workflow.
For round-robin chat routing, review the official round-robin routing guide, checked October 30, 2026. Test at least one case where a representative is available and one where the intended owner is unavailable. Confirm the conversation does not remain unassigned or point to an inactive calendar.
3. Audit your playbooks before editing them
The official Chat Playbooks guide, checked October 30, 2026, describes playbook types such as Engage All, Pricing Page, Skip the Form, Visitor Retargeting, Blog, Welcome Message, Email Capture, Target Accounts and Paid Ad Converter.
Make a simple inventory for each active playbook:
- Which page or visitor condition triggers it?
- What question or offer does it present?
- Which answers qualify a lead or route the conversation?
- Does it book a meeting, capture an email, or update a CRM record?
- Who owns the conversation when the bot cannot complete the path?
- Which report or metric tells you whether the playbook is useful?
Keep the playbooks that still serve a clear purpose. Remove duplicate or outdated paths only after confirming that no campaign, landing page or sales process depends on them.
4. Test a high-intent visitor path
Use a controlled test to review the most important journey, such as a visitor on the pricing page who asks for a demo. Check the trigger, greeting, qualification questions, routing outcome, calendar availability, confirmation message and CRM record. If your plan supports a test or draft path, use it before publishing changes. Avoid using real customer details for internal tests.
For each test, record the expected result and what actually happened. Test a normal answer, an unknown answer, a visitor who declines to share an email, and an offline representative. Confirm the bot does not promise a meeting until the booking flow returns a valid result.
5. Check the CRM and revenue reporting
If Drift is connected to Salesforce, review the integration and the settings that control activity sync. The official Drift and Salesforce guide, checked October 30, 2026, describes how Drift conversations can relate to lead, contact and campaign records. Confirm which objects and fields your team actually uses rather than assuming every record is synchronized.
The official revenue reporting guide, checked October 30, 2026, describes CSV export for the Pipeline and Closed Won reports. If you rely on those reports, export the filtered view you need and verify the CSV fields, date range and opportunity definitions. A report export is not automatically a complete archive of all Drift conversations or configuration.
6. Ask for a complete data export plan
The current Drift Sunset FAQ, checked October 30, 2026, says customers should contact their Account Manager or Support for export requests. It states that access to Drift data ends with the contract or January 31, 2027, whichever comes first. For contracts that extend beyond that date, data is kept offline through April 30, 2027 for export requests. Remaining data is scheduled for deletion on May 1, 2027.
- Ask your account manager for the final export deadline for your account.
- Request a written list of available objects, including contacts, conversations, meeting data, reports and playbook configuration.
- Ask which formats are supported and whether conversation transcripts and attachments are included.
- Export what is available while you still have access, then compare counts and sample records.
- Store the files in a controlled location with a named owner and a backup.
- Document which routing rules, integrations and bot paths must be rebuilt rather than exported.
Do not assume that an export request after the application is retired will work like an in-app download. Ask for the process and deadlines in writing.
7. Plan the replacement before the cutover
Salesloft's official sunset FAQ names 1mind for Drift chatbot functionality and allGood for Drift Email. That is a starting point, not a guarantee that all of your playbooks or integrations will move automatically. Compare the Drift alternatives guide and choose based on the actual job you need to preserve.
- Choose a replacement and confirm its contract, usage, CRM and calendar requirements.
- Rebuild the most valuable visitor paths first, such as pricing-page conversations and demo requests.
- Test qualification, ownership, meeting booking, CRM updates and human handoff.
- Train the people who will answer conversations and review the reporting.
- Schedule the switch with time for a rollback if the new widget or routing fails.
- Replace or remove the Drift website script, Drift Email and custom API integrations before your applicable deadline.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Installing the Drift script twice or forgetting to remove the old script after cutover.
- Changing routing rules without testing an unavailable representative and an offline visitor.
- Assuming a revenue-report CSV contains every conversation, playbook or configuration setting.
- Waiting until the last week to request an export or confirm the contract end date.
- Choosing a replacement based only on its chat widget instead of the CRM, routing and reporting workflow.
Common problems to check
The widget does not appear
Confirm the installation code is present once, the correct site or tag-manager container is published, and the playbook targeting conditions match the test page. Check the page after clearing any cache and verify the browser is not blocking the script.
The wrong bot appears
Review playbook targeting, URL conditions, audience rules and any DriftLink used by a campaign. Check whether another active playbook can trigger on the same page.
A conversation does not route
Confirm online status, business hours, the target inbox, routing conditions, and the connected calendar. Test both an available and unavailable representative.
Reporting does not match the CRM
Check the date range, Salesforce integration settings, contact-role conditions and the report definition. Compare a small sample of conversations and opportunities instead of relying on a total alone.
How to use Drift FAQ
Can I still use Drift before the retirement date?
Existing customers may continue under their contract until January 31, 2027 or their contract end date, whichever comes first, according to the official sunset FAQ checked October 30, 2026.
Where do I find the Drift install code?
The official Manage Chatbot Settings guide says to open Settings, choose Chatbot under App Settings, and use the Install tab to copy the relevant JavaScript, WordPress, Google Tag Manager or Drupal code.
How do I export Drift data?
The official sunset FAQ tells customers to contact their Account Manager or Support for export requests. Confirm which data types and formats are available and the deadline for your contract.
What should I replace before Drift is retired?
The sunset FAQ says the website chat widget, Drift Email and custom integrations built on the Drift API stop after January 31, 2027. Replace or remove each one before your applicable access deadline.
Related Drift pages
Read the Drift hub, Drift review, pricing guide, alternatives guide and Drift vs 1mind comparison.
Official sources and update note
Sources checked October 30, 2026: Manage Chatbot Settings, Chat Playbooks, round-robin routing, Salesforce integration, revenue reports and the Drift Sunset FAQ and the Drift Restoration Process and FAQ. This is documentation-based guidance, not a hands-on account test.