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Export Your Customer Data from Pool Software

What to ask before you sign up for pool route software, how to test a data export, and a checklist so you can always leave with your customers.

Why export matters before you sign up

Your customer list is the business. It holds the addresses, service days, prices and notes that took you years to build. If a tool holds the only copy, you are renting access to your own company.

Think about the day you would need it. You switch to another tool. You sell the route. You get locked out. The vendor changes terms. In each case, the question is the same: can you leave with your data in a form you can use?

Test it on day one of a trial, before you have 60 accounts loaded and a month of history in there.

What a complete export holds

Not every tool exports every kind of data. List what you need, then check each line.

If an export covers only the first two rows, you have a mailing list, so you will not be able to rebuild the business from it.

How to test an export in 15 minutes

1. Load 10 real or realistic accounts, with one that has a long note and one with a special character in the name.
2. Add history to two accounts, such as a service report with readings and a photo.
3. Run the export. Note how many steps it took and whether you needed support to do it.
4. Open the file in a spreadsheet program.
5. Count the rows against the number of customers.
6. Check that columns have headers a human can read, with dates in a clear format.
7. Check names and notes for broken characters.
8. Look for the history and photos. If they are missing, find out whether they can be exported separately.

If the export fails, tell the vendor and see how they respond. Their answer tells you what exit support will look like later.

Questions to ask the vendor

• Who can run an export, only the owner or any user?
• Is there a fee, or a limit on how often?
• Does export keep working after I cancel, and for how long?
• How long do you keep my data after cancellation?
• Can I ask you to delete my data, and how do I confirm it was deleted?
• Is the export complete, or does it leave out history, photos or messages?
• Are gate codes included, and can I leave them out?

Ask for the answers in writing. For data retention and deletion rights in your state, check with a licensed professional.

Keep the export itself safe

An export is a copy of your customers' addresses and maybe their gate codes. Handle it like the original.

• Store it on an encrypted or passcode-protected drive.
• Do not email it to yourself or a helper.
• Put it in two places, such as a drive at home and a protected cloud folder.
• Delete old copies when you replace them.
• Strip out access codes if the file is going to someone who does not need them.

See storing gate codes safely for who should see what.

When you sell the route

A buyer will ask for the customer list, service days and prices. A clean export makes that conversation faster. Keep the list in a form you can hand over without a login. Read buying a pool route and valuing a pool route for what buyers look at.

Your customers may not have agreed to have their details shared with a stranger. Before you hand over names, addresses or access codes, check your service agreement and your state's rules, or ask a licensed professional.

Make exporting a routine

• Monthly. Export customers and history, check the row count, save to two places.
• Before changes. Export before you import a new batch, switch plans or change tools.
• After a bad day. If you had sync trouble or a lost phone, export once things are working to confirm what is on the server.

Mark the date on the calendar. A backup you meant to make does not help when the app is down.

Mistakes to avoid

• Treating a screenshot or print as an export. A PDF of the route cannot be re-imported.
• Exporting only the customer list. History and photos are the part that is hard to rebuild.
• Waiting until you are canceling. Some tools limit access after cancellation.
• Never opening the file. An export you have not checked may be empty, truncated or in a layout you cannot read.
• Leaving exports on a shared computer. Find the file, move it and clear the downloads folder.

Exporting also matters when you start fresh. The spreadsheet to route app guide uses the same CSV layout in reverse for importing.