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Overview
There are so many great tools in Klaviyo that it can be hard to know where to start. This guide will show you how to make the most of your Klaviyo account from the get-go, and we'll explain the right order to get started so that your first email lands in an inbox. Whether you’re switching from another email service provider or are completely new to email marketing, we’ll prepare you for your first send in this article.
Before You Begin
When you first start with Klaviyo, it can be tempting to just start sending to existing contacts. If you've sent emails through a previous email service provider and are switching to Klaviyo, you'll need to change your sending IP address, and there will be a short warm-up process as you transition to the new IP address on Klaviyo. During this time, you'll need to convince Google, Yahoo, and other inbox providers that you are a legitimate sender and not a spammer.
Let’s think a bit broader about sending emails. With other email service providers, you might have been encouraged to send most emails to all subscribers and then send the same email again to people who didn’t open the first one. Not only is it harder to get into the inbox this way, but you’re also not giving your customers personalized experiences. This is a missed opportunity, as a more personalized experience will make them more likely not only to convert but also to return and become ambassadors for your brand. Every customer is unique. Instead of using your whole list, send an email to a small group of people: a segment. We will also discuss segmentation in this guide.
Getting Data into Your Account
It’s important to move all of your business data into your Klaviyo account so that you can use it to make marketing decisions based on the entire customer experience journey. Klaviyo has many built-in integrations to make transferring that information to Klaviyo easy. You can find the list of all built-in integrations here.
Additionally, it's important that your signup form references your Klaviyo account. If you want to create your signup forms entirely from scratch, check out the guide on signup forms.
Finally, you’ll want to build some basic templates for your flow and campaign sends that you can clone to make sending emails easier. You can also import emails from your previous email service provider as HTML.
Additional Resources
Your Audience and Business
Before you send your first message, take a moment to think about who your customers are and how your business fits into their lives. While this may seem like an unnecessary step, this planning will make creating content a breeze and increase your brand engagement with your customers.
Are there brands in the same industry that you admire? Look them up, sign up for their email newsletters, check out their websites, and connect with their social media accounts. Understand the experience they cultivate for their customers and decide if that’s something you want to do for your brand or if you’d like to do something different.
Next, get to know your customers. It’s best to understand their preferences, dislikes, and pain points so that you know where your business fits into their daily lives.
Finally, think about your current content strategy and sending guidelines. You want to keep this consistent as you start with Klaviyo.
Additional Resources
- How to Identify the Audience for Your E-commerce Store
- Developing a Content Calendar
- Offline Advertising Channels
Getting Started with Flows
Flows, or automated sequences of messages, are a great way to reach the inbox when you first transition to Klaviyo. It’s important to enable flows before sending your first campaign. Because flow emails are triggered by customer behavior, they’re more likely to open your flow emails. Increased open rates signal to inbox providers that you are a trustworthy sender, helping keep your emails out of the spam folder.
You should enable your Welcome Series, Abandoned Cart, and Browse Abandonment flows first, as these are excellent touchpoints with your customers. Check the provided links for more information about these flows.
Additional Resources
- Guide to Creating a Welcome Series
- Guide to Creating an Abandoned Cart Flow
- Create a Browse Abandonment Flow
Getting Started with Segmentation
The last step before sending for the first time is to create engaged segments or groups of your customers who have recently interacted with your brand. It’s important to bring over all engagement data from your previous email service provider to Klaviyo so that you can build engagement segments. Sending to high engagement segments when you first send with Klaviyo is important because those customers are more likely to open your emails, which increases your good reputation as a sender.
You’ll want to build an engagement segment of 30, 60, 90 days, and create a non-engaged segment. The criteria are based on the previous data from your email provider. If your previous email service provider does not integrate with Klaviyo, you’ll need to export all your customer information (i.e., first name, last name, email address, when they became a customer, last email opened date) and then import it back into Klaviyo.
30-Day Engaged Segment
Non-Engaged Segment:
Additional Resources
Sending Your First Campaign
After completing all the above steps, it’s finally time to send your first campaign email. If you are new to email marketing, send your first campaign to your full list. If you’re transitioning from another email service provider, use the 30-day engagement segment for the first send. This email should come out at the same rhythm as your normal emails. If you send weekly, send this email on the same day you typically would. Maintain the same creativity and language that is typical for your emails. Anything unusual may also impact deliverability.
After waiting 24 hours, check how your email performed. If you see open rates of 30% or around that, try sending your next campaign to the 60-day engagement segment. For subsequent campaign sends, as long as you achieve open rates over 20%, you can loosen the engagement criteria for a similar segment to 90, 120, and finally 180 days.
If your open rates are below 30% after your first send, build a 20-day engagement segment using the criteria above and send again after waiting for your usual sending rhythm to return. Continue this process, narrowing the window until you achieve an open rate of 30%. If you experience deliverability issues, reach out to support for advice.
Next Steps in Flows
After setting up your Abandoned Cart, Welcome Series, and Browse Abandonment flows, you can elevate your email marketing by launching a few more flows. The flows we recommend include a Winback flow, product review flow, and cross-selling flow. Below is more information on each of these options.
Additional Resources
Getting Started with Analytics
The power of Klaviyo relies on the ability to take your data and make smart marketing decisions. You can find your analytics on the Analytics tab of the dashboard and also within each section of Klaviyo. Check out the resources below to dive deeper into your analytics.
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Polaris Growth is a CLV e-commerce agency. We support ambitious online stores with: Klaviyo, conversion optimization, data & analytics and ecommerce strategy.
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