For a while, I’ve been sharing how Klaviyo encourages all brands to send less—despite the more you send, the more you make.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions on:
~ “How do I warm up my list to send more?”
~ “Which segment should I send to?”
~ “But won’t I land in spam?”
So… today, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty.
(but fall in love with “value-dense” email. I don’t do them very often)
Step 1 – Let’s assume you have all the authentication setup
The basics.
SPF. DKIM. DMARC.
(if you’re not sure, use MXtoolbox to analyze your email header)
Step 2 – Find out how much you’ve been sending in the past 6 months
If you’re like most Klaviyo users, you’re likely sending a tiny fraction of your complete active profiles. (read this for more info)
Moving forward –
You want to send campaigns to your WHOLE list.
Because despite a lower open and click rate in the beginning… you’ll be making A LOT more sales. (and the open rate and click rate will solve itself once you’ve warmed up the list)
But you can’t go from 10k to 100k overnight.
Because Gmail (and other ISPs) will flag you as a potential spammer.
Start by creating a custom report on all the campaigns you did in the past 6 months. Sum up the total delivered recipients. Then, divide it by how many campaigns.
This way, you have the average sending volume.
Step 3 – It’s time to expand
You know where you are = average sending volume
AND
You know where you want to be = send to the full list
How do you bridge that gap?
Eating the elephant one bite at a time.
You INCREASE 10-20% of recipients for every campaign.
Keep an eye on deliverability.
I’m not talking about the vanilla metric Klaviyo gives you.
I’m talking about the real deal: “Are you landing in spam?”
(create 3 email seed accounts in Gmail, and see if you are landing in the inbox. Don’t worry about the promo tab for now)
- If you’re still landing in the inbox, keep expanding
- (make sure you keep an eye on your Postmaster Tool, too)
- If you start landing in spam, dial back to the previous volume for a few days
Step 4 – Maintain a consistent sending schedule
Same days. Same time. EVERY WEEK.
(I recommend starting with 4 emails a week. You can move up to daily emails if you have the capacity)
Step 5 – Get rid of the flyer emails
When you’re expanding your segment…
You don’t want to spam your list with “poster ads.”
This means eliminating the fancy flyer-style emails, ignoring the heavy HTML designs, and avoiding using too many images (keep your emails under 50kb).
I always use plain-text emails with a few hyperlinks.
And it works wonders.
Step 6 – Make sure to purge your list EVERY DAY
Throughout the process, you will piss some people off.
That’s okay.
That’s a GOOD thing.
We want to protect our list and cultivate the people who want our emails. That’s why you want to create a segment for:
~ anyone who cannot receive email marketing
~ anyone who bounced ONCE over all time
~ anyone who marked spam over all time
~ any fake/invalid emails—such as yopmail, asdasd, neverbox, etc.
(I’ve collected 34 fake/masked email roots as of right now)
Religiously SUPPRESS this segment after every campaign.
(Klaviyo doesn’t automatically suppress the whole segment. You have to do it manually for every new email)
Step 7 – Once you reach the whole Active Profile pool…
You will experience a “terrible” deliverability metric—according to Klaviyo.
They will warn you EVERY SINGLE DAY that you are getting poor open and click rates.
IGNORE THEM.
The reason you are getting poor metrics is 100% Klaviyo’s fault.
They forced you to “ignore” these profiles for months… especially with their dumb Reputation Fixer AI… and these people have forgotten about you.
That’s why they are not opening, clicking, and buying.
The good news is –
Even with the “poor” metrics…
You will be making more sales. A LOT more.
(but always keep an eye on your seed accounts)
Step 8 – Email your whole active profile for 5 to 10 times
You can do a re-engagement campaign…
But it’s much easier to double your regular campaigns as re-engagement.
(just dial up the curiosity element in your subject line, and provide value—entertainment, encouragement, or education—in every email)
Step 9 – Hey, don’t forget Step 6
Step 10 – Create your simple “go-to” segment for future campaigns
I do NOT segment my list by interest.
In my experience, it does not make sense.
(One of my clients had been segmenting their list according to common “best practices.” But last week, I came in, sent an offer to their whole list, and sold out ALL their inventory within 3 days. Last year, the “interest” segment bought only 25% after a FULL month. So, yeah… most segmentation strategy is 💩)
I recommend you have ONE segment:
- Those who have engaged with your emails or website in the last 46 days (plus all past buyers)
Now…
There’s nuance to this setting.
You determine the time frame based on deliverability, frequency, and overall strategy. But to keep things simple…
Go with 46 days for now.
Step 11 – Add a new definition to Step 6.
Suppress profiles who have not engaged with you for over 60 (or 90 days).
Make sure you EXCLUDE Step 6 segment for all future campaigns.
Bonus Step: Before suppressing the active profiles that did not engage with you in the past 46 days, run a re-engagement/sunset series.
There you have it.
Enjoy.
Talk soon,
– WYH
PS – I know…
Technically, you can revive even more profiles by re-engaging with them using a separate account, a different domain, and an individual IP.
But there’s an opportunity cost for doing this.
When you are NOT going to get that many more loyal customers…
These are resources/time you can invest for a better return.
P.P.S. – Sounds like A LOT of work?
It is.