How to Warm Up Your Subscriber List in Klaviyo for Maximum Email Deliverability
If you’re starting fresh with a new email list or migrating your existing list to Klaviyo, properly warming up your subscriber list is crucial. A well-executed email warm-up strategy ensures high deliverability, better engagement, and a strong sender reputation.
Why Warming Up Your List Matters
Email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo monitor your sending patterns. Sending too many emails at once, especially to an unengaged list, can lead to high bounce rates, spam complaints, and poor inbox placement. Warming up your Klaviyo list gradually builds trust with ESPs and improves email performance over time.
Step-by-Step Guide to Warming Up Your Subscriber List in Klaviyo
1. Segment Your Most Engaged Subscribers
Before sending emails to your entire list, start with subscribers who have recently engaged with your brand. In Klaviyo, you can create an engagement-based segment:
- Go to Lists & Segments > Create List/Segment > Segment
- Add conditions like:
- "Opened Email at least once in the last 30 days"
- "Clicked Email at least once in the last 30 days"
- This ensures that your first email campaigns go to your most active subscribers, reducing the risk of spam complaints.
2. Gradually Increase Sending Volume
Klaviyo recommends a gradual ramp-up schedule. Start by sending emails to your most engaged segment and increase volume over several days:
- Day 1-2: Send to your top 10% most engaged subscribers
- Day 3-4: Send to 20-30% of engaged subscribers
- Day 5-7: Expand to 50-70%
- Day 8+: Reach the full list, while monitoring open and click rates
This phased approach signals to ESPs that your emails are wanted and reduces the likelihood of triggering spam filters.
3. Optimize Email Content and Frequency
Your warm-up emails should be highly relevant and engaging. Follow these best practices:
- Use a recognizable sender name (e.g., your brand name)
- Write compelling subject lines to boost open rates
- Keep content concise and valuable
- Include a clear CTA (call to action)
- Send 2-3 emails per week initially before increasing frequency
4. Monitor Key Email Metrics in Klaviyo
Klaviyo’s analytics tools help track performance. Keep an eye on:
- Open rate (Aim for 20%+)
- Click-through rate (CTR) (2-5% is a good benchmark)
- Bounce rate (Should be under 2%)
- Unsubscribe rate (Keep below 0.5%)
If you notice high bounce or spam complaint rates, pause and clean your list before continuing.
5. Clean and Maintain Your List
A clean email list is key to long-term deliverability. Regularly remove unengaged subscribers to keep engagement high:
- Use Klaviyo’s list cleaning tools to suppress inactive contacts
- Send re-engagement campaigns before removing unresponsive subscribers
- Set up automatic sunset flows to remove inactive users after multiple unopened emails
Final Thoughts
Warming up your email list in Klaviyo is a strategic process that requires patience and consistency. By gradually increasing your send volume, engaging with active subscribers first, and monitoring performance metrics, you’ll build a strong sender reputation and maximize deliverability.
For more detailed guidance, check out Klaviyo’s official documentation. Ready to get started? Sign up for Klaviyo here and take your email marketing to the next level!
