Data: connect the store before building the flows
You should be able to follow a test order from your storefront into Klaviyo. Each flow runs on data from your store: the Shopify connection, onsite tracking and customer fields. We check that data arrives before we build the flow, starting with the event that triggers it. A product view, started checkout or completed purchase goes on the list of events to reproduce.
Moving to Klaviyo starts with the old connection. Klaviyo's Shopify integration guidance says that if your old email platform is still integrated with Shopify, you should disconnect it before connecting Klaviyo. We plan that switch with you: list the old automations, export contact details and evidence of permission, and decide what pauses when. You review the send calendar before the switch.
Once connected, we test sample journeys and compare what arrives with your store. Identifiers, product details and order values must match the store data before a message uses them. Onsite tracking also needs review against the choices on your website. The test journeys determine whether the connection is ready.
If an event is missing, we trace it back before building a flow around it. You see what passed and which journeys still need attention. We hold back any flow whose trigger we cannot reproduce.
Sending: set the domain up for the volume
Since 1 February 2024, Google's Gmail sender guidelines have imposed extra requirements on senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts. These include DMARC authentication for the sending domain and one-click unsubscribe for marketing and subscribed messages. Google also tells all senders to keep the spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.3%.
We check SPF, DKIM and DMARC with your domain administrator. We review the records already present before proposing changes, then test the sending configuration. You know which domain sends the messages and who can maintain it.
Next we check the unsubscribe behaviour using test messages and account activity. We inspect the content and sending pattern alongside the technical setup.
We check two things separately: whether your domain is set up correctly, and how people respond. If complaints come in, we look at the recent emails and who received them. For an existing account, the findings list each sending check and the repair required when it fails. Before the first campaigns launch, we assign the repairs that must be completed.
Permission: check how each contact joined
Email and SMS each need their own permission record. For every proposed audience, trace how contacts joined and what they agreed to, then carry that distinction into the signup forms, imports and segments. We review that evidence with you.
For UK campaigns, the ICO's guide to PECR describes a limited soft opt-in exception for your own previous customers. Before using that exception, we ask you to confirm that the intended audience and message meet its conditions. We don't treat an order export as a ready-to-send marketing list.
We map consent details into the account and carry exclusions through the migration. Contacts with unclear permission stay out of the planned sends while you resolve their status. We check that the wording and options on your forms match the consent saved when someone signs up.
Your team gets a readable map of the signup sources and permission fields. We label which fields belong to email and which belong to SMS. Anyone can check a proposed segment without rebuilding the import.
Messages: build the logic, then the email
Before writing any email, we plan the flow: who enters, the audience, the delays, the messages and what makes someone leave. Then we write the copy, build the templates and run test contacts down every planned path before switching it on.
Take an abandoned-cart flow. We specify the point at which a purchase should stop the reminder, then test that path. For post-purchase messages, we agree which order and product details belong in the email. In a welcome sequence, we check that the signup promise matches the first message. Our welcome-flow guide covers the thinking behind that sequence.
Which flows come first depends on your data and the gaps in your current setup. Candidates are a welcome series, cart and browse reminders, post-purchase follow-up and a win-back for lapsed buyers. We define the purpose of every flow and test it before launch.
Campaigns use a separate plan: the products or news being sent, the audience, the exclusions and your approval date. Purchase history and behaviour in the account define which segments we can build. Sample profiles let you inspect that selection before approving the message and its recipients.
Klaviyo SMS sits in the same build plan, with its own permission checks, copy and send schedule. We check the combined schedule for repeated offers and clashing reminders. The plan shows when a customer would get both channels, so you can change it before either goes out.
No case study of ours names Klaviyo yet. The closest published work is Play Like A Pro Guitar, an online guitar school, where we went through the existing emails one by one, rebuilt the soloing sequence so the free practice plan leads on to the paid course, and automated the follow-up: each new enquiry receives a practice plan written for that person, as a branded PDF, with nobody in the loop. Those flows run on his own platform rather than Klaviyo, and the logic described on this page is the logic we built there.
Reporting: trace the number back to the message
Revenue per flow and per email gives your Klaviyo report its starting point. Recipient numbers and the changes made during the period sit alongside those figures. For campaigns, we keep the audience and offer visible in the report. It shows which messages need attention and what we plan to test next.
Before comparing results, we state the measurement period and the settings used to assign revenue to messages. We also compare order values in Klaviyo with those in the store. We label these as attributed revenue and show the settings used, so you can compare them fairly with your store's figures.
The next change happens at message level. If a sequence's timing looks off, for example, we test a new timing against the current one. The proposal explains the reason for the change and the number to measure. If the data is too thin to support a decision, the report says so.
The platform work sits within our email marketing service. We agree the build first, then the ongoing send plan and maintenance. You can review the proposed scope before commissioning either.
Already on Klaviyo: an audit from the connection up
An existing account can begin with a one-off audit. Store events and imported contact data come first, followed by domain setup and permission. Active flows, audience definitions and revenue reports then complete the review of the account.
You receive an ordered repair list, with the evidence behind each recommendation. We distinguish a fault that needs fixing before a send from a test worth scheduling later. Useful flows stay in place. A broken connection, for example, needs a repair before the flow relying on it can run. The audit carries that dependency into the proposed scope.
We ask for account access, the store connection details and current sending plans to scope that review.
