8 Advanced Klaviyo Marketing Tips from Ecommerce Agencies

Lindsay Kolinsky, Partner Marketing Manager

Oct 6th 2021

Klaviyo is a powerful email and SMS marketing tool that helps ecommerce businesses segment their audience, personalize campaigns, and drive more sales. The ability to connect directly with customers via their inboxes and mobile devices is invaluable to brands both big and small.

We surveyed a handful of top ecommerce agencies about how they use Klaviyo to enhance their customers’ bottom lines and increase brand loyalty. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Create a Browse Abandonment Email Sequence to Convert Chronic Window Shoppers

These 3 email tactics can help capture customers and increase your conversion rates.

• Spot your chronic window shoppers: Most ecommerce stores overlook users who have visited a particular product page several times (at least three) but have not taken any additional action. The key to converting repeat visitors is by using a browse abandonment email sequence with Klaviyo. The sequence should generate a sense of urgency paired with a scarcity tactic (e.g. “only 2 left”), convey a limited-time offer, or boost desirability by highlighting your “most popular” products.
• Test your hi’s: Subject line tests are critical to constantly improving and (hopefully) increasing open rates. We find that by testing using their first name (or not), adding in emojis, adding in scarcity, mysterious wording, short vs long subject lines are all worth testing to see which improves your open rate. Klaviyo’s statistics show that a good open rate should be above 20%, while a great one is over 25%. Likewise, testing various CTA formats could increase your click-through rate and contribute to the continuous improvement of your conversion rate.
• Make it easy Last but not least, always include an easily accessible “Contact Us” link within your emails. Some email subscribers may be on the fence and have questions about your product, and by making it easy to contact you, you’re reducing friction around them buying. The lower the friction to getting their answers, the more likely they will convert.”

From Josh Sturgeon

Co-founder at EmberTribe

 

2. Provide a Single-Use Dynamic Code to Increase Post-Purchase Orders

Leverage the power of Klaviyo’s integration with Shopify to drive repeat purchases. Create a “post-purchase” flow to present an offer to customers within 1-2 days after their first purchase. Provide a single-use dynamic code to them that will provide a dollar-off discount on a purchase with a minimum spend threshold. Send a follow-up email just prior to the expiry of the discount to users that have not completed a purchase.

From Ben Zettler

Digital Marketing and Ecommerce Consultant at Ben Zettler Digital Media

 

3. Retarget Customers Based on Their Behavior

Email segmentation is one of the biggest ways in which we amplify our Klaviyo returns. Getting the right message to the right people is incredibly simple. We speak to subscribers where they are within the customer journey and are able to retarget based upon consumer behavior. Have they opened or clicked specific emails previously, bought specific products, are they a frequent purchaser, or none of the above? You wouldn’t talk to brick-and-mortar customers the same way in all scenarios, so why send them all the same emails?

From Chase Clymer

Co-Founder at Electric Eye

 

4. Gather First-Hand Information Directly From Customers to Enhance Segmentation

Our motto here at Flowium is to “deliver the right message to the right person at the right moment.” How can you achieve this with your email marketing? Reach out to customers directly to get as much information from them as possible. With that customer data in hand, you can use Klaviyo’s advanced segmentation capabilities to group customers together and send them the most relevant messaging possible. You will rise above the inbox clutter and get your customers excited about your emails.

From Alissa Taggart

Client Services Director at Flowium

 

5. Experiment With Email Send Times to Find the Sweet Spot and Increase Open Rates

Warming up your list is essential when your account is new. The first thing we recommend is to turn on high-converting flows such as the welcome, abandoned cart, and browse abandonment flows for a couple of weeks. Then, send the first few newsletters to a highly engaged portion of your list, gradually over several hours. Once the results are in, adjust the segments until you find a sweet spot with 20% or higher open rates.

Remember that in order to set yourself up for long-term success on Klaviyo, try to focus on healthy open and click rates over revenue when you are starting out. As you regularly send to your list, you’ll continue to learn your audience and can further optimize your segments to achieve the best results and increased revenue.

From Ryan Mulvihill

Co-Founder at Email Allstars

 

6. Name Each Flow Message to Identify Those That Drive the Most Sales

My Klaviyo pro tip is something that I just encountered with a client. They were running their reporting and noticed there was a flow message named Email #1 generating a significant amount of revenue, but because they had several automations live with default email names, they couldn’t determine which flow message was contributing to the revenue at first glance.

Klaviyo Pro Tip: By naming each flow message in an automation after the automation it belongs to (Subscription Reminder 1, Loyalty Point Redemption 1), it is much easier to quickly see which messages are driving sales without needing to run advanced reports.

From Malissa Rivera

Email Marketing Specialist at Exclusive Concepts

 

7. Single Out High-Intent Shoppers With Product-Specific Abandoned Cart Flows

These three top tips come from the excerpt retention team at Noticed.

Category or product-specific versions of Abandoned Cart email flows have high potential for success. This approach singles out customers who’ve shown a high level of intent, and engages them with an email series featuring components like lifestyle photos, customer reviews, financing information, UGC, and product detail text tailored to the product or category they abandoned. For obvious reasons, this more personalized approach can be much more successful at closing the sale than a generic Abandoned Cart flow.

From Chris Gordon

Retention Team Lead at Noticed

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Personalizing the customer journey is one of the most crucial aspects when planning out your email and SMS strategies. Klaviyo’s ability to combine the two channels seamlessly allows for marketers to speak to the right customer, in the right place, at the right time. The ability to segment customers based on where they are engaging most often is a key strategy in today’s mobile-first world, allowing you to mitigate email fatigue and target customers in a highly engaged way with SMS messages.

From Stacy Strom

Director of Retention Marketing at Noticed

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Testing has shown that ‘early access’ campaigns are an effective way to create a sense of exclusivity and timeliness. Whether you’re releasing a new product, an exclusive product, or an upcoming promotion, giving your “VIP” customers a 12-24 hour head start can create higher engagement and drive more revenue than a mass-market launch. Early access campaigns for VIPs create a sense of personalization and appreciation that boost AOV in the short term while increasing brand loyalty and repeat purchases in the long term. Whether you define your VIP group based on spend, number of purchases, or engagement, the goal is making customers feel valued. Engaging a smaller set of your most loyal shoppers is key to retaining them long term and ultimately has a stronger ROI over time.

From Katherine Hans

Retention Marketing Team Lead at Noticed

8. Integrate SMS into Your Email Flows to Connect With Customers Using Different Touchpoints

SMS marketing continues to become a larger part of strategy for DTC brands and now is the time to capitalize on the momentum. Just a few months ago Klaviyo released its SMS tool and so far we have seen proven results with our eCommerce clients, and it’s only heating up. Just like Klaviyo’s email platform, their SMS tool is incredibly user-friendly. The best part is you can integrate text messages right into your existing email flows, giving you the option to connect with your customers using different touchpoints. Plus, with segmenting capabilities built-in, you’re able to get really granular with your data to speak to each individual customer at the right time in the right way.

If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend trying SMS in your Welcome Series or Cart Abandonment flows first. Try an A/B split offering discounts to two different, equal-sized groups using email and SMS to see which garners the most revenue and engagement. Klaviyo also offers great how-to resources in their resources library for more in-depth strategies! If you want to know more about utilizing Klaviyo SMS, contact us for a free consultation!

From Drew Himel

CEO & Co-Founder at PCR

 

Automate Email Marketing in an Authentic Way

Klaviyo’s suite of powerful features allows ecommerce brands to reach their customers in a more authentic way. Combining the robust selection of email flows and SMS templates with reviews and user-generated content can dramatically increase sales and revenue in the short term and long term.

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