May 31, 2024

Klaviyo Audit Expert Series: Segments & Lists

WHEN YOU FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE YOU’LL KNOW:

How to audit your Klaviyo lists and segments and create an effective email strategy.
Steps to create and maintain clean email lists to enhance deliverability.
Techniques for segmenting your audience to improve targeting and engagement.
Best practices for optimizing your email marketing performance.
Strategies to ensure your campaigns are aligned with your business goals.

Klaviyo is a robust email marketing platform designed to help businesses build strong relationships with their customers through personalized communication. As an essential tool for email marketers, Klaviyo offers powerful features for segmentation, automation, and detailed analytics. However, to ensure your email marketing game is best in class, it’s crucial to maintain clean and well-segmented email lists.

Clean lists ensure that your emails reach the right audience, reducing bounce rates, spam rates, and improving deliverability.
Well-segmented lists allow for targeted messaging that resonates with different customer groups, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

This article will show you the process of auditing your Klaviyo lists and segments. By following this comprehensive audit process, you can optimize your email marketing performance, ensuring that your campaigns are effective and aligned with your business goals. Whether you’re new to Klaviyo or looking to enhance your existing setup, these insights will help you identify areas for improvement and implement best practices for superior results.

WHY CONDUCT A KLAVIYO AUDIT OF YOUR LISTS & SEGMENTS?

Regular audits of your Klaviyo lists and segments are essential for maintaining optimal email marketing performance. These audits offer numerous benefits, including improved deliverability, engagement, and return on investment (ROI).

By regularly reviewing and cleaning your email lists, you can identify inactive subscribers who no longer engage with your content.
Removing these inactive contacts helps reduce spam complaints and enhances your sender reputation, ensuring that your emails reach the inbox rather than the spam folder.
Additionally, audits can reveal gaps in your segmentation strategy, allowing you to refine your targeting for more personalized and relevant communication.
Well-maintained lists and accurate segments are foundational to a successful email marketing strategy, as they enable you to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

Ultimately, regular audits help you maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns, driving better engagement and achieving your business objectives.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR LISTS & AUDIENCE SEGMENTS?

In Klaviyo, understanding the distinction between lists and segments is crucial for effective email marketing.

Lists are static groups of contacts that you collect through sign-up forms, imports, or manual additions. They should be used sparingly (if ever) when you’re sending email campaigns. The reason is, a contact that entered a list will stay there forever unless they unsubscribe. Therefore, a list is not necessarily up to date, and just because someone is in a list doesn’t mean they want to receive your emails.
On the other hand, segments are dynamic groups of contacts created based on specific criteria or behaviors, such as purchase history, email engagement, or on-site activity. Unlike lists, segments automatically update as contacts meet or no longer meet the defined criteria. Therefore, they are always up to date. This dynamic nature allows for more precise targeting and personalization in your email marketing campaigns.

Identifying Issues and Areas for Improvement

To effectively identify and prioritize issues during your Klaviyo audit, use the PUE framework: Potential, Urgency, and Ease. Create a spreadsheet with columns for each factor and follow these steps:

List Findings: Document all identified issues and areas for improvement.
Assign Potential: Evaluate the potential positive outcome on your goals (High, Medium, Low).
Assess Urgency: Rate each finding’s urgency (High, Medium, Low).
Evaluate Ease: Determine the ease of implementation (Easy, Moderate, Difficult).

Auditing Your Klaviyo Profiles Section

Auditing your Klaviyo Profiles section is a great way to get a high-level overview of your account and identify potential areas for improvement.

To Access the Profiles Section:

Log in to your Klaviyo account.
Navigate to the “Profiles” section from the main dashboard.

Get a High-Level Overview:

Note the total number of profiles (each is a separate email address).
Identify the number of active profiles (those who have not been suppressed).
Check the number of suppressed profiles (those who have unsubscribed, bounced, or manually suppressed).

Scenario 1:
If suppressed profiles are a very small portion of active profiles, your account might need cleaning. Consider running a list cleaning process to remove inactive or unengaged contacts:

Scenario 2:
If the number of active profiles is significantly larger than the size of your campaign segments, you may be under-utilizing your list when you send email campaigns. Reassess your segmentation criteria to include more profiles, thereby increasing your targeting potential.

List Cleaning Best Practices

Maintaining a clean email list is crucial for ensuring high deliverability and engagement rates in your email campaigns. Here are some best practices to keep your Klaviyo lists in top shape:

Consistent List Cleaning Schedule: Implement a fixed list cleaning schedule, ideally every two months. Regular cleaning helps remove inactive or unengaged subscribers, reducing the risk of spam complaints and improving your sender reputation.

Automated Sunset Flows: These automated email sequences attempt subscriber re-engagement and, if unsuccessful, eventually mark them for removal from your list to keep it healthy.

Sunset Long-Term Inactivity: Set up sunset flows for users who have been inactive over a long period.
Sunset Early Inactivity: Implement a sunset flow at the beginning of the user journey. Identify and filter out users who subscribed but never interacted with any content, either via email or on-site, within their first two weeks. These “ticking bombs” have a high chance of being spam traps.

Further, consider creating branded preference pages where subscribers can update their interests and frequency of communication. This allows you to keep your list relevant and engaged by aligning with their preferences.

Auditing How People Enter Your Klaviyo Lists

To ensure you’re capturing high-quality leads, it’s essential to audit how people enter your Klaviyo lists. Start by reviewing all entry points:

Sign-up forms
Integrations with other platforms
Data imports (via API or other)
Manual additions

Assess the effectiveness and efficiency of each entry point. For example, evaluate your sign-up forms for clarity and ease of use, and check that integrations are correctly pulling in relevant data. Imports should be scrutinized for accuracy, and manual additions need to be verified for compliance with your data policies.

Tip: One of the easiest ways to spot mistakes is to go through the process of signing up yourself with a test account. This lets you experience what true users experience.

Next, be sure to check each of your lists separately to understand whether they use a single opt-in or a double opt-in process.

Differences between Single Opt-In vs. Double Opt-In Processes

Single opt-in allows users to subscribe to your email list with just one action, such as filling out a sign-up form. Double opt-in, however, requires users to confirm their subscription via a follow-up email. The advantage of single opt-in is that the subscription process is faster, and therefore you’re netting higher subscriber numbers.

The disadvantage is that there’s an increased risk of fake or mistyped email addresses, and higher likelihood of spam complaints.
In contrast, a double opt-in process ensures all email addresses are valid and confirms genuine interest from all subscribers.

If you’re not working with a professional CRM marketer, our recommendation is to use double opt-in. If you do, we suggest using a single opt-in process, as they should be able to monitor the health of your subscribers and mitigate risks.

Best Practices for Opt-In Popups

Start by making your forms visually appealing and easy to understand. Use concise and persuasive language to communicate the value of subscribing, such as exclusive offers, updates, or valuable content. Ensure that the form fields are minimal and only ask for essential information to reduce friction.

Here are 3 techniques to try:

You’ve got X: Highlight the value or exclusive offer subscribers will receive.

Social Proof / Full Screen: Use testimonials or trust signals to encourage sign-ups:

Gamification: Implement interactive elements like spin-to-win wheels to engage users.

Monitor your opt-in and lead to conversion rates to ensure your forms are performing well and make adjustments as needed. By focusing on clarity, value, and continuous improvement through consistent A/B testing, you can create effective opt-in forms that attract and retain engaged subscribers.

Auditing Your Klaviyo Segments

Regularly auditing your Klaviyo segments is crucial for maintaining effective email marketing. Start by reviewing and refining existing segments to ensure they align with your marketing goals. Your number one first goal should be to increase the reach of your campaigns, thus driving more email traffic to your website, and converting more subscribers into shoppers.

QUESTION 1: Are You Currently Utilizing an ‘Engaged Campaign Segment’?

An ‘Engaged Campaign Segment’ consists of subscribers who have recently interacted with your emails or website. This interaction can include opening emails, clicking links, or visiting your site. By focusing on these engaged users, you increase the chances of higher open and click-through rates, leading to better campaign performance.

If you’re not using one, start by creating one. Here’s an example definition to use for your engaged segment conditions:

Opened Email at least once in the last 30 days OR
Clicked Email at least once in the last 30 days OR
Active On Site at least once in the last 30 days OR
Viewed Product at least once in the last 30 days OR
Started Checkout at least once in the last 30 days OR
Placed Order at least once in the last 30 days.

QUESTION 2: Are you targeting a significant portion of your addressable audience with your ‘Engaged Campaign Segment’?

Circle back to the Profiles section of your Klaviyo account.
Compare the number of Active Profiles vs. the Targeted Profiles you’re including in your Engaged Campaign Segment.
If the latter group is significantly smaller than the Active Profiles group, you might be able to expand your segmentation criteria and increase your targeted Engaged Campaign Segment.

Klaviyo Audit Services Offered by YOCTO

If you found this article relevant for your email marketing strategy, then you should know YOCTO offers comprehensive Klaviyo audit services designed to optimize your email marketing strategy. Our audits cover a wide range of areas to ensure every aspect of your Klaviyo account is performing at its best.

Data Analysis and Performance Over the Last 2 Years: We analyze historical data to identify trends and opportunities for improvement in your email marketing efforts.
Deliverability Audit: Assess and enhance your email deliverability to ensure your messages reach the inbox and avoid spam filters. Great for resolving technical issues that spiral out of control and create deliverability issues.
Sign-Up Paths Audit: Review all sign-up paths to optimize lead capture and improve the quality of your subscriber list.
Flow Automation Audit: Evaluate and refine your automated email flows to ensure they are effectively nurturing leads and converting subscribers.
Lists & Segments Audit: Analyze your lists and segments to ensure they are clean, well-maintained, and effectively targeted.
Campaigns Audit: Review your email campaigns for engagement, design, and content effectiveness, providing actionable recommendations for improvement.
Experimentation Maturity Audit: Assess the sophistication of your testing and experimentation strategies to maximize learning and optimize campaign performance.

If this is not for you, here’s our comprehensive guide on how to audit your Klaviyo account without an agency.

Why Work with a Klaviyo Master Platinum Partner for Your Audit

Partnering with a Klaviyo Master Platinum Partner like YOCTO ensures your email marketing strategy is in expert hands. Here’s why you should choose us:

One of the Top Agencies in the USA & Europe: Independently vetted by Klaviyo as one of the leading agencies in the USA & Europe, we bring a wealth of experience and expertise to your audits.
Proven Results: Our methods deliver consistent, reliable results, eliminating guesswork and providing a clear path to achieving your revenue and retention goals.
Experience with Top Brands: We’ve worked with some of the best brands in the world, such as Tesonet (valued at $3 billion) as well as the fastest-growing startups too, like Miracare, the #1 fem tech brand in the USA. Our experience spans diverse industries and business sizes, ensuring tailored solutions that work.

By choosing YOCTO, you gain access to unparalleled expertise and a track record of success, helping you unlock the full potential of your Klaviyo account.

Process and Deliverables of a Klaviyo Audit with YOCTO

Our Klaviyo audit process is thorough and designed to provide you with actionable insights to improve your email marketing strategy. Here’s what you can expect:

Discovery Call: Book a no-cost, no-commitment discovery call by clicking the link below. During this call, we will learn more about your brand and specific needs.
Comprehensive Audit: We conduct an in-depth analysis of your Klaviyo account, covering data performance, deliverability, sign-up paths, flow automation, lists & segments, campaigns, and experimentation maturity.
Detailed Report: Receive a 50+ page slide deck detailing all areas for improvement, including actionable recommendations tailored to your brand. This report covers every aspect of your email marketing strategy, ensuring no stone is left unturned.

Book your discovery call today to start the journey toward optimized performance and increased ROI.

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