How to Improve Your Klaviyo Deliverability Score

Email deliverability is a cornerstone of successful e-commerce marketing. Without a high deliverability score, your emails may end up in spam folders instead of reaching your audience's inboxes. For marketers using Klaviyo, understanding how to improve email deliverability is critical to boosting engagement, reducing bounces, and maximizing revenue.

What Is Email Deliverability in Klaviyo?

Email deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to land in subscribers' inboxes rather than their spam folders. A high deliverability score ensures better inbox placement, higher open rates, and reduced bounce rates. In Klaviyo, tools like the Deliverability Hub provide insights into sender reputation and actionable metrics for improvement.

Steps to Improve Your Klaviyo Deliverability Score

1. Authenticate Your Sending Domain

Proper authentication builds trust with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and prevents email spoofing. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols in Klaviyo by navigating to Account > Settings > Domains and Hosting. Verify your domain to ensure all authentication checks are marked as complete.

2. Maintain a Clean Email List

A healthy email list is essential for improving deliverability. Regularly clean your list by suppressing hard bounces, spam complaints, and inactive subscribers. Use Klaviyo’s Suppressed Profiles feature under Lists & Segments to automate this process. Additionally, enable double opt-in for new subscribers to prevent invalid email addresses from entering your list.

3. Monitor Key Metrics

Track engagement metrics like open rates, click rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints using the Deliverability Hub. Aim for benchmarks such as:

Open Rate: Above 20%
Bounce Rate: Below 2%
Spam Complaint Rate: Below 0.1%

The hub also provides alerts for performance drops, helping you take corrective action before issues escalate.

4. Segment Your Audience

Sending targeted campaigns to engaged subscribers improves deliverability. Create dynamic segments in Klaviyo based on activity (e.g., opened or clicked an email in the last 90 days). Avoid sending mass emails to unengaged contacts.

5. Send Relevant and High-Quality Content

Craft personalized emails using dynamic blocks and tags like {{ first_name }}. Avoid spam trigger words such as "Free" or "Act Now" in subject lines and maintain a balanced text-to-image ratio (60:40). Test emails before sending using Klaviyo’s Preview Mode to ensure proper formatting.

6. Use Smart Sending

Prevent overloading subscribers by enabling Smart Sending under Account Settings > Email Settings. This feature automatically skips sending emails to recipients who have recently received one from you.

7. Leverage the Deliverability Hub

Klaviyo’s Deliverability Hub centralizes all metrics related to email performance, including bounce reports and inbox provider breakdowns. Use this tool proactively to diagnose issues and follow troubleshooting guides tailored to specific problems.

Best Practices for Boosting Inbox Placement

Warm Up Your Domain: When using a new domain, start with small email batches and gradually increase send volume.
Implement a Preference Center: Allow subscribers to choose their email frequency and content preferences through Klaviyo’s form builder.
Avoid Large Spikes in Email Volume: Maintain consistent sending practices to build a positive sender reputation.
Run Re-engagement Campaigns: Before removing inactive subscribers, send targeted campaigns offering incentives like discounts or exclusive content.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Ignoring List Hygiene: Neglecting regular clean-ups leads to higher bounce rates and spam complaints.
Over-Sending Emails: Bombarding subscribers with frequent emails damages your sender reputation.
Using Generic Campaigns: Failing to segment audiences results in irrelevant messaging that reduces engagement.

Conclusion

Improving your Klaviyo deliverability score requires a combination of technical setup, strategic segmentation, and high-quality content creation. By authenticating your domain, maintaining list hygiene, monitoring key metrics, and leveraging tools like the Deliverability Hub, you can ensure your emails reach their intended audience effectively.

If your email program is underperforming or you’re unsure how to optimize deliverability, let’s talk.

At Dispatch, we specialize in helping brands maximize revenue from email & SMS marketing without damaging subscriber engagement.

Connect with Dispatch today to optimize your email marketing strategy!

Watch The Only Ecommerce Email & SMS Marketing Video You Will Ever Need for more tips on improving your email campaigns!