Every Klaviyo account we inherit reports a healthy attributed revenue number. Every one of them also has at least five of the problems below. The dashboard number hides them because Klaviyo's default attribution (5-day click, plus opens on some settings) is generous. This is the audit we run before touching anything — it takes about half a day and usually finds 20–40% more revenue within a quarter.
Foundations (1–5)
- Attribution settings. Change to 3-day click-only for honest numbers. If revenue "drops" 40% when you do this, that is your real baseline.
- Dedicated sending domain with DKIM, SPF and DMARC. Check in Klaviyo → Settings → Domains & hosting. Shared domain sending in 2026 is a deliverability handicap.
- Deliverability trend. Open rate by inbox provider (Gmail vs Outlook vs Yahoo) over 90 days. A Gmail-only decline is a reputation problem. Spam complaint rate must be under 0.1%.
- List hygiene. How many profiles have not opened or clicked in 180 days? If it is over 40% of the list and they are still receiving campaigns, deliverability is being dragged down. Build a sunset flow.
- Shopify integration health. Are Placed Order, Started Checkout, Viewed Product and Added to Cart all firing? Viewed Product and Added to Cart need the onsite JavaScript — many stores lost it during a theme change.
Flows (6–13)
- Coverage. The seven core flows exist and are live: welcome, abandoned checkout, abandoned cart (Added to Cart trigger), browse abandonment, post-purchase, review request, win-back. Our flows guide details each.
- Abandoned checkout timing and length. First email within 1 hour, three emails over 72 hours, a fourth via SMS if opted in. One email at 24 hours is not a flow.
- Flow filters. "Has not placed order since starting this flow" on every abandonment flow. Missing it means customers get "you left something" after they bought.
- Welcome series conversion. Revenue per recipient across the series. If email 1 earns and 2–4 earn nothing, the later emails are not doing a job.
- Post-purchase content. Is it product education and cross-sell, or a generic "thanks"? Post-purchase should be the second-highest-earning flow in consumables.
- Win-back window matches the purchase cycle. 45 days for a 30-day consumable; 120+ days for furniture. Guessed windows are usually wrong.
- Flow messages reviewed in the last 6 months. Stale prices, discontinued products, last year's offer. Read every flow email as a customer.
- Smart Sending off in abandonment flows. Smart Sending suppresses if a campaign went recently — that is fine for browse abandonment, wrong for abandoned checkout.
Segmentation and campaigns (14–17)
- Campaigns go to segments, not "all subscribers". At minimum: engaged 90 days for regular sends; engaged 180 days for major launches; everyone-else never.
- Cadence. 1–3 campaigns a week for consumables and fashion; 2–4 a month for considered purchases. Fewer than 2 a month means you are leaving revenue; more than 4 a week burns the list.
- Segment strategy exists. VIPs (top 10% by spend), predicted next-order date, category interest, discount-only buyers. Each with at least one dedicated flow or recurring campaign.
- Campaign revenue per recipient trend. Falling RPR with stable list size means content fatigue or deliverability decline.
List growth and SMS (18–21)
- Sign-up form conversion rate. 3–6% of visitors is good; under 2% means the form, offer or timing is wrong. Test exit-intent vs 8-second delay, and a spin/two-step vs a single field.
- Forms collect SMS consent as an optional second step with proper UK wording. See the SMS guide.
- Double opt-in decision is deliberate. Single opt-in for most UK DTC brands, with a sunset flow to clean up. Double opt-in if you have had spam-trap problems.
- Profiles have useful properties. Category interest, size, pet type, skin type — anything captured in forms or via quiz apps and actually used in flows.
Benchmarks to compare against
| Metric | Needs work | Healthy | Excellent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email revenue share (3-day click) | < 15% | 25–35% | > 40% |
| Flow share of email revenue | < 30% | 45–60% | > 65% |
| Abandoned checkout flow recovery | < 3% | 5–10% | > 12% |
| Campaign click rate (engaged segment) | < 1% | 2–3% | > 4% |
| Sign-up form conversion | < 2% | 3–5% | > 6% |
| List engaged in 90 days | < 30% | 40–55% | > 60% |
What to fix first
Order of impact on almost every account: (1) attribution honesty and deliverability, because everything else is measured through them; (2) abandoned checkout and welcome flows, because they are the highest-volume triggers; (3) segmentation of campaigns, because it fixes list fatigue; (4) list growth, because it compounds. On the Sleepy UK account, the list went from under 300 to 1,500+ in eight weeks mostly on items 6–9 and 18.
The purpose of an audit is not a report. It is a ranked list of things that will be different in 30 days.
Frequently asked questions
How often should you audit a Klaviyo account?
A full audit twice a year, plus a monthly check of deliverability, flow performance and list engagement. Audit immediately after any theme change, platform migration or sending-domain change.
What percentage of revenue should come from Klaviyo?
With honest 3-day click attribution, 25–35% of total revenue is healthy for a Shopify DTC brand; over 40% is excellent. Flows should account for around half of that email revenue.
Why is my Klaviyo attributed revenue so high?
Klaviyo's default attribution window (5-day click and, historically, opens) credits email for orders that would have happened anyway. Switch to 3-day click-only to see a more realistic figure.
What are the most important Klaviyo flows?
Abandoned checkout, welcome series and post-purchase are the three highest-earning flows for most brands, followed by browse abandonment, win-back and review request.
Want this done for you?
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