10 Klaviyo Settings You Need to Get Right
The account settings most brands never touch, and the ones quietly hurting your deliverability and revenue. A ZHS checklist for a clean Klaviyo setup.
Why Your Settings Matter More Than Your Templates
Klaviyo has 100+ settings spread across 33 pages.
Run the defaults and you are probably leaving money on the table without knowing it.
These are the exact 10 we check the moment a new client hands us their account.
Most are one-time fixes. All of them protect revenue or deliverability.
1. Send Time vs. Scheduled Time
Go to Settings, Account, Campaign sending defaults. Always pick Send Time.
If you schedule campaigns weeks ahead the way we do for clients, anyone who joins your list after you build the calendar will not receive those emails on Scheduled Time.
Send Time evaluates the audience when the email actually goes out, so new subscribers get included. Scheduled Time locks the audience early and quietly skips them.
That is missed revenue on every send.
2. Branded Sending Domain
Go to Settings, Account, Domains. Set up your branded email sending domain. This one is non-negotiable.
Without it, your deliverability tanks and your emails start landing in spam.
Connect it through GoDaddy, Cloudflare, or wherever your DNS lives. Then check it regularly, because it can disconnect on its own and you will not get a warning.
A disconnected domain silently kills your inbox placement.
Branded sending domains can drop their connection without notice. Add a monthly check to your calendar so you catch it before your deliverability slides.
3. Single vs. Double Opt-In
Go to your main list, then Settings, Consent. Klaviyo defaults to double opt-in. Unless you are facing serious deliverability problems, switch to single opt-in.
Double opt-in creates massive drop-off in new subscriber growth. Every extra click you demand is another chance for someone to never confirm.
Single opt-in keeps your list growing at full speed. Save double for cases where you genuinely need the extra filter.
4. Billing and Overspend
Go to Settings, Billing. Klaviyo is not cheap, and SMS costs get brutal fast if you are sloppy.
Check two numbers every month: your active profile usage, and your email/SMS send volume against your plan limits.
Brands waste thousands here monthly by drifting over a tier they never needed. Watch it before the bill surprises you.
The Tracking and Attribution Settings
These four decide whether your numbers can be trusted.
| Setting | Why it matters | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Email tracking (Settings, Email Tracking) | Ties clicks and opens back to on-site behavior | Turn on email-to-website tracking. Place the tracker at the bottom by default, move to the top if you see click-tracking issues |
| Attribution (Settings, Attribution) | Keeps your revenue reporting honest | Exclude transactional messages, bot interactions, and Apple Mail privacy opens. Stick with 5-day click/open for email, 1-day click for SMS |
| Anonymous visitor tracking (Settings, Data) | Captures more of your site traffic as profiles | Enable it |
| Shopify additional tracking (Settings, Data) | Powers browse and product flows | Enable Viewed Product tracking, behavioral events, and confirm the Klaviyo app embed is on in Shopify |
Tighten the attribution windows if you send heavy volume or a client prefers a stricter view.
The defaults work for most brands.
9. Preference and Confirmation Pages
Go to Settings, Other, Consent Pages. You can edit your preference, subscribe, unsubscribe, and email confirmation pages. By default they look ugly.
Add your brand colors, logo, and copy that actually sounds like you.
It is a small detail, but it separates you from the thousands of brands that leave these on the generic template. People notice when your unsubscribe page still feels on-brand.
10. Global UTM Tracking
Go to Settings, Other, UTM Tracking. Turn on automatic UTM parameters globally.
Set it once and every email and SMS carries consistent tracking.
Skip it and your marketing attribution gets messy fast, with half your links tagged and half of them naked.
Clean UTMs mean you can actually see what email and SMS drive in Google Analytics and Shopify.
Common Mistakes
- Leaving Scheduled Time on. New subscribers get skipped on pre-built campaigns. Switch to Send Time.
- Never setting a branded sending domain. Deliverability tanks. Set it up, then check it monthly for silent disconnects.
- Keeping double opt-in by default. It crushes list growth. Use single opt-in unless deliverability forces your hand.
- Ignoring billing. Profile and send overages waste thousands a month. Review the numbers every month.
- Skipping global UTMs. Attribution turns to guesswork. Turn on automatic UTM parameters once and forget it.
- Leaving attribution wide open. Bot opens and Apple Mail privacy inflate your numbers. Exclude them and tighten your windows.
Get Expert Help
Our team audits a handful of brands each week, and most have several of these settings wrong before we touch anything. If you want a clean Klaviyo setup that protects deliverability and revenue from Day 1, our team handles the whole configuration for you.
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