Why did my email open rates suddenly drop after migrating to Klaviyo?

Key findings

• Reputation Reset: Migrating to a new email service provider (ESP) or setting up a dedicated sending domain often means starting fresh with your sender reputation. Even with proper warm-up, this new sending identity needs to build trust with internet service providers (ISPs).
• Engagement Impact: A primary driver of inbox placement is recipient engagement. Sending to a list with a high percentage of unengaged contacts can quickly damage your sender reputation, causing emails to land in spam folders or be blocked entirely. This problem is discussed further in our guide on what causes a sudden drop in email open rates.
• Authentication Gaps: Incomplete or incorrect setup of email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on the new platform can severely impact deliverability, leading to emails being flagged as suspicious.
• List Quality: If the 'whole list' includes a significant portion of unengaged or stale contacts, this can negatively affect open rates even if your engaged segments perform well. The HubSpot Community highlights how an open rate decrease isn't always a deliverability issue directly.
• Content and Frequency: Changes in campaign content or sending frequency after migration, even if subtle, can affect how recipients interact with your emails, influencing open rates.

Key considerations

• Monitor All KPIs: While open rates are down, observe other metrics like clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, and spam complaints. If clicks remain stable or increase while opens plummet, it might indicate a deliverability issue where emails are landing in spam, not a lack of interest. Low bounces are positive, but high unsubscribes or spam complaints signal deeper problems.
• Segment by Engagement: Avoid sending campaigns to a large, unengaged portion of your list. Focus on highly engaged segments initially on the new platform to build a strong reputation. Our page on marketing automation platform switches provides more insights.
• Thorough Warm-up: Even with initial warm-up, increasing volume too quickly or sending to less engaged segments can disrupt the process. A sustained, gradual increase is often necessary, especially when migrating large lists.
• Investigate Pre-existing Issues: Sometimes, deliverability problems on a previous ESP might not have been fully apparent or could carry over to a new platform if not addressed.
• Content and Acquisition Review: Scrutinize campaign content for any changes that might trigger spam filters or reduce recipient interest. Also, review recent contact acquisition methods for any anomalies that could introduce low-quality subscribers.

Key opinions

• Engagement as a Culprit: Many marketers quickly suspect low engagement as the primary driver for spam folder placement. This aligns with findings detailed in our guide on sudden open rate drops.
• List Health Concerns: A mixed-engagement list (e.g., 40% engaged, 40% not engaged) can dilute overall performance and trigger spam filters on new platforms. Marketers stress that emailing unengaged contacts drags down the entire domain's reputation.
• Platform Specifics: Some marketers point out that Klaviyo's open rate reporting might differ or even be 'manipulated' compared to other ESPs, or that its code editor can sometimes lead to email clipping, affecting open tracking. However, the original poster confirmed no clipping in their case.
• Content and Acquisition: The content of new campaigns or changes in how contacts are acquired are frequently cited as potential hidden variables. Even if not immediately obvious, these changes can impact how ISPs perceive your sending.
• Authentication Importance: Even with SPF and DKIM set up, marketers often emphasize the need for DMARC implementation and proper alignment to boost trust with mailbox providers like Gmail, as detailed in our article on Gmail open rate issues.

Key considerations

• Test Spam Placement: If engagement seems good but opens are low, a crucial step is to test email placement to see if messages are landing in the spam folder. This can be done using seed lists or a deliverability testing tool.
• Segment Aggressively: For critical sending periods, prioritize sending only to your most engaged subscribers to protect your sender reputation. This means excluding inactive segments, even if they were included on a previous platform.
• Review Migration Steps: Carefully retrace the migration process, ensuring that suppression lists, unsubscribe lists, and all necessary DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) were correctly set up and are functioning as intended on Klaviyo.
• Content and Offer Audit: An honest assessment of campaign content and offers is vital. If they've become stale, less relevant, or repetitive, recipients may be less likely to open, even if the email arrives in the inbox. As InboxArmy states, sudden spikes in spam placement can indicate authentication misalignment, or other issues.
• Check Tracking Pixel Placement: Although confirmed as not clipped in this case, it's a valid consideration for Klaviyo. Ensure the open tracking pixel is placed high in the email's HTML to prevent clipping by mail clients like Gmail, which could artificially depress open rates.

Key opinions

• Reputation is Key: Email deliverability experts agree that sender reputation is the single most critical factor influencing inbox placement. A migration effectively 'resets' this reputation, making the initial sending behavior on the new platform highly influential.
• Engagement Drives Placement: Beyond simple open rates, overall engagement metrics (clicks, replies, forwards) are what ISPs truly value. A drop in opens often signifies that emails are not reaching the primary inbox, directly impacting conversions, as seen in the Email Deliverability Issues blog post.
• Authentication Gaps: Any misconfiguration or incomplete setup of DMARC, SPF, or DKIM on the new sending domain can lead to emails being rejected or sent to spam, irrespective of content. This is a foundational element for trusted sending.
• Monitoring Tools: Experts strongly recommend leveraging tools like Google Postmaster Tools. These provide direct feedback from major mailbox providers on sender reputation, spam rates, and authentication errors, offering crucial insights into deliverability problems, which we cover in our ultimate guide to Google Postmaster Tools V2.
• Holistic Approach: A sudden drop often isn't due to one factor but a combination of changes in sending behavior, list quality, content, and the perception of the new sending infrastructure by ISPs. Sender.net points out that content and sender reputation are two of the biggest factors affecting deliverability.

Key considerations

• DMARC Monitoring: Actively monitor DMARC reports. These provide detailed feedback on how your emails are being authenticated and handled by recipient servers, helping identify significant authentication failures or suspicious sending patterns.
• Segment Engagement Rigorously: To recover reputation quickly, send only to your most engaged segments. Gradually reintroduce less active segments once reputation stabilizes, if at all. This is a core part of boosting email deliverability rates.
• Content and Audience Alignment: Ensure your content resonates deeply with your audience and meets their expectations. Irrelevant content can lead to low engagement, high deletes-without-opening, and spam complaints, all of which harm reputation.
• Check Blocklists: Although Gmail primarily uses internal blacklists, other mailbox providers still reference public blocklists. Check if your new sending IP or domain has been listed, as this would severely impede delivery.
• Review Warm-up Strategy: Re-evaluate the warm-up plan. If volumes increased too rapidly or engaged segments weren't prioritized, it could have triggered spam filters on the new platform.

Key findings

• Authentication Foundation: Documentation consistently states that proper implementation and alignment of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are fundamental. Without these, emails are highly likely to be marked as spam or rejected, affecting open rates and broader deliverability, as detailed in our simple guide to DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
• Sender Reputation Building: Mailbox providers' documentation (e.g., Google, Microsoft, Yahoo) details that sender reputation is built on consistent positive engagement (opens, clicks, replies) and low negative feedback (spam complaints, unsubscribes, bounces). A migration can disrupt this established reputation.
• Warm-up Protocols: New IPs and sending domains require a structured warm-up process, gradually increasing volume over time while sending to highly engaged recipients. This helps ISPs learn to trust the new sending source.
• List Hygiene Importance: Official guidelines emphasize maintaining a clean and consented email list. Sending to stale addresses or spam traps can rapidly damage reputation, leading to blocklistings and reduced inbox placement. Our page on email deliverability issues provides a broader context.

Key considerations

• Klaviyo Migration Guides: Consult Klaviyo's specific documentation on migrating from other ESPs. These guides often contain critical steps and best practices for their platform's unique deliverability requirements and warm-up recommendations.
• Verify DNS Records: Double-check that all DNS records, especially SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, are correctly configured for your sending domain within Klaviyo and with your DNS provider. Even a minor error can cause authentication failures.
• Review Postmaster Tool Insights: Leverage data from Google Postmaster Tools and other mailbox provider feedback loops. These tools provide direct insights into your sender reputation, spam rates, and DMARC authentication results, offering actionable data for troubleshooting. Google's own bulk sender guidelines are a prime example.
• Content Compliance: Ensure your email content and sending practices comply with the latest anti-spam legislation (e.g., CAN-SPAM, GDPR) and mailbox provider-specific content policies to avoid complaints and blacklists.