Klaviyo Segmentation Masterclass: From Beginner to Advanced

Segmentation is the difference between email marketing that works and email marketing that prints money. Sending the same email to your entire list is like shouting into a crowd — some people hear you, most don't care, and a few get annoyed enough to leave.

After building segmentation strategies for 150+ DTC brands on Klaviyo, we've consistently seen a 40-60% revenue increase when brands move from blast-to-all to properly segmented sends. Here's how to get there, from the basics to advanced techniques.

Level 1: Beginner Segments (Start Here)

If you're not segmenting at all, these four foundational segments will immediately improve your email performance:

1. Engaged vs. Unengaged

This is the most important segment you'll ever build. Create two groups:

• Engaged: Opened or clicked an email in the last 90 days
• Unengaged: Has NOT opened or clicked in 90+ days

Send your campaigns to engaged subscribers first. This protects your sender reputation, improves deliverability, and ensures your emails land in the primary inbox.

2. Buyers vs. Non-Buyers

Someone who has purchased from you is fundamentally different from someone who hasn't. They need different messages:

• Buyers: Cross-sells, loyalty rewards, new arrivals, referral programs
• Non-buyers: Social proof, first-purchase incentives, education about your products

3. New Subscribers (Last 30 Days)

Fresh subscribers are your most engaged audience. They opted in recently and are still in "discovery mode." Don't drown them in promotional emails — nurture them with your best content and brand story.

4. VIPs (Top 10% by Revenue)

Your top customers deserve special treatment. In Klaviyo, create a segment of customers whose total CLV is in the top 10%. Give them early access, exclusive offers, and a VIP experience.

Level 2: Intermediate Segments

Engagement Tiers (4-Level System)

Upgrade your basic engaged/unengaged split into four tiers:

1. Active (0-30 days): Opened or clicked in the last 30 days. Send everything — they want to hear from you.
2. Engaged (31-90 days): Opened in the last 31-90 days. Send campaigns 3-4x/week.
3. At-Risk (91-180 days): Last engagement 91-180 days ago. Send only your best-performing campaigns 1-2x/week. Start re-engagement flow.
4. Inactive (180+ days): No engagement in 6+ months. Enter sunset flow or suppress from campaigns entirely.

Purchase Frequency Segments

• One-time buyers: Need a nudge to become repeat customers. Cross-sell, education, and second-purchase incentives.
• Repeat buyers (2-3 orders): Building a habit. Reward loyalty, introduce subscription options.
• Loyal customers (4+ orders): Your best customers. VIP treatment, referral program, ambassador opportunities.

Average Order Value (AOV) Tiers

Segment by spending level to personalize your offers:

• Budget shoppers: Respond to discounts and bundles
• Mid-range: Respond to value propositions and social proof
• Premium: Respond to exclusivity and new arrivals — don't discount to these customers

Product Category Interest

In Klaviyo, you can segment based on what products people have viewed or purchased. If someone bought skincare, don't email them about haircare next week. Use browse and purchase data to send relevant product recommendations.

Level 3: Advanced Segments

RFM Modeling

RFM stands for Recency, Frequency, Monetary value. It's the gold standard for customer segmentation. In Klaviyo, you can build this using calculated properties:

• Recency: How recently did they purchase? (Score 1-5)
• Frequency: How often do they purchase? (Score 1-5)
• Monetary: How much do they spend? (Score 1-5)

Combine these scores to identify your "Champions" (5-5-5), "At-Risk High Value" (1-4-5), "New Customers" (5-1-1), and every segment in between. Each gets a tailored strategy.

Predictive Analytics

Klaviyo's predictive analytics lets you segment based on future behavior:

• Predicted CLV: Target high-potential customers who haven't spent much yet but are likely to
• Churn risk: Identify customers likely to churn and intervene with win-back campaigns
• Expected date of next order: Send reminders right before they're likely to reorder
• Gender prediction: Personalize product recommendations

Custom Event-Based Segments

Beyond standard Klaviyo events, track custom events to build hyper-specific segments:

• Customers who've used a specific feature
• Subscribers who've watched a video on your site
• Users who've taken a product quiz
• People who've referred friends

The Sunset Flow: Cleaning Your List

A clean list is a profitable list. Your sunset flow targets inactive subscribers with a final re-engagement sequence before removing them:

1. Email 1 (Day 0): "We miss you" — share what's new since they last engaged
2. Email 2 (Day 3): "Exclusive comeback offer" — give them a reason to return
3. Email 3 (Day 7): "Last chance" — let them know they'll be removed from the list
4. Suppression (Day 10): If no engagement, suppress from all campaigns

It feels counterintuitive to remove subscribers, but a smaller, engaged list outperforms a large, dead one every time. We've seen deliverability improvements of 15-20% after proper list cleaning.

Your Next Step

Start with Level 1 segments today — they take 15 minutes to set up in Klaviyo and immediately improve your results. Then build up to intermediate and advanced segments as you get comfortable.

If you want us to build a complete segmentation strategy for your brand, we do this every day for DTC brands on Klaviyo.