Segmentation & Personalization: The Klaviyo Playbook

The stores that send the same email to their entire list wonder why open rates keep dropping. The stores that segment properly see 2–3x higher click rates and 3–5x higher revenue per campaign. Segmentation isn’t optional. It’s the foundation of every effective email program.

Here’s the exact segmentation framework we build in Klaviyo for every Shopify client at SendoraLab.

The 8 Segments You Need

Engagement-Based Segments

1. Engaged Subscribers (30 days): Opened or clicked any email in the last 30 days. This is your primary campaign send list. These people are actively paying attention.
2. Semi-Engaged (31–90 days): Active in the last 90 days but not in the last 30. Still reachable, but reduce your sending frequency to 2x per month maximum.
3. Unengaged (90+ days): No opens or clicks in 90+ days. Move these into a sunset flow or suppress them. Continuing to email unengaged subscribers hurts your deliverability for everyone else.

Purchase-Based Segments

4. First-Time Buyers: Placed exactly 1 order. These people are your biggest opportunity — getting them to a second purchase is the hardest step, but it dramatically increases lifetime value.
5. Repeat Buyers (2+ orders): Your most valuable segment. They already trust you. Treat them like VIPs with exclusive offers and early access.
6. High-AOV Customers: Placed an order with value above your store average. Target them with premium products, bundles, and upsells.
7. At-Risk Churners: Klaviyo’s predictive analytics flags customers with high churn risk. Trigger win-back offers before they disappear completely.
8. VIP (Top 10% by Revenue): Lifetime value in the top decile. These customers deserve exclusive access, early product drops, and personal touches.

How to Build These Segments in Klaviyo

In Klaviyo, go to Lists & Segments → Create Segment. Here are the exact conditions for the most important segments:

Personalization Tactics That Actually Work

• Dynamic product blocks: Show products based on what each subscriber has browsed or bought. Klaviyo pulls this data from Shopify automatically.
• Conditional content: Show different CTA copy or offers to first-time buyers vs repeat buyers in the same campaign. No need to create separate emails.
• Location-based content: Adjust hero images or copy by subscriber country or region. A summer sale image doesn’t work when half your audience is in winter.
• Purchase-history personalization: Reference their last product purchased by name in subject lines. “How’s your [Product Name] working out?” gets opened.
• Predicted next order date: Time replenishment emails using Klaviyo’s predictive analytics. If someone buys coffee every 3 weeks, send the reminder at week 2.5.

The Impact: Segmented vs Unsegmented

Here’s what we typically see when clients move from full-list sends to proper segmentation:

Common Segmentation Mistakes

• Only segmenting by purchase count: Engagement matters just as much. A repeat buyer who hasn’t opened an email in 90 days shouldn’t get your campaigns.
• Too many segments too early: Start with 3 (Engaged, Semi-Engaged, Unengaged). Add purchase-based segments once you have enough data.
• Never updating segments: Segments in Klaviyo update automatically, but you should review your segment sizes monthly to spot trends.
• Ignoring the unengaged: Suppressing 90-day unengaged profiles feels scary, but it dramatically improves deliverability and performance for everyone else on your list.