Klaviyo emails usually go to spam because you're still sending on Klaviyo's shared sending domain, so Gmail and Yahoo see email authenticated for klaviyomail.com instead of for your business, and it fails DMARC for your domain. The other common cause is sending to people who no longer open your emails, which pushes spam complaints up.
The fix for most stores: send from your own domain, connect a branded sending domain in Klaviyo, publish a DMARC record, and stop emailing people who never engage.
Cause 1: you're on Klaviyo's shared sending domain
Klaviyo says most accounts start out on a shared IP and a shared Klaviyo domain. Your From address says hello@yourbusiness.com, but everything behind it belongs to Klaviyo:
- The hidden bounce address (Return-Path), which SPF checks, is a Klaviyo domain.
- The DKIM signature is from a Klaviyo domain such as klaviyomail.com. DKIM is a digital signature that proves an email came from a domain and wasn't changed on the way.
Both checks pass, but for Klaviyo's domain, not yours. DMARC needs SPF or DKIM to pass for the domain in your From address. That match is called alignment, and on the shared domain it fails. Inboxes may also show "via klaviyomail.com" next to your name.
Your reputation is also mixed with every other sender on that domain. And if your domain has a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject, receivers are told to junk or refuse your Klaviyo email.
Gmail requires bulk senders (5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail accounts) to pass DMARC with an aligned domain, and Yahoo has the same rule. Klaviyo says you need a branded sending domain matching your From address to be DMARC compliant.
Fix: set up a branded sending domain (steps below).
Cause 2: you send from a free email address
Klaviyo can't authenticate an @gmail.com or @yahoo.com From address, because only Google or Yahoo can add DNS records for those domains. Klaviyo says not to use them.
Fix: switch to an address at your own domain, such as hello@yourbusiness.com.
Cause 3: no DMARC record
DMARC is a DNS record that tells receivers what to do with email that fails SPF and DKIM, and sends you reports about who is sending as you. Gmail and Yahoo require one for bulk senders, and Klaviyo's setup offers to add one.
Fix: add this TXT record at _dmarc.yourbusiness.com. It starts in monitoring mode (p=none), so nothing changes for your email yet. Change the rua address to a mailbox you read; once reports show all your genuine email passing, move to p=quarantine.
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@yourbusiness.comIf you already have a DMARC record, keep it and don't let Klaviyo add a second one. A domain can have only one.
Cause 4: who you're emailing
Once authentication passes, Gmail and Yahoo watch how people react to your email. Google asks senders to keep spam complaints below 0.1% and never reach 0.3%. Klaviyo's own troubleshooting guide aims lower still, under 0.01%.
Klaviyo's advice:
- Suppress people who have never engaged. Klaviyo calls this the best first step: build a segment of profiles who have never opened, clicked or purchased, and stop sending to them.
- Use a sunset flow to phase out people who have stopped engaging, then suppress anyone who doesn't respond.
- Turn on double opt-in, so new subscribers confirm before they're added.
- Never buy lists. It breaks Klaviyo's acceptable use policy.
- Watch frequency. Klaviyo warns that more than one email per inbox per day is risky.
Klaviyo automatically adds the one-click unsubscribe header Gmail and Yahoo require, so there's nothing to set up for that.
How to set up a branded sending domain in Klaviyo
Klaviyo also calls this a dedicated sending domain. You need the Owner, Admin, Manager or Campaign Coordinator role, and a login for your DNS provider.
- Click your company name in the bottom left corner, then choose Settings, then Domains, then Add Domain.
- Choose what the domain is for. Marketing covers campaigns and flows. Klaviyo also offers Transactional and Service.
- Confirm your root domain, yourbusiness.com, and enter an unused subdomain to send from. Klaviyo's example is send, giving send.yourbusiness.com.
- Choose a routing type. Dynamic uses four NS records that hand the subdomain to Klaviyo. Static uses CNAME records.
- Choose whether Klaviyo should include a DMARC record. Skip it if you already have one.
- Let Klaviyo add the records through Entri if your DNS provider is supported, or add them yourself.
- Back in Klaviyo, select Verify, then Activate once the records check out.
For static routing, the records look like this. Use the exact values Klaviyo shows:
| Type | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| CNAME | send.yourbusiness.com | 1.klaviyodns.com |
| CNAME | km1._domainkey.yourbusiness.com | km1.domainkey.1.klaviyodns.com |
| CNAME | km2._domainkey.yourbusiness.com | km2.domainkey.1.klaviyodns.com |
| TXT | yourbusiness.com | klaviyo-site-verification=… (your value) |
Keep your From address as hello@yourbusiness.com: Klaviyo says not to put the send subdomain in it. You don't need to add Klaviyo to your main SPF record either, as Klaviyo says these records take care of SPF and DKIM.
Klaviyo says DNS changes can take up to 48 hours. If your account is new, or the domain was registered in the last 30 days, Klaviyo asks you to warm up your sending over the first 2 to 4 weeks, starting with your most engaged subscribers.
If verification fails
- The name is doubled, as in send.yourbusiness.com.yourbusiness.com. Enter just send, or km1._domainkey.
- The records are proxied. In Cloudflare, set these records to DNS only.
- Your DNS provider won't accept the underscore in _domainkey. Ask them to add the record.
Check that it worked
Once the domain is active, send a test campaign to your private test address. In the report, look for:
- DKIM passes and the email is signed by yourbusiness.com, not only by a Klaviyo domain.
- DMARC passes, with alignment through DKIM, SPF or both.
- Gmail, Google Workspace and Yahoo all show a pass.
If everything passes and email still goes to spam, look at your list rather than your setup. Check your spam rate in Google Postmaster Tools and cut back to engaged subscribers.
Checked against: Klaviyo Help Center, How to set up a branded sending domain · Klaviyo Help Center, Understanding branded vs. shared sending domains · Klaviyo Help Center, Understanding email authentication · Klaviyo Help Center, Understand the domains that play a role in email deliverability · Klaviyo Help Center, Email deliverability FAQs · Klaviyo Help Center, Troubleshooting why emails go to spam · Klaviyo Help Center, Email deliverability best practices reference · Klaviyo Help Center, Troubleshooting branded sending domain issues · Klaviyo Help Center, DNS and SPF setup troubleshooting in Klaviyo · Google Workspace Admin Help, Email sender guidelines.