Klaviyo Emails Going to Spam? How to Find and Fix the Cause
Your emails used to work and now they don't, and nothing in the dashboard tells you why. Here is how I track down the cause, in the order I check it.
By Naomi, Klaviyo-certified, Signify Studio
A client called me on a Tuesday afternoon. She had been staring at her Klaviyo dashboard for an hour. Revenue looked fine. Open rates looked okay. "I just feel like we're leaving money on the table," she said, "but I don't know where."
We opened the account together. Twenty minutes later I had found four things. Her abandoned cart flow had stopped firing six weeks earlier after a Shopify update, and the flow still showed as active. Email three of her welcome series had a broken image. About 9.4 percent of her profiles were suppressed. And her loyalty data had drifted, so her best customers were being treated like everyone else. None of it showed up in the standard dashboard view.
Spam placement works the same way. It is quiet. Nothing turns red. Your revenue just slowly goes somewhere else. So here is what I check, in order.
Start with authentication
This is the first thing I look at, every time. Inbox providers want proof that your email really comes from you. That proof is three DNS records: SPF (who is allowed to send for your domain), DKIM (a signature on each message) and DMARC (what receivers should do when a message fails). If one is missing, or points at a tool you stopped using, your mail starts to look suspicious.
What surprises people is that these records drift. You can leave your settings alone for a year and still end up misaligned, because the platforms around you change. I have seen brands lose inbox placement without touching a single setting.
Then the sending domain
If Klaviyo is sending from a shared domain, you are sharing a reputation with strangers. A branded sending domain ties your reputation to your own name. It is one of the highest-impact changes you can make, and many accounts I audit have never set it up.
Then who you are sending to
This is the one that gets me the most reactions, because it is counterintuitive. The subscribers who unsubscribe are not your biggest problem. The ones who stay on the list and never open anything are. Gmail, Yahoo and Apple watch engagement at the sender level. When thousands of people ignore you, your reputation drops, and the people who do want your emails pay for it.
My advice is to clean the list on a regular schedule. Run a re-engagement attempt, then suppress the people who still do not respond. A smaller engaged list almost always outperforms a larger ignored one.
Then complaints and how people joined
Gmail and Yahoo expect bulk senders to authenticate their mail, make unsubscribing easy and keep spam complaints low. Google's guidance is to stay under 0.3 percent and ideally well under 0.1 percent. Complaints go up when people did not clearly ask for your email. Discount-only pop-ups, giveaway lists and imported lists are the usual culprits, because those subscribers never wanted the emails in the first place.
Last, sudden changes
Going from small sends to a full-list blast, or changing your email style overnight, makes receivers nervous. Ramp up gradually and stay consistent.
Want a fast read on yours? My free scan checks your authentication and sending setup in about ten seconds and shows you where to look first.
How to check it yourself
- Look up your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records and confirm they match the platform that really sends your mail.
- Add your domain to Google Postmaster Tools to see your reputation and spam rate as Gmail sees them.
- In Klaviyo, check your bounce rate, spam complaint rate and the share of your list that is inactive or suppressed.
- Compare people who engaged in the last 90 days against everyone else. A big gap means list health is part of the problem.
- Send test emails to Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook accounts and see where they land.
Fix the foundation before the flows
The mistake I see most is brands rewriting subject lines and rebuilding flows while the real problem sits underneath. A flow cannot convert if it never reaches the inbox. So I fix authentication, the sending domain and the list first, and only then work on the emails themselves.
If you want me to handle it, the Deliverability Fix is $1,500. If your flows need work too, the Flow Bundle covers the audit, the deliverability fix and four core flows for $2,500, one time. Every option is on the pricing page.
Questions people ask me
Why are my Klaviyo emails going to spam if nothing changed?
Because your setup can drift without you touching it. Authentication falls out of alignment, inbox providers tighten their rules, and a healthy list gets older and less engaged.
Is the Promotions tab the same as spam?
No. Promotions is a normal home for marketing email. But if you used to land in the primary tab, or your engagement has fallen, it is worth looking at why.
How long does recovery take?
It depends on the cause. Authentication fixes can work within days. Rebuilding reputation after list problems usually takes weeks of steady, engaged sending.
Do I need a dedicated IP?
Usually not. Most DTC brands do better fixing authentication, the sending domain and list quality first.
Find out what is blocking your inbox.
Run the free scan, then decide what to fix first.