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Klaviyo integration

This guide walks you through connecting Klaviyo to Better Email with a private API key, exporting campaigns as Klaviyo templates, and — if you want it — letting Better Email create the Klaviyo campaign for you.

Before you start​

To connect Klaviyo, you will need:

  • a Klaviyo account with access to API keys
  • a private API key created for Better Email
  • an admin user in Better Email who can create and edit integrations

1. Create the integration in Better Email​

In Better Email:

  1. Go to Integrations.
  2. Create a new integration.
  3. Enter a clear name for the integration.
  4. Choose Klaviyo as the type.
  5. Optional: under Access, restrict the integration to specific users or groups.
  6. Enable the integration.
  7. Save the integration.

2. Copy the API key from Klaviyo​

In Klaviyo:

  1. Go to Account -> Settings -> API Keys.
  2. Create a private key for Better Email, with the scopes listed below.
  3. Copy the private API key.

Back in Better Email, paste the key into Private API Key, then save the integration again.

API key scopes​

Choose Custom Key when creating the key and enable only what you need:

ScopeNeeded for
templates — Full AccessExporting campaigns as templates (required)
campaigns:read, metrics:readPerformance data
campaigns:read, campaigns:write, lists:read, segments:readLetting Better Email create the campaign
warning

Klaviyo keys cannot be edited after they are created. If you later want performance data or campaign creation, you will need to create a new key with the extra scopes and paste it into the integration — so it is worth deciding up front.

3. Export to Klaviyo​

Once the integration is saved and enabled, Better Email can create email templates in Klaviyo from the rendered HTML of your campaign.

Important to know:

  • Re-exporting a campaign updates the same Klaviyo template rather than leaving a second one with the same name behind.
  • Merge tags and segmentation are rendered using Klaviyo-specific syntax.
  • Klaviyo-connected feeds can also be used in feed workflows elsewhere in Better Email.

4. Let Better Email create the campaign​

By default a Klaviyo export stops at the template, and someone in Klaviyo builds the campaign from it. That has one consequence worth understanding: Klaviyo copies the template into the campaign when the campaign is built. From that moment the campaign holds its own copy, so exporting a new version from Better Email updates the template but does not change the campaign — someone has to pick the template again inside Klaviyo.

Turning on campaign creation avoids that round trip. Better Email creates the Klaviyo campaign alongside the template, and every later export pushes the new version straight into it.

To switch it on, open the integration and turn on Create the campaign in Klaviyo. The key also needs campaigns:read, campaigns:write, lists:read and segments:read.

Choosing the audience​

Each export asks who the campaign is for. When you sync a campaign, the dialog shows a Campaign audience picker listing your Klaviyo lists and segments — the type is shown next to each name, since a list and a segment can share one. Pick one and sync; the sync button stays disabled until you have.

Better Email remembers the choice per campaign, so syncing the same campaign again defaults to the audience it used last time. You are choosing once per campaign, not once per export, and you can still change the audience in Klaviyo before sending.

How it behaves:

  • The first export creates a draft campaign in Klaviyo, named after your campaign, sending to the audience you chose, with its subject line and content in place. The sender address comes from your Klaviyo account defaults.

  • Later exports push the current version into that same draft: the content, the subject line and preview text, and the audience if you picked a different one. The sender and the send schedule are left alone.

    If you refine the subject inside Klaviyo and then re-sync without changing it in Better Email, your Klaviyo wording stays — Better Email only sends a subject when it has one. The same goes for the audience: re-syncing with the same pick leaves any audience work you did in Klaviyo, including exclusions, untouched.

  • Once the campaign is no longer a draft, Better Email stops touching it. A campaign that is scheduled or sending will report an error telling you to move it back to draft first — better than quietly letting it send the previous version. A campaign that has already been sent is left as it is.

Everything else about the campaign — audience refinements, send time, A/B tests — stays in Klaviyo. Better Email never schedules or sends anything.

If your team uses Klaviyo for both standard campaigns and feed-driven modules, connect the main Klaviyo integration early and test one normal export before layering on product-feed workflows.