How to set up Klaviyo for an Australian online store: core flows first, then campaigns, list growth, segmentation and deliverability.
A good Klaviyo setup for an Australian ecommerce brand puts the automated flows in first (welcome, abandoned checkout, post-purchase and win-back), then adds a campaign calendar sent only to people who are actually engaging. List growth, segmentation and deliverability sit underneath both, and for Fridgy Australia, a store whose Klaviyo email we build, automated flows are 7.3% of what gets sent and 55.7% of the orders email brings in.
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We build and run email and SMS for Australian ecommerce brands.
That order matters more than any template or subject line. Below is how I build a Klaviyo account for an online store, in the order I build it, and what to check if you already have one. It is the same approach we use on our email marketing work.
A campaign earns money on the day you send it, then it stops. A flow is set up once against something a customer does, like signing up or leaving a checkout, and it keeps sending the right email whether or not anyone is at a desk.
The Fridgy numbers show the gap. Over the twelve months to 17/08/2026, automated flows made up 7.3% of everything Fridgy sent and 55.7% of the orders email generated. A small share of sends doing more than half the work is what a well built flow set looks like.
So when I open a new account, regular campaigns wait. The core flows go in first, because every new subscriber and every abandoned checkout from that day on gets handled.
Four flows cover most of the value for most stores. Build these before anything else.
Once those four are running, the next layer is browse abandonment (someone viewed a product but did not add it to cart), abandoned cart, repeat order reminders for products people run out of, and review and referral requests. The marketing automation guide goes deeper on what to automate first if your business is not a store.
Plenty of accounts have a welcome flow that is one email with a discount code. That technically counts as a flow, but it leaves most of the value on the table.
A flow earns its keep when each email has one job, the timing matches how long people take to buy in your category, and it stops once the customer does the thing you wanted. A shopper who buys halfway through an abandoned checkout flow should leave it straight away, not get the next reminder.
Campaigns are the one-off sends: launches, new colours, offers, clearance and regular updates. They still matter. They just come second, and they go to the right people.
I plan campaigns on a calendar ahead of time so launches and offers are not written the night before. Then each send goes to people who are actually engaging, for example subscribers who have opened or clicked recently or bought in a set window, rather than the whole list every time.
Sending to engaged subscribers protects deliverability, because inbox providers watch how people react to your mail. Mailing thousands of people who never open teaches Gmail and Outlook that your email is unwanted, and that hurts the emails your engaged customers were waiting for.
Every campaign is also tested before it goes out. Links, images, the preview text and how it reads on a phone get checked, because a broken link in a send to a whole segment cannot be taken back.
The campaigns and flow emails we have built in Klaviyo cover the usual ecommerce jobs. For Lupin Gold that includes a welcome email, a gym kit offer and a RISE pack vote. For Fridgy it includes a best sellers email and a new colours launch.
None of those are clever for the sake of it. Each one has a clear reason to exist and a clear next step for the reader.
A list grows from people choosing to join it, usually through a sign-up form or pop-up on the site, a tick box at checkout, or a competition with clear terms. Klaviyo connects to Shopify, so customers who opt in at checkout land in the right list automatically.
In Australia the Spam Act 2003 sets the ground rules for commercial email. You need consent, the email has to identify who sent it, and every send needs a working unsubscribe that is honoured within five business days. Bought lists fail that test and tend to wreck deliverability as well.
The welcome flow is where list growth turns into revenue. If you are running a sign-up offer, the welcome email is the moment you deliver it, so build the flow before you switch the form on.
Segments let you send the right message to the right people instead of the same message to everyone. Klaviyo builds them from what people do, so they update on their own.
Keeping the list clean is part of segmentation. Removing addresses that bounce or never engage makes your open and click numbers more honest and keeps every send reaching people who want it.
Deliverability starts with sender setup. Since February 2024, Google and Yahoo require bulk senders to authenticate their domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, offer one-click unsubscribe, and keep spam complaint rates below 0.3%. Klaviyo supports all of this, but the domain records have to be set up by whoever manages your DNS.
After setup, it is about habits:
This is the side of email nobody sees. It does not show up in a design review, but every flow and campaign depends on it.
SMS runs from the same Klaviyo account, so it uses the same lists, segments and flow triggers as email. It suits a few moments well, such as a shipping update, a short abandoned checkout nudge or a launch reminder.
It costs more per message than email and people tolerate fewer of them, so I treat it as a layer on top of a working email setup rather than a replacement. More on that on our SMS marketing page.
Most stores that come to us already have an account. Before anything new is built, I review what is there. If you want to check yours yourself, start with these:
If those answers are shaky, it is worth sorting them before writing another campaign. Our email marketing page explains how we take on an existing account, and the Fridgy case study shows the full picture for one store.
A good Klaviyo setup puts automated flows in first: welcome, abandoned checkout, post-purchase and win-back. Campaigns come next, sent to engaged subscribers rather than the whole list. Underneath both sit consent-based list growth, behaviour-based segments, and an authenticated sending domain with spam complaints and bounces checked after every send.
Build flows first. A campaign earns on the day it goes out, while a flow keeps sending to every new subscriber, abandoned checkout and lapsed customer from then on. For Fridgy Australia, automated flows were 7.3% of emails sent and 55.7% of the orders email generated over twelve months to 17/08/2026.
Start with four: a welcome flow for new subscribers, an abandoned checkout flow, a post-purchase flow and a win-back flow for lapsed customers. Once those are live, add browse abandonment, abandoned cart, repeat order reminders and review requests. Klaviyo connects to Shopify, so these flows trigger on real browsing, cart and order activity.
Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, which Google and Yahoo have required of bulk senders since February 2024. Send campaigns to engaged segments, make unsubscribing one click, keep spam complaints below 0.3% and watch bounces after every send. Remove subscribers who never open after a re-engagement attempt.
Under the Spam Act 2003, commercial email in Australia needs the recipient's consent, must clearly identify the sender, and must include a working unsubscribe that is honoured within five business days. Bought or scraped lists do not meet the consent rule, and mailing them also tends to damage deliverability for everyone on your list.
