Understanding Klaviyo message attribution

You will learn

Learn about Klaviyo's event and message attribution or the ability to review which of your messages or channels led to customer actions.

Why is attribution important?

Attribution assesses customer actions and revenue across each marketing channel and message and helps you to identify which channel, message, or strategy was most successful, so you can effectively allocate resources to those activities or adjust them as needed.

How does Klaviyo assign attribution?

Every platform or vendor may define event or message attribution slightly differently, and it’s important to be aware of these potential differences.

In Klaviyo, event attribution works across channels. You can configure separate windows for each channel and interaction, such as email opens and text message clicks. Non-Klaviyo platforms share a window for Active on site events when this attribution is enabled. Klaviyo only gives conversion credit to eligible activity within an enabled attribution window.

Default message attribution settings

By default, Klaviyo uses a last touch attribution model: 100% of conversion credit goes to the last eligible touchpoint before the conversion. The default lookback windows for new accounts are:

• 5 days for email clicks
• 5 days for email opens
• 5 days for text message clicks
• 1 day for text message opens (RCS only)
• 12 hours for text message deliveries
• 24 hours for push opens
• 5 days for WhatsApp clicks
• 12 hours for WhatsApp opens
• 1 day for Active on site on non-Klaviyo platforms (Advanced KDP and Personalization customers only; enable this attribution to include it)

To adjust your attribution windows, machine-open settings, or bot-click settings, refer to our guide on configuring your email, SMS, and push attribution settings.

Attribution model updates

Klaviyo’s attribution model recalculates historical data after you update your account’s attribution settings, so past and future data remains consistent. Updates may take up to 36 hours to appear in your account. You cannot edit the settings again until the update is complete.

Window for calculating attribution

Klaviyo’s model will attribute conversion events within 3 hours of receiving the event. The attribution model will also update attribution within 5 days if there are late-arriving message interaction events.

Event vs. message attribution

Event attribution refers to when Klaviyo attributes events to specific messages and customer actions. For example, a customer receives an email, clicks a link, and then purchases an item via that link. Klaviyo looks to see if an attributable action has taken place (i.e., opens, clicks, or deliveries) and if the attribution window is open. The event attribution window will start when the profile initially receives the message.

Message attribution in send-date reports groups results by the day a message was sent, using your account’s time zone. For example, a flow email is sent on March 10 in an Australian recipient’s local time, while it is still March 9 in your account’s time zone. In reports grouped by message send date, that email’s opens, clicks, and unsubscribes are counted under March 9.

Because message attribution looks at when a message is first sent based on your account timezone, attributed events may not exactly align with the local date/time that a specific recipient opened. Klaviyo will still attribute these events to the message in relevant reporting.

Klaviyo event attribution timing

Single source lookback window example

By default, the lookback window for email opens and clicks is 5 days, but you can adjust these windows in your account's attribution settings if you choose.

The example below illustrates how email attribution works. Note that the example is using the default 5-day email open and click lookback windows.

• Day 1
  You email your subscriber and they open it.
• Day 2
  The subscriber opens this email again and clicks on a link to a product offer.
• Day 4
  They ultimately come back and purchase that product.

In this example, it would attribute revenue to email since it's within the 5-day attribution window. However, if the customer were to make the purchase on day 12, then this would not be attributed to the original email.

Multiple sources lookback window example

The example below illustrates what happens when you send both an email and an SMS message around the same time.

This example uses Last touch with 5-day email open and click windows and a custom 1-day SMS click window.

• Day 1
  You send both an email and an SMS message to your subscriber, and they open the email.
• Day 3
  The subscriber clicks a link in the SMS but does not purchase.
• Day 4
  They open the email again.
• Day 5
  They return to your store and purchase without clicking another message.

In this example, Klaviyo attributes the revenue to email. The email open on day 4 is the last eligible touchpoint before the purchase and is within the 5-day email window. The SMS click on day 3 is outside the custom 1-day SMS window by day 5. Consider your email and SMS attribution settings together when interpreting your results.

Klaviyo message attribution in analytics reports

Many Klaviyo analytics reports use attribution to assign conversion credit to campaigns and flows. Separately, a report can group results by message send date or by the date each event occurred.

Reports that group message performance by send date include:

• Home dashboard
• Overview dashboard
• Campaign performance report
• Flows performance report
• Campaign and flow overview reports (the campaign engagement-over-time chart uses event dates)
• Portfolio reporting
• Benchmarks
• Audience performance report (Advanced KDP and Personalization customers only)

Reports grouped by event date place each event, such as an open or click, on the date it occurred rather than the message’s send date. This grouping does not prevent a report from showing attributed conversions.

Reports that group results by event date include:

• Single metric report
• Multi-metric report
• Metrics
• Funnel analysis report (Advanced KDP and Personalization customers)
• Custom monitors (Advanced KDP customers)

Additional resources