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. 

Default message attribution settings

For customers who joined Klaviyo on or after 10/9/24:

• 5 days for email clicks
• 5 days for email opens
• 5 days for SMS clicks
• 12 hours for SMS deliveries
• 24 hours for push opens

For customers who joined Klaviyo before 10/9/24:

• 5 days for email clicks
• 5 days for email opens
• 24 hours for SMS clicks
• 24 hours for push opens

For specific information on how we track conversions, review our guide to understanding message conversion tracking. To adjust your attribution windows and machine or bot clicks settings, refer to our guide on configuring your email, SMS, and push attribution settings.

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.

On the other hand, message attribution looks at when a message is first sent. For example, say you schedule a message for 9am on March 10th in your recipient's local time and your Klaviyo account is in the eastern timezone. A recipient in Australia receives your email at 9am their local time, which is 5pm the previous day for you. This means that when viewing your reporting, the data would be attributed to the day the email was sent from your account (based on your account timezone). In the example above, the attributed open, clicks, and unsubscribes for your Australian recipients is March 10th (i.e., the day before aligned to your timezone).

Why is attribution important?

Attribution assesses customer actions and revenue across each marketing channel and message. Attribution 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 follows a cooperative, multi-channel model. This means that we give email and SMS messaging their own configurable, distinct message attribution windows, and only attribute a customer event (e.g., placed order) to the last message within one of these open windows.

Klaviyo event attribution timing 

Email default attribution window

By default, the attribution 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 attribution 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.

Learn more about how Klaviyo tracks email conversions and revenue.

SMS default attribution window

By default, the attribution window is 5 days for SMS clicks, but you can adjust these settings in your account's SMS attribution settings should you choose.

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

• Day 1
  A subscriber receives your SMS message.
• Day 3
  The subscriber opens the message.
• Day 4
  They reopen your message, click the link, and then make a purchase on your site.

In this example, the customer’s purchase is attributed to the SMS message. However, if the customer made the purchase 2 days later, then the purchase would not be attributed to the SMS message, as the purchase took place outside of the attribution window.

Learn more about how Klaviyo tracks SMS conversions and revenue.

Push default attribution window

By default, the attribution window is 24 hours for push messages, but you can adjust this setting in your account's push attribution settings should you choose.

The example below illustrates how push attribution works. Note that the example is using the default 24-hour SMS attribution window.

• Hour 1
  A subscriber receives your push message.
• Hour 3
  The subscriber opens the message.
• Hour 10
  They reopen your message, click the link, and then make a purchase on your site.

In this example, the customer’s purchase is attributed to the push message. However, if the customer made the purchase 3 days later, then the purchase would not be attributed to the push message, as the purchase took place outside of the attribution window.

Email and SMS or push sent together and attribution tracking

In both examples above, email, SMS, and push messages are sent separately with their own attribution windows. However, the example below illustrates what would happen if you sent both an email and SMS message around the same time.

The example below uses the default 5-day email and 5-day SMS attribution windows.

• Day 1
  You send both an email and SMS message to your subscriber, and they open both messages.
• Day 3
  The subscriber clicks into SMS again but does not purchase.
• Day 4
  They open the email again.
• Day 6
  They come back, click on the SMS, and then purchase.

In this example, it would attribute the revenue to email because the email was the last message that Klaviyo attributed to a specific subscriber event. Even though the customer clicked on the SMS message last, since you set the SMS attribution window at 5 days, it is outside the attribution window. Thus, it’s important to be mindful of both your email and SMS attribution window settings together and how this may affect your data.

Klaviyo message attribution in analytics reports

Many of the Klaviyo analytics reports that focus on campaign and flow reporting use the email, SMS, and push message attribution models. However, it’s important to know that not all reports use these attribution windows to sort their data.

Reports that use message attribution to sort their data and rates include:

• Home dashboard
• Overview dashboard
• Campaign performance report
• Flows performance report
• Campaign and flow overview reports
• Portfolio reporting
• Benchmarks
• Audience performance report (Advanced KDP and Marketing Analytics customers only)

For those reports that do not use the message attribution windows, any event data (e.g., opens and clicks) will group based on the date those specific events happen. The data will not be based on the day an attributed message was sent.

Analytics reports that do not sort data and rates by attributed message send date include:

• Single metric report
• Multi-metric report
• Product performance report
• Metrics
• Sign-up form overview report
• List growth report
• Segment growth report
• Subscriber growth report
• List and segment engagement reports
• Funnel analysis report (Advanced KDP and Marketing Analytics customers)
• Custom monitors (Advanced KDP customers)
• Product analysis dashboard (Advanced KDP and Marketing Analytics customers)
• RFM analysis report (Advanced KDP and Marketing Analytics customers)

Transactional flow messages in attribution

By default, transactional messages sent through flows are considered attributable events by Klaviyo's attribution model. You can exclude transactional messages from being included in attribution by updating your attribution settings. 

1. Click on the account menu in the lower left of your account.
2. Choose Settings from the menu.
3. Navigate to the Attribution tab. 
4. On the card labeled Tracking and reporting data, select the checkbox for Exclude transactional messages from attribution data. 

Attribution model updates

Klaviyo’s new attribution model will recalculate historical data after attribution settings in account are updated, so past and future data remains consistent. Additionally, the new model will update attribution within 3 hours, instead of instantly.

Klaviyo's new attribution model is enabled by default on all accounts.

Window for calculating attribution 

Klaviyo’s new model will update attribution within 3 hours, instead of instantly. This may cause a delay of up to 3 hours to get attribution for an event. However, this change, along with the recalculation of historical data, will refine attribution to account for situations such as:

• Klaviyo receives a purchase event with the same recorded timestamp as an email click event. In the old model, this would not attribute the purchase event to Klaviyo. With the new model, Klaviyo reviews the timestamp of when the the event actually occurred instead of the time the event was recorded, as there can be delays between occurrence and receipt of events in Klaviyo. This enables the correct attribution of the purchase to the email click if the purchase was actually made after the email click.
  
• A mobile app sends data incrementally and Klaviyo receives a push open event later than when the customer took the action. In the old model, a delayed push event would miss the attribution window for an event. In the new model, if the push event comes in within 3 hours, it will be attributed in Klaviyo and API reporting, and if it comes in later, it will be attributed in Klaviyo.

Recalculating historical data

After updating your attribution settings, Klaviyo can recalculate historical data on your account so your past and future data remains consistent. In other words, your past and future data will be calculated using the same attribution and tracking settings you have chosen.

It may take up to 36 hours for your historical data reporting to reflect your latest attribution or tracking settings. Depending on what you choose for attribution and tracking settings, there could also be large changes reflected in your historical data. To review any shifts in your data before recalculating, it is advised to preview your changes using the model comparison tool.

Linear attribution 

If you are an Advanced KDP or Marketing Analytics customer, you can also choose to use a linear attribution model in place of Klaviyo’s standard last touch model. The linear attribution model equally gives credit to each touchpoint leading to a conversion, while a last touch model only applies the credit to the final touchpoint before a conversion.

In general, linear attribution models are more accurate because they consider the full customer journey leading up to a conversion, rather than just the final touchpoint.

Customers often have multiple touchpoints before a conversion, with each of them ultimately playing a role in the conversion. An attribution model that accounts for this can help you learn what touchpoints are more effective at different stages in the conversion cycle, and help to focus your marketing on the entire customer journey leading up to a conversion.

Additional resources

• How to change your email and SMS attribution settings
• Understanding conversion tracking
• Understanding updates to attribution data