How to upload and segment with consent

You will learn

Learn how to upload a CSV of subscribers that have opted in to marketing for one or more channels, and how to use consent information in your segments. 

What is consent?

Consent is a subscription status indicating that someone agreed to receive marketing from you for a particular channel (e.g., email or SMS). You can view a profile's consent status by navigating to their profile and reviewing the Channel status section. 

Consent is either added to profiles based on their interactions with your brand (e.g., subscribing to email or SMS via a GDPR-compliant Klaviyo form, opting into marketing at checkout, etc.), or manually added by importing a CSV file into a list.

For more information, check out our article on consent in profiles.

Upload profiles to a list with consent

To upload profiles with consent for a marketing channel, upload a CSV file. This file must include a column containing either email addresses, phone numbers, or both depending on what type of consent you are adding. All of these email addresses and phone numbers must be valid. 

If your CSV upload fails for any reason, use Troubleshooting list imports to resolve the error. 

Upload a list with email consent

If you have a CSV file containing email addresses for a group of people who have explicitly opted in to email marketing: 

1. Create a CSV file with a column labeled Email containing a valid email address in each row. 
2. Navigate to Audience > Lists & Segments.
3. Create a new list using the Create List / Segment button, or open an existing list (not segment). 
4. Click Manage List > Import Contacts.
5. Select your CSV file to upload. 
6. Map all columns to a field in Klaviyo, or create a new field, then click Import.
7. Choose the option Yes, update subscription status for all imported contacts to subscribed. 
   1. Note that this option will not appear if your CSV file contains a correctly-formatted Consent column. If you included this column, each profile in your upload will be consented for the channel(s) indicated in your file once you import.
8. Click Import.

Upload a list with SMS consent

If you have a CSV file containing phone numbers for a group of people who have explicitly opted in to SMS marketing: 

1. Create a CSV file with a column labeled Phone Number containing a valid, properly formatted phone number in each row. 
2. Navigate to Audience > Lists & Segments.
3. Create a new list using the Create List / Segment button, or open an existing list (not segment). 
4. Click Manage List > Import Contacts.
5. Select your CSV file to upload. 
6. Choose the option Yes, update subscription status for all imported contacts to subscribed. 
   1. Note that this option will not appear if your CSV file contains a correctly-formatted Consent column. If you included this column, each profile in your upload will be consented for the channel(s) indicated in your file once you import.
7. Click Import.

Upload a list with multi-channel consent 

If you have a CSV file containing contact information for a group of people who have opted in to either email, SMS, or both: 

1. Create a CSV file containing four columns, with the labels Email, Phone Number, Consent (for profiles with email consent), and SMS Consent Timestamp (for profiles with SMS consent).
   Note that SMS Consent Timestamp is only required for contacts who have provided SMS consent.
2. Fill in the emails and phone numbers for all contacts in your list, ensuring that phone numbers are properly formatted.
3. In the Consent column, add the following value to the row of any profile that has opted in to receive emails from you: ["email"]
   Note: Leave this column blank for profiles that have not opted in to email.
4. In the SMS Consent Timestamp column, add in a properly-formatted date and time reflecting when each SMS subscriber opted in to SMS marketing.
   Note: Leave this column blank for profiles that have not opted in to SMS.
5. Navigate to Audience > Lists & Segments in Klaviyo. 
6. Create a new list using the Create List / Segment button, or open an existing list. 
7. Click Manage List > Import Contacts.
8. Select your CSV file to upload. 
9. Complete the mapping steps.
10. Click Import.

Segment using consent

When building a segment around consent, use the following segment conditions for each channel: 

Email

SMS

Push

Additional resources

• Understanding consent in profiles
• Guide to collecting SMS consent
• Guide to collecting GDPR compliant consent
• Troubleshooting list imports
• How to segment on channel consent