How to add to or combine lists without triggering a flow

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Learn how to prevent any existing list-triggered flows (e.g., a welcome series) from automatically emailing new list members while uploading subscribers or merging lists. To avoid triggering flows, set these flows to manual while making any changes. However, if you do not wish to pause your active flow sending, you can choose to create a new property, add it to new list member imports, and exclude anyone with that property from your list-triggered flow. Follow the steps below to learn more about this solution.

Create a property to exclude

The first step in excluding new list members from your flow is to create a new property. This property will eventually be used to exclude new subscribers from your flow.

  1. Navigate to one of the profiles in the list you are merging. If this is a net new list of subscribers you plan to upload, create and navigate to a test profile.
  2. Scroll down to the information section of the profile.
  3. Next to Custom Properties, select Add.On the profile page, the Information section is found in the bottom right with the Add button on the right.A popup will appear, prompting you to create your property and add a value associated with the customer.
  4. You can name this property whatever you choose. For example, your property name can be Manual Upload and the value can be the date of upload, keeping track of when you added these profiles.
  5. Alternatively, in the example below, the property name is Welcome Series and the accompanying value is Exclude.
    Add Property modal has a textbox for the property name on the right and property value on the right.
    Consistency is key — when you use this property, ensure that you spell and capitalize it exactly as created. Otherwise, you risk creating new properties and failing to exclude subscribers from your flow. For more information, head to our article on profile properties.
  6. Click Add Property to save this to the profile. The property will now be available for you to exclude from your flow.

Edit your list-triggered flow

  1. Navigate to the flow(s) triggered by the list you plan to edit. For example, a welcome series is triggered by anyone subscribing to your newsletter. If you plan to merge another list with your newsletter and do not want them entering this flow, edit the welcome series.
  2. In the flow builder, click into the trigger and select Flow Filters > Add a Flow Filter.

  3. In the Select a condition… dropdown menu, choose Properties about someone.
  4. Edit the remainder of the filter so that Welcome Series doesn’t equal Exclude.
  5. Click Save.
    In the Trigger Setup menu, the 'Exclude' property name is entered into the textbox.
    This will add the flow filter, and as a result, anyone with the property you created will automatically be excluded from this flow.

Format and upload your CSV file

For merged lists

Before starting your merge, navigate to the list you want to move over. Then, export your list as a CSV file, selecting only the email column. 

The Manage List dropdown is located in the top right with the option to 'Export List to CSV'.

Open your CSV and convert it to an editable spreadsheet (e.g., Excel, Google Sheets, etc.). Within that spreadsheet, add a column for your new property. This property will be used to exclude new subscribers from your flow. For example, the property name (column title) is Welcome Series and the accompanying value is Exclude.

CSV file in a spreadsheet editor with columns for Email, First Name, Last Name, and Welcome Series

Save this file as a CSV. Then, upload this CSV file to the desired list in Klaviyo. Since your list-triggered flow excludes anyone with the property you have added (here, Welcome Series: Exclude), these subscribers will not go through your flow.

Do not click Subscribe to Email Marketing when uploading your list. When you upload without clicking that button, all profiles will retain the subscription status they had prior to the import. If you click Subscribe to Email Marketing while uploading this list, you may inadvertently resubscribe some profiles that had previously opted out. 

For uploading new subscribers to a list

If you are uploading new subscribers to a list, navigate to your spreadsheet (e.g., Excel or Google Sheets) where you have your subscriber information saved. Add in a column dedicated to your new property, which you will use to exclude these subscribers from your list-triggered flow.

CSV file in a spreadsheet editor with column Welcome Series containing the value 'Exclude'

Save this file as a CSV. Then, upload this CSV file to the desired list in Klaviyo. Since your list-triggered flow excludes anyone with the property you have added (here, Welcome Series: Exclude), these subscribers will not go through your flow.

Only click Subscribe to Email Marketing if everyone in your spreadsheet has provided explicit consent to receive email marketing from you. 

Additional resources

See our article on profile properties.

Learn more about flows:

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