Getting started with benchmarks reports

You will learn

Learn how benchmarks allow you to analyze your account data in relation to Klaviyo best practices, industry trends, and companies similar to your own. By seeing how different aspects of your account perform, you can prioritize efforts in areas that need improvement in order to use Klaviyo to its maximum potential.

Benchmarks prerequisites

Benchmarks are available for accounts hosted in Klaviyo’s US data region.

Email

To see email peer benchmarks, you must have delivered at least 25 emails in the last 6 months. Make sure you provide your industry so Klaviyo can select industry comparisons. Benchmarks are updated with new data on the 10th of every month. You will see a timestamp of when your benchmarks were last updated in the upper right. If you become eligible for benchmarks this month, your benchmarks will not be available until next month.

SMS
SMS campaign and flow benchmarks require at least 25 delivered SMS messages in the last 6 months. You will be unable to see SMS industry benchmarks if you do not meet this requirement. If you reach the threshold this month, your benchmarks will be available next month. This article explains the different benchmarking pages and how to read them. For information on how to customize the tables and graphs in each page, head to How to customize your benchmark pages. For strategic guidance on using your Analytics tab, head to our course on Customizing your analytics experience.

Determining your industry

When navigating into the different benchmarks pages, you will see a section at the bottom of each page noting how we determine your benchmarks comparison data. By clicking into this section, you can review what industry is currently being used to derive your peers' data, as shown below.

Peer groups are a set of roughly 100 companies that are similar to your own in size and scope (e.g., industry, average item value, total revenue, year over year growth rate, percent of days with a campaign sent and email revenue percentage). If your industry is incorrect, click Change industry in this section. Update your selection under Industry information and click Save. To add an industry or learn more about changing it, head to How to update your industry and vertical in Klaviyo.

Accessing benchmarks

To access benchmarks, navigate to Analytics > Benchmarks.

Within the benchmarks tab, there are 5 separate pages that allow you to analyze your data in relation to other companies similar to your own. These pages include:

• Overview
• Business performance
• Campaigns
• Flows
• Sign-up forms

Benchmarks overview page

When you select Benchmarks, you will arrive at the Overview page by default. The overview page displays a quick summary of what aspects of your marketing program are performing well and what aspects are performing poorly.

The Top Performing Metrics section displays your top-most metrics, ranked in order of decreasing percentiles. Meanwhile, your Bottom Performing Metrics shows your bottom 5 performing metrics, ranked in order of increasing percentiles. Both tables will also show the raw output values of each of your performance metrics.

Understanding how the data is organized in benchmarks

The Business performance, Campaigns, Flows, and Sign-up forms pages allow you to dig deeper into more specific data for a focused analysis. To navigate into any of these, click on the associated tab.

On these pages, use the table to review metrics for the entire selected period, or choose a bar or line chart to view a selected metric over time.

Tables
The default table view summarizes account performance for the entire time period selected per metric. This view is helpful in that it provides a raw value for each metric, as well as a visual performance indicator.

Standard view
Upon landing on any table view, you will automatically see the following columns and values:

• Metric
  The metrics we've chosen that represent the performance of your account. Examples include open rate, click rate, and repeat customer rate.
• Your Performance
  Shows how each metric compares with your benchmark group. These statuses are Poor, Fair, Good, and Excellent. Learn more about what benchmarks performance data means and how to use it.
• Your Value
  The raw amount equated to the given performance indicator; e.g., for average order value, you will see that exact monetary value for your business.
• Median (Peers) or Median (Industry)
  The middle value for the comparison group. Half of the companies have values above the median, and half have values below it. SMS campaign and flow tables use industry benchmarks; email tables use peer benchmarks.

Detailed table view

To view additional values and performance indicators associated with your metric, toggle on the option for Detailed View on the upper right side above the table.

Once this has been toggled on, you will see the following additional performance indicators populate in the table including:

• Your Percentile
  Where you rank in relation to the comparison group. For example, if you are in the 75th percentile, your company performed better than 75% of that group. SMS comparisons use your industry; email comparisons use your peer group.
• 25th Percentile (Peers) or 25th Percentile (Industry)
  The value attributed to companies in the lowest tier of performance.
• 75th Percentile (Peers) or 75th Percentile (Industry)
  The value attributed to companies in the highest tier of performance.
  

Graphs
Charts can show your own performance, the median performance of your peer group, and the median performance of your industry. SMS campaign and flow charts compare your performance with industry benchmarks.

Use the chart legend to identify the available data series:

• Your account
  Shows your own performance for the selected metric.
• Peer Group (median)
  Shows the median performance of your peer group, where available.
• Industry median
  Shows the median performance of your industry. The legend identifies the industry being used.
• Klaviyo Guidance
  Where available, a reference line shows the recommended target based on data aggregated across Klaviyo customers.

The different chart styles include:

• Bar graph
  In the bar graph, compare your rates in comparison to those of your peers and industry in bars lined up next to each other. Each bar grouping will display according to the time range you choose.

• Line graph
  In the line graph, compare your trends over time in comparison to those of your peers and industry data. Each plot point represents the data for a given set of time (e.g., each month), and they connect to give a visualization of your results over time so that you can easily see where you rise or fall in performance. The line chart is available only when the selected date range covers more than 1 month. You can display data monthly, quarterly, or yearly, depending on the length of that range.

How we calculate your rates

Rates in benchmarks’ data represent the averages over a specific time period (e.g., last month). These averaged benchmark rates include:

• Open rates
• Click rates
• Click through rate
• Placed order rate
• Email revenue per recipient
• Bounce rate
• Spam rate
• Unsubscribe rate

For example, say you are looking at your click rate metrics for the last quarter. If your first campaign has 50 deliveries and 25 recipients click, it would have a click rate of 50%. And say your second campaign has 100 deliveries, and only 20 recipients click, it would have a click rate of 20%.

Instead of averaging these together to get a click rate of 35%, we combine the data from both campaigns and then calculate the overall click rate. To do this, we take the clicks from the first campaign plus the clicks from the second campaign, divided by deliveries from the first campaign plus deliveries from the second campaign. In this case, this would look like click rate = (25+20)/(50+100) = 30%.

Using the business performance page

The business performance page provides a breakdown of key performance indicators pertaining to overall business health, so that you can monitor trends over time and focus on areas that need improvement. Here you will see a table, graph, and line chart outlining the areas of the business in which you excel and those that need to improve.

Displaying your data

By default, your business performance page will show a standard table view as in the example below.

You can also choose to expose the data for percentiles by toggling the option for Detailed View in the upper right side.

Additional data display options
In the top-right corner of the table, you will see 3 options for viewing your data:

• Table
• Bar graph
• Line graph

You can toggle between the 3 options and view your data in the way that is most helpful to you. The table summarizes the selected period, while charts show a metric over time.

Hover over a bar or point to see the values for your account and the available comparison groups. To see your performance status (Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor), switch to the table view.

Performance indicators and values
In the business performance table view, you will see data around the following performance indicators:

• Average cart size
  Average number of items purchased per order during the selected time period.
• Average order count
  Average number of orders customers have made over all time up until the end of the selected period.
• Average order value
  Average order value in US dollars during the selected time period.
• % of orders returned
  Percentage of orders where a return was made.

On the line chart and bar graph options, you will need to choose a specific performance indicator from the dropdown menu above the visualization.

Using the campaigns page

The Campaigns page provides a breakdown of key performance indicators related to your email and SMS campaigns. On this page, you can monitor your performance to ensure that you retain high deliverability and that your content resonates with your audience. The page contains a table, bar graph, and line graph outlining the areas where your campaigns excel and where they need to improve.

Displaying your data
By default, your Campaigns page will show a table view as shown in the example below.

You can also choose to expose the data for percentiles by toggling the option for Detailed View on the upper right side.

Choosing your time period and metric
Choose the time period and campaign metric you want to compare.

1. Choose your time period from the dropdown.

Here you will have options for showing campaign data from a certain time period, including:

• Last month
• Last quarter
• Last year
• Custom range

2. In the bar or line chart view, choose a metric from the metric dropdown above the chart. You will see email and SMS campaign metrics for the channels your account is eligible to view.

The chart updates to show the selected metric, such as open rate, click rate, or placed order rate. Email metrics are compared with peer benchmarks, and SMS metrics with industry benchmarks.

Performance indicators and values
The table outlines your email and SMS campaign performance metrics.

Email campaign performance:

• Open rate
  Percentage of people who open your email out of those who receive it.
• Click rate
  Percentage of people who click a link in your email out of the people who receive your email.
• Click through rate
  Percentage of people who click a link in your email out of the people who open your email.
• Conversion rate
  Percentage of people who place an order after interacting with your email out of the people who receive your email.
• Email revenue per recipient
  Your total revenue attributed to email for a given timeframe divided by the total number of people who received an email within that time frame to give you a sense of how much revenue you're earning on average for each recipient.
• Bounce rate
  Percentage of times your email bounces.
• Spam report rate
  Percentage of people who report your email as spam out of those who receive your email.
• Unsubscribe rate
  Percentage of people who unsubscribe out of the people who receive your email.

SMS campaign performance:

• Click rate
  Percentage of people who click a link in your SMS out of the people who receive your SMS.
• Conversion rate
  Percentage of people who place an order after interacting with your SMS out of the people who receive your SMS.
  
• Revenue per Recipient
  Your total revenue attributed to SMS for a given timeframe divided by the total number of people who received an SMS within that time frame to give you a sense of how much revenue you're earning on average for each recipient.
  
• Unsubscribe rate
  Percentage of people who unsubscribe out of the people who receive your SMS.
  

On the line chart and bar graph options, choose the appropriate performance indicator from the dropdown menu above the visualization.

Additional data display options

In the top-right corner of the table, you will see 3 options for viewing your data:

• Table
• Bar graph
• Line graph

You can toggle between the 3 options and view your data in the way that is most helpful to you. The table summarizes the selected period, while charts show a metric over time.

Bar and line charts show values for each time interval in your selected date range.

Hover over a bar or point to see your account’s value and the available comparison values. Email charts can show peer and industry medians; SMS charts show industry benchmarks. To see your performance status (Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor), switch to the table view.

Adjusting how data is displayed by time
By default, your data will display by month. To adjust how your data is displayed in the visual chart, you can choose another time display option.

1. Click on the dropdown next to the right of the metric dropdown.

2. From here, choose to display the data monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

Your available selections for how data is displayed vary depending on the timeframe you chose to pull data from.

3. Once you choose your new time period display option, the chart will update below.

Using the flows page

The flows page showcases your performance over time and in relation to peer benchmarks for email and industry benchmarks for SMS. On this page, you can focus on all flows, specific flows, or certain types of flows such as a welcome series or abandoned cart flow. This allows you to track their success over time and identify areas with opportunity for improvement. You'll also see a breakdown of email flows and SMS flows.

Here, you will see:

• The time period data is pulled from
• Your chosen flow or groupings of flows
• Comparison to similar companies’ flows
• The metric (e.g., opens) used
• How data is displayed by time period (e.g., shown monthly)
• How data is displayed visually (e.g., table, bar, or line chart)

Choosing your time period and metric
Before you narrow in on which flows you want to compare, we suggest first choosing the time period that you will pull data from and the metric you will use for understanding this data.

1. Choose your time period from the dropdown.

Here you will have options for showing flows data from a certain time period including:

• Last month
• Last quarter
• Last year
• Custom range

2. In the bar or line chart view, choose a metric from the metric dropdown above the chart. You will see email and SMS flow metrics for the channels your account is eligible to view.

The chart updates to show the selected metric, such as open rate, click rate, or placed order rate. Email flow metrics use peer benchmarks, and SMS flow metrics use industry benchmarks.

Choosing your flow to compare
To understand how your flow or flow type compares to similar companies’ flows, you will need to select this from the first dropdown.

1. Select your desired flow or group of flows from the Your data dropdown.

You will have one of the following options to choose from:

• Grouped Flows: All Flows option
  If your account has more than 1 flow altogether, this dropdown will include an option for All Flows. By choosing the All Flows option, you can compare all your account’s flows to aggregated benchmarks, regardless of flow type. This is helpful if you want to understand the general performance of your flows in comparison to that of the general performance of similar companies.
• Grouped Flows: Welcome series, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, or thank you flows options
  Additionally if you have multiple flows, the dropdown will also be divided into two sections: Grouped Flows and Individual Flows. Grouped Flows can include welcome series flows, abandoned cart flows, browse abandonment flows, and thank you flows. A type appears as a group only when you have more than 1 flow of that type.
  Your flows will be classified into one of these groupings by our automatic detection engine. If we cannot auto-detect your flow type, it will not be included in one of these groupings and instead be put into the All Flows grouping.
• Individual Flows
  This alphabetized list will include all flows that are live (noted by a green icon), manual (yellow icon), or in draft states (gray icon). Flows that are archived or deleted flows will not appear here.

Understanding your flow comparisons
Once you choose a flow or group of flows, Klaviyo selects the matching comparison type in Peer data. Email results use peer benchmarks, and SMS results use industry benchmarks.

For example, if you chose an individual flow that we think is an abandoned cart flow, you will see your flow compared to abandoned cart benchmarks. And if you chose the abandoned cart grouping as your flow data, we will pull the matching abandoned cart benchmarks.

For an individual flow, you can choose another comparison type from Peer data, including All Flows (Peers) to compare across flow types. The report updates after you select an option. For a group of flows, the comparison type is fixed to the selected group.

Displaying your data
Once you have chosen your flow and comparison type, you can view the results in a table, bar chart, or line chart.

By default, you will be shown a table view, with the following columns and values:

• Metric
  The metrics we display represent the performance of your account. Examples include open rate, click rate, and placed order rate.
• Your performance
  Shows how each metric compares with its benchmark group. These statuses are Poor, Fair, Good, and Excellent. For more information on what statuses entail and how to improve your performance, head to How to improve your benchmark results.
• Your value
  The raw amount equated to the given performance indicator; e.g., for average order value, you will see the exact monetary value for your business.
• Median (Peers) or Median (Industry)
  The middle value for the comparison group. Half of the companies have values above the median, and half have values below it. Email flow tables show the peer median; SMS flow tables show the industry median.

For example, the table below shows overall performance over the last 3 months across all flows.

You can also choose to expose the data for percentiles by toggling the option for Detailed View.

Additional display options

In the top-right corner of the table, you will see 3 options for viewing your data:

• Table
• Bar graph
• Line graph

You can toggle between the 3 options and view your data in the way that is most helpful to you. The table summarizes the selected period, while charts show a metric over time.

Bar and line charts show values for each time interval in your selected date range.

Hover over a bar or point to see your account’s value and the available comparison values. Email charts can show peer and industry medians; SMS charts show industry benchmarks. To see your performance status (Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor), switch to the table view.

Performance indicators and values
The performance indicators available to view in your flow performance table and graphs include different metrics for email and SMS flows.

The following email flow performance indicators are available:

• Open rate
  Percentage of people who open your email out of those who receive it
• Click rate
  Percentage of people who click a link in your email out of the people who receive your email
• Click through rate
  Percentage of people who click a link in your email out of the people who open your email
• Conversion rate
  Percentage of people who place an order after interacting with your email out of the people who receive your email
• Email revenue per recipient
  Your total revenue attributed to email for a given timeframe divided by the total number of people who received an email within that time frame to give you a sense of how much revenue you're earning on average for each recipient
• Spam report rate
  Percentage of people who report your email as spam out of those who receive your email
• Unsubscribe rate
  Percentage of people who unsubscribe out of the people who receive your email
• Bounce rate
  Percentage of times your email bounces

The following SMS flow performance indicators are available:

• Click rate
  Percentage of people who click a link in your SMS out of the people who receive your SMS
  
• Conversion rate
  Percentage of people who place an order after interacting with your SMS out of the people who receive your SMS
  
• Revenue per recipient
  Your total revenue attributed to SMS for a given timeframe divided by the total number of people who received an SMS within that time frame to give you a sense of how much revenue you're earning on average for each recipient
• Unsubscribe rate
  Percentage of people who unsubscribe out of the people who receive your SMS
  

Adjusting how data is displayed by time
By default, your data will display by month. To adjust how your data is displayed in the visual chart, you can choose another time display option.

1. Click on the dropdown next to the right of the metric dropdown.

2. From here, choose to display the data monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

Your available selections for how data is displayed vary depending on the timeframe you chose to pull data from.

3. Once you choose your new time period display option, the chart will update below.

Using the sign-up forms page

The Sign-up forms page provides a view of your pop-up forms’ success through the submit rates and comparing your results to peer benchmarks. These peer benchmarks can help you recognize where you may be falling short with each of your forms.

Displaying your data

By default, your sign-up forms page will show a table view, as in the example below. Since form performance is only tied to submit rate, that will be the only conversion metric used. Your submit rate is the total number of form submissions divided by the total number of form views, in a particular time period.

You will see a raw percentage of submit rates and your performance against the peer group median.

Additionally, we will then ascribe one of the following performance statuses to your rate:

• Poor
  The submit rate is less than the 25th percentile for the peer group.
• Fair
  The submit rate is between the 25th and 50th percentiles for the peer group.
• Good
  The submit rate is between the 50th and 75th percentiles for the peer group.
• Excellent
  The submit rate is greater than the 75th percentile for the peer group.

You can find the submit rates for a particular form by choosing it from the dropdown menu.

You can also adjust the date range to pull in data for a given time period.

Detailed view
To expose additional data for benchmarks percentiles, toggle the option for Detailed View in the upper right side.

The Detailed View table will show your overall submit rate percentile, and where you land in the 25th, median, and 75th percentiles. The 25th percentile is the value attributed to companies in the lowest tier, the median is the value attributed to companies in the middle tier, and the 75th percentile is the value attributed to companies in the highest tier of performance. In other words, if your percentile is in the 70th, this means that you performed better than 70% of similar peers.

Additional display options

In the top-right corner of the table, you will see 3 options for viewing your data:

• Table
• Bar graph
• Line graph

You can toggle between the 3 options and view your data in the way that is most helpful to you. The table summarizes the selected period, while charts show a metric over time.

Bar and line charts show values for each time interval in your selected date range.

Hover over a bar or point to see the values for your account and the available comparison groups. To see your performance status (Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor), switch to the table view.

Learning from benchmarks results

It is important to learn from your benchmarking data and make necessary adjustments to grow your business. For performance indicators that rank as poor or fair, dig deeper into why that is the case. Then, build a strategy that you can implement to amend those shortcomings and expand upon areas that are best serving your brand.

Learn how to analyze and improve your benchmark performance.

Additional resources