How to add, update, or delete SMS subscribe keywords

You will learn

Learn how to create, change, and remove custom subscribe keywords in Klaviyo. 

Custom mobile keywords allow you to better control how you communicate with customers, helping you grow your business while staying true to your brand. Klaviyo allows you to create, change, and remove subscribe keywords for free.

Before you begin

Before learning how to add custom keywords, it is important to know what kind of words can be used. When creating keywords in Klaviyo, follow these guidelines: 

• Do not use words related to sex, hate, *alcohol, firearms, or tobacco (SHAFT).
  • *Alcohol may be allowed with age-gating in certain countries. 
• Use alphanumeric characters (A–Z and 0–9); do not use any other special symbols.
• Keep keywords between 3 and 20 characters.
• Avoid common words that could be used in a normal text conversation, such as “the,” "that," "are," "can," "here," "about," or “and,” which may erroneously subscribe someone who didn’t intend to subscribe.

Note that keywords are not case-sensitive. If you input the keyword as “SHOES,” Klaviyo will accept “shoes,” “Shoes,” etc.

You can add up to a max of 500 subscribe keywords.

Add a custom subscribe keyword

1. Click your organization name in the lower left corner.
2. Navigate to Settings > SMS > Keyword Responses.
   
3. Find the Subscribe Keywords section.
   
4. Click Add Keyword.
5. In the Create Subscribe Keyword modal, input your keyword.
   
6. Choose the list that subscribers who use the keyword should be added to.
7. Choose whether you want the keyword to be double or single opt-in.
   • (Recommended) Only use single opt-in with tap-to-text, and do not publish single opt-in keywords anywhere on your website. 
8. Click Save.

After adding a keyword, you can use it to trigger a welcome series or build a flow to update the profile properties of those who use the keyword.

Update a custom keyword

1. Click your organization name in the lower left corner.
2. Navigate to Settings > SMS > Keyword Responses.
3. Scroll to the Subscribe Keywords section.
4. Find the keyword you want to edit.
5. To the right of it, click the 3 dots menu.
6. Choose Edit Keyword.
7. In the Edit Subscribe Keyword modal, you can change the keyword's:
   1. Status (i.e., allow customers to subscribe with this keyword or not)
   2. Name
   3. List
      
   4. Click Save when you finish making edits.

Delete a custom keyword

1. Click your organization name in the lower left corner.
2. Navigate to Settings > SMS > Keyword Responses.
3. Scroll to the Subscribe Keywords section.
4. Locate the keyword you want to delete.
5. Select the 3 dots to the right of your keyword, then click Delete.
6. In the modal that appears, click Delete to confirm that you want to remove the keyword.
   

Using subscribe keywords

With subscribe keywords, you can post them on social media, your website, business cards and more. It's a simple and quick way to grow your list, and it's easy to say "Text JOIN to 123-456-7890."

As you use these keywords, please note that: 

• It's important to use disclosure language anywhere you show your subscribe keywords (i.e., on the social media post, website, etc. near the subscribe keyword), so subscribers are informed before they sign up. 
• Double opt-in is highly recommended for subscribe keywords. 
• If you have multiple sending numbers, remember to change the phone number when you show a subscribe keyword to different countries. 

Note that subscribe keywords are different from compliance keywords (e.g., HELP, STOP, START). Subscribe keywords are an opt-in method, while compliance keywords must, by law, provide certain information or perform a certain action (such as removing SMS consent). 

Additional resources

• Collect SMS subscribers
• Configure when an opt-out keyword removes SMS consent
• Guide to SMS conversations in Klaviyo