Prompt best practices for Composer

Composer is Klaviyo's AI marketing agent. You talk to it in plain language, and it analyzes your account, audits your work, and drafts content for you to review. The clearer your request, the better the result. This article shows you how to write prompts that get strong, useful output, with example prompts you can copy and adapt.

Note: Composer recommends, drafts, and QAs. You review, edit, and approve everything before it goes live. A good prompt gets you a better starting point, but you always have the final say.

You will learn

• How to write a prompt that gets a strong result
• How to add context when the output looks weak or generic
• Example prompts grouped by goal: analyze, audit, and create
• What to do when results look off, and how to re-prompt

How to write a good Composer prompt

Composer works best with natural language. Write whole sentences, the way you'd describe a task to a teammate, rather than a few keywords. If you aren't sure where to start, copy a product or event description from your website, or write as if you're explaining the topic to a friend.

Strong prompts usually name three things:

• The goal or offer: what you want to accomplish ("a 20% off summer sale," "find out why my welcome flow is underperforming").
• Context about your brand or account: who it's for and any specifics that matter ("for my makeup brand," "for customers who bought in the last 90 days").
• The tone or constraints you want: how it should sound or any limits ("use a professional tone," "keep it under three sentences").

You don't need every element in every prompt. An audit request needs less framing than a creative brief. But the more relevant detail you give, the more your output reflects your actual brand and goals instead of a generic template.

Note: Composer works to reflect your brand's voice and context when it creates content, so you don't have to describe your tone from scratch every time. You can still steer it in the prompt whenever you want a specific feel.

Add context when output is weak

Output quality can vary, and the single most effective fix is to add more context and try again. If a result is too generic, too long, off-tone, or missing something you care about, don't start over from scratch. Tell Composer what to adjust.

Useful ways to add context:

• Name the audience more precisely: "for lapsed VIP customers" instead of "for customers."
• Add the specifics: the exact offer, product names, dates, or the metric you care about.
• Set the tone or format: "make it punchier," "use a more formal tone," "give me the top 3 only."
• Point at a reference: when you start from existing content, describe what you want Composer to change rather than re-describing the whole thing.

You can keep refining in the same conversation. Change your prompt for more varied results, or paste a result you liked back into the prompt to get similar ideas.

Example prompts by goal

Use these as starting points and swap in your own details. The clearer and more specific you make them, the better the output.

Analyze

Ask Composer questions about your account and your performance in plain language.

Analyze my flow performance over the last 30 days and tell me what stands out.

Why is my welcome flow underperforming?

Which of my campaigns drove the most revenue recently?

Are any of my flows conflicting with each other?

Audit

Ask Composer to review your work before you ship it. It returns prioritized, plain-language findings, and you make the changes.

Audit my flows and tell me what needs attention first.

QA this campaign before I send it.

Audit this email and flag anything that could hurt deliverability or accessibility.

Audit the SMS in my welcome flow for compliance and length.

What's wrong with my welcome pop-up form?

Do a full audit on all my segments and rank the issues.

Note: Composer's audits are advisory. It tells you what to fix and why, then you apply the changes yourself in Klaviyo. For how to read findings and act on them, see How to audit with Composer.

Create

Brief Composer with a goal and it drafts email and SMS content for you to review and edit.

Create a summer sale campaign for customers who bought in the last 90 days.

Build an email and SMS campaign for lapsed customers with a 20% off offer, in a friendly tone.

Create a Father's Day campaign for VIP customers.

Draft a launch email for our ultra-cushioned trail running shoe, with a bold, energetic voice.

What to do if results look off

Composer is built to ground its output in your Klaviyo account and connected brand sources. But like any tool built on large language models, it can occasionally produce content that's inaccurate, off-tone, or not quite what you asked for. Always review before you use or send anything.

If a result looks off:

1. Verify the facts: Check prices, discounts, product details, dates, and any factual claims against your own records. You are responsible for the accuracy of your final content.
2. Re-prompt with more detail: Tell Composer what was wrong and what you want instead, in the same conversation. Adding specifics usually fixes a weak first draft.
3. Regenerate: You can ask for new options as many times as you like until one fits. Change your prompt for more variety, or reuse a result you liked to get similar ideas.
4. For generated campaigns, test before you commit: Consider A/B testing a few of Composer's options rather than assuming the first draft is the best one.

Note: Content generation is weaker on image-heavy or fully image-based templates. If you build emails primarily from flattened images, set your expectations accordingly and plan to do more editing.

Note: Composer asks may cost credits depending on the action and its complexity. Credit usage may vary. See Composer credits and billing for what actions cost and how to track usage.

Additional resources