How to migrate your branded sending domain from a previous email service provider (ESP) to Klaviyo

You will learn

Learn how to migrate your existing branded sending domain (also known as a dedicated sending domain) from a previous email service provider (ESP) to Klaviyo.

Before you begin

New Klaviyo accounts and those on domains that have been registered for less than 30 days should plan to warm their sending infrastructure upon setting up a domain in Klaviyo. Warming is the period of time during which you establish a reputation as a legitimate or “good” email sender. Without proper warming, you can risk damaging your sender reputation.

To confirm whether warming is necessary for your account, head to our guide on how to ramp and warm your sending infrastructure.

Additionally, it is important that you own the domain you are using to send emails, and have the ability to access and update your DNS (domain name system) host records.

Set up your dedicated infrastructure in Klaviyo

Branded sending domain

If you still need to send from your previous ESP during the move, choose an unused sending subdomain for Klaviyo. To reuse the same subdomain, first stop sending from it on your previous ESP and remove the DNS records that conflict with Klaviyo’s records. Coordinate this change with whoever manages your DNS to avoid disrupting other services.

When you are ready to start your sending domain with Klaviyo, set up a branded sending domain.

Update your DNS settings with the records generated in Klaviyo: NS records for Dynamic routing or CNAME records for Static routing, plus the TXT record for domain ownership verification. Use the exact records shown for your account. This allows you to send emails through your own branded sending domain rather than Klaviyo’s shared domain. Make sure your branded sending subdomain has no conflicting DNS records, which can disrupt other configurations on the domain.

After adding the records, complete verification in Klaviyo, select Activate when you are ready to use the domain, and complete the confirmation. Verification alone does not start sending from the domain. Follow the warming guidance above when you begin sending.

Connecting a branded sending domain also enables DKIM and SPF authentication on sends from Klaviyo using the domain. Authentication is a common email best practice that helps to prevent and alleviate delivery issues, and improve deliverability.

Note for multi-domain migrations: If your previous ESP separated your traffic across multiple sending domains (for example, one for marketing and another for transactional), you can set up separate branded sending domains for Marketing, Transactional, and Service emails in Klaviyo. Service is available only when inbound email is enabled. Set up each domain independently. See How to set up a branded sending domain for the setup instructions.

Dedicated click tracking

If you used a custom click-tracking domain with your previous ESP, or would like to begin using one in Klaviyo, you can configure a dedicated click-tracking domain yourself from your Klaviyo account on a paid plan. See How to set up dedicated click tracking.

Dedicated click tracking allows you to display your own domain on click-tracking links as opposed to the default Klaviyo encoding, helping your customers further trust the emails that come from your brand.

Dedicated IP address

Most small businesses or those just starting out with Klaviyo will be on shared IPs. Depending on your email practices and volumes, this should suffice for your sending needs. The main benefit of using a dedicated IP address is that the reputation of the IP address can only be influenced by the single account that is using it. As such, you have control over your IP reputation, especially if you have higher volumes of email sends. Your overall sender reputation also depends on factors such as your domain reputation and recipient engagement.

Deliverability factors

When migrating your branded sending domain from another ESP, it is important to be mindful of deliverability to ensure you successfully land in customers’ inboxes.

Sender reputation

When you migrate your sending domain to Klaviyo from a prior ESP, the sender reputation associated with the domain will carry over as well. Your domain’s sending reputation is a key factor that mailbox providers (MBPs) consider when determining how to sort incoming emails.

If you are seeing deliverability issues with your pre-existing branded sending domain, follow email deliverability best practices to improve your sender reputation and adjust your sending strategy. Deliverability issues will not automatically resolve by switching ESPs.

DMARC

If the domain used in your sender email address (i.e., from-address) has a DMARC policy set, this can impact inbox placement when there is a misalignment between the branded sending domain and the from-address domain. DMARC is a protocol designed to give domain owners the ability to protect their domain from unauthorized users sending emails, commonly known as email spoofing.

With a branded sending domain, make sure that your domain and your from-address in Klaviyo align.

For example, if you send an email using sales@example.com as your from-address, where example.com is protected by DMARC, your account will need to use a branded sending domain like send.example.com for all emails sent from Klaviyo to meet DMARC authentication requirements. Accounts with branded sending domains may be impacted if there is not alignment with the sender email address.

If you use Klaviyo’s shared sending domain and your from-address domain has a DMARC policy, set up a branded sending domain that aligns with your from-address. Keep your DMARC policy in place to protect your domain from spoofing. See the email authentication guide above for help with your DMARC configuration.

Remove DNS records generated through prior ESP

Note that not all domain registration services allow you to directly edit all DNS records. If you cannot update the records, contact your DNS provider for information on how to update them.

1. Navigate to your applicable DNS provider. Common providers include:
   • GoDaddy
   • Hostgator
   • Hover
   • Namecheap
   • Squarespace
   • AWS
   • Cloudflare
2. Identify the CNAME and TXT records used only by your previous ESP and delete those you no longer need. If the service handled reply management, check whether its MX records are still needed before removing them. Do not delete a shared SPF record that also authorizes other email services; ask your DNS administrator to remove only the previous ESP’s authorization.

Important considerations

Migrate unsubscribe and suppression data

Before your first send in Klaviyo, bring in all the data available on your previous ESP regarding permissions. This includes information such as subscription method and timestamp for email and SMS opt-ins, along with all unsubscribe and bounce data. Import unsubscribes and bounced email addresses as suppressed profiles so they are excluded from email marketing. By importing this data to Klaviyo, you can avoid sending to profiles that might harm your infrastructure’s deliverability.

For more information regarding migrating data from your previous provider, see our guide on how to migrate existing email subscribers (and unsubscribes) into Klaviyo.

Additional resources