Klaviyo Sending Domain: Branded or Shared, Before BFCM

In our view, an account's sending volume jumps during BFCM, and the reputation of the domain carrying those emails then becomes a topic of the week. In Klaviyo, that domain can be shared with other customers or belong to your brand. The choice looks technical, but it decides who carries your sender reputation, and setting it up calls for DNS records, sometimes a pause in sending and, for some accounts, a warming period.

This article goes through Klaviyo's documentation and Google's pages on bulk sending, to decide whether a branded domain should be in place before the operation and what that involves.

TL;DR. By default, most Klaviyo accounts send from a shared IP and a shared Klaviyo domain, which displays "via klaviyomail.com" in Gmail. A branded sending domain removes that mention and has your own domain carry the reputation. Klaviyo writes that a branded domain is part of meeting the requirements inbox providers set for bulk senders, without guaranteeing inbox placement. DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours, and the page recommends pausing flows and campaigns before activating the first marketing domain. An existing Klaviyo customer does not have to warm up again if their domain has been registered for at least 30 days and has already been used to send. In our view, this work is finished before the campaign calendar starts.

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What Klaviyo does by default

Klaviyo states that, when you first join, authentication records are already configured for its shared sending domains. By default, you send from a shared IP and a shared Klaviyo domain, and your recipients see "via klaviyomail.com" next to the sender address in Gmail (Klaviyo, branded vs. shared sending domains).

The same page warns that, on a shared domain, other Klaviyo customers use the same domain: you can inherit its reputation. Klaviyo adds that these domains are consistently reviewed and that the vendor works to ensure accounts follow healthy list practices.

What a branded domain changes, according to Klaviyo

A branded sending domain, also called a dedicated sending domain, lets you send emails that appear to come from your brand. Any company can create one. According to Klaviyo, it removes the "via klaviyomail.com" mention, lets you build a reputation on your own domain and limits the effect of shared senders on your deliverability. It also opens the door to authentication protocols such as DMARC.

On the obligation, the page says that inbox providers such as Google enforce requirements on bulk senders and that setting up a branded domain is part of meeting them; it adds that this does not guarantee inbox placement (Klaviyo, branded vs. shared sending domains). As a reference point, it cites Google's threshold of 5,000 or more emails per day to personal Gmail accounts, with all messages from the same root domain counting, transactional included, and says that a new brand on Klaviyo that plans to send at this volume should set up a branded sending domain.

Where Google sets the bar

Google's pages give two close wordings of the threshold, and specify the scope: the guidelines target personal Gmail accounts (addresses ending in @gmail.com or @googlemail.com) and do not apply to messages sent to Google Workspace accounts (Google, sender guidelines FAQ). The Klaviyo pages reread on October 26 also say "personal Gmail accounts". The sender guidelines page targets senders that send more than 5,000 messages per day to Gmail accounts (Google, email sender guidelines). The FAQ defines a bulk sender as one that sends close to 5,000 messages or more to personal Gmail accounts within 24 hours, adding up the messages sent from the same primary domain, and states that the status, once assigned, is permanent (Google, sender guidelines FAQ).

Above 5,000 messages per day, Google's page asks in particular for:

• SPF and DKIM for your domain;
• DMARC, whose enforcement policy can be set to none;
• for direct email, a From header domain aligned with either the SPF domain or the DKIM domain;
• marketing messages that support one-click unsubscribe, with a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the message body;
• a spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.30%.

In its section on spam rate, the same page recommends staying below 0.10% and avoiding reaching 0.30% or higher.

Our SPF, DKIM, DMARC guide details the records, and the one on Postmaster Tools and Yahoo Sender Hub explains how to read the spam rate. In our view, an account approaching this volume at BFCM sorts out authentication before the operation's first send, not during it.

Three send types, one active domain per type

Klaviyo lets you configure separate branded domains by type of traffic, in the same account (Klaviyo, how to set up a branded sending domain):

Each type has only one active domain, and each domain builds its own reputation. The page explains that this protects transactional traffic from marketing bounces. According to the comparison page, most accounts only need a marketing domain. If you separate the types, each needs a different subdomain, for example send for marketing and updates for transactional.

Dynamic or static: the DNS records

When you create the domain, you choose the routing. Dynamic mode lets Klaviyo select a sending provider for each message and generates NS records. Static mode goes through a single provider and generates CNAME records. Klaviyo recommends dynamic for better sending performance, and static if your DNS provider does not support NS records.

In dynamic mode, you delegate the sending subdomain to Klaviyo. The page specifies that delegation does not affect the root domain or any other subdomain, and that it can be revoked by removing the NS records. Klaviyo then hosts the delegated subdomain's records: your own records are added in Klaviyo, not at your DNS provider.

In total, Klaviyo asks for up to 3 CNAME records or 4 NS records for authentication, plus one TXT record for domain ownership verification. A service-type domain also receives mail: for a static service domain, Klaviyo manages the inbound MX configuration, and the page says not to add a separate MX record. The setup wizard also offers to add a DMARC record, an option shown only to domains that do not have one. Klaviyo generates v=DMARC1; p=none; and states that it meets inbox provider requirements without affecting delivery. Only the Owner, Admin, Manager and Campaign Coordinator roles can set up a branded sending domain.

The go-live timeline

Three constraints in the documentation set the timeline (Klaviyo, how to set up a branded sending domain):

1. DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours after the records are published.
2. Activation is manual. Klaviyo does not apply the domain automatically after verification, so that there is time to prepare warming if it is needed (Klaviyo, troubleshooting branded sending domain issues).
3. The first marketing domain is best activated after a pause. The page recommends pausing flows and campaigns before activating the domain, then resuming flows and scheduling campaigns once the change is applied and tested. This is not necessary to add a transactional or service domain to an account that already has an active marketing domain, nor to move to a new subdomain.

The page words this pause as a recommendation, not a requirement. In our view, you follow it for a first marketing domain.

To replace a branded domain that is already active, Klaviyo asks for neither removal nor a pause: you add the new subdomain, and the vendor moves your traffic onto it gradually, with domain warming (the recommended option). When the activation screen offers it, Move all traffic now moves everything at once, and the page warns that this can affect deliverability. During the transition, the old domain appears as active and the new one as warming, and both must be subdomains of the same root domain. In our view, none of these changes is made during the week of the operation: a DNS check that fails on a Thursday in November costs more than work settled a month earlier.

Warming or ramping: two different things

Who has to warm

Klaviyo distinguishes warming from ramping. Warming applies to new or "cold" infrastructure: a root domain registered in the last 30 days or one that has not yet been used to send any email (Klaviyo, understanding ramping vs. warming). The rules in the pages on choosing the process and on warming boil down to this (Klaviyo, which warming process to use; Klaviyo, how to warm your sending domain):

The page on choosing the process specifies that these cases apply to accounts on shared IPs: warming a dedicated IP is a different process.

For a marketing domain on a new qualifying account, or on a domain registered less than 30 days ago, the setup page calls warming essential during the first 2 to 4 weeks (Klaviyo, how to set up a branded sending domain). This rule targets new qualifying accounts and recent domains, including for an existing customer; an existing customer who brings a domain registered for at least 30 days and already used is not concerned. The warming page adds that a domain replacing another one is not warmed by hand, because Klaviyo moves traffic gradually (Klaviyo, how to warm your sending domain).

Ramping for BFCM

The page on the difference between warming and ramping cites holiday sending as a case of ramping: gradually increasing volumes at a time of year when far more email is being sent, such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday. For warming, the same case serves to establish a reputation with the mailbox provider that allows sending at a significantly higher volume. The same page gives, in its general definition, an example to put durations in perspective: ramping to 100,000 emails can take as little as 10 days, whereas the email service provider (ESP) or the mailbox provider (MBP) typically takes up to 30 days to make an initial decision on reputation, and opens and clicks can fluctuate for up to about 120 days (Klaviyo, understanding ramping vs. warming).

The documentation we reviewed gives no daily percentage increase specific to BFCM. The only method described in detail is that of warming new dedicated marketing sending infrastructure: a first send to fewer than 10,000 recipients, engagement segments at 30, 60, 90, 120 then 180 days, a first send aiming for open rates above 30%, then staying above 20% before widening (Klaviyo, how to warm your sending domain). The page puts the welcome, abandoned cart and browse flows ahead of the winback, re-engagement and sunset flows, which it presents as potentially high risk. It also specifies that open rates vary by sender and industry, and that Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates them.

In our view, an existing account preparing for BFCM can borrow the logic of widening by engagement segments, without taking over the thresholds, which are not written for it. List sorting is covered in list hygiene.

Guided warming

Guided warming does not appear in every account: Klaviyo offers it to those that meet the following conditions (Klaviyo, understanding guided warming): a recently created account, at least 5,000 active email profiles, an enabled Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor or ExactTarget integration that has completed its initial sync, engagement events in Klaviyo (at least 100 opens excluding machine opens between 1 and 365 days ago, at least 100 clicks between 1 and 30 days ago, and at least 100 clicks between 31 and 60 days or 61 and 90 days ago), and at least one campaign sent in the last 30 days to 1,000 recipients or more through one of those ESPs, or a Klaviyo email campaign delivered to at least 1,000 profiles. In that case, Klaviyo automatically excludes an "unengaged" audience that it maintains itself when the audience exceeds the appropriate size. Klaviyo recommends following these suggestions: you can include the unengaged audience by turning the setting off (Ignore Guidance), which the page does not present as a best practice. If the account goes more than 45 days without a Klaviyo email campaign delivered to at least 1,000 profiles (flow emails and smaller campaigns do not count), guided warming expires, its notifications disappear and it cannot be re-enabled.

What Google recommends for increasing volume

Google's page has a section on increasing sending volume slowly (Google, email sender guidelines). It cites three factors: the amount of email sent (the more you send, the more slowly the increase should be), the frequency (volume can increase more quickly when you send daily rather than weekly) and recipient feedback. For large sends, it recommends in particular:

• a consistent rate, avoiding sending in bursts;
• a low volume at first to engaged users, then a gradual increase;
• avoiding sudden spikes when you have no history of large volumes, for example suddenly doubling previously sent volumes;
• after a significant change to sending infrastructure or header structure, increasing the modified segment of traffic separately;
• reducing volume if messages start bouncing or being deferred, then increasing slowly again.

In our view, the guidance on infrastructure changes applies to a new sending domain: you do not stack the DNS work on top of the BFCM volume ramp. Google's page also states that Gmail tracks volume per domain and per IP address, that an IP address's quota is shared by all senders using that IP, and that when the IP hits it, all domains sending from that IP stop sending emails. The page adds that, for Google Workspace work and school accounts, sending limits apply even when recipients are in different Google Workspace domains: if those domains all have google.com as their MX record, the messages sent count toward your limit.

The DNS pitfalls that block verification

Klaviyo's troubleshooting page lists the common causes of failure (Klaviyo, troubleshooting branded sending domain issues):

• some DNS providers automatically append the root domain to a value that has no trailing period, which distorts it;
• others append the root domain to the hostname, producing a duplicated name such as send.domain.com.domain.com;
• if the provider offers proxying on records (the page cites Cloudflare as a common case), it must be disabled, and left disabled after setup so that emails authenticate;
• underscores in CNAME records are necessary: if the provider does not accept them, the page advises asking its support to create the record, then considering another provider;
• an existing TXT record on the root domain can receive the Klaviyo value appended to it.

Two points on the from address complete the list. For an email to be DMARC compliant, the account's root domain must align with the from-address domain; the page takes the example of an address at example.com protected by DMARC, which requires a branded sending domain such as send.example.com for all Klaviyo sends. In addition, the setup page asks you to use the root domain alone in the from address: putting the sending subdomain in it prevents you from receiving replies (Klaviyo, how to set up a branded sending domain).

Checklist before BFCM

These points are Deliver's advice.

1. You know whether the account sends from a shared domain or a branded domain, and what volume to Gmail is expected.
2. Someone has access to the DNS provider and a Klaviyo role allowed to set up the domain.
3. The first marketing domain is connected outside campaign periods, with sending paused and a test before resuming.
4. The records are checked with an external DNS tool, with no proxy on the records.
5. The from address uses the root domain, and DMARC alignment is checked.
6. A new account started its 2 to 4 weeks of warming before the operation.
7. An existing account has defined its engagement segments and widens the audience gradually.
8. The Postmaster Tools spam rate is read daily during the operation.

FAQ

Is a branded domain mandatory in Klaviyo?

Klaviyo writes that, for a bulk sender, setting up a branded domain is part of meeting inbox providers' authentication requirements, and that it does not guarantee inbox placement. By default, an account starts on a shared domain.

Do you need to warm a new sending domain?

Not for an existing Klaviyo customer whose domain has been registered for at least 30 days and has already been used to send. A new qualifying account or a domain registered less than 30 days ago follows warming, 2 to 4 weeks for a marketing domain.

How long does DNS propagation take?

Up to 48 hours according to Klaviyo, after the records are published.

Do you need to pause sending to connect the domain?

For the first marketing domain, the page recommends pausing flows and campaigns before activating the domain. It is not necessary for a transactional or service domain added to an account that already has an active marketing domain, nor for a move to a new subdomain.

Do you need a domain for transactional emails?

The page says most accounts only need a marketing domain. The transactional domain isolates the reputation of those messages and is only used by flow messages designated as transactional.

Want an outside look at your sending setup? We run Q4 readiness audits, or you can talk directly with the Deliver team.