Klaviyo Default Account Settings and Campaign Organization Before BFCM

A Klaviyo account comes with reasonable default settings to get started, but not necessarily ones suited to a Black Friday operation: a US time zone, double opt-in active on every new list, English-language sign-up pages, UTM tracking switched off. Reviewing them a week before the operation is quick. Discovering them on Friday costs more. This article lists those values, then shows how to organize a dozen campaigns across several people.

TL;DR. Klaviyo's documentation states a default display time zone of EST, UTM tracking off for flows and campaigns, double opt-in by default on every new list, English for sign-up pages, and, by default, a send to everyone at the same instant. Tags, the calendar view and the filters on the campaigns page keep the operation plan on track. In our view, the settings review comes before building the campaigns, not after.

Want an outside look before you build? We offer a Q4 readiness audit: 30 minutes, free, no strings attached.

General account settings

Time zone. By default, the account displays all time data in EST. You change it under Settings, Organization (Klaviyo, understand default account, email and list settings). For a French store, this is the first point to check: scheduling times and reports are read in it. Our article on send time in Klaviyo also shows that the account time zone serves as the fallback when a recipient's is unknown.

UTM tracking. It is configured under Settings, Other, UTM tracking, where you can add custom parameters, edit the default values and enable it for all messages. Our article on UTMs in Klaviyo details the setup.

Default sender name and address. At sign-up, the name and address used to create the account become the default sender, and these values are prefilled in every new campaign or flow. You change them under Settings, Organization. The change only affects future emails: for existing flows and campaigns, you have to make it by hand.

Email settings

• Smart Sending: 16-hour window by default. Our article on Smart Sending details the mechanics. For transactional emails sent with Klaviyo, you can also choose whether Smart Sending applies to them.
• Preview email prefix: you can define a prefix for the subject of all preview emails, to tell them apart from real sends. There is none by default. In our view, a prefix keeps a test from being mistaken for a real message in a reviewer's inbox.
• CSS optimization: keeping the box checked uses embedded styles rather than inline CSS. Inline CSS can improve rendering with uncommon providers or in regions with particular requirements, but it makes the email longer and increases the risk of clipping. The page advises unchecking it only if a large part of your audience is concerned. Our article on quality control before sending covers clipping.
• Bot clicks: a box lets you exclude bot clicks from reporting data, for email, SMS or both. A/B tests created after you enable it use a click rate that excludes those clicks, which can change the winning variant. The page recommends not enabling this setting during a running A/B test that uses clicks as its metric.
• Email-to-site tracking: the box checked by default lets you attribute web activity to specific emails.
• Tracking pixel position: by default, it is added at the bottom of the email. You can place it at the top if long emails are truncated, so that tracking stays accurate.
• Sending domain: this is where you configure a dedicated or branded sending domain. The page states that sending from a branded domain can improve deliverability.

Flow defaults

All flow settings are edited by clicking the email, then the gear in the Settings section.

• Smart Sending: the page states it is enabled by default for all flow emails, except prebuilt abandoned cart emails.
• UTM: off by default, adjustable in the account settings.
• Additional filters: none by default.

Note that Klaviyo's documentation describes the state of Smart Sending in flows in three ways depending on the page (enabled in many prebuilt flows, disabled by default, enabled except for abandoned cart). We had flagged this in our article on Smart Sending. The actual state is read message by message in your account.

Campaign defaults

• Smart Sending: always enabled by default for campaign emails. Klaviyo recommends leaving it on to avoid over-contacting subscribers.
• UTM: off by default, adjustable in the account settings.
• Subject: with no subject set, it defaults to the campaign name. An internal name such as "BFCM D-3 VIP segment" can therefore go out as the subject if it is forgotten.
• Date and time: the default is the next half hour, in your time zone.
• Recipient determination: with no setting under Settings, Messaging, the default is to determine recipients now. Our article on resending to non-openers explains the difference with determining at send time.
• Send strategy: by default, the send goes to everyone at the time indicated, wherever they are.

List defaults

When you create a list, several settings are configured in its Settings tab.

• Unsubscribes: deciding whether a person who unsubscribes from a list is unsubscribed globally. This is not checked by default.
• Double opt-in: all lists are double opt-in by default, with the option to switch to single opt-in. Our article on double opt-in details its effects.
• Language: the content of sign-up pages and of the forms tied to the list is in English by default.

The last value is the easiest to forget for a waitlist created for Black Friday: a new list whose language has not been changed keeps its sign-up pages in English. In our view, this is the first point to check on a list created for the operation. Our article on the Black Friday waitlist explains how to build it.

Organizing campaigns with tags

Tags classify campaigns by type, location or another criterion. Klaviyo's page presents them as useful for sorting, searching and getting an overview of a group's performance, especially when several people create campaigns (Klaviyo, use tags to organize campaigns).

To add tags at creation: Campaigns, Create campaign, name the campaign and choose the channel, then in the Tags section, type to find an existing tag or create one. A campaign can have several tags, unless the tag belongs to an exclusive tag group. For an existing campaign, you check one or more campaigns in the list, click Add tags, then choose or create a tag and save.

In our view, a simple set of tags is enough for an operation: an operation tag ("bfcm2026"), a phase tag (teasing, launch, reminder, closing) and a segment tag (VIP, waitlist, active base). These names are examples, to be decided with the team before starting.

Finding your campaigns: list, calendar and filters

The campaigns page offers two views, list and calendar (Klaviyo, view, filter and sort campaigns). Both show past and upcoming campaigns with details such as open and click rates. Open rate is not tracked for SMS, so a dash is displayed. For push, the open rate is displayed and the click rate is replaced by a dash. In the list view, you choose the visible columns. The calendar view, reached with the icon at the top right, shows a campaign's summary on click, but search is not available there.

In our view, the calendar view is the right tool to check the spacing of sends, and therefore the Smart Sending windows, before scheduling them.

The available filters: search bar (list view only), time period, audience, channels, status, tags, A/B test, archives and conversion metric.

• Time period: from 7 days to all time, or a custom range. Scheduled campaigns and drafts always display, whatever the date.
• Audience: campaigns sent to a given list or segment. With several choices, you see campaigns sent to at least one of them.
• Status: sent, scheduled, draft, canceled. The drafts filter shows the work remaining.
• Conversion metric: it changes the last column of the list view, among the metrics from your integrations. A change applies to all users of the account.

That last point deserves a team rule: one person changes the metric, and lets the others know. Our article on BFCM results and attribution windows recalls how much the conversion metric matters for reading the results.

Checklist before BFCM

These points are Deliver's advice.

1. The account time zone is checked under Settings, Organization.
2. The default sender name and address are reviewed.
3. UTM tracking is enabled at the account level, then checked on each main flow.
4. The Smart Sending window is reviewed, along with the state of each critical flow message.
5. Language and double opt-in are checked on every list created for the operation.
6. A set of tags is decided and applied to all campaigns of the operation.
7. The calendar view is reviewed for send spacing, and a prefix is defined for preview emails.

FAQ

What is the default time zone of a Klaviyo account?

The page states EST for the display of time data. You change it under Settings, Organization.

Is UTM tracking active by default?

No. The page states it is off by default for flows and for campaigns, and that you can enable it in the account settings.

Are lists double opt-in by default?

Yes. You can switch a list to single opt-in in its settings.

Can you put several tags on a campaign?

Yes, unless the tag belongs to an exclusive tag group.

Does changing the conversion metric in the campaigns list affect other users?

Yes. The change applies to all users of the account.

Want an outside look at your account configuration? We run Q4 readiness audits, or you can talk to the Deliver team directly.