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Jun 13, 2022
Set up the core components of the integration between Klaviyo and Shopify (or Shopify Plus) to collect subscribers and set up the technology to better understand, segment, and reach your customers. We will show you how to connect Klaviyo and Shopify through the backend, add web tracking on the front end, collect subscribers at the checkout and website forms, and how to collect SMS Subscribers.
This video goes step-by-step through the process with a screen recording to follow along.
If your don't have a Klaviyo account, follow this part, if you already have a Klaviyo account, skip to the "Connect to Shopify from an existing Klaviyo account" section of this blog.
To start with, have three tabs open and ready to move between;
The Klaviyo Homepage
Your Shopify store backend
And your store front, as it looks to customers
To start the connection process, head to the Klaviyo homepage. Click “Sign up” in the top right corner.
Fill out your details for the account. Once all relevant company information is given, click “Create account” at the end of the page.
Once you have created the account, you will see a menu with options to connect shop accounts. Select Shopify from the menu. This will then prompt you to paste your Shopify URL; copy your Shopify URL from your Shopify account, and past it into Klaviyo.
Klaviyo will now direct you to the Shopify backend and prompt you to install the Shopify App for Klaviyo. Click “Install app” in the top right.
Once the app is installed, it will bring you back to Klaviyo to continue the account set-up. Continue the rest of the account set-up until you reach the “How do you want to reach your audience?” page.
On this page you will be asked what platforms you want to reach your audience through. In this blog we will teach you how to set up both SMS and Email, so we will select both Email and SMS.
*Note that as of this blog's release, Klaviyo SMS is only supported in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
The account is now set up. Confirm your email address and then log in to your account. Once you are logged in, you need to confirm that Shopify is connected. From the Klaviyo homepage click on “Integrations” on the left hand menu, or go here.
Click on Enabled Integrations and Shopify should be listed. Click on Shopify.
This is the basics of integrations complete. Keep the Shopify Integrations page open as we will be returning to it later.
Connect to Shopify from an existing Klaviyo account
This part of the guide is for if you have a Klaviyo account but haven't connected it to Shopify yet. If you've already connected to Shopify, skip ahead to "Setting up Lists in Klaviyo".
When you're signed in with your existing Klaviyo account. Click on “Integrations” within the left-hand menu.
Find “Shopify” in the list of all integration. You can scroll, search, or find it in the “eCommerce” dropdown.
At the top of the page, paste in the myshopify version of your Shopify URL.
At the bottom of the page click “Connect to Shopify”.
Klaviyo will now direct you to the Shopify backend and prompt you to install the Shopify App for Klaviyo. Click “Install app” in the top right.
This will take you back to Klaviyo to confirm. Click “Integrate”.
Setting up Lists in Klaviyo
When you create a Klaviyo account, Klaviyo will create pre-set lists. We need to make some changes to them. From your Klaviyo homepage, click “Lists & Segments”.
This will bring up the Lists & Segments page, under the middle dropdown menu, filter for “Lists”.
This will bring up two pre-set lists, “Newsletter” and “Preview List”. We are going to rename these lists and change the settings for them. Click on “Preview List”, then click on “Settings”.
Change the name of the list from “Preview List” to “Website Signups”.
Scroll down to Opt-in Process and change Double opt-in to Single opt-in.
Click “Update List Settings” at the bottom of the page.
Now that the Website Signups list is complete, you want to do the same for Newsletter. Change its name to “Checkout Signups”, change Double opt-in to Single opt-in and click update list settings.
If you are using Klaviyo SMS, you need to create a new third list for SMS subscribers. Click “Create List / Segment” in the top right.
Name the list “SMS Subscribers” and click “ Create List”.
Go to the settings for this new list and change Double opt-in to Single opt-in and click update list settings.
We now have our three Klaviyo lists.
SMS Subscribers will hold all of the subscribers who opt-in to receive text messages
Website Signups for those who join on website forms
Checkout Signups for those who join at the checkout
If you are concerned about duplicate subscribers, Klaviyo does a great job handling them as you will see later in this tutorial. Unlike on other platforms like MailChimp, if a customer subscribes to receive SMS, and email on a website form, and at the checkout, they will have one single unified profile with all three lists.
Connection Klaviyo lists to your Website
Now that we have our lists, we need to connect them to our website. First let's do the checkout.
We will start by connecting the checkout. Return to the Shopify integration settings.
From the Klaviyo homepage, this is under “Integrations” then select Shopify.
Scroll down to Email Subscribers and check the box for “Collect email subscribers”. This will bring up a dropdown menu, select “Checkout signups”.
Subscribers will be added to the “Checkout Signups'' List when they check the box at your store checkout to receive email marketing messages from you, like this:
Back on your Shopify Integration page, click “Update Settings” in the bottom right of the page. Then select “Update Integration”.
Now we will connect the SMS Subscriber list to Shopify.
*A reminder that Klaviyo SMS is only available to customers in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand as of release.
Head to your Klaviyo page, and click on your brand name in the top right. Within the dropdown that appears, click “Account”.
Click “Setting”, then “SMS”, and then select the option “Set up SMS for free”.
Within the popup that appears, it will mention that there are prohibited industries, including the “SHAFT” industries; Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco. This is related to the US and Canadian regulations on SMS marketing. If you want to learn more details about SMS for Klaviyo check out our video that goes step-by-step through setting up your Klaviyo SMS account.
Getting Started with Klaviyo SMS
Click “Continue” on the popup. You now have a Klaviyo sending number. For US and Canadian customers, your messages will appear to come from the sending number that appears. For UK and Australian customers, you need to set up a message sender ID, this is a name that text messages will appear to come, within these customers inbox. Click on the dot menu on the right and select “Edit”.
Type in an 11 character string. If your brand name is longer than 11 characters, you will need to shorten it down. Click “Activate” when complete.
Now you are ready to collect phone numbers in Shopify. Within Klaviyo, return to the Shopify integrations page. Scroll down to SMS Subscriber. Check the box to sync SMS customers to Klaviyo. In the dropdown that appears, and choose the “SMS Subscribers” lists.
Click “Update Settings” in the bottom right, and click “Update Integration”.
Return to your Shopify home page. Click on “Setting” in the bottom left of the page.
Find and click on “Checkout” within the menu on the left, scroll down to “Consent for marketing” and select “SMS Marketing”. This will prompt you to set up a terms of service and privacy policy, make sure your setting are set up to accurately communicate to your customers about how you handle their phone numbers and what you will use them for.
Click “Save” in the top right of the page.
This has now added a checkbox to your stores checkout that will alow customers to opt in to SMS marketing. When they do, their phone number will be added to their profile and added to the “SMS Subscribers” list.
You have now synced your Klaviyo lists with your Shopify stores, for both Email and SMS.
Track Browsing Behavior
First, to add web tracking, in your Klaviyo account, click your brand name, and choose “Setup web tracking” from the dropdown.
If you have used this tool before April 2022, Klaviyo has since updated their web tracking tool to make it easier to use.
In this new settings page, click “View your Shopify App Embed settings”. This will take you to your Shopify theme files.
You will see in the left panel that the Klaviyo Javascript has been added. Click save and this component is done.
That's it, now web tracking is on your website. If it's not working, it will be because of your theme settings, reach out to your theme developer about adding Klaviyo tracking to your theme.
Design and Install a Klaviyo Signup Form
Within your Klaviyo homepage, in the left column, select “Signup forms”, or click here.
Klaviyo has a gallery of form designs. They are great starting points, and are highly customisable. We will just cover the basics here. Select “Collect Emails” and “Collect Phone Numbers”, and in the dropdown menu on the left, select “Embed” form.
Select the first basic form design that appears. We are going to make some minor edits to the design and copy.
For the “Email subscriber list” dropdown menu, choose “Website Signups” List. Rename the form to where it will be used within your site, and click “Create Form”.
If you want to see an example of form customization, check out the video embedded at the start of this blog from timestamp 8:36.
On the Email Opt-In page, link the button to the correct list. Click on the “Reveal coupon” button, and within the “List to Submit” dropdown menu, select “Website Signups”.
Add a second page that collects SMS consent. Under the “SMS Subscribe List” select “SMS Subscribers”.
Add your company name and the links to your terms and conditions, privecy and, and terms of service to the SMS consent page.
Set the default country wherever you expect to receive the most customers from.
Change the form text, design, and copy to your liking, and add a Success page to the end of your form. Once you are done, we need to add the form to your website. Click “Publish” in the top right corner.
A popup will appear, giving you an Embed Code, you don’t need this, you just need to copy the 6-digit unique code, which is also in the URL when editing the form. Then click publish again.
To add this form to your website, return to your Shopify homepage. Click on “Online Store” on the left hand menu, and click “Themes”
Within the theme settings, click “Customize”.
This will bring up the editor. At the top of the screen you can control which page you want to add the form to, in my example, I add it to the “home page”:
On the left panel, click “add section”, scroll down to “Apps” and you can select “Klaviyo embed form”.
Move the embed form where you want your customers to see it within your website. Then click on the Klaviyo Embedded Form, here you need to add the form ID. This is the 6-digit code from the URL earlier.
Now the form will show on your website. Click “Save” in the top right, and now it’s live on your site.
Check Customer Data
At this point, you want to make sure all the customer tracking tools you have set up are working as intended. First, go to your live website, and sign up using the form you have just created. In this example we are using test@bob.com, and a placeholder phone number.
Go to your Klaviyo homepage, and click on “Profiles” in the menu on the left. You should see your placeholder email has a profiled created within Klaviyo.
Clicking on this profile should bring up their behavior on the site, make sure all stages of the signup were completed, and they were added to the correct lists.
We will now test the web browsing tracking, back on the website, view a product page within your site. Then return to Klaviyo and refresh your example profile. You should see the data has been fed in and you can see the browse behavior.
Finally, start a checkout within your store, sign up for SMS within the checkout, and progress through all the steps of your checkout. Return to and refresh the profile page, and see all of this checkout behavior coming through to Klaviyo.
That's it. Now your Shopify website will be sending signups to your Klaviyo account, you can track their browing behviour, and you have everything you need set up to start setting up your flow automations and campaigns.
Learn more Email Marketing Automation tips from Email Experts
For more information about Klaviyo marketing, check out our other blogs in this series and the videos that go with them.
How to Create Lists and Segments in Klaviyo
How to Design An Effective Email Template With Klaviyo and Canva
Check out our YouTube channel, where we have tutorials on how to build up your email marketing. Please subscribe to be notified when future content is released.
Author: Shaun is the Founder of Email Experts. Combining his love of data analysis and his passion for marketing, Shaun enjoys working with marketing professionals to deliver excellent results for ecommerce businesses.
