The First 90 Days: What to Expect When You Hire a Klaviyo Agency

You signed the contract. You gave the agency access to your Klaviyo account and Shopify store. Now you're wondering: what actually happens next? When do I start seeing revenue? What should I be asking? How do I know if this is working?

Here's the realistic timeline of what a good Klaviyo agency builds in the first 90 days, what results to expect at each stage, and the questions you should be asking along the way.

Week 1: The Foundation Nobody Sees

The first week is all technical foundation. It's invisible to you, but it determines everything that follows.

What's happening:

• Auditing your existing Klaviyo setup (if you have one)
• Verifying DNS authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records
• Setting up or verifying a dedicated sending subdomain
• Cleaning your email list: removing hard bounces, spam traps, role-based addresses, and long-term unengaged subscribers
• Reviewing your Shopify-Klaviyo integration: event tracking, product catalog sync, consent status mapping
• Checking domain reputation and deliverability baseline

What you'll see: Mostly requests for access and technical questions. The agency might ask your developer to update DNS records or verify Shopify settings. It won't feel like much is happening.

What to ask: "What's our current deliverability status?" and "Were there any issues with the existing setup?" A good agency will give you an honest assessment of where things stand, even if the answer is "we need to rebuild from scratch."

Weeks 2-3: The Core Build

This is where the heavy construction happens. The agency is building the flow architecture that will generate automated revenue 24/7.

What's happening:

• Building the Welcome Series (the highest-revenue flow for most brands)
• Building the Abandoned Checkout flow
• Building the Browse Abandonment flow
• Setting up engagement-based segments (14/30/60/90 day)
• Creating value-based segments (VIP, repeat buyers, one-time buyers)
• Building email templates with your brand assets and design system
• Setting up campaign infrastructure and content calendar

What you'll see: Email drafts for review. Flow diagrams showing the logic. Template designs for approval. The agency should walk you through what they're building and why.

What to ask: "Can you walk me through the Welcome Series logic?" and "How are we segmenting the list?" You don't need to understand every technical detail, but you should understand the strategy. If the agency can't explain why they're building something a certain way, that's a concern.

Weeks 3-4: Launch and Early Campaigns

Flows go live. Campaigns start sending. Revenue starts appearing in the Klaviyo dashboard.

What's happening:

• Activating the core flows
• Sending the first campaigns to engaged segments
• If coming from a cold or new domain: executing a warm-up schedule (starting with small, highly engaged segments and gradually expanding)
• Monitoring deliverability closely: open rates, bounce rates, spam complaints
• Beginning A/B testing on subject lines

What you'll see: Revenue appearing in Klaviyo. But here's the honest truth: the first few weeks of revenue will be modest. Flows take time to accumulate recipients. Campaigns need testing to optimize. If you're warming up a domain, send volumes are intentionally low.

What to expect (revenue): Don't expect significant revenue in weeks 3-4. If you see any Klaviyo-attributed revenue appearing, the foundations are working. The ramp happens in months 2 and 3.

What to ask: "What are our deliverability metrics looking like?" and "What did we learn from the first campaign sends?" Early data is about signals, not results.

Month 2: Optimization and Expansion

The foundation is built. Now the agency refines and expands.

What's happening:

• Optimizing Welcome Series based on initial performance data
• Building additional flows: Post-Purchase, Cart Abandonment, Customer Winback
• Increasing campaign frequency as domain reputation strengthens
• Implementing the VIP early access strategy for campaigns
• Running A/B tests on flow emails, subject lines, and creative
• Refining segmentation based on actual engagement data

What you'll see: Increasing revenue week over week. The Welcome Series should be converting consistently. Abandoned Checkout should be recovering measurable revenue. Campaigns should be gaining traction with engaged segments.

What to expect (revenue): Depending on your traffic and list size, you might see Klaviyo contributing 5-15% of total store revenue by the end of month 2. For brands with existing lists and traffic, this can be higher. For brands building from scratch, it's typically at the lower end.

What to ask: "What's our Klaviyo revenue as a percentage of total store revenue?" and "Which flows are performing best and worst?" These questions show you're tracking the metrics that matter.

Month 3: Scale and Prove

This is where the investment starts paying off clearly.

What's happening:

• Full campaign cadence running (2-3+ campaigns per week)
• All core flows live and generating revenue
• Segmentation refined: VIP segment active, engagement tiers working, behavioral segments in place
• Sunset Flow implemented to protect deliverability
• SMS integration launched (if part of the scope)
• First comprehensive performance report delivered

What you'll see: A clear trend of increasing email revenue. Flows running on autopilot generating consistent daily revenue. Campaigns driving intentional revenue spikes. The Klaviyo dashboard should tell a story of growth.

What to expect (revenue): By end of month 3, a well-executed email program should be contributing 15-25% of total store revenue. For brands that had zero email setup, reaching 15% in 90 days is strong. For brands with existing but underperforming setups, 20-25% is achievable.

What to ask: "What's our flow-to-campaign revenue split?" (flows should be 50-60% of Klaviyo revenue), "What are the biggest opportunities for month 4-6?" and "What's our deliverability health look like?"

The Reporting You Should Expect

A good agency provides structured reporting, not just numbers. At minimum:

Weekly: Brief update on what was sent, what's being built, and any issues. This can be a short message in your communication channel.

Bi-weekly or monthly: Full performance report covering revenue (total, by flow, by campaign), engagement metrics, list health, A/B test results, and the plan for the next period.

If your agency isn't proactively reporting, ask for it. And if they can't clearly articulate what Klaviyo revenue is as a percentage of total store revenue, that's a red flag.

Red Flags to Watch For

No communication for weeks. A good agency communicates proactively, especially in the first 90 days when there's the most to build and report.

Sending to the full list from day one. If the agency blasts your entire list without building segments first, they're risking your deliverability for short-term numbers.

No A/B testing. If every campaign goes out without testing, the agency isn't optimizing. They're just sending.

Promising specific revenue numbers before they've seen your data. No legitimate agency can guarantee "€50K in email revenue in 90 days" before understanding your traffic, list, and product. They can set targets and show past results, but guarantees are a red flag.

Only talking about vanity metrics. Open rates and click rates matter, but if the agency never talks about revenue, conversion rates, and Klaviyo's share of total store revenue, they're measuring the wrong things.

Green Flags That Show It's Working

Deliverability is healthy. Spam complaint rate is below 0.08%. Open rates on engaged segments are 30%+. No deliverability issues or spam folder problems.

Revenue is trending up. Not a hockey stick on day one, but a clear upward trend from month 1 to month 3.

You understand what they're doing and why. A good agency educates you. You should feel more knowledgeable about email marketing at the end of 90 days than at the beginning.

They push back on bad ideas. If you suggest something that would hurt deliverability or performance, a good agency explains why and offers a better alternative. Yes-men don't produce results.

The Bottom Line

The first 90 days with a Klaviyo agency are about building the machine, not just generating revenue. The technical foundation, flow architecture, segmentation system, and campaign infrastructure all need to be built before the email program can reach its potential.

Expect modest results in month 1, growing results in month 2, and clear ROI by month 3. Judge the agency on the trajectory, not the day-one numbers. Ask the right questions. Watch for red flags. And give the process enough time to work.

The brands that invest patience in the first 90 days reap the rewards for years afterward.