How to Read a Klaviyo Dashboard: The 10 Numbers That Actually Matter

Open your Klaviyo dashboard right now. You'll see dozens of numbers: open rates, click rates, revenue, bounces, unsubscribes, list growth, flow performance, campaign metrics, deliverability scores.

Most of these numbers are noise. They feel important. They look impressive (or alarming). But they don't drive decisions.

After managing Klaviyo accounts generating hundreds of thousands in email revenue, we've narrowed it down to 10 numbers that actually tell you whether your email program is working — and what to fix when it isn't.

1. Klaviyo Revenue as % of Total Store Revenue

This is the single most important number in your entire email program. It answers the fundamental question: is email pulling its weight?

What it tells you: How much of your total Shopify revenue is being attributed to Klaviyo (email + SMS).

Target range: 25-40% of total store revenue.

Why it matters: If you're spending heavily on paid acquisition and email is contributing less than 15%, you have a massive untapped opportunity. If you're above 30%, your email program is performing well and the focus shifts to optimization.

Calculation: Klaviyo Attributed Revenue ÷ Total Shopify Revenue × 100

Check this monthly. It's the number you report to stakeholders.

2. Flow vs. Campaign Revenue Split

Not all email revenue is created equal. This metric breaks down where the money comes from: automated flows or manual campaigns.

What it tells you: Whether your revenue is system-driven or effort-driven.

Target range: 50:50 to 60:40 (flows to campaigns). In the early months of an email program, flows should be higher. As your campaign engine matures, campaigns catch up.

Why it matters: If 80% of revenue comes from campaigns, you're dependent on manual effort — stop sending, revenue stops. If flows carry the majority, your system works while you sleep. The healthiest accounts have a balanced mix where both are strong.

3. Email Performance Rating (EPR)

This is Klaviyo's proprietary metric that combines multiple engagement signals into a single score.

What it tells you: Overall account health and sender reputation from Klaviyo's perspective.

Target: Track the trend, not the absolute number. Month-over-month improvement is what you're after.

Why it matters: A declining EPR is an early warning signal that something is wrong — usually a deliverability issue, list hygiene problem, or engagement drop. Don't wait for open rates to crash to notice.

4. Revenue Per Unique Recipient (EPUR)

This metric tells you how much revenue you're generating per person you email. It's more useful than total revenue because it normalizes for list size.

What it tells you: Efficiency of your email program. Are you extracting more value from each subscriber over time?

Target: Increasing quarter over quarter.

Why it matters: You can grow total revenue by simply growing your list. But if EPUR is flat or declining, you're adding subscribers without adding value. The best email programs show rising EPUR because flows, segmentation, and campaign strategy are improving together.

5. Spam Complaint Rate

Your spam complaint rate is the percentage of recipients who mark your email as spam.

What it tells you: Whether recipients consider your emails unwanted.

Target: Below 0.08%. Absolute critical threshold. We maintain below 0.03% across our accounts.

Why it matters: This is the metric that can destroy everything else overnight. Gmail and Yahoo enforce the 0.08% threshold. Exceed it and your emails start going to spam — not just for the people who complained, but for everyone on your list. One bad send can cascade into weeks of damaged deliverability.

Check this after every campaign send. Not weekly. Every send.

6. Open Rate (With Context)

Open rate is the most commonly cited email metric. It's also the most misunderstood.

What it tells you: Approximately how many people opened your email. "Approximately" because Apple's Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads images, inflating open rates.

Target ranges: 30-50% for flows, 20-35% for campaigns (to engaged segments).

Why it matters: Open rate is a directional metric, not a precision one. Use it to compare performance between campaigns (did subject line A or B perform better?) and to track trends over time. If your open rates are declining month over month, something is wrong — usually deliverability or list hygiene.

Don't chase open rate as a goal. Chase the revenue metrics. Open rate is just a diagnostic tool.

7. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The percentage of delivered emails where someone clicked a link.

What it tells you: Whether your email content is compelling enough to drive action.

Target ranges: 2-5% for flows, 1-3% for campaigns.

Why it matters: CTR is more actionable than open rate because it measures actual engagement with your content. Low CTR with high open rates means your subject line works but your email content or CTA doesn't. This is a creative problem, not a deliverability problem.

8. Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)

Unique clicks divided by unique opens. This isolates email content effectiveness from subject line and deliverability performance.

What it tells you: Of the people who opened, how many clicked? This is your best measure of email content quality.

Target range: 8-15%.

Why it matters: CTOR strips out the noise. If your open rate is great but CTOR is poor, the subject line is doing its job but the email content isn't converting. If CTOR is high but open rate is low, your content is strong but fewer people are seeing it. Different problems, different solutions.

9. Unsubscribe Rate

What it tells you: What percentage of recipients are opting out.

Target: Below 0.3% per send.

Why it matters: Some unsubscribes are healthy — people self-selecting out keeps your list clean. But if unsubscribe rates spike on a particular campaign or consistently trend upward, you're either sending too frequently, targeting too broadly, or delivering content that doesn't match expectations.

Watch for patterns: if promotional campaigns have higher unsubscribes than value-based content, that tells you something about your content mix.

10. List Growth Rate

New subscribers minus unsubscribes, divided by total list size.

What it tells you: Whether your list is growing or shrinking, and at what pace.

Target: Positive month over month.

Why it matters: List growth is the fuel for everything else. Even the best flows and campaigns have a ceiling if your list isn't growing. But it's not just about the number — it's about the quality. 1,000 new subscribers from a targeted popup outperform 5,000 from a giveaway.

Track both the raw number and the source. A growing list from low-intent sources will eventually hurt deliverability.

How to Use These Numbers Together

No single metric tells the full story. The power is in reading them together:

Revenue % is declining + Complaint rate is rising = Deliverability problem. Your emails aren't reaching inboxes.

Open rate is strong + CTR is weak = Content problem. Your subject lines work but your emails don't convert.

Campaign revenue dominates + Flow revenue is low = System problem. Your automated flows are underbuilt or underperforming.

EPUR is flat + List is growing = Efficiency problem. You're adding subscribers but not converting them.

Every bi-weekly or monthly client report should cover these 10 metrics with context — not just the numbers, but what they mean and what action they suggest.

Dashboard numbers exist to drive decisions. If a metric doesn't change what you do next, it's noise. These 10 change what you do next.