Generic emails don’t cut it anymore—shoppers expect personalization, and it works. Tailored product recommendations can boost average order value by up to 35%.

The tricky part? Doing it well at scale.

That’s where Klaviyo comes in. Its product recommendation engine uses real customer data to deliver emails that feel handpicked for every shopper—like a personal shopper in their inbox.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to set it up, optimize it, and drive real results.

But first things first—if you’re still getting familiar with Klaviyo, we recommend starting with our beginner’s guide How to set up Klaviyo’s campaigns. It’ll give you a strong foundation so you can start adding powerful personalization on top.

Understanding Klaviyo Product Recommendations

Personalized product recommendations turn your emails from generic to just right. Klaviyo uses real customer data—like browsing, buying, and clicking habits—to suggest products that actually make sense.

It’s like having a data-savvy personal shopper behind every send.

You can plug different types of recommendations into your emails depending on your goals:

• Recently viewed: Perfect for reminding someone about the product they were just eyeing. Works great in browse abandonment emails.
• You may also like: This one pulls data from shoppers with similar habits and recommends products they’ve loved. It’s smart cross-sell magic that feels personal, not pushy.
• Best sellers: When you’re light on individual data, Klaviyo uses overall product performance, trends, and seasonality to show off what’s hot right now. Social proof meets safe bet.
• Category-based: If someone loves skincare but never touches makeup, this makes sure they only get what’s relevant. It’s a game-changer for stores with big product catalogs.
• Based on past purchases: Probably the smartest one of all. It predicts when someone’s likely to need a refill, upgrade, or their next must-have—sometimes before they even realize it.

The results? Bigger baskets, more clicks, and happier customers. Brands that use Klaviyo’s recommendation features see higher average order values and way better engagement on their emails—more opens, more clicks, fewer unsubscribes.

But the real win is trust. When people feel like your brand gets them, they’re more likely to keep coming back. Personalized recommendations turn your emails into something customers actually look forward to—because they’re helpful, relevant, and never random.

Setting Up Your Product Feed

To get personalized product recommendations working in Klaviyo, it all starts with a strong product feed. This is your full catalog—titles, images, prices, categories, and more—and it powers all of Klaviyo’s smart suggestions.

Before anything else, make sure your store is fully integrated and syncing correctly. Klaviyo works seamlessly with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce, and these integrations help keep your product data up to date. But even with automation, the quality of your product feed matters—messy or missing info leads to weaker recommendations.

You’ll find your product feed under Content > Products in Klaviyo. Inside the Product Feed tab, you’ll manage your catalog, check sync status, and spot any issues. To create a new feed, hit Create Product Feed and follow the steps.

Here’s what matters most:

• Clear titles & helpful descriptions (good for search and recommendations).
• Well-organized categories, so Klaviyo knows which products go together.
• Accurate pricing, since Klaviyo tailors recs to a customer’s spending habits.
• High-quality images—good visuals lead to better engagement.
• Inventory syncing, so sold-out products don’t show up in emails.

For even better targeting, use product tags and custom attributes. You can tag items as “bestsellers” or “new arrivals,” or add details like material, color, or fit—whatever helps Klaviyo personalize smarter.

Before launching any emails, preview your recommendations in Klaviyo to make sure everything looks right and is syncing properly.

And don’t forget to maintain your feed. Regularly update new products, remove discontinued ones, and refresh old content. You can also boost performance by adding “frequently bought together” or “complementary” relationships manually—especially helpful for new products with little behavior data.

Creating Dynamic Product Recommendation Blocks

Adding product recommendations to your Klaviyo emails turns a generic message into something that feels tailored to each customer. Instead of showing the same products to everyone, you can drop in dynamic product blocks that update automatically based on what each person has browsed, bought, or shown interest in.

You’ll find these blocks inside Klaviyo’s email editor—just drag them into your layout like any other element. From there, you can choose what kind of logic you want to use: recently viewed items, previous purchases, favorite categories, best sellers, or even custom rules based on your audience segments.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Viewed Products: Great for reminding people what they were just looking at.
• Purchased Products: Perfect for recommending refills, upgrades, or related items.
• Category-Based: Keeps people in their comfort zone with new finds from favorite categories.
• Best Sellers: Ideal for newer subscribers or when there’s limited browsing data.
• Custom Logic: Gives you full control—great for advanced users and segmented strategies.

Klaviyo also gives you control over how these blocks look. You can use grid or carousel layouts, and choose what info to show (like images, prices, titles, and buttons). Just be mindful of balancing visuals with clarity—too much info can overwhelm, and too little can miss the mark.

To make sure every email includes solid recommendations (even without much customer data), always set up fallback logic. This might be a list of your top sellers or seasonal picks—anything that ensures the block doesn’t appear empty.

Since most people check email on their phones, double-check that your recommendation blocks look great on mobile. Klaviyo does most of the heavy lifting here, but it’s still smart to test layouts and image sizing across devices.

If you want to take it further, you can use conditional logic to tailor recs by customer type—VIPs could see premium picks, while bargain hunters see value options. And before sending, use Klaviyo’s preview tools to see how everything will appear for different users. It helps catch issues before launch and gives you confidence that your recommendations are working exactly as intended.

Advanced Personalization Strategies

Klaviyo’s product recommendation system is all about delivering truly personalized, timely suggestions based on real customer data. Here’s how it works:

Predictive Analytics: Anticipate future needs, such as replenishment or seasonal shifts, before customers even know they need it.

RFM Segmentation: Target recommendations based on Recency, Frequency, and Monetary value. For example:

Champions (frequent buyers) get premium product suggestions.

At-risk customers get win-back offers or similar products to their favorites.

Behavioral Triggers: Recommendations are optimized by considering:

Time of day preferences

Device usage (mobile vs. desktop)

Seasonal trends or cultural events

Cross-Selling & Upselling: Instead of just pushing higher-priced items, suggest:

Complementary products that enhance their purchase.

Premium alternatives for loyal customers ready for upgrades.

Seasonal & Trending Products: Integrate timely recommendations based on:

Weather patterns, trending topics, or events.

Hyper-Personalization: Use custom data like loyalty status, social media interactions, and even external data to refine recommendations.

A/B Testing: Test different recommendation strategies, algorithms, and personalization depths to optimize engagement and revenue.

Implementation in Different Email Types

Klaviyo’s product recommendation system shines when applied across different email campaigns, making every customer touchpoint feel personal and connected to their journey.

Win-Back Campaigns: Re-engage inactive customers by recommending products similar to their past favorites or showcasing new arrivals that might interest them.

Welcome Series: Start broad with best-sellers and trending items, then refine recommendations as you gather data. This approach builds trust and avoids overwhelming new subscribers with too-specific suggestions.

Abandoned Cart: Go beyond reminders—suggest complementary products or alternatives to enhance the original selection. This adds value and helps increase the order value.

Post-Purchase: After a customer buys, suggest complementary products or future purchases. Timing is key, from immediate add-ons to later upgrades or replenishment for consumables.

Browse Abandonment: For customers who didn’t add to their cart, recommend similar or complementary items based on their browsing behavior. This approach better matches their interest level.

Newsletters & Promotions: Keep it personal by tailoring product recommendations for different segments. Use dynamic content blocks to show what’s most relevant to each recipient.

Best Practices and Optimization Tips

Effective personalized product recommendations in Klaviyo rely on smart strategies and solid implementation. To make them work, here are key best practices:

Social Proof: Add customer reviews or ratings to build trust, but keep it genuine—customers can spot fake signals.

Placement: Keep main recommendations visible (above the fold) but add secondary ones throughout the email. Balance is key—three to four products is usually the sweet spot.

Timing & Frequency: Engage customers at the right time and avoid overwhelming them. High-engagement customers may want daily or weekly updates, while less active ones might prefer monthly emails.

Visual Design: Consistent, high-quality images and easy-to-read layouts are essential. Use colors that create urgency and clear CTAs that motivate action—think “Shop Now” rather than “Click Here.”

Messaging: Craft product titles that focus on benefits, not just specs. Use language like “picked for you” to build a personal connection without feeling too data-heavy.

Analytics: Track performance beyond basic metrics. Look at click-through rates, conversion rates, and how recommendations affect customer lifetime value.

Mistakes to Avoid: Don’t over-personalize or under-personalize. Avoid technical issues, ensure privacy compliance, and always test for consistency across devices.

Measuring Success and ROI

Measuring the success of personalized product recommendations goes beyond just email clicks. It’s about understanding how they impact the full customer journey and your business over time.

Key metrics include:

• Click-through & conversion rates: Shows how relevant your recommendations are and how well they match customer intent.
• Revenue attribution: Track both direct and assisted sales—Klaviyo’s attribution models help you see the full picture, even when purchases happen later or on other channels.
• Average Order Value (AOV): Personalized recommendations often lead to higher value purchases, so tracking this helps identify the most effective strategies.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Long-term success comes from customer retention and loyalty, which personalized recommendations help drive.

You should also track:

• Customer engagement: Look at website visits, time spent, and how personalized emails affect behavior.
• Segmentation: Analyze how different groups (e.g., first-time buyers vs. loyal customers) respond to personalization.
• Attribution complexity: As customers engage across emails and websites, use advanced models to measure impact across touchpoints.

Benchmarking and real-time monitoring keep you on track. Compare your performance over time and spot issues early with automated alerts.

Advanced Features and Integrations

E-commerce personalization has evolved with advanced AI and machine learning, turning Klaviyo into a powerful tool for multi-platform, real-time recommendations. These AI-powered engines go beyond simple product matching—they analyze customer behavior, seasonal trends, and external factors to suggest products with pinpoint accuracy.

Real-Time Personalization: Recommendations can adapt instantly based on customer activity, inventory, or external factors, ensuring customers always see the most relevant, available products.

AI-Powered Recommendations: Klaviyo integrates AI that predicts customer preferences, even for products they’ve never viewed, and adjusts in real-time to changing customer needs and market conditions.

Third-Party Integrations: Platforms like Dynamic Yield and Yotpo enhance Klaviyo’s capabilities with advanced features like visual matching and real-time inventory optimization, perfect for large catalogs or cross-channel consistency.

Custom APIs: If you need specialized recommendations, custom API integrations allow you to leverage unique data sources like loyalty programs or weather patterns to personalize further.

Cross-Channel Consistency: Seamless experiences across email, websites, apps, and social media are key. Klaviyo’s integrations ensure data flows between channels, creating a unified customer journey.

AI-Driven Engagement: AI isn’t just for recommendations—it’s shaping broader customer experiences, like shopping assistants and voice commerce, making interactions more personalized and engaging.

Privacy Compliance: As data regulations evolve, balancing personalization with privacy is critical. Techniques like differential privacy ensure you can provide relevant recommendations without compromising trust.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Personalized product recommendations in Klaviyo are more than just a marketing tool—they’re a game-changer for building lasting customer relationships and driving growth. By combining smart technology with a deep understanding of your customers, businesses can create meaningful experiences that boost engagement and revenue.

Here’s how it works:

• Immediate Benefits: Personalized recommendations lead to better email engagement, higher conversion rates, and increased average order value.
• Long-Term Impact: Over time, they improve customer loyalty and lifetime value, giving you a competitive edge that’s hard to replicate.

To get started, businesses should:

1. Audit your current performance: Look at email engagement, conversions, and data quality.
2. Start simple: Focus on basic product feed optimization and Klaviyo’s built-in recommendation features.
3. Test and optimize: Use A/B testing to refine your approach based on real customer data.

As you gather more data, you can move to more advanced strategies, like behavioral triggers, segmentation, and cross-channel integration. Over time, the key is to stay ahead of changing customer expectations and tech advancements.

Remember, personalized recommendations aren’t a one-time effort. They need ongoing measurement, optimization, and adaptation. As you continue to evolve, incorporating customer feedback, social proof, and new technologies will help keep your strategy fresh and effective.

In the end, investing in Klaviyo’s recommendations is investing in stronger customer relationships and long-term growth.