A step-by-step blueprint for moving your SMS marketing program to a new platform

This includes:

• Custom fields and profile properties
• Segment information
• Tags or labels
• Previous campaign engagement
• Customer preferences
• Any subscription list groupings

This includes:

• Automation settings
• Campaign templates
• Segment definitions
• Form settings
• Integration configurations

Your timeline for getting data depends on how you can access it. If you have direct export capabilities, it might take a few days. If you need to request it from your provider, expect several weeks.

For short codes, due to the process of either registering or moving your existing short code, plan for 1–2 months minimum—this often depends on your provider’s cooperation level and their internal processes.

Managing multiple countries? You might need to request separate exports for each country if they’re handled in different accounts or instances. While keeping countries separate in your export can make importing easier later, prioritize getting complete consent records first.

Need help formatting your exported data for import? Visit our Help Center to learn how to upload SMS contacts.

1. Set up your forms and welcome flows first. These are crucial for capturing new subscribers.
2. Use double opt-in any time you collect consent.
3. Create segments for targeting once you have enough data.
4. Set up other flows and resume your campaign sending schedule.

Force of Nature, a company focused on eco-friendly cleaning products, faced challenges with managing hybrid email and SMS automations, mainly because their SMS program was on a different platform from their email program.

Prior to migrating to Klaviyo, setting up omnichannel flows required toggling between multiple platforms and tracking the customer journey manually in a Google sheet—a time-consuming task for their small and busy team.

Consolidating both channels in Klaviyo made it easier to build multi-channel flows. Today, the company has multiple Klaviyo flows that encourage customers to repurchase and subscribe through a mix of email and SMS. To account for varying product usage times, the team has even fine-tuned the timing of their automations to ensure customers receive messages when their supplies are likely running low, to help maximize both engagement and conversions.

Since switching to Klaviyo, Force of Nature has seen 140% YoY growth in YTD revenue from Klaviyo flows.

Frances Valentine, a women’s apparel and accessories brand, saw the potential of SMS for driving conversions. But running SMS in Attentive and email in Klaviyo made it difficult to build multi-channel flows, trigger key automated SMS sends, and track sign-ups accurately.

So, they switched to Klaviyo to streamline their operations and consolidate email, SMS, and sign-up forms all in one platform. The migration took just one week, and it not only freed up time for the team, but also enabled them to set up more sophisticated automations.

Klaviyo also allowed the team to shift their SMS strategy and their efforts on high-intent automations like abandoned check-out and back-in-stock alerts. In the first quarter after adding SMS to these flows, the revenue they drove increased 32% YoY.

Klaviyo has also empowered Frances Valentine to integrate SMS messaging more closely with their customer support. The platform’s Gorgias integration lets the team set up an automation that opens a chat support ticket when they get a response to their SMS marketing messages—and each one is answered by a human.

Your access to subscriber data depends on your current provider. They control what you can export, from basic contact info to engagement history. Historical performance data like campaign metrics and flow analytics typically won’t transfer over. Your new platform will start tracking those afresh from day one.

Allow at least 30–60 days after you’ve fully transitioned to your new provider and after you’ve started sending out regular SMS campaigns. During this period, assess the effectiveness of your sign-up forms, campaigns, and flows.

Keep in mind that if you’re only using basic automations, the impacts that you see may not be as significant as if you’re implementing more advanced strategies like segmentation, personalization, and multi-channel campaigns and automations.

Variations in attribution numbers can occur for several reasons. Different platforms may use distinct methods for tracking clicks and conversions, which leads to discrepancies in reported revenue and engagement data.

The biggest factor is usually attribution windows—how long platforms track clicks and sales. One platform might count sales up to 30 days after a click, while another only tracks for 5 days. Also, check your UTM parameters between platforms. If these tracking codes aren’t consistent, you’ll see different numbers in your reports.

There may be times during the migration when your phone number won’t be able to send messages, particularly if you’re porting numbers. Transferring a short code may take a few weeks, and within that time, there’s a short period when the number can’t be used. For other numbers, you may need to re-verify or re-register the number, but this process is shorter—usually only a few business days.

To ensure a smooth transition of subscribers, disable forms, flows, and campaigns prior to requesting your list from your current platform. That will guarantee you have an accurate list of subscribers and no incoming opt-outs. Visit our Help Center for more details on migrating SMS providers.

Ensure that both your current SMS service provider and new solution comply with relevant regulations, like TCPA, GDPR, and CSPAM. Visit the SMS compliance section of our Help Center to learn more about Klaviyo’s SMS consent and compliance safeguards, which are built directly into the platform.