How to Feature Products in an Email in Klaviyo

Showcasing products effectively in email campaigns can dramatically increase engagement and drive sales for your e-commerce business. Klaviyo’s robust product block functionality allows you to highlight merchandise without tedious manual formatting or image uploads. These powerful tools operate at the product level rather than the variant level, meaning you can select entire products but not specific variants within them. Understanding the distinction between dynamic and static product blocks will help you create more effective email campaigns that align with your marketing goals.

What Are Product Blocks in Klaviyo?

Product blocks serve as dynamic elements that showcase your merchandise within email campaigns. They eliminate the need for manual image uploads and tedious formatting while providing a professional, consistent display of your products. When implementing these blocks, you’ll notice they function at the product level rather than the variant level, which means you can select entire products but cannot specifically highlight individual variants.

The standard product block displays only the primary product image in your feeds, which may limit your ability to showcase different color options directly. This limitation becomes particularly important for businesses with extensive product lines that rely on highlighting specific variants. Knowing these constraints helps you plan alternative approaches when your marketing strategy requires variant-specific promotions.

Dynamic blocks automatically display products based on business trends or customer behavior, while static blocks allow manual selection of specific products. This fundamental distinction gives you flexibility in how you present merchandise to your audience. Dynamic blocks excel in personalized recommendations, showing items based on browsing history or predicted interests, while static blocks ensure consistent product presentation across all recipients.

Choosing Between Dynamic and Static Blocks

The decision between dynamic and static blocks depends on your specific marketing objectives. Dynamic blocks work best for ongoing flows where relevance matters more than controlling exactly which products appear. These blocks automatically update as product popularity shifts, ensuring your recommendations remain current without manual intervention.

Static blocks provide complete control over which items appear in your campaigns. This makes them ideal for promotional emails featuring specific merchandise you want everyone to see. The trade-off comes with maintenance-static blocks don’t automatically update when product details change in your store.

Your audience segmentation strategy also influences this choice. For highly targeted campaigns to specific customer segments, static blocks allow precise product selection relevant to that audience. Broader campaigns benefit from dynamic blocks that personalize recommendations based on individual customer data, potentially increasing engagement through relevance.

Creating Dynamic Product Feeds

Dynamic product feeds form the backbone of sophisticated product recommendations in Klaviyo. These intelligent feeds automatically display products based on business trends or personalized to each recipient based on their browsing and purchasing history. Setting up these feeds requires just a few steps but offers powerful customization options to match your marketing strategy.

To implement this feature, drag a product block into your email template and select “Dynamic” as your product feed type. Click “Create product feed” and choose a descriptive name without spaces or special characters-for example, “RECENTLY_VIEWED_PRODUCTS” or “BESTSELLERS_90DAYS.” After naming your feed, you’ll need to set criteria for which products to display, such as best-sellers or recently viewed items.

Dynamic feeds particularly benefit automated email flows by eliminating the need for frequent manual updates. As product popularity shifts, your emails automatically adjust to showcase relevant items without requiring edits to your templates. For Shopify and Magento stores, Klaviyo automatically filters out-of-stock items, ensuring customers only see available products and preventing frustration from clicking on items they cannot purchase.

Optimizing Feed Performance

The power of dynamic feeds lies in their personalization capabilities. Configure feeds based on specific customer behaviors to increase relevance and drive higher conversion rates. Your options include:

• Recently viewed products: Shows items the customer has browsed but not purchased
• Abandoned cart items: Reminds customers of products they left behind
• Complementary products: Suggests items that pair well with previous purchases
• Trending items: Highlights popular products across your store

When designing your template, you’ll see placeholder items during the editing phase. Always use Klaviyo’s preview function with a test profile to see how actual products from your feed will appear. This preview helps identify any formatting issues before sending to your audience and ensures the dynamic content loads correctly.

For maximum effectiveness, match your feed type to your email’s purpose. Abandoned cart flows work best with feeds showing the specific abandoned products plus complementary items. Post-purchase flows benefit from feeds showing related accessories or replenishment products. Welcome series emails typically perform well with best-seller feeds that introduce new customers to your most popular offerings.

Setting Up Static Product Selections

Static product blocks provide precise control over which items appear in your email campaigns. Unlike dynamic feeds that change based on customer behavior or product performance, static selections maintain the same products for all recipients. This consistency makes them perfect for promotional campaigns featuring specific merchandise you want everyone to see.

To implement a static product block, drag the product block element into your email template and select the “Static” option. Click “Add products” to browse your catalog and select up to nine items to feature. This manual selection process gives you complete control over which products to highlight, allowing you to align your email content precisely with your current marketing initiatives or seasonal promotions.

When preparing static blocks, remember that product details won’t update automatically after you’ve made your selections. If you modify product information in your store, such as prices or descriptions, these changes won’t reflect in previously configured static blocks. For campaigns where current product information is crucial, consider creating a dynamic feed containing those specific items instead, giving you targeted selection while maintaining automatic updates.

Customizing Static Block Appearance

After selecting your products, you can enhance their presentation with custom descriptions and visual adjustments. These descriptions provide context or highlight promotional details about each item, increasing their appeal to customers:

• Keep descriptions concise: Aim for under 120 characters to maintain clean formatting
• Maintain consistent length: Similar description lengths ensure proper alignment
• Highlight key benefits: Focus on what makes each product special or valuable
• Include time-sensitive information: Mention limited availability or special pricing

The arrangement of products within your block significantly impacts customer attention. Drag items into your preferred sequence in the product block settings to prioritize certain products or create a logical progression. Place your best-performing or highest-margin products first to maximize their visibility and conversion potential.

For multi-product displays, consider how many items to show based on your email design and audience viewing habits. Mobile users typically engage better with fewer products (2-3) displayed prominently, while desktop users can comfortably view more options. Test different quantities to determine what works best for your specific audience and product types.

Styling Your Product Block for Maximum Impact

The visual presentation of your product block significantly influences its effectiveness in driving customer engagement. Klaviyo provides extensive styling options through the “Styles” tab in the product block settings, allowing you to create a cohesive look that matches your brand identity and enhances product appeal. These customization options help your products stand out while maintaining professional presentation.

You can customize which product details to display, such as product name, price, original price for sale items, and product descriptions. For each element, adjust font styles, sizes, colors, and spacing to align with your brand guidelines and email design. These styling choices should emphasize the most important information while creating visual hierarchy that guides the reader’s attention through your offerings.

For products on sale, Klaviyo offers a particularly useful feature: checking the “Original price for sale products” setting displays the original price with a strike-through next to the sale price. This visual indication of the discount creates a compelling value proposition that can increase conversion rates. The feature works with both dynamic and static product blocks for stores using Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and PrestaShop.

Creating Visual Hierarchy

Beyond basic styling, consider the overall layout and spacing of your product block to maximize visual appeal and readability. The arrangement of elements creates a visual pathway that guides customers through your offerings:

• Image size and quality: Use high-resolution product images with consistent dimensions
• Color contrast: Ensure text colors stand out against backgrounds for readability
• Spacing between elements: Add adequate whitespace to prevent visual clutter
• Call-to-action buttons: Make these visually distinct from other elements

For multi-product displays, determine whether a grid or list format better suits your offerings. Grid layouts work well for visually-driven products where images tell the story, while list formats may be more appropriate when product descriptions and details are crucial to the purchasing decision. Test both formats with your audience to determine which drives higher engagement.

Mobile responsiveness remains critical for product block styling. Preview your email on multiple device sizes to ensure products display correctly across all platforms. Elements that appear properly spaced on desktop may crowd together on mobile, creating a poor user experience. Klaviyo’s responsive design tools help address these issues, but always test thoroughly before sending to your audience.

How to Incorporate Product Ratings in Emails

Incorporating product ratings into your email campaigns provides powerful social proof that can significantly boost conversion rates. These visual indicators of product quality and customer satisfaction build trust with potential buyers and reduce purchase hesitation. Klaviyo enables you to display star ratings alongside product information for stores using compatible platforms such as Shopify and BigCommerce.

To implement this feature, navigate to the product block’s “Styles” tab and enable the product rating option. This will display the average star rating for each featured product, giving recipients immediate insight into product quality. The rating display can be customized to match your brand aesthetics, with options to adjust the star color, size, and alignment to create a cohesive look with your overall email design.

Some review platforms like Okendo and Reviews.io offer deeper integration with Klaviyo, allowing you to showcase not just star ratings but also actual customer testimonials. These integrations typically require setting up a data feed from your review platform to Klaviyo, enabling you to pull in the most recent reviews for featured products. This combination of ratings and testimonials creates compelling social proof that significantly influences purchasing decisions.

Strategic Placement of Ratings

The positioning of ratings within your email design significantly impacts their effectiveness. Consider these strategic placement options:

• Beneath product images: Creates immediate trust as customers view the product
• Near pricing information: Helps justify value when customers evaluate cost
• Adjacent to call-to-action buttons: Provides that final push needed for conversion
• Alongside brief testimonial quotes: Combines numerical ratings with personal experiences

For products with exceptional ratings (4.5 stars and above), consider highlighting this achievement with additional text or design elements. Phrases like “Customer Favorite” or “Top-Rated” draw attention to strong customer approval and differentiate these products from others in your email. This emphasis on high ratings can significantly increase click-through rates for those specific products.

When featuring ratings, maintain consistency in how they appear across all products in your email. Using the same star size, color, and positioning creates a professional appearance and makes it easier for customers to compare products. This consistency also reinforces the authenticity of your ratings system, building trust in your brand’s transparency.

Advanced Techniques for Showcasing Variants

While standard product blocks only display primary product images, several workarounds exist for showcasing variant images in your emails. These advanced techniques allow you to highlight specific color options, sizes, or styles when your marketing strategy demands more detailed product representation. Implementing these approaches requires some technical knowledge but provides greater flexibility in how you present your merchandise.

One approach involves creating a custom catalog feed that includes variant images. This method works by modifying your product data structure to treat variants as separate catalog items, each with their own images and details. Alternatively, if you have experience with HTML and Django tags, you can build a custom product block using a table block. This custom approach allows you to pull in variant images using specialized syntax that references specific variant IDs from your e-commerce platform.

For merchants with extensive variant selections, these techniques enable more targeted email marketing. If you’re running a promotion on specific color variants or size options, you can highlight those exact variants rather than showing the default product image. This level of specificity can significantly improve conversion rates for variant-specific promotions, especially for fashion, home goods, or other visually-driven product categories.

Custom HTML Implementation

The technical implementation of variant showcasing typically involves creating a table block and modifying its HTML code. This approach requires:

1. Add a table block to your email template
2. Click the “source” option to view the HTML code
3. Modify the code to include appropriate variant IDs
4. Reference the correct integration parameters for your e-commerce platform
5. Test thoroughly to ensure proper loading of variant images

This customization works best with established integration platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento, where the catalog structure supports variant-level image references. For platforms with limited variant support, you might need to explore third-party apps or custom API integrations to achieve similar functionality. Always test these custom implementations thoroughly before sending to your audience to ensure proper display across different email clients.

Displaying Customer Reviews with Products

Customer reviews provide compelling social proof that can dramatically increase conversion rates when paired with product showcases. These authentic testimonials address potential buyer concerns and highlight product benefits from the perspective of actual users. Klaviyo offers several methods to incorporate review content into your product emails, enhancing their persuasive power.

The most straightforward approach is using Klaviyo’s built-in review quote block, available for accounts with Klaviyo Reviews enabled. This block can display either static reviews (the same review for all recipients) or dynamic reviews (customized based on the product the recipient has interacted with). Dynamic reviews are particularly powerful in abandoned cart or browse abandonment flows, where showing positive feedback about the specific product a customer viewed can address hesitations and encourage purchase completion.

For third-party review platforms, integration options vary by provider. Platforms like REVIEWS.io, Okendo, and Judge.me offer specialized integrations with Klaviyo that create data feeds pulling review content from your review platform’s API. Once configured, you can add review content to your emails using text blocks with specialized code snippets that reference the data feed. This approach allows you to leverage your existing review collection system while enhancing your email marketing effectiveness.

Maximizing Review Impact

When incorporating reviews into product-focused emails, strategic placement and formatting significantly influence their effectiveness:

• Select reviews addressing common concerns: Choose testimonials that overcome typical objections
• Feature diverse customer perspectives: Include reviews from different customer types
• Highlight specific product benefits: Select reviews mentioning key features or outcomes
• Keep review text concise: Edit lengthy reviews to maintain reader attention

The visual presentation of reviews matters as much as their content. Format review text to stand out from product descriptions, perhaps using italics, a different font, or a background color that distinguishes testimonial content. Including the reviewer’s name and, when available, location or relevant demographic information increases authenticity and helps recipients identify with similar customers.

For maximum impact, pair reviews with the specific products they reference rather than using generic testimonials. This direct association creates a powerful connection between the product and its positive feedback. When using dynamic review blocks, ensure you’ve configured appropriate fallback options for products with limited reviews to prevent empty content blocks in your emails.

Using Product Recommendations for Cross-Selling

Product recommendations serve as powerful cross-selling tools within email campaigns. These strategic suggestions help customers discover complementary items they might otherwise miss, increasing average order value while enhancing the shopping experience. Klaviyo’s recommendation engine analyzes customer behavior and purchase patterns to suggest items that complement products a customer has already viewed or purchased.

To implement effective cross-selling recommendations, create a product feed focused on related items rather than simply showcasing bestsellers. Navigate to the product block settings and select options that prioritize complementary products rather than similar ones. This approach helps customers build collections of related items rather than presenting alternatives to what they’ve already considered, which can actually reduce conversion by creating decision paralysis.

The effectiveness of cross-selling depends significantly on the relevance of your recommendations. Klaviyo provides advanced properties such as “Best cross-sell date” and “Next best product” that leverage product analysis data to enable dynamic cross-sell flows. These properties help identify which products are frequently purchased together and the optimal timing for suggesting complementary items, allowing you to schedule follow-up emails when customers are most receptive to additional purchases.

Segmentation Strategies for Cross-Selling

Consider segmenting your cross-sell recommendations based on customer characteristics and behaviors for maximum relevance:

• Purchase history: Suggest items that complement previous purchases
• Browsing behavior: Recommend products related to recently viewed items
• Customer lifetime value: Offer premium accessories to high-value customers
• Purchase frequency: Suggest replenishment products to regular buyers

For high-value customers, premium complementary products might be appropriate, while first-time customers might respond better to entry-level accessories. You can also employ a tiered approach, showcasing a mix of price points to appeal to various customer segments. This strategic segmentation ensures your recommendations feel personalized rather than generic, significantly increasing their effectiveness.

Timing plays a crucial role in cross-selling success. Immediate post-purchase emails can suggest immediate add-ons, while delayed follow-ups might focus on replenishment or complementary items. Analyze your purchase data to identify natural product pairing patterns and typical intervals between related purchases. This insight allows you to schedule cross-sell emails at the optimal moment when customers are most receptive to additional suggestions.

Troubleshooting Common Product Block Issues

Despite Klaviyo’s robust product block functionality, users occasionally encounter issues when implementing product showcases. Recognizing and resolving these common problems ensures your product emails maintain professional appearance and functionality. Most issues fall into categories of image loading, product availability, or formatting inconsistencies.

One common problem involves product images failing to load correctly in email previews or sent campaigns. This typically stems from synchronization issues between your eCommerce platform and Klaviyo. To resolve this, verify that your catalog integration is functioning properly by checking the integration status in your Klaviyo account settings. For custom catalog feeds, ensure your feed URL is correctly formatted and accessible. If problems persist, try refreshing your catalog data through the sync settings or contact Klaviyo support for assistance.

Another frequent challenge is managing out-of-stock products in email campaigns. While Klaviyo automatically filters out-of-stock items from dynamic feeds for Shopify and Magento stores, this functionality may work differently with other platforms. For static product blocks featuring items that might sell out, consider implementing conditional logic that displays alternative products when primary selections are unavailable. This prevents the poor user experience of customers clicking on unavailable items.

Resolving Formatting Inconsistencies

Formatting inconsistencies can detract from the professional appearance of your product blocks. These visual issues often result from:

1. Varying product description lengths creating uneven layouts
2. Inconsistent image dimensions causing misalignment
3. Price formatting differences disrupting visual flow
4. Mobile responsiveness issues affecting smaller screens

Address description length variations by either standardizing descriptions across products or adjusting the block settings to display a fixed number of text lines with an ellipsis for longer descriptions. For image consistency, establish standard dimensions for product photography and ensure all catalog images meet these specifications before importing to Klaviyo.

For multi-column product layouts, ensure that your template remains responsive across different devices by testing thoroughly on both desktop and mobile previews. Klaviyo’s preview function allows you to see how your email will appear on various screen sizes, helping identify and resolve responsiveness issues before sending. Pay particular attention to how product blocks stack on mobile devices, as improper formatting can create excessive scrolling or misaligned elements that diminish the user experience.

Measuring and Optimizing Product Block Performance

Tracking the performance of your product blocks is essential for optimizing their effectiveness over time. Klaviyo provides comprehensive analytics that allow you to measure engagement and conversion metrics specific to product showcases. These insights help identify which products and presentation styles resonate most with your audience, guiding future campaign improvements.

Navigate to the campaign or flow reports to view click-through rates for individual products, revenue generated by specific items, and overall conversion rates for emails containing product blocks. These metrics reveal which products drive the most engagement and which might need different positioning or presentation. Pay particular attention to the relationship between product position within the block and click-through rates, as this indicates which placement generates the most attention from your audience.

For more granular analysis, implement UTM parameters in your product links. This allows you to track traffic and conversions through Google Analytics or other web analytics platforms. By appending parameters such as utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=product_showcase to your product URLs, you can distinguish traffic from different email campaigns and track the customer journey from email click to purchase completion, providing deeper insight into how product blocks influence buying behavior.

Testing Strategies for Continuous Improvement

Consider implementing A/B tests to systematically improve your product block effectiveness. These controlled experiments help identify specific factors that influence engagement:

• Number of products: Test different quantities to find the optimal balance
• Layout styles: Compare grid versus list formats for different product types
• Content elements: Evaluate the impact of including ratings, reviews, or sale badges
• Call-to-action wording: Test different button text to identify what drives more clicks

By isolating individual elements for testing, you can identify specific factors that influence engagement and conversion rates. Over time, these insights allow you to develop data-driven best practices for your product showcases, significantly improving the ROI of your email marketing efforts. Remember that performance patterns may vary by product category, customer segment, or seasonal factors, so maintain ongoing analysis rather than relying on one-time testing.

Boost Your Email Marketing Results with Klaviyo Products

Effectively featuring products in your Klaviyo emails transforms standard marketing messages into powerful sales tools that drive revenue and enhance customer experience. The techniques covered in this guide provide a comprehensive framework for showcasing your merchandise in ways that capture attention and inspire action. By implementing these strategies, you’ll create more engaging, personalized email campaigns that connect customers with products they truly want.

Dynamic product feeds offer personalization at scale, automatically adjusting to show the most relevant items to each recipient based on their behavior and preferences. Static blocks provide precise control for promotional campaigns featuring specific merchandise you want everyone to see. Both approaches have their place in a comprehensive email marketing strategy, and choosing the right one depends on your specific campaign objectives and audience needs.

The true power of Klaviyo’s product blocks lies in their flexibility and integration with your existing e-commerce platform. Take time to experiment with different presentation styles, test various product combinations, and analyze performance data to continuously refine your approach. Your customers will appreciate the relevant, well-presented product showcases, and your business will benefit from increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and improved customer satisfaction.