Odds are you are spending too much on Klaviyo. One of the first things I look at when auditing any Klaviyo account is the billing tab, comparing active profiles against monthly email sends. More often than not, there is a massive disconnect.
Klaviyo charges based on active profiles or monthly send volume, whichever tier limit you hit first. Very rarely do I see a brand hit their send limit before blowing past their profile allowance. Most stores sit around 80% to 90% of their billing capacity while only ever broadcasting to a small engaged segment of 20,000 or 30,000 people. Paying monthly software fees for thousands of ghost profiles is a mistake.
Building the Unengaged Segment
Before deleting or suppressing anyone, you need to isolate the subscribers who are costing you money without generating revenue. We do this by building a precise unengaged segment in Klaviyo.
While every brand requires slight adjustments, a reliable baseline segment looks like this:
- Received email is at least 10 overall time (giving them enough chances to interact)
- AND Placed Order zero times overall time (protecting existing customer relationships)
- AND Opened email zero times in the last 90 days
- AND Clicked email zero times in the last 90 days
- AND Active on site zero times in the last 90 days
- AND Can receive email marketing is true
In a typical account, this segment quickly pulls up 8,000 to 10,000 profiles. Suppressing that volume of dormant contacts can immediately drop your Klaviyo plan by $100 to $200 every single month.
The Two-Part Plain Text Winback Campaign
Do not simply delete these contacts cold. Before suppressing them, give them two structured opportunities to re-engage with your brand using plain text emails.
Plain text emails strip away heavy templates, logos, and product grids to look like a standard 1-to-1 message sent directly from your inbox. They reliably generate higher inbox placement and cut through inbox clutter because they feel human. Make sure the sender name is set to a real person, such as the founder, rather than a generic brand handle.
Turn off Smart Sending and send a short message with a direct hook:
"Hi [First Name], we noticed you haven't been around in a while. I wanted to send over a 10% discount code to use on your next order if you'd like to check out what's new. [Link to store]"
Send the first plain text email, wait roughly 48 hours, and then send a second variation to that same segment. The moment a recipient opens or clicks either message, Klaviyo automatically updates their profile and pulls them out of your unengaged definition and back into your engaged segments.
Suppressing Unresponsive Profiles
Once 48 hours have passed after sending your second campaign, the subscribers remaining in that segment have proven they are truly inactive. It is time to clear them out.
Navigate back to Lists & Segments, find your unengaged segment, click the three dots on the right, and select Suppress current members. Klaviyo will move these profiles to your suppression list. You will keep all their historical reporting data intact, but they will no longer count toward your active profile tier.
If you prefer an entirely hands-off approach going forward, you can automate this routine using a sunset flow. However, running this manual campaign sprint once a quarter ensures you squeeze out every last conversion before pruning.
Downgrading Your Klaviyo Plan
Klaviyo will not automatically reduce your monthly subscription tier when you suppress contacts. You have to downgrade the plan yourself inside your settings.
Head to Settings and click Billing. Look at your updated active profile count, which should have dropped significantly. Select the plan tier that aligns with your new profile volume and confirm the change. That takes five minutes and permanently lowers your operating expenses.
Final Thoughts
You should never pay software fees for contacts who refuse to open your emails or buy your products. By running a straightforward plain text campaign, you give lapsed subscribers one last chance to convert before cleanly suppressing them. It protects your sender deliverability and keeps your monthly SaaS spend under control.
If you want us to review your segmentation, deliverability, and account structure, book an account audit with our team.
