Hello @pacificcookiecompany,
Welcome to the Klaviyo Community and to the Klaviyo platform!
Some common mistakes I see often that would impact one’s deliverability when migrating platforms are:
In my experience, I hear a lot of brands wanting to explore an email marketing platform before fully committing or doing a slow transition while still sending on their old/previous email platform. This is actually ill advised.
By using two different providers, it makes it difficult for inbox provider to determine which source you’re actually sending emails from versus a potential malicious actor - even if both sources were legitimate. Because of this, it’s best to fully commit to the migration.
Being too hasty on the new platform though would also be a detriment and impact deliverability if you haven’t gone through a warming process on the new platform. This ramp up/warming period is to let inbox providers understand you’ve switched platforms and that you are a legitimate. By sending fewer emails to a more engaged audience, it’s building trust with the inbox providers and will be much more beneficial in the long run.
Lastly, if you were previously on a dedicated sending domain (or often times called an authenticated domain) through the old provider, you’ll want to follow with a similar setup within Klaviyo. Doing so would allow you to realign your sending domain accordingly. This also extends to any specific backend DNS settings you may have implimented.
I hope this helps!
David
Hi @David To,
Thank you so much for the explanation! This is all very helpful and it looks like I have some work to do! 
Does Klaviyo offer onboarding support?
Hey @pacificcookiecompany,
Glad that explanation was helpful!
Klaviyo does not offer any direct onboarding support. However, I would highly encourage anyone migrating to Klaviyo to take our Getting Started Academy course.
Of course, those aren’t the only courses in our Academy center! We also offer more advance courses ranging from SMS basics to specific holiday marketing strategies.
If you did want an in-depth onboarding experience specific to your account, I would suggest reaching out some of our Klaviyo Partners through our Partner’s Directory - especially ones who are also our Klaviyo Community Champions!
David
Hi @pacificcookiecompany
ESP migration is a strategic process to build strong sender reputation and deliverability. If not done properly, it can break your email marketing efforts.
Fact is when you switch ESPs, your reputation doesn't magically carry over.
After spending a decade in the email industry, I have repeatedly noticed some fundamental flaws during ESP migration. @David To mentioned some great thoughts but, here are a couple of things from my end that’ll help you align the priorities during a migration:
- Having a right mindset and patience that migration is a gradual process and requires strategic guidance on right deliverability onboarding.
- Setting up the right sending domain strategy and authentication.
- Warming your email program is most successful at building your reputation when your messages have right email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and domain alignment. And you start at low volumes and build your way up to your desired cadence and audience size. Then it’s all about listening to your customers and following best practices to maintain it.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel - If you already have a well-established sending reputation, there’s no need for you to lose it entirely. You can share your sending domain between ESPs which allows you to bring over your domain reputation from one ESP to another.
- Having the right infrastructure for monitoring deliverability and reputation will help you see the holistic view of your email program performance.
- Its always good to consider external deliverability consulting help that can guide you the right way to set up the right foundation for email programs and it’s success.
Regards
Mohsin
