Hi @jimk, 

Thanks for sharing your question with us! 

You are correct, as stated in that Help Center article and our Terms of Service, we do not allow third party lists.

Thank you for participating in the Community!

-Taylor 

Thanks Taylor.

One more point of clarification, if you don’t mind.  The company is a legitimate ESP. How would that be different than bringing over lists from Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc.?  What I’m working on could potentially mean more customers for Klaviyo and millions of emails.

I just want to be 100% certain when I recommend something (or not) to clients.  Appreciate a bit more guidance on this.  I know the implications of dirty 3rd party lists. 

Thank you…...Jim

Hi @jimk 

When importing lists to Klaviyo from another platform that a client is migrating from, such as MailChimp, those contacts to whom you intend to send emails should have explicitly opted into marketing comms from the client.

You are confident that the contacts in the list have opted-in, but what have they actually subscribed to? "Receiving marketing from partners" or similar? So, they haven't explicitly agreed to receive emails from your client?

I think it's less likely that the contacts in such a list will be engaged or receptive to your client's emails, even if they are their target audience. Higher levels of unsubscribes/spam too. All of which will damage your client's sender reputation and brand.

I appreciate that CAN-SPAM allows unsolicited emails to be sent if there's an unsubscribe - the UK has much stricter permission-based regulations! But personally, I  don't think it's good business practice, even if Klaviyo did allow it.

@Taylor Tarpley may comment further, and Klaviyo's official position is “No third-party lists“ and “only permission-based sending”, however, I hope it's helpful to have a non-Klaviyo employee comment here too.

Regards

Andy

Thanks for this @bluesnapper. 

For all the reasons you state, I agree.  It’s simply not worth the risk.  I don’t think my client(s) or any Klaviyo agencies/clients should use a volume spray and pray strategy. I know it's a numbers game and can work for some, but I think it only damages brand reputation in the end. 

Appreciate your input on this.  

Cheers…...Jim