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Using an old list

  • January 6, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 40 views
S
Contributor I
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Hi all,

I had a brand a few years ago which was closed. I had saved the Klaviyo contacts and have uploaded them to my new Klaviyo account with the intention of re connecting with them.

I am getting in touch as, although the brand is new and a different name, it’s the same product and so they have interest.

I would like to know the best way of getting in touch with these contacts. Im thinking of some kind of re engagament email with them giving permission for future mails.

I have about 30,000 contacts.

Also, My account is free right now and I realise I will need a better plan, but is there a point until I know if I can re engage and then, how many subscribers I have left after this?

Thanks

Best answer by Byrne C

Hi ​@ScousePeanut,

Thanks for asking this question in the community! I wanted to add some more information to the response above, since there are a few things you’ll want to consider, given that you’re starting email marketing up again after a pause.

If you wanted to keep all 30,000 contacts as active profiles (profiles that you’re able to email), you’d need to upgrade from the free plan to the $500/month plan. If you’re okay with that, then that’s fine, but I did want to make sure you were aware that profile/email pricing is generally based on a combination of the amount of profiles you have and the amount of emails you send (you’re able to send 10x the amount of emails as the amount of active profiles you have). If you’d rather start with a lower number of contacts, at a lower price point, I’d recommend suppressing some profiles temporarily, if all 30,000 profiles are already in Klaviyo. For example, if you were to put 20k of your 30k profiles into a list, and then suppress that list before slowly ramping up your sending, you could save, and be on the $150/month plan while you get back into the swing of things. Just something to consider!

Most importantly, immediately sending to 30,000 unengaged profiles after an extended period of inactivity can hurt your sender reputation. Inboxes aren’t currently used to your domain sending tens of thousands of emails at once, and if you jump right back into sending campaigns to 30k people, inboxes might get suspicious, bouncing your emails or placing them in spam. Because of this, we highly recommend warming your sending domain, or slowly ramping up the amount of emails you send over time.

We have a help article that goes into depth on what warming is, and how to go about doing this - worth a read! With that in mind, if your new business/domain has very little to no sending history, and these 30,000 profiles have no recent engagement data, I’d recommend starting with the platform introduction process. Following this process will allow you to gradually increase the amount of profiles you send to, until you build up some engagement data, and inboxes are ready to handle you sending large numbers of emails at once!

I understand that this can be intimidating, and we’ve provided quite a bit of information, so please feel free to reach back out with any more questions.

    4 replies

    talha.hussain
    Problem Solver IV
    Forum|alt.badge.img+9
    • talha.hussain
    • Problem Solver IV
    • January 7, 2026

    Hi ​@ScousePeanut,

    Great question! Re-engaging an old list can be a little tricky, but with the right steps, you can start rebuilding your relationship with these contacts. Here are a few tips on how to approach this:

    1. Send a Re-engagement Email (Opt-In Request)

    Since you're reaching out to an old list, it's important to make sure that these contacts want to hear from you again. You can send a re-engagement email to get their permission to receive future communications. Here's a simple plan:

    • Subject Line: "We’ve Missed You! Want to Hear From Us Again?"

    • Body: Acknowledge that your brand has changed but emphasize that it’s still offering the same great products. Ask them to confirm they’d like to continue receiving emails from you.

    • Include a clear Call to Action (CTA): Something like "Yes, I want updates!" or "Stay on the list."

    2. Segment Your List

    Once you send the re-engagement email, segment your list into two groups:

    • Engaged Subscribers: Those who open and click your re-engagement email (they’re interested in hearing from you).

    • Unengaged Subscribers: Those who don’t engage (they either ignore or unsubscribe).

    3. Follow-Up Email for the Unengaged

    If some people do not respond or engage with the re-engagement email, you can send a final reminder with a subject like: "Last Chance to Stay Subscribed!" If they do not engage with this, consider removing them from your active list to avoid wasting your email credits.

    4. How to Manage the 30,000 Contacts

    Since your Klaviyo account is currently on a free plan, you can only have up to 250 profiles. For re-engagement:

    • Track how many people engage with your emails.

    • Prioritize subscribers who are interacting with your brand.

    Once you’re ready to scale up, you can upgrade your Klaviyo plan to accommodate more profiles (this will allow you to engage more contacts at once).

    5. Using a Better Plan

    If you need to scale and get more out of Klaviyo, a paid plan will unlock more advanced features like:

    • Sending to larger segments

    • More in-depth analytics

    • Flow automations that help with long-term engagement

    By doing this, you'll be able to better track your re-engagement success and see how many subscribers you have after sending a few emails.

    Hope that helps! Let me know if you need more clarification or help setting up your flows.

    Talha Hussain - Senior Email Marketing Spacilest
      Byrne C
      Community Manager
      Forum|alt.badge.img+28
      • Byrne C
      • Community Manager
      • Answer
      • January 7, 2026

      Hi ​@ScousePeanut,

      Thanks for asking this question in the community! I wanted to add some more information to the response above, since there are a few things you’ll want to consider, given that you’re starting email marketing up again after a pause.

      If you wanted to keep all 30,000 contacts as active profiles (profiles that you’re able to email), you’d need to upgrade from the free plan to the $500/month plan. If you’re okay with that, then that’s fine, but I did want to make sure you were aware that profile/email pricing is generally based on a combination of the amount of profiles you have and the amount of emails you send (you’re able to send 10x the amount of emails as the amount of active profiles you have). If you’d rather start with a lower number of contacts, at a lower price point, I’d recommend suppressing some profiles temporarily, if all 30,000 profiles are already in Klaviyo. For example, if you were to put 20k of your 30k profiles into a list, and then suppress that list before slowly ramping up your sending, you could save, and be on the $150/month plan while you get back into the swing of things. Just something to consider!

      Most importantly, immediately sending to 30,000 unengaged profiles after an extended period of inactivity can hurt your sender reputation. Inboxes aren’t currently used to your domain sending tens of thousands of emails at once, and if you jump right back into sending campaigns to 30k people, inboxes might get suspicious, bouncing your emails or placing them in spam. Because of this, we highly recommend warming your sending domain, or slowly ramping up the amount of emails you send over time.

      We have a help article that goes into depth on what warming is, and how to go about doing this - worth a read! With that in mind, if your new business/domain has very little to no sending history, and these 30,000 profiles have no recent engagement data, I’d recommend starting with the platform introduction process. Following this process will allow you to gradually increase the amount of profiles you send to, until you build up some engagement data, and inboxes are ready to handle you sending large numbers of emails at once!

      I understand that this can be intimidating, and we’ve provided quite a bit of information, so please feel free to reach back out with any more questions.

        S
        Contributor I
        Forum|alt.badge.img
        • ScousePeanut
        • Author
        • Contributor I
        • January 10, 2026

        ​@talha.hussain Thanks for the reply and it makes it doable a kind of newbie.

        I was thinking to save cost (as lots of the 30k may well no longer be interested) and to warm up the process I could do the following. Im not an expert so feel free to comment

        1. Divide my list into lots of 250, upload to Klaviyo 
        2. Create a new Re Engae Flow for these contacts

        The flow, in my head would be

        1. Send email (Hey we are back) asking if they want to jump on board with the CTA (Can I add a discount code for them here or would that not be a good idea)?
        2. If yes, they are added to a permenant list.
        3. If no, flow waits and in 5 days sends a polite reminder. May catch some more emails
        4. List ends, all No’s are supressed

        I should have my clean contacts

        Does this look ok or am I missing something?

        Thanks

        retention
        Partner - Platinum
        Forum|alt.badge.img+62
        • retention
        • 2025 Champion
        • January 12, 2026

        ​@ScousePeanut - The only thing I would caution is that coming from a new brand/domain is super risky - just note that technically the user doesn’t know or even consented to marketing with the new brand/domain.  It’ll be important to establish the link and give them the opportunity to opt-out.  And email address (person) is only valuable because of their consent to be marketed by your brand, not just the email address itself.  

        If you still want to pursue this, I think splitting it into 250 contacts is a good starting approach.  The next step is, how would you sort the 250 contacts?  If you have additional data, I would use that in addition to the recommended guidelines for warming up a list that ​@Byrne C  already recommended.

        For example, out of the 30K contacts, are some customers versus some are not?  A customer is a much high quality audience than not, so I would start with those first.  Do you know the recency of the 30K contacts?  Even though it’s been some time, the more recent the contact is, the better quality that would be - certainly more so than the oldest profile.  You may have other data about the contacts and prioritize those above.

        Joseph Hsieh // retentioncommerce.com // X: @retention

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