Klaviyo suppressed profiles: what they are and when to remove them

This is for Shopify founders who opened the suppressed profiles page, saw a big number and wondered whether it's costing them money or hurting their sends.

What is a suppressed profile in Klaviyo?

Klaviyo's help center puts it simply: when a profile is suppressed for email, it can't receive email marketing messages. Klaviyo automatically excludes suppressed profiles from marketing sends.

Suppression and consent are separate things in Klaviyo. A profile can be suppressed even if it once gave consent, and someone who unsubscribes shows an "Unsubscribed" consent status rather than a suppression reason.

Why do profiles get suppressed?

From Klaviyo's article on suppressed email profiles, the main reasons are:

• Hard bounce. The address doesn't exist or can't receive mail. Klaviyo suppresses these automatically to keep your lists clean.
• Repeated soft bounces. Klaviyo suppresses addresses that soft bounce 7 times consecutively. Only soft bounces from the past 2 years count.
• Spam complaint. The person marked one of your emails as spam.
• Manual suppression. You or a teammate suppressed them. This shows as "User suppressed."
• Synced from a previous provider. For example, bounced addresses synced from Mailchimp come in suppressed for bounces.

If several reasons apply, Klaviyo shows deliverability first, then manual.

A big pile of spam complaints is a different problem from a big pile of bounces. If complaints are climbing, read why your Klaviyo emails are going to spam before you touch anything else.

Do suppressed profiles count toward my Klaviyo bill?

No. Klaviyo says suppressed email profiles don't count toward your email plan's active profile limit, even if they've given consent. Unsubscribed profiles don't count either.

Two catches from Klaviyo's billing pages:

• Your bill doesn't drop on its own. Klaviyo says deleting or suppressing profiles won't automatically change your email plan. Pick a lower tier or turn on auto-downgrade in your billing preferences.
• Advanced KDP is different. If you're on Advanced KDP, Klaviyo says billing is based on total profiles, including suppressed ones.

Klaviyo also says the billing count can take up to 72 hours to refresh after a large cleanup. I walk through the rest of how the bill works in why did my Klaviyo bill go up.

Should I delete suppressed profiles?

Usually not. Klaviyo's own guidance is to "aim to suppress rather than delete profiles," and I agree.

Here's the difference, per Klaviyo:

• Suppressing keeps the profile in your account for historical reporting. It just stops counting as active for email.
• Deleting removes the profile from your account. You can't open it or see its activity anymore, and the action can't be undone. If that person engages with your site again, they can come back in as a brand-new profile.

Klaviyo also warns that deleting profiles can skew your segments and make accurate insights impossible. Suppression already gets you the billing benefit, so deleting mostly costs you history.

The exception is a data privacy request. Klaviyo has a separate option to delete a profile in compliance with a data privacy request. Use that when someone asks to be erased.

When should I suppress profiles myself?

When people stop engaging and a sunset flow hasn't won them back. Klaviyo itself warns that suppressing too early can mean lost revenue, so give people a real chance first.

Here's the order I'd use:

1. Run a sunset flow. Send unengaged people a short series with a real reason to stay. My Klaviyo sunset flow guide covers how long to wait and what to send.
2. Suppress whoever doesn't respond. They stop counting toward your plan.
3. Keep it running every month, instead of one giant cleanup a year.

Klaviyo gives you a few ways to do it:

• Bulk suppress a list or segment. Go to Audience, then Lists & segments, open the action menu and choose "Suppress current members." Klaviyo may offer "Suppress inactive profiles," which keeps people who are subscribed, have no spam complaints and clicked or ordered within 182 days. It only applies to current members, not people who join later.
• Suppression recommendations. A banner on the suppressed profiles page flags profiles created at least 365 days ago that got 5 or more emails, never opened or clicked, and never visited, viewed a product, checked out or bought.
• Import a CSV. From the suppressed profiles page, choose Import suppressions. The file only needs an Email column.

Two limits worth knowing: the inactive-only option isn't available if more than 120,000 profiles qualify, and a profile can't be manually suppressed again until 90 days after its last suppression.

Can I unsuppress a profile?

Sometimes. Manual suppressions can be removed, one at a time or in bulk with "Unsuppress current members."

Deliverability suppressions are another story. Klaviyo says bulk unsuppressing doesn't remove suppressions caused by a hard bounce or 7 consecutive soft bounces, and resubscribing someone doesn't remove them either. For people who unsubscribed or marked you as spam, Klaviyo says you can resubscribe them only if you've received explicit consent from them.

Do suppressed profiles still get flows or SMS?

Email flows: no for marketing. Klaviyo says approved transactional flow emails can still go to manually suppressed or unsubscribed profiles, but not to profiles suppressed for bounces or invalid addresses. Skipped sends show up as "Skipped: Person Suppressed" in the flow's recipient activity.

SMS and push: yes, if they've consented. Klaviyo says suppressing profiles only affects email.

How worried should I be about list cleaning?

Less than most founders are. Remove the obviously bad profiles, the bounces and the people who never open, and let a sunset flow handle the rest. Beyond that, founders tend to obsess over cleaning the list instead of adding better profiles and better systems to capture them.

That's also why I run single opt-in for email. If someone typed in their address, they want to be on the list. My take on the trade-off is in Klaviyo double opt-in.

FAQ

WRITTEN BY Jack White

Founder of Bardown Digital, a Chicago-based Klaviyo email and retention agency for Shopify brands. He's worked with brands doing $500K to $100M a year, with $100M+ in email-attributed revenue across them.

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