Your email list is one of the most valuable assets your business owns. Unlike your social media following, which lives on a platform you do not control, your email list belongs to you. The people on it have raised their hand and said they want to hear from you, and that makes them some of the most qualified prospects in your entire audience.
But a list does not build itself. Growing it consistently requires a deliberate strategy, the right tools, and forms that are actually set up to convert. Klaviyo‘s built-in sign-up form builder is one of the better ones on the market, and if you are not using it yet, you are likely missing out on a steady stream of new subscribers every single day.
Here is how to set it up properly and make sure every form you have is doing its job.
Understand Your Form Options
Before you build anything, it helps to know what types of forms Klaviyo supports and when each one makes sense.
A popup is a form that appears over your site content after a visitor has been on the page for a set amount of time or scrolled a certain distance. Popups are the highest-converting form type because they are impossible to miss, and they are the format you will want to prioritize first.
A flyout is a smaller form that slides in from the side or bottom of the screen. It is less intrusive than a full popup and works well as a secondary form on pages where you do not want to disrupt the browsing experience.
An embedded form lives inline on a page, usually in the footer, on a dedicated landing page, or within a blog post. It does not interrupt the visitor, which means lower conversion rates, but it captures subscribers who are actively looking for a way to sign up.
Most stores benefit from having at least a popup and an embedded form running simultaneously. Each one reaches a different type of visitor, and together they maximize your chances of capturing an email address before someone leaves.
Create Your First Popup in Klaviyo
To get started, go to Sign-Up Forms in your Klaviyo account and click Create Form. Select Popup as your form type, then choose a template. Klaviyo provides a solid library of starting points that you can fully customize.
In the form editor, you will design the visual layout, write your copy, connect the form to your email list, and configure your display rules. All of these settings matter, and we will walk through the most important ones below.
Nail Your Offer
This is the single biggest factor in whether your form converts well or not. Visitors do not hand over their email address out of generosity. They do it because you are offering them something worth having.
For e-commerce stores, the most effective opt-in offers are a percentage discount on the first order (10 to 15 percent is the sweet spot for most categories), free shipping on the first purchase, early access to new products or sales, or a content-based incentive like a guide or quiz if it genuinely applies to your product category.
Keep the ask simple. One email field, a clear headline that states the benefit, and a button that reinforces the offer. Something like “Get 10% off your first order” as a headline and “Claim My Discount” as the button outperforms generic copy like “Sign Up for Our Newsletter” every time. Lead with what the subscriber gets, not with what you want.
Set Your Timing and Targeting
When your popup appears matters almost as much as what it says. Show it too quickly and you interrupt visitors before they have had a chance to engage with your site. Show it too late and some of them will have already left.
A good default rule is to trigger your popup after five to eight seconds on the page or after a visitor has scrolled 30 to 40 percent of the way down. Either of these signals enough genuine interest to make the timing feel natural rather than aggressive.
Exit intent is worth enabling as well. This triggers the popup when Klaviyo detects that a visitor is about to leave the page, giving you one last opportunity to capture their email before they go.
On the targeting side, make sure your popup is set to suppress for existing subscribers and customers. Someone who is already on your list does not need to see your sign-up form every time they visit your site. Klaviyo handles this automatically when your store is connected, but it is worth verifying in your form settings.
Optimize for Mobile
More than half of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile devices, and a popup that looks great on desktop can be a frustrating experience on a phone if it is not designed with mobile in mind.
In Klaviyo’s form editor, there is a mobile preview option that lets you see exactly how your form will appear on smaller screens. Use it. Common issues to check for include text that is too small to read without zooming, buttons that are too close together to tap accurately, and forms that take up the full screen without a clear way to close them.
Klaviyo also lets you create separate mobile and desktop versions of the same form, which is worth doing if your design needs significant adjustments for smaller screens. A clean, simple mobile popup will almost always outperform a desktop-style layout squeezed onto a phone.
Add Embedded Forms for Passive List Growth
Once your popup is live, add at least one embedded form to your site as a secondary capture point. The footer is the most common placement and works well because it is present on every page without getting in the way of the browsing experience.
Blog posts are another strong location for embedded forms, especially if you are producing content that attracts search traffic. A reader who finds your site through a blog post and reads the whole thing is a highly engaged visitor, and an embedded form at the bottom of the article gives them an easy path to stay connected.
To create an embedded form in Klaviyo, follow the same process as your popup but select Embed as the form type. Klaviyo will generate a code snippet that you or your developer can place anywhere on your site.
Test and Improve Over Time
Once your forms are live, the work is not done. The best-performing forms are the ones that have been tested and refined based on real data.
Klaviyo shows you the submission rate for each form, which tells you what percentage of visitors who saw the form actually signed up. A good popup submission rate for e-commerce is typically in the range of three to five percent or higher. If yours is below that, try testing a different offer, a new headline, or a change to your timing settings.
You can run A/B tests directly in Klaviyo by creating variants of the same form with one element changed at a time. Test the headline first, then the offer, then the button copy. Small changes can have a meaningful impact on conversion rates, and the data will show you exactly what is working.
Your email list is only as good as the system you have in place to grow it. Get your forms right, and you will have a steady stream of new subscribers coming in every day without having to think about it.
If you want help setting up high-converting forms or would like a second opinion on what you currently have running, we are happy to take a look.
Continue reading: Klaviyo segmentation guide: How to stop emailing everyone the same thing and Lead magnets that actually work for e-commerce email growth.Your email list is one of the most valuable assets your business owns. Unlike your social media following, which lives on a platform you do not control, your email list belongs to you. The people on it have raised their hand and said they want to hear from you, and that makes them some of the most qualified prospects in your entire audience.
But a list does not build itself. Growing it consistently requires a deliberate strategy, the right tools, and forms that are actually set up to convert. Klaviyo’s built-in sign-up form builder is one of the better ones on the market, and if you are not using it yet, you are likely missing out on a steady stream of new subscribers every single day.
Here is how to set it up properly and make sure every form you have is doing its job.
Understand Your Form Options
Before you build anything, it helps to know what types of forms Klaviyo supports and when each one makes sense.
A popup is a form that appears over your site content after a visitor has been on the page for a set amount of time or scrolled a certain distance. Popups are the highest-converting form type because they are impossible to miss, and they are the format you will want to prioritize first.
A flyout is a smaller form that slides in from the side or bottom of the screen. It is less intrusive than a full popup and works well as a secondary form on pages where you do not want to disrupt the browsing experience.
An embedded form lives inline on a page, usually in the footer, on a dedicated landing page, or within a blog post. It does not interrupt the visitor, which means lower conversion rates, but it captures subscribers who are actively looking for a way to sign up.
Most stores benefit from having at least a popup and an embedded form running simultaneously. Each one reaches a different type of visitor, and together they maximize your chances of capturing an email address before someone leaves.
Create Your First Popup in Klaviyo
To get started, go to Sign-Up Forms in your Klaviyo account and click Create Form. Select Popup as your form type, then choose a template. Klaviyo provides a solid library of starting points that you can fully customize.
In the form editor, you will design the visual layout, write your copy, connect the form to your email list, and configure your display rules. All of these settings matter, and we will walk through the most important ones below.
Nail Your Offer
This is the single biggest factor in whether your form converts well or not. Visitors do not hand over their email address out of generosity. They do it because you are offering them something worth having.
For e-commerce stores, the most effective opt-in offers are a percentage discount on the first order (10 to 15 percent is the sweet spot for most categories), free shipping on the first purchase, early access to new products or sales, or a content-based incentive like a guide or quiz if it genuinely applies to your product category.
Keep the ask simple. One email field, a clear headline that states the benefit, and a button that reinforces the offer. Something like “Get 10% off your first order” as a headline and “Claim My Discount” as the button outperforms generic copy like “Sign Up for Our Newsletter” every time. Lead with what the subscriber gets, not with what you want.
Set Your Timing and Targeting
When your popup appears matters almost as much as what it says. Show it too quickly and you interrupt visitors before they have had a chance to engage with your site. Show it too late and some of them will have already left.
A good default rule is to trigger your popup after five to eight seconds on the page or after a visitor has scrolled 30 to 40 percent of the way down. Either of these signals enough genuine interest to make the timing feel natural rather than aggressive.
Exit intent is worth enabling as well. This triggers the popup when Klaviyo detects that a visitor is about to leave the page, giving you one last opportunity to capture their email before they go.
On the targeting side, make sure your popup is set to suppress for existing subscribers and customers. Someone who is already on your list does not need to see your sign-up form every time they visit your site. Klaviyo handles this automatically when your store is connected, but it is worth verifying in your form settings.
Optimize for Mobile
More than half of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile devices, and a popup that looks great on desktop can be a frustrating experience on a phone if it is not designed with mobile in mind.
In Klaviyo’s form editor, there is a mobile preview option that lets you see exactly how your form will appear on smaller screens. Use it. Common issues to check for include text that is too small to read without zooming, buttons that are too close together to tap accurately, and forms that take up the full screen without a clear way to close them.
Klaviyo also lets you create separate mobile and desktop versions of the same form, which is worth doing if your design needs significant adjustments for smaller screens. A clean, simple mobile popup will almost always outperform a desktop-style layout squeezed onto a phone.
Add Embedded Forms for Passive List Growth
Once your popup is live, add at least one embedded form to your site as a secondary capture point. The footer is the most common placement and works well because it is present on every page without getting in the way of the browsing experience.
Blog posts are another strong location for embedded forms, especially if you are producing content that attracts search traffic. A reader who finds your site through a blog post and reads the whole thing is a highly engaged visitor, and an embedded form at the bottom of the article gives them an easy path to stay connected.
To create an embedded form in Klaviyo, follow the same process as your popup but select Embed as the form type. Klaviyo will generate a code snippet that you or your developer can place anywhere on your site.
Test and Improve Over Time
Once your forms are live, the work is not done. The best-performing forms are the ones that have been tested and refined based on real data.
Klaviyo shows you the submission rate for each form, which tells you what percentage of visitors who saw the form actually signed up. A good popup submission rate for e-commerce is typically in the range of three to five percent or higher. If yours is below that, try testing a different offer, a new headline, or a change to your timing settings.
You can run A/B tests directly in Klaviyo by creating variants of the same form with one element changed at a time. Test the headline first, then the offer, then the button copy. Small changes can have a meaningful impact on conversion rates, and the data will show you exactly what is working.
Your email list is only as good as the system you have in place to grow it. Get your forms right, and you will have a steady stream of new subscribers coming in every day without having to think about it.
If you want help setting up high-converting forms or would like a second opinion on what you currently have running, we are happy to take a look.
Continue reading: Klaviyo segmentation guide: How to stop emailing everyone the same thing and Lead magnets that actually work for e-commerce email growth.