Omnisend is one of the most practical, cost-effective alternatives to Klaviyo on the market today. If you are comparing platforms, Omnisend gets you roughly 95% of the core functionality you need for ecommerce email marketing at a fraction of the cost.
Setting up your account properly from day one makes all the difference for deliverability and reporting accuracy. Here is how to configure your Omnisend account step by step.
Creating the Account: Partner vs Brand Owner
How you create your account depends on whether you are an agency managing clients or an individual store owner running your own brand.
If you are a freelancer or agency, never create an account directly through the standard consumer signup page. Use the Omnisend Partner Portal instead. From the partner dashboard, you can add a new client account, fill in their store URL and company address, and initiate an ownership transfer to their primary email address. This keeps client billing tidy and lets you manage multiple client accounts from a single dashboard.
If you are a brand owner setting up your own store, head directly to the Omnisend signup page, register with your primary work email, and verify the link sent to your inbox. Once inside, connect your ecommerce platform (such as Shopify) and ensure the Omnisend app embed script is turned on to allow tracking.
Configure Core Store Settings and Brand Assets
Once you are in the dashboard, your first stop should always be the Store Settings tab. Take two minutes to verify that your business name, physical street address, and contact email are accurate. Having a legitimate physical address is a legal requirement under anti-spam regulations (such as the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR).
Next, jump into the Brand Assets section. Upload your primary logo, set your default brand colours, and select your standard font choices. Omnisend pulls these assets automatically into every new email template you build, saving you hours of repetitive formatting later.
Verify Your Dedicated Sending Domain
By default, new accounts send campaigns through a shared sender domain. That is a mistake if you care about your long-term inbox placement.
To protect your deliverability and build a strong sender reputation, you must set up a dedicated sending domain. In Omnisend, head to Settings > Domains and view your required DNS records.
- Log into your DNS provider (such as Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Squarespace).
- Add the required TXT, CNAME, and SPF records exactly as displayed in Omnisend.
- Return to Omnisend and click to confirm the verification.
Once the DNS records propagate (which usually takes between 15 minutes and a few hours), switch your default sending domain from the shared pool to your verified dedicated domain.
Tighten Your Attribution Window Settings
Default attribution windows on most email platforms are set up to make the platform look good, not to give you clean numbers. Omnisend defaults to a 7-day click attribution window.
If someone clicks your email on Monday and buys an unrelated product on Sunday, the platform takes full credit for that revenue. In my books, 7 days is far too generous.
Head into Settings > Sales Attribution and adjust your window down. A 3-day click attribution window gives you a much fairer representation of actual campaign performance. If you want strict, conservative reporting, dial it down to 2 days (48 hours).
Preference Management and Currency Settings
Before launching any campaigns, review your customer-facing settings:
- Currency formats: Confirm your store currency matches your primary market (such as NZD, AUD, or USD) so revenue numbers match your store analytics.
- Preference management: Customise the page subscribers see when they click "manage preferences" in your email footer. Giving subscribers options to choose content preferences reduces straight unsubscriptions.
- SMS compliance: If you plan on running SMS campaigns, complete your sender registration. Specific regions like Australia require dedicated verification steps before you can send outbound text messages.
Final Thoughts
Getting your Omnisend setup right takes less than 30 minutes, but it prevents deliverability headaches and inflated reporting later. Lock down your dedicated sending domain, pull back your attribution windows, and verify your store settings before turning on your automations.
Need a hand migrating your store or dialling in your account setup? Explore our account setup services to get your email marketing running on solid foundations.
