Triggering the Sunset Flow Correctly
A sunset flow is designed to do one job: clean inactive profiles off your list before they drag down your sender reputation. The problem is that most brands set these up in a way that actively harms their inbox placement.
First, you need to trigger this flow from a dynamic segment. Keep in mind that profiles can only enter a segment-triggered flow once in Klaviyo. If they enter and exit, they will not go through this automation a second time.
In my books, the ideal unengaged segment definition looks like this:
- Has opened email: 0 times in the last 120 days.
- AND Has clicked email: 0 times in the last 120 days.
- AND Has received email: at least 10 times overall.
- AND Has placed order: 0 times in the last 120 days.
- AND Can receive email marketing: profile is subscribed.
That 10-email minimum threshold is non-negotiable. Without it, someone who joined your list yesterday and has not had time to open an email yet would get dumped straight into your sunset sequence. That is a rookie mistake. Some brands prefer a 90-day window, while others stretch to 180 days. I find 120 days is the sweet spot for standard ecommerce catalogues.
Why Traditional Sunset Flows Damage Deliverability
Here is the reality of sending to unengaged contacts. These people have not opened an email from you in months, meaning they have likely been filtered out of your regular campaign sends. When your sunset email arrives out of nowhere, it jogs their memory.
What happens next? They hit the native unsubscribe link or, worse, mark your message as spam. Inbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo look closely at high unsubscribe and complaint spikes on low-volume sends. If an unengaged cohort suddenly generates a wave of spam complaints, your deliverability tanks across the board.
We need to give these people an easy exit without telling mailbox providers that our mail is unwanted junk.
The Click-to-Suppress Workaround
Instead of using standard Klaviyo unsubscribe tags, you can turn a negative action into a positive deliverability signal. You do this with profile property redirect links.
In your email copy, give the subscriber an explicit, honest option: Click here if you no longer want to receive our emails. When they click that link, two things happen simultaneously in Klaviyo:
- The link automatically updates their profile property (for example, setting
suppresstoyes). - The link redirects the user to a dedicated confirmation page on your website confirming they have been removed.
To Gmail and Outlook, this action does not register as an unsubscribe event. It registers as an email click. A click is a high-intent, positive engagement signal that helps your domain reputation. You have turned a contact who wanted to leave into a metric that boosts your sender score.
Structuring the Email Sequence
Keep these emails strictly plain text. No banners, no product grids, and no styled HTML buttons. Plain text emails look like human-to-human correspondence, bypassing promotional tabs and landing reliably in primary inboxes.
I structure the sequence across two or three steps:
- Email 1A: A short, direct check-in asking if they still want to hear from you, containing your redirect link to opt out.
- Time Delay: 2 days. Give them adequate time to see the first message.
- Email 1B: A simple follow-up sent only to those who have not opened or clicked Email 1A.
- Optional Email 1C: A final notice. If your open rate on this step drops below roughly 10%, delete it entirely.
At the very end of the flow, after a final 2-day delay, place an Update Profile Property action block. Set the property suppress to yes. If a profile reaches this final block without opening or clicking any email, the flow automatically tags them for removal.
Automating List Hygiene and Suppression
Once profiles have the suppression tag, you must ensure they never receive regular marketing again. They believe they have opted out, so sending them another campaign will guarantee a spam complaint.
Create a segment in Klaviyo where Properties about someone > suppress equals yes. Immediately add this segment as an exclusion across every campaign send, and add a flow filter across every active automation to kick these profiles out.
Once a month, navigate to that segment, export the list, and upload it directly into your Klaviyo account suppression list. This removes them from your active billing tier while keeping your account clean.
Final Thoughts
List size is a vanity metric. What matters is the proportion of your database that actually opens, clicks, and buys from your emails. Setting up your sunset flow with profile property updates protects your domain reputation, cleans your list automatically, and turns a potential deliverability hazard into a positive engagement signal.
If you want our team to audit your deliverability and build high-converting Klaviyo sequences for your brand, take a look at our email automation services.
