How to Create an SPF Record for Klaviyo

Klaviyo is the go-to email marketing platform for e-commerce businesses, deeply integrated with Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and other online store platforms. If you use Klaviyo to send abandoned cart emails, order follow-ups, product recommendations, or marketing campaigns from your own domain, you need an SPF record that authorizes Klaviyo's servers to send on your behalf. Without it, those carefully crafted emails may end up in spam folders instead of inboxes.

This guide walks you through setting up SPF for Klaviyo, combining it with other services common in e-commerce, and verifying your record is working.

The SPF Include for Klaviyo

Per Klaviyo's DNS authentication guide, the SPF include mechanism for Klaviyo is:

include:spf.klaviyo.com

This covers all email sent through Klaviyo's platform -- marketing campaigns, automated flows, transactional messages, and everything else.

A basic SPF record for Klaviyo looks like this:

v=spf1 include:spf.klaviyo.com -all

In practice, e-commerce businesses almost never use Klaviyo alone. You'll likely have a primary email provider for team communication plus other services like Shopify that also send email as your domain. Use the free SPF record generator to build a record that includes all your services in one place.

Step-by-Step: Creating Your SPF Record for Klaviyo

Common SPF Record Combinations With Klaviyo

E-commerce email setups tend to involve more services than a typical business. Here are the combinations you're most likely to need:

The highlighted Klaviyo + Google Workspace + Shopify combination is especially common. Many Shopify store owners use Google Workspace for team email, Klaviyo for marketing automation, and Shopify for order-related transactional emails. All three need to be in a single SPF record.

Verifying Your SPF Record

Once your DNS changes are live, verify that everything is set up correctly.

Go to SPF Record Check and enter your domain. The tool will display your published SPF record, check the syntax, count DNS lookups, and flag any issues. Confirm that include:spf.klaviyo.com is present and the record passes validation.

Send a test email through Klaviyo -- either a test campaign or a preview email -- to an external address you control. Check the email headers on the receiving side for Authentication-Results: spf=pass. If you see spf=fail, double-check that the Klaviyo include is in your SPF record and that the record has no syntax errors.

Common Mistakes With Klaviyo SPF Records

Forgetting About Shopify's SPF Include

If you use Shopify alongside Klaviyo, Shopify also sends email from your domain -- order confirmations, shipping updates, and refund notifications. According to Shopify's SPF documentation, Shopify's SPF include is shops.shopify.com. Forgetting to add it means your Shopify-sent emails fail SPF authentication, even though Klaviyo emails pass just fine. Both includes need to be in the same record.

Creating a Second SPF Record

This is the most common SPF mistake, and it happens frequently when businesses add Klaviyo to an existing setup. If your domain already has an SPF record for Google Workspace, don't create a separate TXT record for Klaviyo. Two SPF records cause a permerror per RFC 7208 that breaks authentication for every email from your domain. Always edit the existing record.

Exceeding the 10 DNS Lookup Limit

E-commerce businesses stack multiple services -- email provider, store platform, marketing automation, helpdesk, reviews platform, and more. Each include adds DNS lookups. Google Workspace alone uses about 3 lookups. Add Klaviyo, Shopify, and a helpdesk, and you can easily approach or exceed the 10-lookup limit. If you're over, look into SPF flattening to reduce your lookup count.

Not Adding Klaviyo When Migrating From Another ESP

When switching to Klaviyo from Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or another email marketing platform, remember to update your SPF record. Remove the old platform's include and add Klaviyo's. Forgetting this step means your Klaviyo emails fail SPF checks while the old platform's include wastes a DNS lookup.

Complete Your Email Authentication

For e-commerce, email deliverability directly impacts revenue. SPF is the foundation, but you need all three authentication protocols for the best results:

• SPF authorizes which servers can send email for your domain (what you just configured)
• DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to each email, proving it wasn't altered in transit. Use DKIM Creator to generate your DKIM records
• DMARC tells receiving servers what to do when authentication fails. Use DMARC Creator to build your DMARC policy

Klaviyo provides DKIM signing through its domain authentication settings. Enabling DKIM alongside SPF gives you two layers of authentication -- essential for protecting your brand and ensuring your marketing emails reach your customers' inboxes.

Monitor Your SPF Record

Your Klaviyo SPF setup is complete -- but DNS records can change unexpectedly. A domain migration, a colleague editing DNS, or a registrar transfer can wipe out your carefully crafted record. For e-commerce businesses, broken email authentication means lost sales. Daily monitoring catches issues before they cost you revenue.