How to Catch the Ghosts
How to find the people who are on your Klaviyo list but managed to squeeze through the cracks and receive zero emails.
The "Squeeze Through" Phenomenon
These aren't people who ignored you. These are people who have been sitting on your list, costing you money, but for some reason, we never said hello.
This usually happens because:
- ❌ They were imported but not added to a specific Newsletter List.
- ❌ They signed up but your "Welcome Flow" was turned off (or they didn't meet the trigger).
- ❌ They have been excluded from campaigns by accident.
They are in email purgatory. They exist, but they are invisible.
The Logic: Finding the Uncontacted
We are looking for older profiles that have a "Received Email" count of exactly zero.
Here is the logic to plug into Klaviyo:
Note: We use "Created at least 30 days ago" to make sure we don't catch brand new subscribers who just signed up 5 minutes ago and haven't received their first email yet.
How to Build It (Step-by-Step)
Go to your Klaviyo Dashboard and follow these steps:
- Go to Lists & Segments.
- Click Create List / Segment.
- Choose Segment.
- Name it: 🕵️ UNCONTACTED - Zero Sends.
- Input the logic from the black box above.
- Click Create Segment.
The Fix: Wake Up or Clean Up?
Once you have this segment, you have a decision to make.
Option A: The "Wake Up" Campaign
If these profiles are legitimate, you might want to try to save them. Send a Plain Text email to this specific segment saying:
"Hey, I realized you signed up a while ago but we never officially connected. Still want to hear from us?"
Option B: The Clean Up (Suppression)
If these are old leads (1 year+) or look like bot signups, it's safer to just remove them to protect your deliverability.
- Open your UNCONTACTED segment.
- Click the dropdown arrow (Manage Segment).
- Select Suppress Current Members.
This ensures you stop paying for profiles that are effectively dead weight.
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