Starting today, channel affinity in Klaviyo predicts WhatsApp as a preferred channel, joining email, SMS, and push. Powered by Klaviyo AI (K:AI), channel affinity gives you a data-driven signal for where every customer is most likely to engage, across every channel you run.
Guessing the right channel costs you conversions
Your customers don't live on one channel. They browse email on their commute, tap through SMS at lunch, and reply to WhatsApp messages on the couch. Each person's preferences shift depending on the message type, the time of day, and even the brand.
Static routing rules can't keep up with that. A rule that says "send SMS to anyone who opted in" treats every subscriber the same, regardless of whether they actually open texts or prefer to hear from you somewhere else.
The fallout is predictable: messages land on the wrong screen, open rates dip, and subscribers start tuning out or opting out. Sending on the wrong channel doesn't just waste a message. It erodes the trust you spent months building. And when that message was time-sensitive, like a price drop, a back-in-stock alert, or a limited-time offer, the conversion window closes before you get a second shot.
But picking one channel and committing to it isn't the answer either. Your customers are omnichannel. It takes multiple messages across multiple channels to drive the most revenue. The real question is where to start, and which channels to use for follow-ups.
What's new: channel affinity now includes WhatsApp
Channel affinity predicts the best channels for engaging each customer based on past behavior and preferences. It's stored on each customer profile and dynamically routes messages where customers are most likely to convert. Now, WhatsApp joins email, SMS, and push as a predicted channel.
This matters most if you run both SMS and WhatsApp. Before today, brands with dual mobile messaging channels had to guess which one a given subscriber preferred, or just send both and hope for the best.
Channel affinity gives you a data-driven answer: does this person tend to engage more on SMS or WhatsApp? Lead with that channel, then follow up on the other if needed.
How it works: segments, flows, and conditional splits
Channel affinity lives natively in the segment builder, flow filters, and conditional splits—the same tools you already use to build campaigns and automations.
- Segment builder: Create segments based on predicted channel preference. Corkcicle, for example, uses K:AI-powered channel affinity to target campaigns by channel engagement. Their most efficient segment? Customers who engaged in the last 90 days and prefer email. As Erica Olsen, ecommerce marketing specialist at Corkcicle, put it: "Channel affinity allows us to be efficient and targeted and has provided great results."
- Flow filters: Target customers based on channel affinity within any automated flow. You can filter an entire flow to only include profiles who prefer a specific channel, or filter individual messages within a flow so the right content reaches the right channel.
- Conditional splits: Route profiles down different paths based on their channel preferences. This is where channel affinity shines in complex automations.
Start with the right channel, then build from there
The goal of channel affinity isn't to shrink your channel mix. It's to start smarter. When you lead with the channel each customer prefers, your first message works harder, and your follow-ups on other channels feel like a coordinated conversation instead of a repeated shout.
With WhatsApp now included, brands running both SMS and WhatsApp have a clearer signal for routing mobile messages to the right place, and a stronger foundation for true omnichannel strategy.
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