Send personalized texts to customers in New Zealand

Profile photo of author Jessica Schanzer
Jessica Schanzer
SMS sending in New Zealand is now available

Klaviyo brands across Australia are already using SMS marketing to drive revenue and retention. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve made Klaviyo SMS available for companies based in New Zealand.

You can now use all the Klaviyo features you love – like segments and customer data – to send targeted text campaigns and flows to New Zealand recipients. Starting from scratch? Not to worry – we have built-in tools to grow your SMS contact list in New Zealand, like mobile-optimized sign-up forms and opt-in at checkout. 

And, you have unlimited access to every data point – including which individual text campaigns and automations are driving the most revenue. All of this makes it easy to craft and send relevant, personalized messages your New Zealand customers will love.

Getting started

You’ll first need to set up a short code to send texts in New Zealand. Short codes provide the highest volume sending at the fastest speeds – plus, your number will be easy for people to recognize.

Log into Klaviyo and navigate to SMS Settings. Scroll down to the Sending Numbers section and click Activate next to New Zealand. In the next modal you’ll see a NZ short code is automatically selected. Click Next. 

Select NZ short code.

Since short code traffic is granted faster sending speeds by carriers, you’ll need to submit an application and get approved. The goal of this application process is to ensure compliance and let wireless carriers know how your brand will use this number. 

Before requesting a short code, we encourage all brands to review what information you’ll need to provide for your application. You can check out our New Zealand short code checklist here. Most New Zealand short codes are approved between five and six weeks from their submission date. 

Best practices

Once your New Zealand short code is enabled, you’ll want to create an organizational prefix. This lets SMS recipients easily identify your brand. In Klaviyo, every text message going to New Zealand recipients will show this prefix and include opt-out instructions by default – ensuring compliance with New Zealand’s anti-spam regulations.

Here are some additional best practices for sending SMS in New Zealand:

  • When obtaining consent, enable double opt-in
  • Send messages between 08:00 AM and 08:00 PM in recipients’ local time – you can use Klaviyo’s Quiet Hours to automatically prevent sending texts outside of these times
  • Provide value – every text should be informative or helpful to the recipient; if not, subscribers will likely opt out
  • Do not overload people with too many messages – use Smart Sending to limit how often someone can receive messages via a certain channel

Learn more

We’re thrilled to bring all the awesome capabilities of Klaviyo SMS to brands in New Zealand. Below are some additional resources with more information to get started.