Klaviyo Marketing Agency: What a Partner Badge Certifies

A Klaviyo marketing agency is a firm that sets up and runs a brand’s Klaviyo account, often as a listed Klaviyo partner. Klaviyo’s own program pages show what a partner tier certifies: monthly Klaviyo revenue the agency refers or manages, plus staff who completed Klaviyo courses. Below Elite, no tier requirement measures a client’s results.

The tier tables sit in Klaviyo’s Partner Program Fundamentals course on Klaviyo Academy, whose requirements lesson states “Your requirements vary by tier (i.e., silver, gold, platinum, or elite).” This guide reads that course, Klaviyo’s partner page, its agency directory, a Klaviyo newsroom release and Klaviyo’s help center as served on October 22, 2026, so every requirement below is in Klaviyo’s words, not an agency’s. It is published by Relvino, which decides per shopper across email, SMS and pop-ups and so competes with the platform these agencies run; read it as informed but interested.

How Klaviyo’s partner program is organized

Klaviyo’s partner page counts “6,000+ agency partners” and splits the program into agency and solution partners on one side and technology partners, the app builders, on the other. Agencies then sit on one of two tracks. The Advisor track is “For partners referring business to Klaviyo, but who do not actively manage clients’ Klaviyo accounts.” The Master track is “For partners who provide Klaviyo services on behalf of our mutual customers.” An agency that builds and runs a brand’s flows and campaigns is, in Klaviyo’s terms, a Master partner; the badge on its website reads as a tier plus a track, such as Platinum Master or Elite Master.

The tiers run Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Elite. Bronze is the entry level, renamed from “Klaviyo Partner” on July 1, 2025, and Elite, whose requirements include managed revenue, belongs to the Master track. Klaviyo’s course lists what an agency partner may do for a customer, and the list is candid about the two directions of the relationship. It includes “Manage the customer’s Klaviyo account directly.” and “Refer the customer to Klaviyo.”, and the best practices under it tell partners to “expand existing customers' use of the platform across new channels (e.g., SMS, mobile push, reviews, Marketing Analytics, etc.)”. An agency partner works for the brand and, in a defined and paid way, for Klaviyo.

What each Klaviyo partner tier requires

The Master track table in Klaviyo’s requirements lesson has four columns: referred MRR (monthly recurring revenue from customers the agency brought to Klaviyo), platform MRR (non-email), managed MRR (monthly Klaviyo revenue from the accounts the agency runs) and required curriculum. Klaviyo defines the platform column in a footnote: “Klaviyo Platform is considered all non-email MRR.” In other words, SMS and the other products Klaviyo sells beyond email; the same footnote adds that where non-email is not available in a partner’s country, the requirement is waived.

Figures are the monthly thresholds in Klaviyo’s Master track table; the course list is summarized.

• Bronze · Referred MRR: N/A · Platform MRR (non-email): N/A · Managed MRR: N/A · Course requirement: None listed
• Silver · Referred MRR: $250 · Platform MRR (non-email): N/A · Managed MRR: $250 · Course requirement: At least 1 employee completes five courses and certificates
• Gold · Referred MRR: $5,000 · Platform MRR (non-email): $500 · Managed MRR: $5,000 · Course requirement: At least 3 employees complete the same five
• Platinum · Referred MRR: $20,000 · Platform MRR (non-email): $4,000 · Managed MRR: $20,000 · Course requirement: At least 10 employees complete six, adding the Klaviyo Strategist Certificate
• Elite · Referred MRR: $40,000 · Platform MRR (non-email): Listed separately (see last column) · Managed MRR: $40,000 · Course requirement: $8,000 platform adoption (Klaviyo labels it % of total managed accounts); 20 employees complete all six; more than one case study a year

The five courses behind Silver are Partner Program Fundamentals, the Deliverability Certificate, the Klaviyo Sales Certificate, Onboard a New Client to Klaviyo and the Klaviyo Practitioner Certificate. They test knowledge of the platform and of selling it. Advisor partners face the same revenue ladder without the managed column and with a shorter course list. Klaviyo also allows for small firms: if headcount makes the employee numbers hard to meet, “you may be eligible for an exception”, so a small agency can hold a tier with fewer certified people than the table shows.

What a Klaviyo partner badge does not certify

Read the table for what it leaves out. Through Platinum, every requirement is either an amount of monthly Klaviyo revenue or a count of employees who completed Klaviyo courses. None asks how a client’s revenue moved, how its list health held up, or whether clients renewed. Managed MRR is the sum of what an agency’s clients pay Klaviyo each month, so an agency with a few large accounts can clear Platinum while an agency with many small accounts that grew strongly may not. The tier is a measure of the size of the agency’s Klaviyo book and of its training, which is useful information, just not information about performance.

Elite is the exception, and it is the only one. Alongside its revenue and course thresholds, the Elite row adds a case study requirement, and a Klaviyo newsroom release dated December 15, 2022 described a selection step that the current course does not mention: “In order to become an Elite Master, partners are nominated by their Partner Manager and Partner Success Manager based on initial quantitative requirements and then undergo a formal review to ensure all qualitative requirements are met as well.” In the same release, Klaviyo’s SVP of Global Strategic Partnerships named what Elite partners had shown, including “superior client health and net promoter scores”. On Klaviyo’s current pages, client results enter the requirements only at the top tier, through the case study, with the 2022 release adding a nomination and review; no requirement below Elite asks about them.

Two practical consequences for a brand. First, a Silver, Gold or Platinum badge says the agency is trained on Klaviyo and has a book of a certain size; whether it is good for a particular store has to be established some other way. Second, the badge describes the agency at its last review, not the team assigned to the account: the certified employees counted for the tier may or may not be the people who will build the flows.

How Klaviyo pays a partner agency

The tier also sets what Klaviyo pays the agency. For Master partners, the course is direct: “For every account you actively manage, you are paid a percentage of that account’s MRR for an indefinite time period.” The payout is calculated from the account’s MRR and the partner’s tier rate and paid quarterly. Klaviyo’s worked example is a Platinum Master partner managing a $10,000 MRR account at a 4% rate, which comes to $100 a quarter.

Referrals pay separately. At the entry tier, Klaviyo says “you'll earn a 10% revenue share from email and text message MRR for 12 months per referred account”, with the rate and duration set by tier in a table the course publishes as an image. The Partner Portal shows agencies a revenue dashboard that breaks pipeline down “by referred, managed, and SMS-specific MRR”.

None of this is hidden; Klaviyo publishes it in the course, and on Klaviyo’s own example the sums on a single account are modest. The point for a brand is structural. The same monthly Klaviyo bill that the agency is paid a share of also counts toward the agency’s tier, and from Gold upward the tier needs non-email revenue, so a recommendation to add SMS or another Klaviyo product moves the agency’s standing as well as the brand’s bill. A good agency will make that recommendation only when it is right for the store. A brand is entitled to ask, and the question costs nothing.

How the Klaviyo agency directory works

Klaviyo’s Agency Partner Directory lives at connect.klaviyo.com, and the course explains its mechanics: “The Klaviyo directory is built on PartnerPage.” An agency fills in its own profile, and “Once your profile is approved by Klaviyo, it will be published in the directory.” Two lessons in the same course state eligibility differently. One says “only partners with Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Elite status are eligible for inclusion in the Agency Partner Directory.” Another describes listing as “for partners hitting $1,000 MRR and above”. Either way, the course does not make Bronze partners eligible (though the served page on October 22 carried one card with the tier’s old “Klaviyo Partner” badge), so the directory is not a complete list of agencies that work in Klaviyo.

The served directory page offers these filters: Ecommerce Platform Expertise, Location/Region, Service Capabilities, Language, Industry Specialization, Brand Size (Annual Revenue), Scope of Work and Geo, plus a Sort by control that shows Tier. The options inside each filter load in the browser and are not quoted here. On October 22 a featured strip at the top, in a different order on each load, mixed Elite Master, Platinum Master, Platinum Advisor and Silver Master badges, and the main list below it opened with Elite Master partners.

Two cautions when reading a listing. The description on each card is the agency’s own text, written for its profile, so claims about client counts or rankings are the agency’s, not Klaviyo’s. And the badge on the card is the tier described above: a statement about Klaviyo revenue and training, with client results entering the requirements only at Elite. Third-party rankings of the best Klaviyo agencies are a different thing again, an author’s opinion, and this guide does not repeat or rank any agency.

What to ask a Klaviyo agency before signing

The partner program answers some questions about an agency and leaves the important ones to the brand. These are the questions the program’s own design suggests.

• Which track and tier, and who on the team holds which certificate. Ask for the names of the people who will work on the account and the Klaviyo certificates each one holds, not the agency-wide count.
• Whether the agency earns revenue share on this account. Ask whether it will register the account as managed, whether it referred the brand to Klaviyo, and how it handles recommendations that raise the Klaviyo bill.
• What results it will report, against what baseline. Klaviyo gives partners an Executive Business Review tool “to quickly produce a presentation to share recent performance with your client”. Agree in advance which of the store’s own numbers the review will show and how revenue the program would have earned anyway is separated from revenue it caused.
• Who owns the account. In Klaviyo, “An account can only have 1 Owner”, and Admins cannot fully close an account; the Owner can. The brand should hold that role and add the agency as a user. Klaviyo states that it “cannot initiate ownership transfers without the current Owner's approval and permission”, so a brand whose account was opened under an agency employee’s login needs that person’s cooperation to take it back, or a verification process with Klaviyo support if the person has left the business.
• Which role the agency gets. Admins “have full account access”, including billing and users. Managers can run campaigns and flows, but for flows they “Cannot export any recipient activity”. Pick the narrowest role that lets the agency do the work.
• What it costs. Retainers, per-email fees and hourly rates are covered in the guide to email marketing agency pricing.

An agency worth hiring will answer all six without hesitation.

Where agency work changes when the platform decides per shopper

Much of what a Klaviyo agency builds is structure: flows, segments, send schedules and the tests that tune them. When the platform decides per shopper, that structure is not built by hand. Relvino decides offer, timing, channel and creative for each shopper across email, SMS and pop-ups, ~80ms per decision, inside guardrails the brand sets, such as margin floors, channels and brand voice.

The agency work that remains is the work the tiers below Elite do not measure: brand and creative direction, offer strategy, the guardrails themselves, and an honest read of results. A brand weighing that option against staying on Klaviyo can start with the Klaviyo review, the question of whether Klaviyo is worth it at its size, and the field of Klaviyo competitors, or go straight to the Klaviyo alternative comparison.

Read the badge for what it is

A Klaviyo partner badge is accurate about what it measures. A Platinum Master agency has a sizable Klaviyo book and trained staff, an Elite Master agency creates client case studies and, as Klaviyo described the tier in 2022, was nominated and reviewed on qualitative criteria, and a directory listing has been approved by Klaviyo. What the badge cannot say is whether this agency, with this team, will grow this store, and whether a recommendation to buy more Klaviyo serves the brand or the tier. Those answers come from the contract, the account roles and the first quarterly review, and a brand that sets them before signing is hiring an agency on its own terms rather than on Klaviyo’s.

Frequently asked questions

Does Klaviyo offer CRM?

Yes, in its own description. Klaviyo’s site calls the product The B2C CRM, and its navigation groups Klaviyo Marketing, Klaviyo Service, Klaviyo Analytics and the Klaviyo Data Platform under it, with a Helpdesk and a Customer Hub among the listed products. B2C is the operative word: the CRM is organized around shopper profiles and the messages, orders and service conversations attached to them. A business that runs a B2B sales team with deals and pipeline stages is usually comparing a different kind of CRM.

What is the difference between Shopify and Klaviyo?

Shopify is the commerce platform: it runs the storefront, catalog, checkout, orders and inventory. Klaviyo is a separate marketing and customer platform that connects to the store. Klaviyo’s help center describes the integration as a way to bring customer profile and order data into Klaviyo and reach customers with targeted messaging, plus onsite tracking of events such as Viewed Product and Active on Site, which are on by default, and an optional sync of profile data from Klaviyo back to Shopify. A Klaviyo agency works inside the Klaviyo account and the forms on the store, but the store itself stays on Shopify.

How do you find a Klaviyo partner agency?

Two routes run through Klaviyo. The Agency Partner Directory at connect.klaviyo.com can be browsed and filtered directly. Klaviyo also runs a matchmaking form on the same site that asks for marketing services, company location, budget, the type of engagement, whether the brand is a current Klaviyo customer and the number of email subscribers. Submitting it requires agreeing that Klaviyo can share the brand’s personal information with the Klaviyo Agency Partner network, so the brand’s details can go to more than one agency. Agencies outside the directory, including Bronze partners and non-partners, are found the ordinary way, through referrals.

Can a brand hire a Klaviyo agency that is not a Klaviyo partner?

Yes. Partner status is not needed to work in a Klaviyo account. Klaviyo’s help center says only Owners and Admins can add users, and adding one takes an email address and a role such as Admin, Manager, Analyst, Support, Campaign Coordinator or Content Creator. The invited person accepts by email and is then a user like any other. Partner status matters to the agency’s relationship with Klaviyo, its revenue share and directory listing, not to its access. The account’s Users page also shows when each user was added and when they last logged in, which is a simple way to see whether a hired agency is actually working in the account.

How often does a Klaviyo partner’s tier change?

Up and down on different clocks. For moving up, Klaviyo’s course says it reviews monthly recurring revenue and managed accounts on a monthly basis, and a partner that consistently exceeds its current tier is contacted about an upgrade. For moving down, Klaviyo says partner tier reviews for downtiering occur twice a year and look at aggregated revenue rather than a single bad month. A badge on an agency’s website can therefore stay in place for months after its book has shrunk, so ask when the tier was last confirmed.

How long does it take to migrate from a Klaviyo agency setup to Relvino?

The technical cutover takes about 30 minutes: connect the Shopify store, point the sending domain and SMS number, and shopper data ingests automatically. Revenue is then measured in a 14-day pilot. If an agency has been running the Klaviyo account, settle access first: Klaviyo’s help center tells a new account Owner to go to Settings, then Users, to remove any users who should no longer have account access, and only the current Owner can assign a new Owner. A brand that holds the Owner role can make that change on its own schedule.