Channel Distribution, Klaviyo

Channel Distribution, shown by share. How sends and revenue split across email, SMS and push. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it.

Metrics type: Supporting Metrics • Category: Email Marketing

Where your messaging actually goes. A donut of email versus SMS versus push share, so you can see at a glance whether you are an email-only programme or a true multi-channel one.

At a glance

Channel Distribution is a donut showing how your Klaviyo activity splits across channels: email, SMS, and push where each is configured. It can be read by send volume or by attributed revenue share, and the donut renders each channel as a slice of the whole. Most ecommerce brands are heavily email-weighted, with SMS a smaller but higher-intensity slice and push present only if a mobile app is connected. The value of this card is proportional, not absolute: it tells you the mix, not the totals. Use it to spot an over-reliance on one channel or an SMS programme that is under-built relative to its revenue potential.

What it counts	The share of activity per channel (email, SMS, push) across the period, shown as donut slices. Can be viewed by send count or by attributed revenue.
API endpoint + statistics field	Built from POST /api/campaign-values-reports and POST /api/flow-values-reports segmented by channel, reading recipients (or delivered) for the send view and revenue for the revenue view.
Attribution model	For the revenue view, Klaviyo default 5-day click and 1-day view applies per channel. The send view does not depend on attribution.
Email vs SMS aggregation	This card is the de-aggregation. Where most Klaviyo cards blend email and SMS into one number, this one splits them back out into separate slices, plus push if present.
Chart type	Donut (proportional share, one slice per channel).
Time window	Selected period (default 30 days).
Alert trigger	A sharp shift in one channel’s share versus the prior period, for example a push slice collapsing because an app integration broke.
Roles	owner, marketing

Calculation

Calculated automatically from your Klaviyo data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

Worked example

An illustrative beauty brand on Shopify running email and SMS in Klaviyo, no mobile app. The 30-day window covers 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26. Figures are illustrative.

Channel	Sends (delivered)	Send share	Attributed revenue	Revenue share
Email	940,000	94.0%	£62,000	78.5%
SMS	60,000	6.0%	£17,000	21.5%
Push	0	0%	£0	0%
Total	1,000,000	100%	£79,000	100%

SMS punches above its volume:
  send share    = 6.0%
  revenue share = 21.5%
  revenue-to-send leverage = 21.5 / 6.0 = ~3.6x

What’s interesting:

1. The two donut views tell different stories. By send volume the programme looks 94 percent email. By revenue it is 78.5 percent email and a much larger 21.5 percent SMS. Whichever single donut you show, mention which basis it uses.
2. SMS over-indexes on revenue. SMS is only 6 percent of sends but 21.5 percent of revenue, roughly 3.6 times its volume share. That is typical: SMS reaches a smaller, opted-in, high-intent audience.
3. No push slice here. Push appears only when a mobile app is connected to Klaviyo. A zero push slice is not a fault, it just means the channel is not in use.
4. Over-reliance risk. A donut that is 99 percent email concentrates deliverability and reputation risk in one channel. The mix view is a prompt to consider whether SMS is under-built relative to its proven leverage.
5. Proportions, not totals. This card deliberately hides absolute pounds and counts in its headline so the eye reads mix. For the totals behind each slice, open Total Sends and Email-Attributed Revenue.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Read these alongside Channel Distribution to turn the mix into absolute numbers and to dig into each channel.

Card	Why pair it with Channel Distribution
Total Sends	The absolute send volume behind the send-share donut.
Flow vs Campaign Revenue Mix	A second mix lens: campaigns versus flows, complementing the channel split.
Email-Attributed Revenue	The total revenue the revenue-share donut divides up.
SMS Overview	Drills into the SMS slice: opt-ins, sends and revenue for the channel that usually over-indexes.
Revenue per Send	Explains why a small channel slice can carry a large revenue slice.

Reconciling against Klaviyo

Where to look in Klaviyo:

Klaviyo does not present a single channel-mix donut, so this card composes the view from per-channel data. Open Analytics → Performance and filter by channel to read email and SMS separately, then Campaigns and Flows lists, which carry a channel column. Summing each channel’s sends or revenue reproduces the slices.

Why our number may legitimately differ:

Reason	Direction of divergence
Time zone. Klaviyo aggregates in the account time zone; Vortex IQ defaults to UTC. Boundary sends can shift channel slices slightly.	Small slice movement at the window edge
Page caps. Per-channel reports paginate at 50 sources per call. High-cadence channels may be slightly truncated.	The busiest channel’s slice marginally understated
Send basis. A donut by recipients differs slightly from one by delivered because bounces sit between them. This card states its basis; comparing to a Klaviyo view on the other basis will diverge.	Small, basis-dependent
Currency base. Revenue-share slices use the account base currency with no live FX.	None; consistent
Push availability. Push only appears if a mobile app is integrated. Its absence is expected, not a sync gap.	Push slice legitimately zero

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Is the donut by sends or by revenue? It can be either, and the two look very different because small channels like SMS over-index on revenue. Always check which basis the donut is showing before drawing a conclusion.

Why is there no push slice? Push notifications only flow through Klaviyo when a mobile app is connected. If you have no app integration, push is genuinely zero and the slice is absent. That is expected.

Why does SMS look tiny by sends but large by revenue? SMS reaches a smaller, explicitly opted-in audience with high intent, so each send converts harder. A 6 percent send slice carrying a 20 percent revenue slice is normal. See Revenue per Send.

Does this split email and SMS that other cards blend? Yes. Most Klaviyo revenue cards combine email and SMS into one number. This card exists specifically to break that blend back into channel slices.

My email slice is 99 percent. Is that a problem? Not inherently, but it concentrates your deliverability and sender-reputation risk in one channel. The mix view is a prompt to consider whether building SMS would diversify revenue and reduce that single-channel exposure.

The slices do not add to my total revenue. Why? The donut is proportional and may use a per-channel revenue basis that differs from the all-source blended total. For exact totals, read Email-Attributed Revenue and Total Sends directly.

---

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Channel Distribution is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Klaviyo and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English.

Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.