Migrate from Klaviyo to Brew

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Concepts

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1. Export Contacts, Consent, and Suppression

• Email, first name, last name, and any custom properties you use
• Email marketing consent, with its consent timestamp
• Email suppressions

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2. Map Your CSV

• Don’t import the consent column as it is. Brew reads opt-outs only from a Subscribed column, so any other column becomes a plain custom property and those people import as subscribed
• Klaviyo marks its own properties with a $ prefix on export, such as $consent_method. Rename the ones you keep to plain names, such as consentMethod, and drop the rest
• New columns become camelCase properties. A Plan Type column becomes planType. Use that name in merge tags and filters
• Empty cells don’t overwrite existing data on update imports
• Duplicate rows: the last one wins, so dedupe first
• These names belong to built-in contact fields and can’t be used for custom properties: email, firstName, lastName, subscribed, createdAt, updatedAt, validationStatus, lastValidatedAt, importId, csvFileName
• Save as UTF-8. Garbled characters at the mapping step usually mean it wasn’t
• Dates: day-first dates such as 03/04/2026 (3 April) import correctly when you pick day first at the mapping step, and YYYY-MM-DD needs no choice. See date formats

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3. Import into Brew

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Bring Your Consent Records

• Export the evidence. Klaviyo’s export includes the consent timestamp and $consent_method, which says how the person opted in. Keep those columns as custom properties.
• In the app, tick the consent checkbox at the review step. Brew records consent once for the whole file, dated the day you import.
• To keep each person’s original opt-in, import over the API instead. POST /v1/contacts takes a consent record per contact, with the original date as capturedAt. It never changes Subscribed.

{
  "contacts": [
    {
      "email": "jane@example.com",
      "consent": { "source": "import", "capturedAt": "2024-03-02T10:15:00Z", "evidence": "Klaviyo signup form, $consent_method" }
    }
  ]
}

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4. Rebuild Segmentation

1. Write the signal onto the contact as a custom property with the API (POST /v1/contacts), such as orderCount.
2. Build your Brew Audience on that property, not on the raw event.

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5. Rebuild Templates and Merge Tags

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Translate Merge Tags

• {{ first_name|default:'there' }} becomes {{ firstName | there }}. The fallback after the pipe shows for contacts with nothing on file.
• {{ person.plan }} becomes {{ customer.plan }}, or just {{ plan }}.
• {{ person|lookup:'Plan Type' }} becomes the camelCase name from your import, {{ planType }}. Liquid has no lookup filter.
• {{ event.ProductName }} becomes {{ trigger.productName }}, named after the key you send in the fire’s payload. See Step 7.
• {% if %} and {% for %} blocks keep their shape, but rename the variables inside them. Django’s {% elif %} is {% elsif %} in Liquid.
• Django filters don’t all exist in Liquid. Check each filter you use against the Liquid templating reference.
• Delete {% unsubscribe %}, {% manage_preferences %}, and {{ organization.full_address }}. Brew adds the unsubscribe link and your mailing address to every marketing email.

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6. Rebuild Automations

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7. Swap the API Calls in Your Code

await fetch('https://a.klaviyo.com/api/profile-import', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Klaviyo-API-Key ${process.env.KLAVIYO_PRIVATE_KEY}`,
    revision: '2026-07-15',
    'Content-Type': 'application/vnd.api+json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    data: {
      type: 'profile',
      attributes: {
        email: "user@example.com",
        first_name: "Ada",
        last_name: "Lovelace",
        properties: { plan: "pro" },
      },
    },
  }),
});

await fetch('https://brew.new/api/v1/contacts', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.BREW_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    email: "user@example.com",
    firstName: "Ada",
    lastName: "Lovelace",
    subscribed: true,
    customFields: { plan: "pro" },
    consent: { source: "form", capturedAt: new Date().toISOString() },
  }),
});

await fetch('https://a.klaviyo.com/api/events', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Klaviyo-API-Key ${process.env.KLAVIYO_PRIVATE_KEY}`,
    revision: '2026-07-15',
    'Content-Type': 'application/vnd.api+json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    data: {
      type: 'event',
      attributes: {
        metric: { data: { type: 'metric', attributes: { name: "Trial Started" } } },
        profile: { data: { type: 'profile', attributes: { email: "user@example.com" } } },
        properties: { plan: "pro" },
        unique_id: `trial-started-${subscription.id}`,
      },
    },
  }),
});

await fetch(
  `https://brew.new/api/v1/automations/triggers/${process.env.BREW_TRIAL_STARTED_TRIGGER_ID}/fire`,
  {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.BREW_API_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'Idempotency-Key': `trial-started-${subscription.id}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      payload: { email: "user@example.com", plan: "pro" },
    }),
  },
);

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8. Cut Over

1. Rebuild while Klaviyo keeps sending. Import contacts and rebuild segments, templates, and automations. None of it touches live sending. Keep every Brew automation unpublished.
2. Check your segments. Confirm each recreated Audience’s membership count against the original. See Step 4.
3. Refresh opt-outs. Right before your first Brew send, export Klaviyo’s new unsubscribes and suppressions and import them into Brew as Subscribed: false. Repeat before each type you move, until Klaviyo stops sending. Anyone who opted out during the rebuild stays opted out.
4. Warm up with the first type you move. Pause that type on Klaviyo first, so nobody gets it from both. Send to your most engaged contacts first and ramp over several days. Gradual send does the ramping for you. No history means no reputation, even on a verified domain.
5. Move one type at a time. Campaigns first, then flows. For each flow, in order: set it to Draft on Klaviyo, publish the Brew automation, then point its signup forms, integrations, or tracked events at Brew. Watch each in analytics before you move the next.
6. Move transactional email last. Before you move any, add a separate transactional-purpose subdomain (see Transactional Email). A fire for a new address creates a subscribed contact, so only send marketing to people who opted in. Order confirmations and resets are the highest-stakes sends. Cut them over one at a time, and test-run each automation with a real payload before you point production code at its trigger.
7. Keep Klaviyo as a fallback. Leave it active but silent for a couple of weeks, then downgrade or cancel. Keep SMS on Klaviyo, or move it to a dedicated provider.

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Quick Reference

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