What does a successful content calendar look like?
A content calendar is a schedule of your upcoming content, in which you can outline what content topics you plan to share, via which channels, when they will send, and who you will send them to. This allows you to visualize your upcoming content in 1 consolidated timeline, typically within the framework of a monthly or yearly calendar.
It helps you remain organized, aligned with your team, and prepared to execute a cohesive strategy with customer retention as a focus. For shoppers, your calendar will allow for more consistent and relevant messages; you’ll avoid over-messaging the same audiences and instead send content they actually care about.
Learn more about the importance of a content calendar and what this looks like for a real brand from Raquel Caticha of Hazel Village.
Step 1: Determine who to target with retention messages
When building a content calendar, you must determine who to target with different types of messages. This involves building key audience groups in Klaviyo, called segments. Who you send to should then guide your decisions for how often and what content to send.
To start: The bulk of your segments should be built based on their level of engagement (i.e., how often they open, click, or buy from your brand). For instance, we recommend creating engagement tracks, such as those shown in the visual below for Very Engaged (e.g., engaged in the last 30, 60, or even 90 days), Less engaged (e.g., engaged in 180 days), and Re-engage (e.g., engaged in 270 days). Learn more about engagement tracks.
When sending via email and text, you must add criteria to each segment to ensure they’ve opted into this channel. That said, you can still target those who haven’t opted into your marketing channels on social media.
Keep going: Once you have your basic engaged segments, it’s time to personalize further. As you approach core holidays or seasonal sales, add additional criteria, as shown below, to get more detailed about who you target and the kind of content you send them.
Recent first-time shoppers
Target audience:
Profiles who recently placed their first order, but have not yet purchased again.
Typical segment definition:
- Has placed their first order in the last X number of days, AND
- Has not placed a second order within that same timeframe.
Content they may like:
- Care instructions and information for their new product.
- Complementary products
- Promotions for your new or best-selling items.
- Blog posts that show off your brand community, events, etc.
High vs. low value shoppers
Target audience:
Profiles who have shopped before, and either have spent (or are likely to spend) a lot vs. a little bit of money on your brand.
Typical segment definition:
- Customer’s lifetime value is expected to be above or below a certain monetary value.
Content they may like:
- For low-value shoppers: Promotions, sales, and exciting discounts.
- For high-value shoppers: information about loyalty programming, referrals, and exclusive products or services.
- New product launches, based on the price of each item.
Seasonal or gift-giving shoppers
Target audience:
Profiles who have placed orders for either themselves or others, especially around specific holidays.
Typical segment definition:
- Has purchased during a past sale or holiday season, OR
- Has ordered a product from a giftable category multiple times
Content they may like:
- Holiday marketing campaigns.
- Gift advice and product recommendations.
- Bundled offers.
- Free shipping, or guaranteed shipping by a specific date (holiday).
- Reviews from people who received the item as a gift.
Cross-sell shoppers
Target audience:
Profiles who purchased a particular item, but have not bought 1 or more related items that they may likewise be interested in.
Typical segment definition:
- Has purchased item X, and
- Has not purchased item Y
Content they may like:
- Product-specific promotions or sales.
- Blogs about related products.
- Product recommendations.
- Reviews for products often bought together.
Step 2: Develop high-converting campaign content
Now that you know who to target, it’s time to develop content that engages these customer segments. Here’s how to prepare your content calendar and begin sending.
Build your calendar
The first step in building a content calendar is picking a planning tool.
There are many options online, including Klaviyo! Use Klaviyo’s campaign calendar to plan, schedule, and organize your marketing campaigns across email, text messages, and even push notifications. Alternatively, you can structure your own calendar within a spreadsheet, or use online systems like Google Calendar, Notion, Trello, Monday, and Hootsuite.
While outlining what messages to send when, you must also identify the channels you’re using to send this content. Generally, you will include everything from email to text to social posts and more. If multiple team members work on different channels, then they should all have access to view and edit your calendar.
Ask yourself these questions to focus on driving profitable actions throughout the year:
- What are your overall business goals for the month/quarter/year?
- What percentage of your revenue do you want to drive from owned marketing channels (e.g., email and SMS)?
- What is your baseline for key metrics (average order value, customer lifetime value, engagement KPIs, conversion rate, etc.)?
Develop content pillars
Content pillars are the themes that guide your content creation. While all content should always resonate with your established brand voice and style, creating these themes helps you determine what topics you cover via channels like email and text. In other words, it goes a level deeper than voice: not just how you say something, but what you actually say in a message.
Common content pillars to include in your yearly content calendar are:
- Sales
This pillar focuses on directly driving conversions and revenue. Examples of content you’d send are: product showcases, promotional offers, customer testimonials, case studies, conversion-focused landing pages, calls to action for purchases, or demos. - Product launches
This pillar is dedicated to announcing, promoting, and building excitement around new product releases or significant updates. Examples include: new product teaser campaigns, launch announcements, detailed product feature explanations, demo videos, unboxing content, behind-the-scenes glimpses of product development, or early bird access promotions. - Announcements
This pillar encompasses broader company news, updates, and relevant industry insights. Examples include: company milestones, awards and recognition, changes in policy, community initiatives, thought leadership articles, blog posts, or upcoming events.
Identify top holidays and sales seasons
Once you know your content pillars, start adding content to the calendar where it fits. As you do so, mark up top holidays and sales seasons for your brand when you plan to create dedicated content around that timeline.
Flag important dates beyond just traditional holidays, such as events relevant to your business, regional holidays, and more.
It’s best practice to:
- Identify holidays for specific countries or regions where the majority of your customers are.
- Consider local events, cultural observances, or unique small-scale holidays related to your brand or the products you sell (e.g., National Coffee Day).
- Analyze historical data to pinpoint peak buying seasons, slower periods, and seasonal shifts in customer preferences.
Determine sending cadence
Determine a sending cadence for each audience at a high level. This should address each of the following questions:
- What channels to use?
This could include email, text message, push notifications, in-app or on-site forms and messages, social media posts (organic and paid), direct mail, and even in-person events. The selection of channels should align with where your audience spends their time and how they prefer to receive communications. - When to send?
This requires thoughtful consideration of frequency and timing. For each channel and audience, decide on the optimal number of communications per week, month, or quarter. Consider peak engagement times, typical user behavior for different content types (e.g., educational content versus promotional offers), and any seasonal trends that might influence conversions. Avoid overwhelming your audience with too many messages, which can lead to unsubscribes or message fatigue. - Who to send to?
Effective communication is highly personalized. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, use segments like the ones described in Step 1, and tailor your sending frequency to what resonates best with each group.
Develop personalized content
Once you know when, how, and to whom you’re sending the message, it’s time to decide what to say. Again, tailor your content to the specific audience who will receive it.
It is best practice to:
- Display dynamic content, like recommended products for them or positive customer reviews for an item they recently browsed.
- Offer discounts or incentives that resonate with your specific audience, emphasizing the exclusivity of the offer and/or its time-sensitivity to drive sales.
- Include dynamic copy, such as the recipient’s first name and properties about them, when sending emails or text messages.
- Target your content to the right audience, at a time that works for them (in their local time).
Make adjustments over time
It’s important to track key performance metrics for each channel (e.g., opens, clicks, or impressions) and note where your audience interacts with your brand most, such as on email, SMS, social media, your website, or in-app.
By looking at data across channels, you’ll gain a holistic view of the customer journey, identifying where your content resonates most strongly and where there might be opportunities for improvement. Use this to your advantage so you focus on sending content via the channels that have the most impact and refine your content to best align with your customers’ interests.