Find and view objects in Klaviyo
Before creating your own custom object, navigate to Content > Objects in Klaviyo to explore any existing objects and their associated records. If you don't have any objects yet, click Create to follow along as you build your own throughout this lesson.
Keep in mind that the number of custom objects you can create depends on your Klaviyo plan. Be sure to review custom object account limits to see what’s available for your account.
Set up your data source
Klaviyo offers a few templates to help you get started, including:
- Appointment: Used for dates, times, locations, and details pertaining to the appointment or booking
- Pet: Used for product recommendations, coupons, and discounts based on what you know about the pet
- Subscription: Used for tracking recurring and renewing subscriptions to membership clubs, rewards points, and loyalty programs
For example, imagine you run a dog grooming business and want to send messages based on upcoming appointments, including appointment times and booked services like baths, haircuts, nail care, ear cleaning, and teeth brushing. We'll use the Appointment template to get started.
Review the object's Name and Description, updating them to reflect your dog grooming appointments. Then, select an existing data source or create a new one, such as Dog grooming appointments. If you create a new source, you can also add a description to keep things organized.
Creating a data source doesn't add any appointment information to Klaviyo just yet. Think of it as setting up an empty container that you'll fill with data later. We'll cover how to send data to Klaviyo in a later section.
Configure your custom object
Next, customize the Appointment template to track the details that matter to your dog grooming business, like the pet's name, appointment date, and services booked.
Follow the steps below to configure your object's properties.
Choose a property that uniquely identifies each appointment, so Klaviyo can distinguish one record from another.
Select at least one eligible property, such as the dog's name, to make appointment records easier to find.
Update the suggested properties to track appointment details. Click Add mapping to include additional properties.
Use Timestamp for dates and times, Text for names and statuses, and List (Text) for multiple grooming services.
Check Required for information every appointment must include, such as the appointment date.
Required properties must be included in every incoming record. If a required property is missing or has a null value, Klaviyo won't create that record, and you will receive an error message through the delivery method, whether that’s via API, SFTP, or data warehousing.
Connect your object to customer profiles
Remember Marshmallow and Herman from the last lesson? Even though they have different grooming needs, they share the same owner. Profile relationships connect each dog's grooming appointments to the right customer profile.
Give the relationship a descriptive name, such as Appointment holder, to explain how the customer is connected to the appointment. Then, choose how Klaviyo matches each appointment to a customer profile, such as by email, phone number, or external ID. We'll use Email, since customers provide their email addresses when booking appointments.
You can also connect custom objects to each other. For example, if each pet has a subscription, you can create an object-to-object relationship to personalize messaging without duplicating data.
Review, create, and populate your custom object with data
Once you've confirmed, Klaviyo creates your object and generates a sample JSON payload showing how to structure the data you'll send to Klaviyo.
You can populate your object using three supported methods:
- API: Send appointment records directly from your booking system or another application.
- SFTP: Transfer appointment data through files, such as scheduled exports.
- Data warehouse: Bring in appointment records stored in a supported data warehouse.
Whichever method you use, your incoming records need to match the properties and relationships you've configured.
Verify your custom object records
Once you've sent appointment data to Klaviyo, you'll want to confirm everything came through correctly.
Follow the steps below to review your records, check customer relationships, and troubleshoot potential issues.
Navigate to Content > Objects, open your Dog grooming appointment object, and use search to find a specific appointment.
Confirm the dog's name, appointment date, services, and status are correct.
Make sure the appointment connects to the correct customer profile.
Check your object's ingestion logs for errors, such as missing required properties.
If a record is missing, check that your source sent the expected data, including all required properties. Correct any issues in your source or integration before sending the record again.
Once you've verified your records and their relationships, you're ready to put your custom objects to work in Klaviyo. In the next lesson, you’ll learn how to use custom objects in segments and flows.