Push notifications as product moments, not ‘promo blasts’ (Klaviyo, ex-Strava)

Klaviyo published a practical push notification playbook written by someone who ran the marketing tech stack at Strava. The framing is the useful part: push works best when it feels like a natural part of the product experience, tied to real user moments.

• Source: Klaviyo, “Push Notification Marketing: Confessions of a Strava Alum”
• Read: https://www.klaviyo.com/blog/push-notification-marketing-strategy

The one-line lesson

Build push around milestones and intent, not around your weekly promo calendar. The user should feel like the notification is a continuation of what they just did, not an interruption.

What stood out

• Push is permissioned attention. If someone opted in, treat it like they raised their hand, not like you bought a list.
• Deep links are the real advantage. A notification that lands a user on the exact in-app surface is a shorter path back to value than email.
• Trigger types that tend to work: time-sensitive alerts, behavior nudges (viewed, cart, wishlist), and simple welcome expectations.

Tiny win (30 minutes)

Audit your last 10 pushes and label each as one of:

• “moment” (kudos, milestone, progress, status change)
• “intent” (user just browsed/searched/added)
• “promo” (you wanted to sell something)

If “promo” is the majority, flip one flow to “intent” this week and add a deep link. That single change often improves both CTR and downstream retention.