Show/hide blocks are one of the most powerful yet underused tools inside Klaviyo. Any account holder can use them, and while they're simple to set up, their slightly more advanced nature means many people avoid them altogether.
Did you know the cost of skipping them is more time building emails, more admin, and missed sales opportunities? So in today's blog we've broken down what a show/hide block is, how to use it, and how it can target different customer behaviours to meet people exactly where they are in the buying process.
What is a show/hide block?
A show/hide block is a piece of email content that appears or hides based on a customer's properties. The most common setup is built around what someone selects when they sign up. Say you're an apparel brand and, at sign-up, a customer says they're most interested in women's clothing. That preference lives in their profile properties, and a show/hide block lets you display only womenswear imagery when you email them, even if the same email in the builder also contains menswear.
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Same email, two tailored experiences, built once.
Customers only see content they're interested in, which keeps engagement high and nudges purchase behaviour.
How do you set one up?
In Klaviyo it's just a few clicks:
Click the block you want to control, then select Display.
Choose show/hide logic and start programming the properties that apply, much like building a segment.
Set your condition, for example gender = male for someone who chose menswear only.
You can stack multiple conditions too, like "gender = female" and "favourite colour = blue."
Keep an eye on email size. Too many blocks can push your email over the limit and cause clipping in the inbox.
Can you target behaviours, not just properties?
By default, Klaviyo only lets you pick profile properties when building show/hide blocks. But with a more advanced setup, you can target behaviours too. Say you want to show a warranty product only to people who've bought an appliance from you.
After a customer buys an appliance, use a flow to tag them "Eligible for warranty." Add that condition to your show/hide block, and only those buyers get the warranty upsell. Customers who haven't purchased yet won't see it, so nothing distracts them from completing that first transaction.
What else can you target?
Used hand in hand with flows and profile metric updates, show/hide blocks can target almost any action or behaviour you like. Beyond purchasers, that includes:
One email, built once, that quietly reshapes itself for every customer who opens it.
With the right show/hide blocks, your emails become more personalised and more in step with each customer's experience. That makes people feel heard, which builds the kind of relationship that turns into long-term loyalty.
Let's make your emails personal, at scale.
Ready to amplify your show/hide block usage but not sure where to begin? We'll help you build conditional content that feels tailor-made for every subscriber.
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