What Is Klaviyo: How To Use
by Giles ThomasLast updated on September 23, 2024
Introduction to Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a powerful marketing automation platform specifically designed for eCommerce brands, offering businesses an all-in-one solution for email and SMS marketing. Unlike generic marketing platforms, Klaviyo is tailored to meet the needs of online stores, helping them build deeper, more valuable relationships with their customers. Whether you are considering switching from another platform like Mailchimp or HubSpot, Klaviyo stands out for its extensive features and seamless integrations with leading eCommerce platforms like Shopify.
By leveraging Klaviyo, brands can scale their marketing efforts through personalized, data-driven campaigns, improving customer engagement and maximizing revenue. This platform is ideal for eCommerce businesses of all sizes, whether you’re running a boutique store or a large enterprise. Get Klaviyo marketing services to fuel your growth.
What is Klaviyo?
Klaviyo is a comprehensive marketing automation platform designed to help eCommerce businesses deliver personalized experiences through email and SMS marketing. Since its founding in 2012, Klaviyo has helped brands generate billions in revenue by enabling them to create highly targeted marketing campaigns based on customer data and behaviors.
The platform integrates easily with major eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento, allowing businesses to pull in customer data from multiple sources. This data can then be used to trigger automated marketing flows, such as cart abandonment reminders, post-purchase follow-ups, and personalized product recommendations.
Klaviyo also supports multi-channel campaigns, including email, SMS, and push notifications, all managed from one platform. This omnichannel approach makes it easier to reach customers through their preferred communication channels, ensuring higher engagement and conversion rates.
Klaviyo and Shopify: A Perfect Pair
Klaviyo is the go-to email marketing platform for Shopify store owners because of its seamless integration and powerful automation capabilities. With just a few clicks, you can connect your Shopify store to Klaviyo, allowing for real-time syncing of customer data. This integration lets you create highly targeted email and SMS campaigns based on customer behavior on your Shopify site, such as recent purchases, abandoned carts, or product views.
In addition to real-time syncing, Klaviyo provides pre-built flow templates specifically designed for Shopify, making it easy to set up abandoned cart emails, welcome series, and post-purchase campaigns. The combination of Klaviyo’s advanced automation features and Shopify’s robust eCommerce platform helps brands streamline their marketing efforts and improve customer engagement.
Why Use Klaviyo? (Top Features & Benefits)
Klaviyo offers a wide range of features designed to help eCommerce brands scale their marketing efforts and increase revenue. Here are some of the key benefits:
- Advanced Segmentation & Personalization: Klaviyo allows businesses to segment their audience based on behavior, location, purchase history, and more. You can create highly personalized emails with dynamic content that changes based on the recipient’s data.
- Automation: Klaviyo’s automation features include email flows like abandoned cart reminders, welcome series, and post-purchase upsell campaigns. These flows can be set up once and run continuously, driving ongoing engagement without manual intervention.
- Predictive Analytics: Klaviyo’s AI-driven predictive analytics tools help businesses forecast key metrics like customer lifetime value, next purchase date, and churn risk. This allows for more informed decision-making and more effective marketing campaigns.
- Robust Integrations: Klaviyo integrates with over 200 tools, including popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento, as well as customer support tools, SMS platforms, and loyalty programs.
Key Features of Klaviyo for eCommerce
Klaviyo is built with eCommerce in mind, offering several key features that help brands build strong customer relationships and drive sales:
- Email Campaigns: Klaviyo makes it easy to create, schedule, and send promotional email campaigns, newsletters, and event-driven emails. Its drag-and-drop email builder allows for fully customizable designs.
- SMS Marketing: In addition to email, Klaviyo allows you to run SMS campaigns that can be sent in tandem with email marketing to create a multi-channel approach.
- Omnichannel Marketing: Klaviyo’s platform supports omnichannel marketing, letting businesses combine email, SMS, and push notifications for a cohesive customer journey.
- Customizable Reports: Track the performance of your campaigns with custom reports that show key metrics like open rates, click rates, and revenue. Klaviyo also provides industry benchmark data for comparison.
Email Marketing Campaigns to Try with Klaviyo
Klaviyo enables eCommerce businesses to set up powerful email campaigns that drive sales and enhance customer engagement. Here are three key email campaigns you can start with:
- Abandoned Cart Campaign: This is one of the most effective campaigns for recovering lost revenue. It sends a series of emails to customers who added items to their cart but did not complete the purchase. Include dynamic product blocks and personalized content to encourage customers to return and complete their orders.
- Welcome Series Campaign: This flow is triggered when a new customer joins your email list. It helps build rapport and sets expectations for future interactions, while also upselling complementary products.
- Post-Purchase Upsell Campaign: After a customer makes a purchase, use this campaign to suggest related products or offer discounts on future purchases. This helps increase customer lifetime value.
SMS Marketing Campaigns to Try with Klaviyo
SMS marketing is a powerful way to reach customers quickly. Here are three SMS campaign ideas to try with Klaviyo:
- Send a Welcome Message: Greet new subscribers or customers with a warm welcome text, possibly paired with a discount to encourage their first purchase.
- Send an SMS Reminder: Use SMS to remind customers about abandoned carts, upcoming promotions, or special events. SMS messages typically have high open rates, making them effective for time-sensitive promotions.
- Send a Thank-You Message: After a purchase, send a thank-you message via SMS. You can also include a follow-up offer to encourage repeat purchases.
Klaviyo vs Shopify Email: Why Klaviyo is Better for eCommerce
While Shopify’s built-in email marketing tool is a convenient option for store owners, Klaviyo stands out as the superior choice for eCommerce brands looking to scale their marketing efforts. Here’s why:
- Advanced eCommerce Features: Klaviyo offers more sophisticated tools than Shopify Email, such as dynamic product recommendations, advanced segmentation, and omnichannel marketing (email, SMS, and push notifications). These features allow for more personalized and targeted campaigns that drive higher engagement and conversions.
- Seamless Shopify Integration: Klaviyo integrates directly with Shopify, enabling real-time syncing of customer data. This allows you to create more effective, data-driven marketing flows based on customer behaviors, such as browsing history, purchase patterns, and cart activity—something Shopify Email doesn’t support to the same extent.
- More Powerful Automation: Klaviyo’s automation capabilities far exceed Shopify Email’s basic functions. With Klaviyo, you can easily set up automated workflows like abandoned cart reminders, post-purchase follow-ups, and welcome series, all tailored to specific customer segments. These advanced flows help maximize revenue and engagement, making Klaviyo a better choice for eCommerce growth.
In short, while Shopify Email offers basic email marketing capabilities, Klaviyo provides the advanced tools and automation that serious eCommerce brands need to grow and retain their customer base. Learn more here.
Klaviyo vs Omnisend: Why Klaviyo is Better for eCommerce
While Omnisend is a strong contender in the email marketing space for eCommerce, Klaviyo offers a more comprehensive solution with advanced features tailored to businesses looking to scale their marketing strategies. Here’s why Klaviyo stands out:
- Deeper Segmentation & Personalization: While both platforms offer segmentation, Klaviyo allows for more granular control, enabling businesses to create highly targeted segments based on detailed customer data like browsing behavior, purchase history, and engagement levels. Klaviyo’s dynamic content personalization also goes beyond Omnisend, allowing you to deliver hyper-relevant messages to each customer.
- Superior Automation: Omnisend offers a range of automation options, but Klaviyo’s automation features are more robust. With Klaviyo, you can easily build complex customer journeys with conditional splits, multi-step flows, and advanced triggers. This enables you to set up detailed workflows such as abandoned cart flows, post-purchase follow-ups, and cross-sell campaigns with more flexibility than Omnisend offers.
- Predictive Analytics: A key differentiator for Klaviyo is its predictive analytics feature, which uses machine learning to forecast metrics like customer lifetime value, churn risk, and next purchase date. Omnisend lacks this level of advanced data insight, making Klaviyo a better choice for brands that want to leverage predictive analytics for smarter marketing decisions.
- Omnichannel Marketing: While Omnisend emphasizes omnichannel marketing (email, SMS, and push notifications), Klaviyo excels with its deeper integration of these channels. Klaviyo’s seamless coordination between email, SMS, and other touchpoints, combined with its stronger customer data syncing, ensures a more cohesive and personalized experience across all channels.
In summary, while Omnisend is a good option for smaller brands looking for simple automation and basic omnichannel capabilities, Klaviyo provides a more advanced, data-driven solution ideal for eCommerce brands focused on scaling and optimizing their marketing efforts. Learn more here.
Klaviyo Pricing and ROI
Klaviyo’s pricing is based on the size of your email and SMS lists. It offers a flexible pricing model that includes separate options for email, SMS, or both, starting at $20 per month for small businesses. Klaviyo also has a free version and a free trial, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.
Compared to other platforms like Mailchimp and HubSpot, Klaviyo’s pricing might be higher, but the return on investment (ROI) is often much greater due to its advanced features and ability to drive sales growth.
How to Segment Your Email List in Klaviyo
Effective email segmentation is key to a successful marketing strategy. Klaviyo provides advanced segmentation tools that allow you to target your customers based on specific criteria:
- Location-Based Segmentation: Target customers based on their geographical location.
- Behavior-Based Segmentation: Create segments based on customer actions, such as product views or cart additions.
- Engagement-Tier Segmentation: Segment customers based on how often they engage with your emails (e.g., opened in the last 30, 60, or 180 days).
- VIP Segment: Identify high-value customers based on their purchase frequency or order value.
Klaviyo’s Predictive Analytics & Reporting
Klaviyo’s predictive analytics feature uses machine learning to help you better understand your customers and forecast their behaviors. Key metrics include:
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Estimate the total value a customer will bring to your business.
- Churn Risk: Predict the likelihood of a customer stopping engagement with your brand.
- Next Purchase Date: Estimate when a customer is likely to make their next purchase.
These insights can be used to refine your marketing strategies and improve overall campaign performance. Klaviyo’s customizable reports allow you to track KPIs and benchmark your performance against industry standards.
Klaviyo Integrations and Tech Stack
Klaviyo integrates with over 200 platforms and tools, allowing businesses to connect their eCommerce store with other elements of their tech stack. Key integrations include:
- eCommerce Platforms: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento.
- Customer Support Tools: Zendesk, Gorgias.
- Loyalty Programs: Smile.io, LoyaltyLion.
- Payment Platforms: Stripe, PayPal.
- API: For custom integrations tailored to your business needs.
Awards and Recognition
Klaviyo has been recognized as one of the top cloud companies and workplaces globally:
- Forbes Cloud 100: Ranked 6th in 2023.
- Top Workplaces: Ranked among the top 600 workplaces in the U.S. and top 50 workplaces in the U.K. for large companies.
These awards highlight Klaviyo’s commitment to innovation and workplace culture, as well as its role as a leader in eCommerce marketing.
Conclusion: How Klaviyo Drives Growth for eCommerce
Klaviyo’s data-driven approach empowers businesses to identify and capitalize on growth opportunities. By offering features like advanced segmentation, automated workflows, and predictive analytics, Klaviyo helps eCommerce brands achieve higher open rates, click-through rates, and sales.
Case studies show that businesses using Klaviyo experience significant growth in customer engagement and revenue, making it an essential tool for scaling eCommerce operations.
