Are you running email campaigns? If not, you should. Most businesses have something to share that interests your customers AND may drive further sales. Email is far from dead and can easily bump most stores 25-50% in revenue when campaigns, automation, and audience segments are set up well.

But everyone needs to start somewhere. Email marketing starts with an email marketing platform that is designed for that purpose. Fortunately, as a Shopify store, you have many choices. To gain the best value from your efforts, the software needs to connect to your store and extract customer information including email, past purchases, what they find interesting, etc. to work.

This article compares the two most popular options – Shopify Email vs Klaviyo. This report outlines their features, pricing, and ideal use cases will make it easy to choose between them.

What is Shopify Email?

Shopify Email is an email marketing tool designed specifically for Shopify users. As a native feature, it seamlessly integrates into the Shopify ecosystem, offering users a simple yet effective way to connect with their customers.

Features and Benefits:

• No need for design skills. Pre-designed templates optimized for e-commerce make it easy to create professional-looking emails.
• Easy-peasy installation. Direct integration with Shopify’s inventory and customer data.
• Simplified setup and usage. Shopify email is considerably easier to learn than Klaviyo making it a great choice for DIY.
• Affordable pricing tailored for small businesses.

What is Klaviyo?

Klaviyo is a powerful marketing automation platform specializing in email and SMS marketing. Its advanced features make it a favorite among medium to large-scale e-commerce businesses.

One of its primary advantages is its rich data on your customers and their behaviors. This data allows for unique customer segments that best suit your audience.

Features and Benefits:

• Robust segmentation and personalization capabilities, based on behaviors, preferences, and demographics, allow store owners to narrowly focus on getting the right message to the right audience at the right time. This increases click rates, conversions, and ultimately sales.
• Comprehensive analytics and A/B testing tools. This makes optimizing your campaigns and automated flows for maximum impact possible.
• Pre-built automation workflows for abandoned carts, welcome emails, and more. This gets your marketing moving fast so you can test, split, target, and optimize your efforts.
• Multi-channel marketing, including SMS. The addition of SMS/TXT and push notifications also add to the flexibility of the software.
• Many e-commerce programs integrate with Klaviyo, which can increase the effectiveness of programs such as loyalty, wish lists, and reviews.

Key Features Comparison: Shopify vs Klaviyo

Advanced Email Marketing Features:

• Shopify Email: Shopify offers email but does not include SMS/TXT or Push Notification campaigns. However, it will integrate with software that can provide these features such as Attentive.
• Klaviyo: By contrast, Klaviyo has SMS/TXT and Push Notifications built in so you can natively send the right type of message at the right time.

Email Templates and Customization:

• Shopify Email: Offers simple templates with basic customization options. These templates can also be used for transaction mails such as shipping notifications and purchase confirmations so every email you send is branded and sharp!
• Klaviyo: Provides advanced customization and dynamic content capabilities. It’s also possible to import fully custom, HTML templates. Transactional emails can be sent via Klaviyo as well.

Automation Capabilities:

• Shopify Email: Limited automation focused on basic workflows. Essential flows such as abandoned cart, purchase thank you, and welcome email strings are all possible.
• Klaviyo: Advanced workflows, including behavior-based triggers and multi-step campaigns.

Analytics and Reporting:

• Shopify Email: Basic performance metrics like open rates and clicks.
• Klaviyo: In-depth analytics, customer insights, and detailed reporting. For example, Klaviyo offers the ability to segment based on when a customer persona is likely to repurchase or abandon your brand. This enables you to send a message likely to inspire purchase.

Integration with Shopify

Shopify Email: As a native tool, Shopify Email integrates effortlessly, using Shopify’s customer data and inventory to create tailored campaigns. Shopify Email also uses the customer tags created within Shopify for sending more targeted emails.

Klaviyo: Although not built-in, Klaviyo’s integration with Shopify is seamless, offering users additional tools to synchronize data and enhance email marketing efforts.

Pricing Comparison

Shopify Email:

• Free for the first 10,000 emails sent each month. Important note: This is emails sent*, not contacts that were sent emails. It is very easy to exceed this limit with even a small list of contacts. *Shopify does not include transactional emails in this limit.
• $1 for every 1,000 emails beyond the free limit. Eventually, it will make sense to move up to more powerful Klaviyo.

Klaviyo:

• Free plan for up to 250 contacts. Some features are excluded.
• Paid plans start at $20/month, scaling with active contact list size. This rises quickly. Monthly costs are based on both the size of your list and the number of emails per month that you send.

Ease of Use

Shopify Email:

• Extremely user-friendly, designed for beginners.
• Minimal setup and intuitive interface.

Klaviyo:

• Advanced features come with a steeper learning curve.
• Requires some initial setup and familiarization.
• In most cases, the cost of having a knowledgeable Klaviyo expert set up your account and initial segments and flows is money well spent.

Use Cases

• Shopify Email:
  • Ideal for businesses new to email marketing.
  • Best for those already using Shopify and looking for basic functionality.
• Klaviyo:
  • Suitable for businesses aiming to scale.
  • Perfect for companies requiring detailed segmentation and advanced automation.

Advantages of Shopify Email

• Simplicity and ease of use.
• Cost-effective for small businesses.
• Direct integration with Shopify

Advantages of Klaviyo

• Advanced segmentation and personalization.
• Comprehensive analytics for data-driven decisions.
• Supports multi-channel marketing.

Limitations

• Shopify Email:
  • Lacks advanced features like segmentation and detailed automation.
• Klaviyo:
  • Klaviyo is more expensive than Shopify Email but it comes with a dramatically more extensive and advanced tool set.
  • Steeper learning curve. Those who cannot invest the time in either learning the platform or paying for a professional to help may be better off using Shopify.

User Reviews

Shopify Email Users:

• Praise its simplicity and integration.
• Highlight its affordability for small-scale campaigns.

Klaviyo Users:

• Appreciate its robust features and scalability.
• Note the initial setup effort but find the results worth it.

Which One Should You Choose?

Choosing between Shopify Email and Klaviyo depends on your business needs.

Shopify Email is better for:

• Brand new businesses that wish to establish and retain their new customers but their contact list is small.
• Store owners who enjoy doing it themselves but don’t have the time to learn a more complex platform.
• Lower margin businesses who need to watch costs.

Klaviyo is better for:

• Established stores with email lists that are 4 or 5 figures in size.
• Those who have a dedicated and knowledgeable in-house email person or agency that they work with for email marketing.

Conclusion

Shopify Email and Klaviyo each have their strengths and limitations. Shopify Email is perfect for small businesses looking for a simple, affordable solution, while Klaviyo caters to those aiming for robust, scalable email marketing.

I will issue  a caveat here – if your ROI is better with Klaviyo, than that remains the better choice regardless of the size of your email audience. You may need to test this.

FAQs

1. What are the differences between Shopify Email and Klaviyo?
   • Shopify Email offers simplicity and affordability, while Klaviyo provides advanced features and scalability.
2. Is Klaviyo worth the higher price point?
   • Yes, if your business requires advanced segmentation, detailed analytics, and automation.
3. Can Shopify Email replace Klaviyo entirely?
   • For small businesses, yes, but Klaviyo is indispensable for larger or scaling businesses. Added profit from Klaviyo will almost always outweigh the added cost in spades.
4. Which platform is better for small businesses?
   • Shopify Email, due to its affordability and simplicity is perfect for those just starting out.
5. Are there alternatives to Shopify Email and Klaviyo?
   • Of course, there are but each has its features and limitations. None of the most popular choices,  Mailchimp, Omnisend, and ActiveCampaign come close to matching Klaviyo for audience data and segmentation.