SaleHoo Blog Why Shopify Invested $100m in Klaviyo + Full Klaviyo Review

The eCommerce giant, Shopify is taking its partnership with Klaviyo to the next level with a $100 million investment in the email marketing startup. Klaviyo is also set to become a recommended email solution for Shopify Plus merchants. Here’s how Klaviyo CEO Andrew Bialecki described the deal: “The big analogy was like, ‘We’re dating, and how do we make this a little more formal? - this is a culmination of all that.” While Shopify has cut back in some areas, the Klaviyo announcement shows the platform is still investing big and looking to scale its offerings. The announcement follows the news of the Shopify Layoffs this year. You can read all about the layoffs and what it means for eCommerce store owners in our blog post. So why is Shopify teaming up with Klaviyo now, and what does it mean for eCommerce store owners? That’s what we’re going to reveal in this post. We’ll also take a deep dive into the Klaviyo platform with an in-depth review. You’ll get a closer look at the best features so you can decide if it’s the right platform for you. Let’s dive in. Why Is Shopify Investing in Klaviyo? To answer this question, we need to look at the big picture. The way eCommerce brands market their products and acquire new customers is changing. In 2021, Apple’s iOS 14 update hugely impacted Facebook Ads and direct-to-consumer advertising. Tracking and targeting specific consumer segments in-app and across social media became much harder. Facebook blamed Apple’s privacy changes for a predicted $10 billion loss of ad revenue in 2022. So what does this have to do with Klaviyo? Well, Klaviyo is a email marketing platform that aims to help brands transition to a more personalized marketing model that doesn’t rely on third-party tracking. Here’s how Klaviyo CEO Andrew Bialecki describes Klaviyo’s mission: “Retail is shifting from a transactional model where you sort of treat every customer like you have no idea who they are — you treat them all the same — to a world where every customer gets treated differently based on their browsing behavior, their purchase behaviors, their interactions with customer support when they make returns. That’s what we’re powering.” So Klaviyo sees itself as much more than an email marketing tool. And so does Shopify. With 86% of the U.S. general population saying data privacy is a growing concern for them, platforms like Klaviyo will be key for eCommerce. So should you be looking to add Klaviyo to your marketing stack? Let’s find out in our in-depth review. Klaviyo Review 2023 Klaviyo We’ve looked at the reason behind Shopify’s investment, so now let’s take a close look at the Klaviyo platform and what it has to offer. Every tool has its advantages and disadvantages, and Klaviyo is no different. It’s got some great features, but it’s lacking in some aspects. If you want a quick overview, you’ll find the key ratings and the pros and cons of Klaviyo below: Features: 9/10 Ease of Use: 8/10 Flexibility: 9/10 Support: 6/10 Pricing: 7/10 Klaviyo Pros and Cons ✅ Great selection of email templates that you can customize in the drag-and-drop builder. ✅ Advanced segmentation to help you strengthen relationships with your customers. ✅ Integrates with almost every platform so you can run multi-channel marketing campaigns. ✅ Marketing automation to capture more sales from abandoned carts, create a welcome series, and more. ✅ Visual email workflows that make it easy to build sales funnels. ✅ Use customer data to create personalized product recommendations. ❌ Some dashboard and analytics features have a steep learning curve that many beginners will struggle with. ❌ Pricing is staggered depending on the size of your email list but is typically more expensive than rival platforms. ❌ Lack of customer support options and slow response times. Features Score: 9/10 Klaviyo has some really useful features to help you get started with dropshipping and generate more sales. This is where the platform outperforms competing email marketing tools. Let’s take a look at the standout features. Email and SMS Marketing Creating attractive emails is straightforward and easy with Klaviyo. We’ll show you exactly how later on in the review. When you set up your account, Klaviyo uses your website URL to adjust its pre-built templates to match your existing branding automatically. And there’s an extensive selection of templates to choose from: Once you’ve found a template you like, you can use the drag-and-drop builder to customize it until you are happy with the design. Klaviyo also has great A/B testing tools to help you discover what resonates with your audience and make data-driven decisions about your email marketing campaigns. Unlike some competing platforms, Klaviyo also comes with SMS marketing capabilities. You can segment your customer list and create personalized SMS marketing messaging. Klaviyo helps you to manage audience consent, so you only send SMS and email messages to the customers that have opted-in. Marketing Automation Automation tools can help you achieve more and meet your revenue goals faster. There are a bunch of ways you can automate your dropshipping business, including marketing automation. Klaviyo’s marketing automation tools are one of its strongest features. After adding a snippet of code to your website to set up onsite tracking, you’ll be able to track your visitors and launch campaigns based on user interactions. The workflow builder makes it easy to set up triggers and automated actions. For example, you can quickly build and customize an abandoned cart email sequence using the workflow template. It’s easy to scale your workflows to account for the multiple customer journeys at your eCommerce store. You can build different branches based on user actions onsite and in response to messaging. From repeat purchase emails to abandoned carts, you can use Klaviyo’s marketing automation tools to generate sales and grow your eCommerce store. Want to learn more about how to reduce abandoned carts? You can learn the best practices here in our guide on abandoned cart emails. Personalization Personalization is one of the biggest trends in marketing. According to SmarterHQ, 72% of consumers will only engage with marketing messages that are personalized to their interests. Klaviyo helps you create the personalized messaging and recommendations today’s online shoppers want. You can use the intuitive form builder to gather more information on your customers for segmentation and personalization. Klaviyo also pulls user interaction data from your website to help craft personalized messaging for each customer. You can segment audiences based on purchase history, engagement, demographics, and other data points. Automation capabilities allow for personalized offers and rewards, such as onsite popup promotions, birthday discounts, and coupons. Klaviyo’s segmentation and automation tools are an area where the marketing platform excels and sets it apart from most email marketing providers. Reporting The last standout feature is the reporting and analytics tools. You can use Klaviyo’s pre-built dashboards to gain insights into campaign performance, audience segments, and revenue generated by your messaging. But you can also create custom reports to narrow in on specific aspects of your eCommerce store and marketing campaigns. Klaviyo’s reporting features are set up to help you get the information you need to generate more sales. It can take a little bit of time to get used to the dashboards. But there’s heaps of valuable information that Klaviyo collects and shares with you, including insights into your best-performing products. As a bonus, there’s even a predictive analytics tool that helps you to predict the risk of customer churn, customer lifetime value, and the optimal times to send out promotional messages. Are you looking for new dropshipping products? We’ve got you covered. Check out our list of the 50 most lucrative dropshipping products for 2023. Ease of Use Score: 8/10 Any new tool you add to your marketing stack must be relatively easy to use. If you have to spend days learning how to use a platform, you’re probably better off using something more straightforward. So, how easy is it to get started with Klaviyo? Well, the sign-up and campaign setup process are super-easy. But it can be a bit tricky if you want to create custom reports and analytics. Let’s take a look at the sign-up and campaign launch process. From the moment you click the “Sign up” button, the setup wizard guides you through the process. First, you’ll need to provide details about your business: Klaviyo also requests your eCommerce store URL. The platform uses this to customize and recommend email templates later during the campaign setup process. Next, you’ll be asked to choose a top business goal you want to achieve with the platform: Klaviyo uses your answers to make suggestions to improve performance when you launch a campaign. Then, you’ll be sent a confirmation email and asked to verify your account. Once you complete the confirmation, you can explore what the platform has to offer. You can create your first campaign by clicking “Campaigns” in the left-hand menu and then “Cr