Try Klaviyo: Interactive Product Demo
Walk through an interactive demo of Klaviyo, a marketing automation platform built for ecommerce brands that runs email, SMS, and customer data in one place. See how flows, segments, and campaigns work without connecting a store.
What is Klaviyo?
Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform built specifically for ecommerce. It handles email, SMS, and the customer data behind both, and its main pitch is that it knows what's happening in your store, not just who opened an email.
The foundation is data. Klaviyo connects directly to a store, most commonly Shopify, and pulls in orders, browsing behavior, product views, and customer history. That data feeds segments, which are dynamic groups of customers defined by behavior: people who bought in the last 90 days, people who viewed a product but didn't checkout, customers who haven't ordered in six months. Segments update on their own as customer behavior changes.
What you do with those segments splits into two things. Campaigns are one-off sends, like a sale announcement or a product launch. Flows are automated sequences triggered by behavior, and they're where Klaviyo earns its keep: a welcome series for new subscribers, an abandoned cart reminder, a post-purchase follow-up, a win-back sequence for lapsed customers. You build flows on a visual canvas with branching logic and timing delays. Klaviyo also leans on email and SMS together, so a customer who ignored an email might get a text instead. For brands that want product education inside that mix, you can link to an interactive Supademo from a flow email so a new customer learns the product hands-on rather than reading a wall of text.
How to get started with Klaviyo
- 1
Create your account and connect your store
Sign up at klaviyo.com and connect your ecommerce platform, usually Shopify, through the integrations menu. This step is the whole point: once connected, Klaviyo starts pulling in orders, customers, and browsing data, and that data is what every flow and segment later relies on.
- 2
Let your customer data sync in
After connecting, Klaviyo imports your existing customers and historical orders. Give this a little time to finish on a store with real history. Once it's done, you have profiles with purchase history attached, which is what makes behavioral segmentation possible rather than just a flat contact list.
- 3
Build a few core segments
Segments are dynamic groups defined by behavior. Start with the ones most brands need: engaged subscribers, recent buyers, and lapsed customers. Because segments update automatically as people buy or go quiet, you build the definition once and it stays current on its own.
- 4
Set up your essential flows
Flows are the automated sequences, and a few are worth setting up first: a welcome series for new subscribers and an abandoned cart reminder. You build them on a visual canvas, adding emails, delays, and branching conditions. Klaviyo provides pre-built flow templates, so you're editing a working starting point rather than designing from nothing.
- 5
Send a campaign and check attribution
With flows running in the background, use campaigns for one-off sends like a promotion or a launch. After it goes out, Klaviyo's reporting shows opens, clicks, and revenue attributed to that send, so you can see which campaigns and flows actually drive orders rather than just engagement.
Who is Klaviyo most useful for?
Klaviyo is built for ecommerce, and within that it suits some businesses better than others.
Direct-to-consumer brands on Shopify are the core audience. If you sell physical products online and a meaningful share of revenue should come from repeat customers, Klaviyo's flows are designed for exactly that: turning a first purchase into a second one and a lapsed customer into an active one. The deep store integration means you're segmenting on real purchase behavior, not guesses.
Growing ecommerce teams use it once email becomes a real revenue channel rather than an occasional newsletter. At that point you need abandoned cart flows, post-purchase sequences, and proper segmentation, and a basic email tool stops being enough. Klaviyo's reporting also attributes revenue back to specific flows and campaigns, which is what marketers need to justify the spend.
Marketing managers and email specialists at consumer brands are the hands-on users. They build the flows, write the segments, and watch the attribution numbers. Klaviyo is less of a fit for businesses outside ecommerce: a B2B SaaS company or a service business won't get much from features built around orders and carts, and a general-purpose marketing tool serves them better. For ecommerce brands that also sell a software product or a digital experience, embedding a Supademo in onboarding emails gives new customers a guided product tour without leaving their inbox flow.
Mailchimp is the better-known name and serves a wider mix of businesses, not just online stores. It's often where brands start because it's familiar and cheaper early on. The gap shows up at scale: Mailchimp's ecommerce automation and behavioral segmentation aren't as deep as Klaviyo's, which is why growing DTC brands frequently migrate away from it.
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ActiveCampaign is a stronger fit if your needs extend past a store into sales pipelines and CRM-style workflows. Its automation builder is flexible across many use cases, not just carts and orders. The trade-off is that it lacks Klaviyo's native, ecommerce-specific depth, so a pure DTC brand usually gets more out of Klaviyo.
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Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, appeals to small businesses on tight budgets, with email, SMS, and a free tier to start on. It's a practical entry point. It doesn't match Klaviyo's ecommerce reporting or its store-driven segmentation, so brands that take email revenue seriously tend to outgrow it.
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Omnisend competes directly with Klaviyo on ecommerce automation, with email and SMS in one tool, and it tends to undercut Klaviyo on price. Smaller stores watching budget often find it covers what they need. Klaviyo generally pulls ahead on data depth and segmentation flexibility once a brand's marketing gets more sophisticated.
FAQs on Klaviyo
Commonly asked questions about Klaviyo. Have more? Reach out and our team will be happy to help.
Is Klaviyo free to use?
Klaviyo has a free tier, and it's a genuine one for getting started. It covers a limited number of contacts and a capped number of email sends per month, with SMS available as a separate credit-based add-on. Once your list grows past the free limit, pricing scales with the size of your contact list.
Does Klaviyo work with Shopify?
Yes, and Shopify is Klaviyo's most common pairing. The integration is direct: Klaviyo pulls in orders, customers, products, and browsing behavior from your Shopify store. That live data is what powers behavioral segments and triggered flows, so the Shopify connection is really the heart of how Klaviyo works.
What's the difference between a campaign and a flow in Klaviyo?
In Klaviyo, a campaign is a one-time send you schedule yourself, like a sale announcement or a newsletter. A flow is an automated sequence triggered by customer behavior, such as a welcome series or an abandoned cart reminder. Campaigns are manual and timely; flows run continuously in the background once you set them up.
Does Klaviyo support SMS marketing?
Yes, Klaviyo includes SMS marketing alongside email in the same platform. You can add SMS steps inside flows, so a customer who ignores an email might get a text next, and run SMS campaigns on their own. SMS is billed separately through credits, since carrier costs work differently from email.
Is Klaviyo good for non-ecommerce businesses?
Klaviyo is built around ecommerce, so non-ecommerce businesses get less from it. Its strongest features, behavioral segmentation and flows, are tied to orders, carts, and product views. A B2B or service business without that kind of store data is usually better served by a more general marketing automation tool.
How does Klaviyo pricing scale?
Klaviyo pricing is based on the number of contacts in your account, with email and SMS billed on top. As your list grows, the monthly cost rises. This is worth planning for: if you import a large existing list, your bill jumps, so many brands clean out unengaged contacts to keep the pricing tier sensible.
Can I migrate to Klaviyo from another email tool?
Yes, migrating to Klaviyo is a common move, especially for brands outgrowing Mailchimp. You can import your contact list, and Klaviyo provides migration guidance for moving over. Flows and templates don't transfer automatically, so plan to rebuild your automations, which is also a chance to improve them rather than copy old ones.
Can Klaviyo help with product onboarding emails?
Yes, Klaviyo's flows work well for onboarding sequences, since you can trigger a series of emails right after a customer's first purchase or signup. If you sell a product that needs explaining, you can link an interactive Supademo inside those onboarding emails so new customers get a hands-on walkthrough without leaving the flow you've built.