In today’s fast-paced digital world, email marketing has become a crucial tool for businesses to connect with their customers, build brand loyalty, and drive sales. Among the numerous email marketing platforms available, two giants stand out: Klaviyo and Mailchimp. Both platforms offer a range of features to help businesses succeed in their email marketing efforts. In this article, we will compare Klaviyo and Mailchimp, exploring their strengths, weaknesses, and unique offerings. By the end, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to make an informed decision on which best email marketing platform is the best fit for your business.

1. Understanding Klaviyo and Mailchimp

Before diving into the comparison, let’s get a clear understanding of each platform:

Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a powerful email marketing and predictive analytics platform tailored to eCommerce businesses. It provides advanced marketing tools used for creating personalized email campaigns, segmenting audiences based on behavior, and analyzing customer data. Klaviyo’s integration capabilities with various eCommerce platforms make it a popular choice among online retailers.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of the most widely recognized used email marketing software platforms, catering to businesses of all sizes. It offers an intuitive user interface, making it beginner-friendly. Mailchimp’s features include customizable email templates, audience segmentation, and basic automation, making it a versatile option for various industries.

2. Feature Comparison

Customizability and Templates

Klaviyo offers highly customizable templates, enabling businesses to design unique emails that resonate with their brand. In contrast, Mailchimp also provides a wide selection of templates, but its customization options are relatively limited compared to Klaviyo.

Segmentation and Targeting

Klaviyo shines in this category, offering advanced segmentation and customization options based on customers’ actions and preferences. This allows businesses to send targeted and relevant emails. Mailchimp also offers audience segmentation but falls short of the precision that Klaviyo provides.

Automation Capabilities

Klaviyo boasts robust automation workflows, enabling businesses to set up complex email sequences based on customer behavior. Mailchimp, while offering some automation features, lacks the depth and sophistication of Klaviyo’s automation features.

Reporting and Analytics

Both platforms provide valuable insights into email performance, but Klaviyo again edges ahead with its in-depth analytics and reporting capabilities on email subscribers, offering actionable data to optimize email campaigns more effectively.

3. User-Friendliness

Klaviyo’s User-Friendliness

Due to its focus on eCommerce businesses, Klaviyo’s interface might seem overwhelming for newcomers. However, its comprehensive features make it a valuable asset for businesses looking to scale their email marketing efforts.

Mailchimp’s User-Friendliness

Mailchimp stands out in terms of user-friendliness, making it accessible to beginners. Its intuitive interface allows users to quickly create and send emails without a steep learning curve.

4. Integrations

Klaviyo’s Integrations

Klaviyo integrates seamlessly with major other eCommerce store platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, making it an ideal choice for online stores looking to sync customer data effortlessly.

Mailchimp’s Integrations

Mailchimp also offers a wide range of integrations with various other eCommerce stores and platforms, but it’s integrations might not be as deep or extensive as Klaviyo.

5. Pricing

Klaviyo’s Pricing

Klaviyo’s pricing is based on the number of contacts, and email subscribers and while it offers more advanced features elsewhere, it might be costlier for businesses with a substantial email list.

Mailchimp’s Pricing

Mailchimp provides a free plan for users with fewer subscribers, making it a budget-friendly option for small businesses. However, its premium plans can become expensive as the subscriber list grows.

what is ecommerce businesses

E-commerce businesses, short for ecommerce business or electronic commerce businesses, are enterprises that conduct buying and selling activities of goods and services over the internet. These businesses operate through online platforms, websites, ecommerce stores, or mobile applications, providing customers with the convenience of shopping from the comfort of their homes or on the go.

In the UK, e-commerce businesses have become increasingly popular due to the widespread adoption of the various ecommerce stores and platforms, the internet and digital technologies. They come in various forms, catering to a diverse range of products and services.

Klaviyo vs Mailchimp for eCommerce: 12 Points of Comparison

If we compare Klaviyo and Mailchimp pricing for non-eCommerce businesses (businesses that don’t sell physical products online), the Mailchimp pricing wins, no questions asked.

However, when we compare Klaviyo and what Mailchimp offers for eCommerce businesses, it takes a closer look to define the winner. And it would be up to you to make the decision based on your business needs, budget, etc.

1. Dashboard

The Klaviyo and Mailchimp dashboards are similar and you can easily see your profits from your email marketing efforts on both platforms.

The main difference –– which might seem small, but for us personally is impactful, is the percentage.

Klaviyo shows how much percentage of your total revenue you make from email, automated email, and campaigns.

Wondering why is this so helpful for our team? Well, it’s mostly because when we talk with a potential client and they tell us that their revenue from email marketing is less than 30% of their total revenue – you see, that’s when we know for sure that our team of email marketing experts can help them.

Here’s a Mailchimp dashboard snapshot:

Here is a Klaviyo dashboard snapshot:

Another cool feature of Klaviyo’s dashboard which is not available in both Mailchimp is the breakdown of revenue by automated emails (flows) and campaigns.

2. Klaviyo vs Mailchimp Campaigns

Klaviyo and Mailchimp campaign builders are very similar and have a lot of the same features. Both campaign builders are visual.

The campaign builder consists of blocks that you can drag and drop.

A unique feature of both platforms is the product block. However, the way product block works differ between the platforms.

On the Klaviyo platform, you can either use the product feed or pick a product from your store.

The “select from a catalog” is the same option as in Mailchimp. However, the ability to populate from your feed is different and more robust.

You basically create a product feed from your store where you specify which product category or collection to show and then it dynamically populates that block within the email.

But in Mailchimp, this option is limited – which means you can only show popular products and not specific categories, collections, and/or tags.

3. Integrations

Both Klaviyo and Mailchimp have access to two types of integrations:

• Their own direct or native integrations
• Third-party tool integrations, such as Zapier’s library.

Third-party tool integrationDirect (native) integrationBoth Klaviyo and Mailchimp are part of Zapier’s integration tools.

4. Analytics vs. Reports

Generally, both platforms have user-friendly reports. However, you need to upgrade to a PRO Mailchimp account to see an in-depth comparison report between automated emails and campaigns.

For Klaviyo, it is a standard feature that doesn’t require additional payment.

In addition, in Klaviyo you can customize your report views and save as many views as you want. Each view consists of cards. Each card can be customized to show the information you want.

5. Flows vs. Automation

Klaviyo has a simple and powerful flow (automation) builder. You drag and drop actions and filters into the flow builder and it’s visually clear how the automation will work.

You have triggers that define how this automation should start. Then you have time delays (if any) and email at the end. Also, Klaviyo is constantly adding new updates, which helps improve the workflow build-out even more.

On Mailchimp, you do not have a visual builder, but instead a more logic-based automation builder. You add emails.

You might think they are interchangeable, but there’s probably a higher chance of making a mistake without the visuals.

Also, it is easier to create a visual diagram when you need to split your flow. See below:

Klaviyo also has a “Browse Abandonment” trigger which is not available in Mailchimp. It is an email for those who viewed the product but did not buy it or add it to their cart.

After this trigger, the email goes to the customer data and subscriber and shows them which product they did not buy.

In other words, Klaviyo does not have automation limitations, you can create any kind of automation you want based on the data you have in Klaviyo.

6. Segments

Mailchimp segmentation is per list. In other words, if you want to create a segment where you say everybody who purchased X product, it will show you only people who were put on the list when you created the segment.

On the other hand, if you do the same in Klaviyo, it pulls from everybody in your account and it does not care what list that person is on.

Mailchimp segmentation is list-based. Klaviyo segmentation is global per account. Which is one of the most powerful features it offers.

Klaviyo has more robust segmentation and your imagination is the only limit for creating the segment since you can create any kind of advanced segmentation that you want based on the information you have in Klaviyo.

7. Subscribers Profile

For this section, we will show you two snapshots to compare and provide the overview below:

Mailchimp Subscriber Profile

Klaviyo Subscriber Profile

Those two snapshots are for the same subscriber. Since we recently moved this account to Klaviyo from Mailchimp, you still can see some emails which were sent using Mailchimp.

• Both software have similar analytics.
• However, you can customize the views in Klaviyo based on your preferences.
• In addition, you have predictive analytics which is very powerful for projections.

In general, we would say we have a tie here.

8. Opt-In Forms

Mailchimp opt-in forms are based on the lists. So, if you want to create a new form, you need to create a new list.

On the other hand, Klaviyo opt-in forms are based on your desire. With that in mind, you can create as many forms as you want and point all to one list or one form per list or however, you want/need.

Both software have drag-and-drop form builders. But in this case, we’d give the advantage to Klaviyo for sure vs mailchimp, as you can accomplish much more with the forms without having to think about third-party apps, which is not the case with Mailchimp.

9. Support

In the past, it would take us a good 10-15 minutes to find Mailchimp for phone support and contact information. The phone support was helpful, but it was hard to find and required a Google search. They hide it, likely to reduce the number of requests.

Klaviyo support chat is:

• Available from 9 am to 5 pm (EST). They are a Boston-based company
• Very easy to find. It is in the top right corner under your account name
• Quick and extremely helpful.

In addition, Mailchimp has three tiers of support based on the subscription plan you have. Klaviyo has one for all, even if you have a free Klaviyo account.

10. Other Features

Even though it’s obvious that we’re Klaviyo fans over here, it’s also important to mention that Mailchimp has some features which do not exist in Klaviyo.

Those features are:

• Landing pages
• Postcards.

For the other landing pages per page, you will need to pay extra if you plan to use a custom domain.

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Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns are a form of digital marketing that involves sending targeted promotional messages or information to a group of individuals via email. This marketing strategy is widely used by businesses in the UK and around the world to engage with customers, build brand loyalty, and drive sales.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both Klaviyo and Mailchimp are formidable email and marketing tools and platforms, each with its unique set of features and advantages. Klaviyo excels in catering to eCommerce businesses with its advanced automation and segmentation capabilities, while Mailchimp’s user-friendly interface and affordable pricing make it an attractive choice of email marketing tools for startups and small businesses.

To determine the better fit for your business, consider your specific needs, budget, and long-term goals. Whether you prioritize more advanced features or ease of use, both platforms offer reliable solutions to elevate your email marketing game.

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