Klaviyo CRM, email and SMS marketing for product based brands
Your Klaviyo questions, answered
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Klaviyo basics
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Klaviyo is a powerful email and SMS marketing platform built for ecommerce brands of all sizes. It helps businesses automate marketing campaigns, segment customers within your database, and grow revenue using data-driven messaging.
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Klaviyo enables businesses and brands to send automated emails (flows), targeted campaigns, and transactional messages based on real-time customer behaviour and brand requirements.
Klaviyo also allows brands to connect Klaviyo to other ecommerce platforms and systems such as Shopify and Canva to seamlessly share information.
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No not at all. Klaviyo supports email and SMS marketing in one platform, allowing you to reach customers on multiple channels.
Klaviyo has also recently launched WhatsApp messaging as an option too.
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The setup of your Klaviyo account can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two, depending on the type of integrations you want to activate, whether you have previous lists or segments you wish to import and how many flow configurations you want to launch with.
If you need a hand with any parts of your Klaviyo set up, I can help. Just send me a message letting me know what you need here.
Who is Klaviyo suitable for?
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For small businesses focused on growth and retention of their customers and community, Klaviyo’s ROI-driven features can be worth the investment. Especially if you want better automation and analytics than basic email or the native website platform tools offer.
Klaviyo is built for brands who are focussed on personalisation and performance. Whilst you are able to build beautiful and creative designs in the Klaviyo editor, if this is your top priority over integrations and driving sales I’d recommend a platform like Flodesk.
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Klaviyo CRM platform is the best fit for brands that sell online, collect customer data, and want automated email/SMS that drives repeat purchases and customer lifetime value.
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I wouldn’t recommend Klaviyo if you only send occasional newsletters or have a tiny list with minimal sales, a simpler, lower-cost solution may be more appropriate.
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No not really. Klaviyo connects easily with platforms like Shopify, and many features are drag-and-drop, but some advanced flows benefit from basic marketing knowledge and strategic planning.
I recommend planning out your flow strategy (and what you’re trying to achieve) before building it in the Klaviyo platform. This way you can keep each flow clear and ensure you’re not overlapping customer segments.
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These are the points I highlight to my clients when they’re thinking about launching a website on Shopify;
Choose the right plan for your current volume and needs (don’t over‑commit to higher tiers you don’t yet need).
Factor in all costs: monthly fee + app/add on costs + transaction costs + theme/customisation.
Use a theme that works for you and don’t blow budget on a super custom design before sales justify it.
Focus strongly on marketing, traffic and conversion (because a good store matters, but traffic + good product + good price matter more).
You’ll likely need to use apps from the Shopify App store. Do your research for the best options and make sure you keep track of the costs and return on investment, as they all add up.
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It is estimated that there are over 4 million websites powered by Shopify and Shopify Plus globally.
29% of these are Apparel/Fashion brands.
Nearly 15% are Home & Garden brands.
Just over 16% of these brands are Health or Beauty brands.
Shopify is suitable for a variety of brands but Shopify is designed as a platform for product based businesses, selling physical and/or digital products as opposed to service based brands.
How is Klaviyo different to other CRM platforms?
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Klaviyo and Mailchimp are both email marketing platforms, but they serve different needs. Klaviyo is built for ecommerce, offering advanced automation, real-time segmentation, SMS marketing, and detailed revenue tracking from customer behaviour. In my opinion the admin interface is also a lot more intuitive and easier to use.
Mailchimp is simpler and more affordable, best for small businesses or beginners who need basic email campaigns and general marketing tools.
For stores focused on abandoned carts, automated flows, and data-driven growth, Klaviyo is usually the better choice.
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Klaviyo and Flodesk are both email marketing platforms, but they focus on different goals.
Klaviyo is designed for ecommerce brands, offering advanced automation, real-time segmentation, SMS marketing, and detailed revenue tracking.
Flodesk focuses on design-first email marketing, making it easy for small businesses, creatives, and service-based brands to create visually appealing emails with simple automation. If your goal is data-driven sales, abandoned cart recovery, and ecommerce growth, Klaviyo is usually the better choice. For beautiful, easy-to-build campaigns with a lower learning curve, Flodesk works well.
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Klaviyo offers advanced automation, segmentation, and revenue tracking that Shopify Email doesn’t.
You can run abandoned cart, post-purchase, and browse abandonment flows, plus SMS campaigns, all triggered by real customer behaviour in Klaviyo.
Klaviyo plans, prices and integrations
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Klaviyo plan pricing is tiered based on the number of active contacts and channels you wish to use (email, SMS and WhatsApp).
There’s a free tier for beginners or new businesses but of course comes with limits. The paid plans get more expensive with audience size.
The lastest Klaviyo plan pricing can be found here; https://www.klaviyo.com/uk/pricing
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Yes, Klaviyo integrates tightly with Shopify, syncing customer information (profiles), orders details (products, pricing, trends), and behavioural events to power automated flows and segments.
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Yes, Klaviyo and Canva released an app integration recently to help users of both platforms save time. The integration allows you to sync/upload your canva designs directly to your klaviyo media centre without having to download and then re-upload.
To connect your Klaviyo and Canva accounts follow the instructions here; https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/23364424365339
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Klaviyo integrates with post ecommerce store platforms including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and Magento as well as many other ecommerce tools, CRM providers, and analytics platforms to centralise data for smarter messaging.
Other connections include, but are not limited to;
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Klaviyo provides help documentation, live chat, support tickets, and training resources such as Klaviyo Academy to help you get the most from your account.
Direct support from their team is also available but only on their paid plans.
Where to get started with Klaviyo?
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When starting with Klaviyo, focus on high-impact, revenue-driving flows that engage customers automatically to save you time in the long-run:
Welcome Series – Introduce your brand, share key products, and build trust with new subscribers.
Abandoned Cart Flow – Recover lost sales by reminding customers of items left in their cart.
Post-Purchase / Thank You Flow – Send order confirmations, delivery updates, and cross-sell or upsell products.
Browse Abandonment Flow – Remind customers about products they viewed but didn’t add to their cart.
Win-Back / Re-Engagement Flow – Reconnect with inactive customers and encourage repeat purchases.
I recommend starting small, with 2–3 essential flows, then expand once you’re confident their working for you. Also remember to use Klaviyo’s dynamic fields which allows you personalise the emails with the customer’ name or other details.
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Yes. Every marketing email you send through Klaviyo must include an unsubscribe link to comply with anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and CASL. It also improves deliverability and helps avoid spam filters.
The good thing is, staying compliant is pretty easy when using Klaviyo - Klaviyo automatically includes an unsubscribe link in all email templates. You can customise the placement, colour or wording, but never remove it.
For more information on how Klaviyo handles compliance, visit their help centre here.
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Klaviyo have got lots of pre-built form designs for you to choose from, so setting up a newsletter sign up can be really quick.
Once you;ve logged into your Klaviyo account go to Forms > Create and choose the type you want to use.
Next is the fun part, you can customise all areas of your form including the way it behaves (triggers) once it’s filled in and who you show it too. For example; you can choose to hide the form if someone visiting your website has already signed up - clever right!
Remember to connect the form to the email list you want the customer data to be sent to (this is usually a generic ‘Newsletter’ or ‘Email’ list but you can specify).
It’s a good idea to think about offering an incentive to increase sign-ups. This could be a discount on first order or a freebie.
About Klaviyo for email and SMS marketing
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The number of emails you can send in Klaviyo depends on your plan and the size of your contact list:
Free Plan – Up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends in the first month.
Paid Plans – Pricing and sending limits scale based on your active contacts, but there is no strict monthly cap; you can send as many emails as your plan allows.
Klaviyo charges are based on the number of active profiles in your account, not individual emails.
Remember to keep your email list clean to avoid paying for contacts who no longer exist or are marking as spam.
Focus on targeted, segmented campaigns rather than sending too many emails to everyone and monitor performance metrics like open rates, clicks, and spam complaints for better ROI.
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In Klaviyo a campaign is a one-off broadcast email (for example; a promotion announcement), while a flow is an automated sequence of emails triggered by the customer’s behaviour (for example; abandoned cart or checkout).
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Yes. Klaviyo allows you build abandoned cart and abandon checkout reminder flows that send automatically when a customer leaves items behind after a certain period of time.
I also recommend setting up browse abandon flows as part of your strategy which will send out to customers to haven’t reached checkout but spent a certain amount of time engaging on your website.
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Absolutely, post-purchase automations can really improve retention with thank you messages, reviews requests, and repeat purchase incentives.
These can all be set up very easily within the Klaviyo flow builder.
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Yes you can. Klaviyo offers campaign A/B testing for subject lines (or email body content) and email send times, helping you optimise performance for different segments.
I often recommend starting with just one or two test variants at a time and building a conclusion from there. For example; sending a campaign at 7am vs. 7pm can help you identify when your audience are more likely to open your emails, click a link or purchase from you.
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In Klaviyo you can create segments using real-time customer behaviour, for example; purchase history, how and when they’ve engaged with your previous emails or whether they only purchase when your products are on discount.
Start by opening your Klaviyo account and go to Audience > Lists & Segments. Choose ‘create new’ in the top right corner and set your criteria. If you’ve connected your website platform to Klaviyo you should be able to choose from different purchase behaviour here too.