Mailchimp vs. Klaviyo: Which Email Marketing Tool Is Right For You?

How do you feel about email marketing? 

Some business owners believe that the rise of social media’s popularity has made email marketing obsolete. Others feel like it’s an unnecessary time and expense that is more trouble than it’s worth. And then there are the few who don’t believe that emails can lead to conversions.

I want to tell you that none of the above is actually true. If you own a digital business and don’t have an email marketing platform set up, you are doing yourself a major disservice. Emails allow so much potential for creating and nurturing a loyal following, and they also reach a demographic of your audience that may not be spending time on social media. But perhaps most importantly, they allow you to directly target certain members of your audience — and then tailor your content to those individuals specifically. This targeted marketing is extremely powerful in converting potential customers to clients.

So, how do you get started with setting up your email marketing? Your first step is to choose a platform, which is what I’ll be walking you through today. Though there are countless email marketing platforms out there, all with different features and capabilities, we’ll be taking a close look at Mailchimp and Klaviyo specifically.

What is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that caters to small business owners who are looking to grow their email list and create strong marketing emails. It has a simple user interface and offers marketing capabilities beyond just email — you can also use Mailchimp to create landing pages, sign-up forms, and social media content. 

What is Klaviyo?

Klaviyo is a powerful email marketing platform geared specifically towards helping eCommerce businesses grow faster. Though it isn’t an all-in-one platform like Mailchimp, the email capabilities it does have are extremely advanced and allow many opportunities for customisation, particularly when it comes to segmentation — it even allows you to segment emails based on behavioural data!

So, which one is better?

Well…that really depends on your business and your needs.

Klaviyo doesn’t have the all-inclusive features that Mailchimp does, but it’s widely considered to be more powerful when it comes to email capabilities. Klaviyo is also ten years newer than Mailchimp, and its user interface reflects that — Klaviyo boasts a modern and attractive UI that is more complex than Mailchimp’s.

Where Klaviyo really takes the cake over Mailchimp is segmentation. For the uninitiated, “segmentation” refers to splitting your email list into smaller groups, which makes targeting specific customers with content tailored to meet their needs so much easier.

(For example, the emails you send brand new subscribers may look a little different than the emails you send to past clients. It doesn’t make sense to always send your entire email list the same email!)

When you first sign up with Klaviyo, you’re immediately encouraged to begin segmenting your email list based on what you already know about your audience. From there, Klaviyo will take data from your integrated Shopify account and then use it to group subscribers based on their behavioural and transactional data. Basically, you’re able to build email lists using real data about how prospective customers engage with your brand. Mailchimp doesn’t offer nearly as advanced segmentation capabilities.

Because of the incredible segmentation features and ease of integration with Shopify, I generally am a bigger fan of Klaviyo for email marketing. However, I think it’s really important to consider where you are in business and what your goals are.

If you’re a small business owner who isn’t in the eCommerce sphere, you may not need the advanced email features of Klaviyo, or you might find it difficult to tailor Klaviyo’s functions to your non-product based business. Klaviyo is one of the most advanced marketing automation tools out there, and though this can provide much-needed insight into the effectiveness of your email marketing strategy, it presents a steep learning curve that I can see frustrating anybody who is less inclined towards technology. If simplicity and ease-of-use are your priorities, Mailchimp is probably going to be a better fit.

If you do have an eCommerce store, are wanting to skyrocket your sales through an email marketing platform that caters to eCommerce specifically, and are willing to spend some time learning and understanding the multitude of segmentation, automation, and data reporting tools Klaviyo offers, I would definitely recommend Klaviyo. 

My clients often turn to me for help in creating and executing a winning email marketing strategy, and one of the first things we do is look at these programs and assess which will be the right fit. From there, we create a personalised plan designed to convert email lurkers into paying, raving clients.

If you’re interested in working with me to get your email marketing strategy off the ground, you can book a free 15 minute call to discuss which of my offerings is right for you.

Have you used Mailchimp or Klaviyo in the past, or are you partial to a totally different email marketing platform? I’d love to know more about your experience in the comments.