Klaviyo: The CRM Powering the Future of E-commerce

Klaviyo: The CRM Winning Over E-commerce Without Losing Simplicity

Klaviyo is a CRM of German origin, probably born in Berlin, that in just a few years has evolved from a simple and affordable tool to one of the most recommended platforms for online stores, especially those using Shopify.

From the very beginning, Klaviyo impresses with its clear interface and ease of use. But don’t be fooled by its friendly appearance: beneath the surface lies a powerful system built on a modern architecture of standardized data and events. This structure not only allows for more professional use but also positions it as a central piece in any well-built martech stack. It also integrates seamlessly with other platforms like <a href="/blog/que-es-un-customer-data-platform-cdp" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Customer Data Platforms</a>.

Perfect for Scaling from Startup to Established Business

Klaviyo scales beautifully. You can start with a small online shop and grow into a company generating millions in revenue annually without needing to migrate to another system. This is thanks to a rock-solid design in both usability and its internal data engine. It’s a robust, agile, and mature tool that keeps evolving.

Drag and Drop Campaigns

Klaviyo is extremely easy to use for building traditional email marketing campaigns. It offers many user-friendly templates and lets you design your own to match your brand. You can also save drag-and-drop blocks to build your templates like Lego. The default blocks are quite versatile and easy to use, but the product blocks especially stand out. These blocks let you display one or several products from your e-commerce platform’s product feed, personalized for each user based on their purchase history or pages visited. It’s a feature that’s very easy to use but would require many development hours in competitors like Braze. Klaviyo clearly understands the needs of e-commerce and makes cross-selling and upselling much easier.

Powerful and User-Friendly Automations

One of Klaviyo’s gems is its flows—automation sequences that can be triggered by events, behaviors, or segments. You can add A/B testing at any point in the flow, send internal notifications, trigger webhooks, and communicate with other tools in your ecosystem. This level of automation rivals much more expensive platforms like Braze or Pardot.

Best of all: you don’t need to be technical to build it.

Some of Klaviyo’s automation flow features are truly impressive. One block lets you run Python or Node.js code to build custom integrations or whatever you need. Another block lets you change user properties, send notifications, and modify subscriptions. It’s a very flexible system that, with a little imagination, lets you create complex workflows to activate users or manage your database.

E-commerce Specialization: Its Key Strength

Where Klaviyo truly shines is in its e-commerce integrations. Its connection to product feeds lets you include personalized product recommendation blocks in emails, based on a user’s purchase history. This not only improves conversions but also enables truly relevant experiences for each customer.

Klaviyo knows its niche is e-commerce, and it’s smartly leveraging it. A good example is the (paid) feature for managing product reviews, allowing you to automate review request emails and display reviews within campaigns.

Integrations

Klaviyo offers a huge number of integrations with other platforms—from Google Ads to Typeform, including competitors like Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Mailchimp. The number of available integrations is surprising—almost on par with a complex CDP.

CDP or Not CDP?

In an attempt to also position itself as a customer data platform (CDP), Klaviyo has launched an advanced feature allowing data syncs with platforms like BigQuery. However, this option is expensive and doesn’t provide a full CDP experience out of the box. Also, key features are locked behind additional payments, which can be frustrating for more technical or ambitious users.

Customer Support: A Model to Follow

If there’s one area where Klaviyo beats most of its competitors, it’s customer support. The live chat responds almost in real time, with helpful, clear answers—and follow-ups if needed. It’s a model that many platforms should follow—including Braze and even Shopify, which often offer a much more limited experience in this regard.

That said, the documentation could be better, and the rapid development pace sometimes causes API issues that can break integrations if you’re not paying close attention.

Analytics Tools Could Be Improved

One of Klaviyo’s weaker points is its reports and analytics tools. They are very limited compared to the platform’s potential and its standardized event structure. To compensate, they offer paid options like Advanced Analytics, which include RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary Value) reports. We tested these premium features, and unfortunately, they don’t justify the high price.

Is Klaviyo Worth It?

Absolutely. If you run an e-commerce business, Klaviyo is one of the best options on the market. It’s much easier to implement than other platforms and is purpose-built for online stores. If you run a more complex B2C business, Braze may offer a more powerful engine and more channels—but for most brands, Klaviyo will be more than enough and far more accessible.

In short, Klaviyo is a modern, powerful, and constantly evolving CRM. A tool that has grown without losing its essence: easy to use for anyone, yet powerful enough for those who want to take their campaigns to the next level. And all at a very competitive price.