Klaviyo Review: Is It the Best Email Marketing Tool for E-commerce?

I signed up for Klaviyo in March because a guy in a Shopify Facebook group said it "basically prints money." His abandoned cart emails were recovering 12% of lost sales. I wanted that.

Eight months later, I cancelled. Not because Klaviyo is bad - it's actually impressive. I cancelled because I was paying $67/month for features my small store didn't need yet.

Here's what I wish someone had told me before I signed up.

The Good Stuff First

Klaviyo does things that made my jaw drop.

Two days after connecting my Shopify store, it automatically grouped my customers into segments: first-time buyers, repeat customers, people who browsed but didn't buy, customers who haven't ordered in 90 days. I didn't configure anything. It just... knew.

The abandoned cart flow recovered $847 in my first month. Real money that would have disappeared. The setup took maybe 15 minutes - I just turned on their pre-built template and tweaked the discount code.

And the targeting is wild. I could email customers who bought a specific product 6 months ago suggesting a refill. I could send different emails to people who spent over $200 versus under $50. None of my previous tools could do this without serious technical work.

So Why Did I Cancel?

The pricing.

I started with about 800 email subscribers. Klaviyo charged $30/month. Fine. Then my list grew to 1,400. Now it's $45/month. By the time I hit 2,500, I'd be paying $60/month.

For comparison, EmailOctopus charges $16/month for 2,500 subscribers. That's a $44/month difference. $528/year.

Could Klaviyo's features generate $528 in extra sales? Probably. But here's the thing - my store does about $4,000/month. I'm not some massive operation. Every dollar matters.

The abandoned cart recovery was great, but I can set that up in other tools. The fancy segmentation? I wasn't using most of it. I'd created like 15 segments and was actively emailing maybe 3.

The Dashboard Overwhelm Problem

Klaviyo assumes you know what you're doing.

The dashboard shows predictive analytics, customer lifetime value scores, churn risk indicators. It's genuinely impressive technology. But I'd log in to send a simple newsletter and get distracted by all these metrics I didn't understand and wasn't acting on.

I spent more time wondering if I was using Klaviyo "right" than actually sending emails.

Compare that to simpler tools where you log in, write an email, send it, done. Sometimes less is more.

When Klaviyo Actually Makes Sense

After cancelling, I've thought a lot about who should use it. My take:

You need Klaviyo if:

• Your store does $15,000+ monthly revenue (so the cost is a rounding error)
• You have repeat customers buying multiple times a year
• You'll actually use the segmentation and automations
• You have time to learn the platform properly

Skip Klaviyo if:

• You're just starting out and watching every expense
• Most of your customers buy once and disappear
• You just want to send a monthly newsletter
• You're not going to learn the advanced features

What I'm Using Now

I switched to EmailOctopus. It's boring. It sends emails. They arrive. I can do basic automation. That's it.

I recreated my abandoned cart sequence using their automation features and a Shopify plugin. It's not as sophisticated as Klaviyo's version, but it works. I'm recovering maybe 8% instead of 12% on abandoned carts - but I'm saving $40/month. Math still works out in my favor.

My plan is to revisit Klaviyo when my store hits $15k/month consistently. At that point, the advanced features will matter more and the cost will hurt less.

The Honest Take

Klaviyo is genuinely good software. The people who rave about it aren't lying. But they're usually running stores way bigger than mine.

If I'd started with EmailOctopus and waited to upgrade until I actually needed Klaviyo's features, I'd have saved probably $600 over the past eight months. That's real money for a small store.

Start cheap. Upgrade when the limitations actually cost you sales. Don't pay for "might use someday" features.

That Facebook guy recovering 12% on abandoned carts? His store does $80,000/month. Context matters.