If you know anything about eCommerce, you know the importance of having a reliable email marketing tool in your arsenal of marketing weapons. And these days, anybody who is anybody, knows the 2 most popular email marketing platforms that often go head-to-head: Klaviyo and Omnisend.
You’re probably wondering which one is better for you. Even though it’s an age-old debate among customers, we only have one thing to say: If you’re not using Klaviyo, you’re missing out. While Omnisend is great for email marketing novices, Klaviyo is what you want if you’re looking to up your game and do more than just send emails. With robust features, advanced automation capabilities and a plethora of integrations at your fingertips, Klaviyo’s superpowers get emails into the right inboxes AND do what you want most: amplify your sales.
If you don’t believe us, believe all the users that have jumped the Omnisend ship and made their way over to Klaviyo. In the last few months, Omnisend has seen a mass exodus of customers due to bug issues on the technical front and platform preferences that weighed heavier on the side of Klaviyo, leaving a welcome number of users opting to harness the powers of Klaviyo instead.
At Blend, we’re not just Klaviyo fans. We’re experts, and the success our clients have had when using this platform are unmatched. That’s why we’re going to take you through why WE think Klaviyo should be your #1 choice, and how you can make the switch from Omnisend to Klaviyo if you’re ready to pump your marketing game (and your sales) up!
What makes Klaviyo better?
Enjoy abundant features and support you don’t have to pay extra for
Think of features, any features – and then think of even more. Do you want them?
With Klaviyo, you can have them for free from day one. Enjoy full access to functionalities like smart send time, predictive analysis, extensive reporting capabilities, advanced segmentation and a whole lot more that power personalisation like nothing you’ve seen before, turning customers into lifelong friends. And as your business scales, so does Klaviyo, removing the burden of having to find an alternative platform that can handle your growth.
How is this different from Omnisend?
Well, if you used Omnisend, you’d only have access to essential features like automation and advanced reporting if you signed up for a subscription you’d have to pay more for – on top of what you’re already paying. Why do that when you can get all of it at no extra cost with Klaviyo?
Unlimited segmentation capabilities at no extra cost
All hail the power of segmentation.
Seriously, whoever thought of segmenting customers to give them an enriching email experience is a genius. Wait, that was Klaviyo. They thought of it AND give it to their users at no extra cost. Whatever your segmenting dreams, whether big or small, they are never too big an ask for the magic that is Klaviyo. Create as many segments as you want, use as much criteria as you see fit and pull from as much data as you need in order to build yourself a powerhouse of an email marketing system that is always evolving! That coupled with their phenomenal dynamic tagging, the personalisation tactics are ever-growing.
Omnisend, on the other hand, will stifle your segmentation dreams and leave you wishing you were a better decision maker. Choosing Omnisend will limit the number of subscriptions you can build according to your subscription, robbing you of the ability to experiment and grow.
Test, test, test… and more testing!
If you’ve ever wondered what customers might think if you change the colour of your CTA in your emails or whether catching them at a different time might yield greater responses but couldn’t put any of your genius to the test, Klaviyo is the answer to your prayers.
Dive into the Klaviyo toolkit and supersede subject line testing with the ability to test sender names, sending times, email content, and yes, your CTA colour. Otherwise, if you’d rather settle for just the sender name and subject lines, then by all means, go with Omnisend. Let’s hope you have a great nose for sniffing out how your customers might feel about the rest of your email content.
Get the insights that really matter to you
There’s a beautiful little thing called the reporting dashboard on Klaviyo that gives you a comprehensive inside-look into your business metrics and insights that help you know where your brand is at in the grand scheme of things and hone in on priorities. And, if there’s certain information that matters most to you, you can customise your dashboard to give you exactly what you need, when you need it.
Don’t think this will be the same with Omnisend though, at least, only if you’re willing to pull out your wallet. If you’re happy to subscribe to Omnisend’s most expensive subscription tier, then go for it, but be willing to accept that you’ll only have access to data collected from a maximum of the preceding 18 months.
Take shopping experiences to the next level
Because you’re an online merchant, your customers can’t be caught on the way out the door before they leave your store. It’s not so easy to persuade them with a gorgeous, exciting offer just before they leave to get them to stay. But wait… maybe it is.
With Klaviyo, you can make use of triggered forms that help you ‘pop up’ just when you need to. Now, you really can meet your customers at the door, get them to turn around AND make a purchase using this amazing functionality that creates the most perfectly timed sales opportunities. For instance, you can create pop-up forms that offer customers irrefusable discounts just as they’re about to leave your site, or sign-up forms that mark the beginning of a beautiful customer journey at the click of a button.
Omnisend, however, can’t be that wonderful guy at the door that stops customers just as they’re about to leave and gets them to reconsider. With no customer behaviour triggers and functionalities that detect when a customer is about to leave, Omnisend’s forms significantly reduce sales opportunities and potential lifetime customers.
Time is of the essence – and Klaviyo gets that
Nobody has days to sit and figure out how to get their business up and running on an online platform such as Klaviyo, and that’s why, unlike Omnisend, Klaviyo has both a flexible API and native integrations that shave off tons of setup time and get you connected with multiple essential platforms. Thereafter, you can kick your feet up and let Klaviyo’s predictive analytics and powerful automation mechanisms take over while you get to focus on other things just as important to you.
I’m ready to make the switch! But how?
So, we’ve convinced you. You’re ready to come to the side where the grass is greener and the emails do what they’re meant to do – but you don’t know how.
Never fear. In true Klaviyo fashion, they’ve made it easy. We didn’t want to say anything, but they were kind of expecting you.
Migration station
When migrating from Omnisend to Klaviyo, if you have a subscriber list already saved as a CSV or Excel file, you can easily import your subscribers into Klaviyo. If you have your list saved as an Excel file, you’ll have to save it as a CSV file first before you can go any further.
Your CSV should have the first row formatted as the headings for the columns you intend to upload. You must have a column labeled "Email" or "Email Address." Other columns you may want to include are "First Name" and "Last Name," along with any other custom properties you want to upload.
When importing a list from another ESP, there will likely be a link to export lists to a CSV or Excel file. If you're having trouble, reach out to Omnisend for help.
Once you’ve got your list exported:
- Make your way to the Lists & Segments tab in Klaviyo
- Click on the list called Newsletter
- Click Manage List > Upload Contacts
- Drag and drop your CSV directly into Klaviyo or select it from your files
- Review the data you're importing and map all rows to a Klaviyo or custom property
- If everyone in your CSV file has indeed agreed to receive email marketing from you, click Subscribe to Email Marketing
- Click Import Review and review your import details
- Click Start Import
Make your younger-self proud
And make better decisions. When you’re young, it’s okay to slip up and make seriously questionable decisions, but, you’re older now. And hopefully have learnt from your slew of mistakes in the past. Which means you get to do good by your younger, more naive self, and make a decision today that will inevitably erase your history of blunders.
Okay, we’re being dramatic now, but you get the picture.
As they say, there’s no time like the present! By signing up for Klaviyo today, we can help get you started and fill you in all the things you need to know to make a raging success of your business and be another one of our clients who can’t stop the smiles on their customers’ faces!
Published: July 21 2022
