Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform built specifically for e-commerce. Unlike generic email tools, it plugs directly into your store (Shopify, WooCommerce, and others) and uses your actual order and browsing data to trigger the right message at the right moment.
That deep store integration is the whole point: Klaviyo knows what each customer bought, browsed, and abandoned, so your automations can react to real shopping behavior instead of generic newsletter blasts.
How Klaviyo works
You connect your store, and Klaviyo starts collecting events: product views, cart additions, checkouts, purchases. You then build flows — automated sequences triggered by those events. The essential three for most stores: abandoned cart recovery, welcome series for new subscribers, and post-purchase follow-up. You can also run one-off campaigns (promotions, launches) to segmented audiences.
Pricing scales with the number of contacts, which makes it affordable to start and increasingly worth it as your list — and the revenue it generates — grows.
Example
A skincare store connects Klaviyo to Shopify. Its abandoned cart flow (3 emails over 48 hours) recovers a steady percentage of lost checkouts. Its post-purchase flow asks for a review 14 days after delivery, then suggests a refill 60 days later. Email becomes the store’s highest-ROI channel, running almost entirely on autopilot.
Frequently asked questions
What is Klaviyo in simple terms?
Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform for online stores that triggers messages based on real shopping behavior like cart abandonment and purchases.
Is Klaviyo only for Shopify?
No, though Shopify is its deepest integration. Klaviyo also works with WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and custom stores.
What are Klaviyo flows?
Flows are automated message sequences triggered by customer behavior — for example, a welcome series when someone subscribes or a reminder when they abandon their cart.
Related reading: E-commerce automation: the 3-step formula