Klaviyo & Sendlane: Same goals, different setups

If you’re here for the hot email marketing goss, the tea, the 411—

We don’t mean to disappoint, but…

The purpose of this article is NOT to do a side-by-side teardown of Klaviyo vs. Sendlane and pick a winner.

Instead, we want to share both providers’ approaches to 7 core components of email marketing. After all, you know your business better than anyone. We just want to help you make an informed decision on what’s best for you and your brand, not order you around.

Through the following sections, we’ll share an overview of each provider’s approach to that particular topic. If you want to take a deeper dive, we included more info in special sections titled “Let’s get technical, technical.” But if that kind of techy stuff makes your brain spin, feel free to scroll through to the next main point.

OK, let’s get into it, as they say.

1. Tracking your customer’s journey

Understanding how your customer navigates your site is key to a robust email marketing strategy. Klaviyo and Sendlane have similar – but different – methods for gathering data! Here’s what we mean:

Klaviyo

Klaviyo tracks data in two ways:

Active on Site tracking and Viewed Product tracking.

Active on Site tracking is added automatically when integrating your site, or by enabling the Klaviyo app embed in Shopify. Viewed product tracking can be enabled only through the Klaviyo app embed in Shopify.

Let’s get technical, technical:

To verify functionality, you can add "?utm_email=example@gmail.com" to your URL, (replacing the example email with your own), and then check Klaviyo for a corresponding customer profile update.

If toggled on (Settings>Data Preferences), Klaviyo's new Anonymous Visitor Tracking tracks anonymous visitor activity. Once that user becomes a subscriber, all past activity will be added to their Klaviyo profile. Note that Klaviyo.js must be installed to use anonymous tracking (required for all tracking activity regardless).

Additionally, Klaviyo's Email to Website tracking follows people who click your emails and then browse your website. This is achieved through their kx parameter, which is automatically added to every link in your email. When someone clicks your link, this encrypted parameter is decrypted by the Active on Site snippet and allows Klaviyo to identify the user.

Sendlane

Sendlane uses Beacon, a pixel-based tool, to track customers’ purchasing journeys on your website. Tracking begins as soon as a user signs up via a pop-up. If users opt in a different way, such as the footer or at checkout, Beacon requires users to open and click an email before tracking begins. It does not track customers using anonymous or incognito browsers.

Beacon performs several types of tracking. General Tracking monitors website views and overall engagement. Event Tracking, on the other hand, enables you to create tracking parameters for a specific page. You can use this data to send suggested product automations or promo codes. Conversion Rules assign a specified dollar value to visits to particular pages, typically used to track purchases via the checkout landing page. Based on this info, you can then send post-purchase follow-ups and information about similar products. The great news is that these tracking methods integrate pretty easily with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager.

2. Building optimized emails

A beautifully designed email is one thing, but an email with an amazing aesthetic that’s also technically savvy? Boom! That’s the sweet spot.

While Klaviyo and Sendlane both have drag-and-drop editors, there are a few key differences.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo’s email builder supports complex designs with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. You can seamlessly integrate various content blocks and customize emails for different devices. The platform even supports advanced customization through conditional logic and custom HTML integration.

Block options include:

• Text
• Image
• Split
• Button
• Header Bar
• Drop Shadow
• Horizontal Rule
• Social Links
• Spacer
• Product
• Table
• Columns
• Sections

A few helpful tips to keep in mind:

• Minimize the number of sections in your build to reduce the risk of clipping. Sections add bulk to the email, which increases its size and can compromise deliverability. Instead, combine as many block elements as you can into one section.
  
  
• Leverage universal content, like promo banners, logos, values, and footers, to make easy updates and stay consistent. You can save sections or blocks for reuse across multiple emails.
  
  
• Incorporate live text to enhance accessibility. Images won’t account for the many devices and methods readers use to consume emails. Plus, live text is searchable in the customer’s inbox if they want to read it at a later time.
  
  
• Use conditional block logic for dynamic content customization. You can tailor button copy, URLs, subject lines, headers, body copy, and images to different segments of your audience based on profile properties, event data, and if/else logic.
  
  
• Always check your emails for mobile compatibility, email size, and performance across various inboxes. Tools like Litmus are invaluable for previewing email performance, ensuring your content is accessible, legible in dark mode, and passes spam tests. Klaviyo provides size data and lets you know if your email is at risk of clipping.

Let’s get technical, technical:

A little more about if/else logic—We wanted to share a few scenarios where you can implement it.

• Button copy & URL
  In this example, the logic essentially says, “if someone has a tracking URL in their event data then show the copy ‘Track My Order,’ and if they don’t then show ‘View My Order.’”
  
  The URL logic says, “if someone has a tracking URL in their event data then use the tracking variable {{ event.extra.fulfillments.0.tracking_url|default:'' }}, and if they don’t have a tracking URL then use the order status variable {{ event.extra.order_status_url }}.”

• Subject line
  To adjust subject lines, use: {% if person|lookup:'first_name' %}{{ first_name|title }}’s haircare routine{% else %}Your haircare routine{% endif %}
  
  
• Headers/body copy
  These can be based on profile properties, event data, recently browsed products, and more. Example: Props on upgrading your {% if 'Bags' in event.Collections %} bag {% elif  'Jackets' in event.Collections %} jacket {% else %} Props on upgrading your collection {% endif %}
  
  
• Images
  To exclude products in an email, you can use: {% if 'Order Protection' not in item.product.title %}{% if item.product.variant.images.0.src %}{{item.product.variant.images.0.src}}{%else%}{{item.product.images.0.src}}{%endif%}{% endif %}
  
  For abandon checkout, abandon cart, and browse abandon emails, you can also add an if/else statement for the items that are in event.extra.line_items to pull in a specific image instead of the default or variant image from the Shopify product page.
  

Use mobile-only components strategically, since these add bulk to your email (for each component, extra coding gets added). However, here are a few scenarios where they come in handy:

• When you’re building tables. Most times the ideal settings for a table on desktop don’t equate to mobile.
  
  
• Splits often have the same issue as tables where they need separate desktop and mobile settings to achieve the same aesthetic.
  
  
• Button text doesn’t optimize the same as live text blocks. You may want to create a mobile version of the button with a smaller text size.
  
  
• Sections may need to be reordered. For example, a hero section on desktop that looks like hero image > text > button may need to be reordered on mobile to be text > button > image to bring your text & CTA above the fold.

Finally, custom HTML can be used with Klaviyo’s editor for more complex designs, while still keeping the email size manageable. Examples include custom-coded cart content blocks for Abandoned Checkout emails, which can create aesthetically pleasing grid formats, specify product display limitations, and handle coding that prevents sending an email if the customer's item is out of stock.

Sendlane

Sendlane uses MJML technology for its email editor to create responsive designs that automatically adjust from desktop to mobile formats. In other words, no code needed. For best results, construct your emails at 600px wide to maintain a clean, put-together look. Use minimal padding for text, and when designing images, aim for full-width images to account for their appearance on both desktop and mobile. Keep button copy short to prevent CTAs from running edge-to-edge on mobile screens.

Sendlane’s product feed features include product exclusion, reviews display, and tagging the contact profile of anyone who clicks on a CTA button in the product block. For example, say you’re doing a campaign about a new jeans style you’re offering. Your product feed could be tagged with “new jeans” so that anyone who clicks on it will get tagged with that property. Then, you could create a segment of those who clicked but didn’t purchase and send them a follow-up campaign.

Let’s get technical, technical:

Unfortunately, Sendlane doesn't show you the email size within their editor. You’ll have to use a third-party tool like Email Size Calculator to ensure your email is small enough, and thus prevent clipping in inboxes. 

• After sending yourself a preview in Gmail, click the three dots in the right-hand corner of the email
• Click "Show Original"
• Copy and paste the content HTML into Email Size Calculator

3. Incorporating reviews

Social proof is worth its weight in increased revenue. Both providers offer their own reviews feature, or give the option of integrating with a variety of 3rd-party tools. Let’s take a closer look.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo offers a comprehensive reviews feature at an additional cost, specifically for Shopify users. You can then automate review requests via email and SMS flows with pre-built options in Klaviyo’s flow library.

Their new in-email review feature allows customers to fill in and submit their review within the email itself. (Previously, the review request email linked to a page where they could submit a 1-5-star rating.) Now, directly in the email, customers can select from 1 to 5 stars, as well as leave comments and a headline.

Customers can also submit reviews directly on product pages, with actual verified reviewers marked via unique links. The reviews tool automatically displays star ratings and reviews in emails and on your website through customizable widgets.

You can even add dynamic reviews for specific items to browse abandoned checkout, added to cart, post-purchase, cross-selling, and welcome flows. You can also choose whether you want to show a dynamic quote for a specific product, or if you want it to be based on the flow trigger data (ie. if it's a post-purchase email, you can have it dynamically display a review based on the product they purchased).

And, great news for customer research enthusiasts (that should be all of us): Klaviyo allows for extensive customization of review questions, including product and profile-specific queries. You can then segment subscribers based on these responses.

At this point, let me guess what you’re thinking…Yes! You can import previous reviews from third-party apps. In fact, there’s an option to confirm that imported reviews are genuine so they appear with the Verified Buyer badge on your site. And, if you choose to stick with third-party apps, there are options to integrate and showcase reviews in your emails.

Let’s get technical, technical:

In order to enable the in-email review functionality:

• Navigate to Reviews. 
• Select Review settings > Review requests. 
• In the In-email review collection card, select Enable.
• Once this step is completed, Klaviyo will add a universal content block to your account which you can then add to your review request emails. (If you have review request emails already set up, you’ll need to remove the current review request block and add this new block in.) The block will be called In-email review collection - Klaviyo Reviews.

Note: This is an HTML-based block, so you will need to be familiar with reading/writing HTML if you want to make changes to the block. All changes need to be done within the source code. Also, since it's a universal block, it's best to "unlink and edit independently" when testing changes, so it doesn't overwrite the original code. However, if you try to change the original code and end up causing the universal block to malfunction, Klaviyo hosts the original code in this help article, so you can copy/paste into the block to restore functionality.

Keep in mind, too, that there are some limitations. This functionality relies on the HTML <form> element, which is not supported by all inbox providers. If any of your recipients are using an email client that doesn't support in-email forms, they'll be able to click on a link built into the coding of the universal block that says "Having trouble with the form? Write review on the web." The link will open the review form on the web, so they can still easily submit their review. 

While ratings and text are able to be collected with the in-email form, other fields, like images and custom questions, have restrictions.

Images must be uploaded via the review form on a product page, while required custom questions can only be submitted via the web form. If you do have required custom questions, the reviewer will be redirected to a new page once they hit the in-email submit button. There, they'll need to answer and submit the custom questions in order for their entire review to be properly submitted (incomplete submissions aren’t stored). If you have optional custom questions, reviewers will be led to a success page after clicking the in-email submit button.

Sendlane

Sendlane’s reviews tool is included at no additional cost. The Products Review dashboard is your NASA control for reading and responding to reviews. And, like Klaviyo, pre-made flows are included. Once a customer places an order, the tool waits three weeks and then sends a review request email. After seven days, the tool implements a conditional split for those who did or didn’t submit a review, and then sends a follow-up email.

For 3rd-party apps – like Shopify Reviews, Loox, Yotpo, Stamped, Judge.me, and Okendo – reviews can be exported to Sendlane as a CSV file. Note that Sendlane’s reviews tool does not include an on-site product review form. If you want to let customers submit a review via your website, you’ll have to add a 3rd-party app.

Let’s get technical, technical:

Sendlane, and now Klaviyo, enable reviews and ratings to be displayed in Google Search and Shopping results. Sendlane helps you set up an XML integration to send reviews to Google, while Klaviyo uses rich snippets to share review information.

4. Creating dynamic coupon codes

Who doesn’t love a coupon code? The answer? No one. Let’s see how both providers treat these magical combinations of letters and numbers.

Klaviyo

You can create dynamic Shopify codes directly in Klaviyo for three types of discounts: fixed amount, percentage, and free shipping. 

For campaigns, you’ll need to generate enough codes for the number of recipients, plus set an exact expiration date (don’t worry – this all happens in just a few clicks.). For flow emails, codes are replenished automatically. For SMS, you can use only one dynamic coupon code per message. If you need to change details about a live code (such as updating the product or collection it applies to), it’s best to create a new code so the new rules don’t override pre-existing codes, rendering them invalid for some customers (what a tease!).

You can even include a coupon code block to display a static or dynamic coupon code in the pop-up. Dynamic codes must be shown on the Success page. A static code will automatically replace the dynamic code if it runs out (only applicable if your code has an exact expiration date). Customers can then click the code on the pop-up and copy/paste it at checkout.

Note: Shopify enforces a limit of 20 million unique discount codes for each Shopify store. If you reach this limit, you will need to delete unique codes from your Shopify admin before Klaviyo can resume generating new unique codes.

Let’s get technical, technical:

To display a code in your emails, use the variable {% coupon_code 'NAME_OF_YOUR_COUPON' %}, to replace NAME_OF_YOUR_COUPON with the actual coupon code name, ensuring it matches exactly. When previewing emails, the code will appear as NAME_OF_YOUR_COUPON-preview. During a live send, the code will dynamically display correctly.

Klaviyo also offers the capability to auto-apply a coupon code at checkout for customers that clicked the email’s URL. There are different link structures based on the type of email you're working with.

For example, if it's a Welcome Series email for 15% off, your link structure would be https://fuelmade.com/discount/{% coupon_code 'WELCOME15' %} OR https://fuelmade.com/discount/{% coupon_code 'WELCOME15' %}?redirect=/pages/klaviyo-experts.

If you're working on an Abandoned Checkout email, your link structure would be {{ event.extra.checkout_url }}&discount={% coupon_code 'CouponName' %}.

In all cases, you'll only be able to see it work properly during testing if your coupon has live codes. Make sure to add codes to your coupon or create a test coupon to work with so you're not affecting your actual code.

Sendlane

To create unique discount codes in bulk, you’ll need to use a third-party tool such as Bulk Discount Code or Seguno. (If applicable to your needs, make sure you choose an app that doesn’t limit the number of codes you can generate at once.)

Put on your proverbial back brace, because this process requires some heavy lifting:

• You must manually estimate how many codes you might need.
• Codes do not automatically replenish, so you’ll want to estimate and generate a large enough quantity, especially for flow emails.
• When importing the codes, you can select a "refill reminder" to notify you when more codes need to be generated. 
• If the codes run out, the email will stop sending.

Let’s get technical, technical:

To insert a code into an email, place your cursor where you want the code to appear, click the three-dot menu, select the coupon icon (middle icon), and choose the coupon collection and the coupon. Previewing an email in Sendlane will not use up a coupon code. However, sending a test email will, so it’s best to finalize your email design and copy before sending a test email if it contains a coupon code.

For SMS, place your cursor where you want the coupon to appear, click the Coupon icon, and select the coupon collection.

5. Learning optimal campaign send time

Strike while the iron’s hot, as they say. Here’s how both tools determine when that is.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo’s Smart Send Time uses a testing framework to determine the optimal time for your customers to open emails. The process consists of three phases: exploratory, focused, and optimal send time (available for campaigns with 12,000+ recipients).

During the exploratory phase, emails are sent over a 24-hour period with each recipient randomly assigned a time in their local timezone. Multiple exploratory sends may be needed depending on the audience size.

In the focused phase, Klaviyo identifies the time with the highest engagement and continues testing by splitting the campaign into thirds, sending emails at the focused time, two hours before, and two hours after. Once the optimal send time is determined, it can be used to send any campaign at the best time in each recipient's local timezone.

Sendlane

Sendlane’s Machine Learning Open Predictability relies on the activity of contacts to determine the best send time for campaigns. It's recommended to wait until multiple campaigns have been sent to allow the account to collect sufficient activity data. Contacts without activity data will receive the campaign immediately.

Unlike Klaviyo, which focuses on the collective best send time, Sendlane determines the best time for each individual recipient. For example, one campaign could go out at noon to recipient A and at 2 PM to recipient B. The more campaigns you send, the more data Sendlane gathers, improving overall results over time.

6. Cleaning your list

Even email lists need a little housekeeping, especially to maintain your deliverability and sender reputation. Here’s how both tools do the list scrub-a-dub.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo addresses list hygiene through its sunset flow, which segments and ultimately suppresses unengaged users. This process helps maintain a healthy sender reputation by focusing on engaged recipients and reducing bounce rates.

You can create a segment of folks who haven’t opened or clicked an email in the last 180 days. If you prefer, you can customize these conditions based on other factors, such as never purchased, or never been active on your site. If the user still doesn’t open or click after receiving the sunset flow, they can then be labeled as unengaged and suppressed.

For campaigns, you can create a variety of segments that contain users who have low engagement, recent bounces, minimal purchase history, etc. That way you can suppress the necessary contacts so your campaign sends can focus on people who are highly engaged.

Sendlane

Sendlane’s Smart List Hygiene is a one-time manual removal of unengaged users from a specific list. Contacts are only removed if they’ve been on the list for at least 30 days, received at least one campaign, and are not engaged with any content in a specified amount of time.

If you prefer, the Automatic List Hygiene option is a recurring, automated removal of unengaged users from specific lists using the same above criteria.

Be advised though—There are a lot more criteria to consider than just how long subscribers have been on a list and if they've received at least one campaign. We recommend factoring in other considerations, such as purchase activity, if they've ever soft bounced, and how active they are on site. Unfortunately, the Automatic List Hygiene feature does not allow for customization.

 7. Creating pop-ups

OK, finally…we’re at the part about capturing addresses to make all of the above applicable!

Klaviyo

Klaviyo offers a range of customizable sign-up forms that can be targeted based on user behavior, device type, and other criteria.

The first step is to integrate your website with Klaviyo. Then, verify that sign-up forms are enabled on your website. You’ll want to create a list to keep subscribers (and set up a welcome flow, while you’re at it).

You can choose from various sign-up form types: pop-up, full page, flyout, and embed. Design options for both email and SMS are pretty flexible. Plus, you can adjust your targeting and behavior settings, including display timing, frequency, cart contents, devices, custom triggers, and UTM parameters.

A few other unique features:

• Desktop-only and mobile-only components: Control what designs or features appear on desktop and which ones appear on mobile. For example, say your desktop pop-up is collecting phone numbers via the form field, but you want the mobile version to use the Subscribe via SMS button. You can set the form field as desktop-only and the SMS button as mobile-only.
  
  
• SMS Smart Opt-In OR SMS Tap-To-Text Button for mobile: With SMS Smart Opt-In, customers won’t have to leave a site in order to subscribe to SMS. Instead, this feature sends a one-time authentication code that they can plug right into the pop-up. The code autofills on iOS and Android mobile devices.
  
  
  
  
  If you’re collecting SMS in your pop-up, you can use the ‘Subscribe via SMS’ button on mobile. All subscribers need to do is tap the button to toggle a pre-written text message and then press send.
  
  
• Teasers: A teaser is the little tab with the promo reminder that appears on the side of the screen if somebody exits out of the pop-up.
  
  
• AI-powered A/B testing: Determines the best send time for your sign-up form. This feature tests multiple versions of your form to find the highest-converting display time, automatically selects the winning version, and sets that form live. Note this option is only available for Klaviyo accounts with at least 400,000 profiles. If you have under 400,000, you can still use regular A/B testing where you choose the weight of each variation and select whether the test will be manually ended or automatically ended by reaching statistical significance.

• Hyper-targeted pop-ups based on any Klaviyo segments/lists. You can also easily show the pop-up to people who are subscribed to email but not SMS.
  
  
• Target products based on a customer’s cart to encourage checkout or increase AOV. You can show the pop-up to people based on:
  
• Total cart value
• Total number of items in cart
• Product in cart. You can even choose to target by brand, category, product name, price, or product ID.

Some examples:

• Give 20% off to people who have over $150 in their cart, or let carts under $75 know how close they are to free shipping.
• Offer progressive discounts based on how many items are in someone’s cart – 10% off for 2 items, 20% off 3 items, 30% off 4 items.
• Bundle deals based on the number of items in the cart. For example, "Add one more item to your cart to unlock a special bundle discount."
• Cross-selling by recommending complementary products based on the items already in the cart. For example, if they have jeans in their cart you could recommend pairing it with popular belt styles or a jacket.
• Free gift/free samples – “Add 3 items to your cart within the next hour and get a free gift!”
  
  
• Simple toggle for using lead capture with Shop

Sendlane

Sendlane's Forms require the Beacon tool for tracking contacts on your website. Once that’s set up, you’ll want to create a list for your subscribers and choose your form type, such as pop-up or inline. Then, decide if the form will be for desktop only, mobile only, or both. Like Klaviyo, you can adjust the layout, audience, tags, opt-in settings, display conditions, frequency, and targeting options, including specific URLs and locations.

Some of their most recent features include:

• Custom audiences from form sign-ups: You can now create segments based on form sign-ups, allowing you to identify who signed up and who didn't. This feature adds an extra layer of personalization and enables you to target these individuals in new, more effective ways.
• Hyper-targeted forms for specific visitor types: In the Visitors section, you can now specify which forms to show to certain contacts based on a list, segment, or tag. For example, you can show a special promo reserved for your most frequent customers or target email subscribers who haven't opted in to SMS yet.
• CSS editor for complete customization: Housed under Global Styles, the new CSS editor allows you to write custom CSS that will take precedence over any styling created within the regular builder. This feature is similar to PostScript's pop-ups, enabling you to achieve a more customized look with your own code.

Let’s get technical, technical:

On the summary page of a form, you'll receive a code snippet to paste into your Shopify store’s header.liquid file. Ensure the pop-up is set to live before adding the snippet. Each form requires a unique installation code to be added to the website.

 

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Woooooo! If you made it this far, congrats! And a huge thank you!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask us. And just to reiterate: We think both are great tools in their own right, but also, every brand is different and has their own needs. We can certainly help you with either tool. Plus, we have some pretty amazing tech-savvy folks on our team who’d be glad to help you customize these tools to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Or, if after all that, you’re still not sure what tool is best, we can definitely help you figure it out.

Talk to us →