Is Klaviyo worth it?
For a certain segment of the Shopify universe, Klaviyo is worth every penny. But, I reckon you need a small, dedicated team to really capture Klaviyo's potential value. That means one or more people who can crunch data, figure out the predictive analytics, create campaigns, build automations, harness the AI, and manage the entire email marketing and e-commerce machine.
How does tinyAlbert measure up against that?
Well, one person can configure a month of email marketing messages before they finish their first cup of morning coffee. On their phone. At the kitchen table. For a large segment of Shopify store owners, I'd say tinyAlbert measures up just fine.
Let's dig into the facts with a side-by-side analysis. I present the facts as accurately as I can (if I get anything wrong, let me know) regarding the user experience, app features, automations, and pricing.
User experience
Check out the aggregate customer review scores from Trustpilot and the Shopify app store.tinyAlbert gets top marks for overall satisfaction thanks to an easy-to-navigate UI, a short learning curve, and responsive customer support.
Scores for the Klaviyo app are lower. Sure, the toolset is impressive, but so is the learning curve. Customer support is sometimes cited as less than helpful. Please note that Klaviyo's customer support is tiered, which means folks on the free plan get less help. In contrast, every tinyAlbert user gets the same five-star level of support.
Variable | Klaviyo | tinyAlbert |
Trustpilot score * | 3.6 | 4.5 |
Shopify App Store score * | 3.8 | 4.8 |
Reporting & Analytics | Advanced tools | Essential tools |
Ease of Use | Intuitive UI with an impressive range of tools. May require a steep learning curve. | Short learning curve, thanks to a minimalist UI, ensures quick onboarding. Users spend more time crafting campaigns and less time mastering tools. |
Customer support | Tiered customer support. Customers on free plans get limited support. Live support 24/5, with some weekend and holiday support. Email and chat 24/7. | Available to users with free and paid plans. 24/7 chat, email, and phone. |
* Scores checked on August 14, 2023.
App features
The range of available features is far greater than I could possibly document here, so let me cover two points.
Campaigns
Every Klaviyo campaign has to be created from scratch. Sure, users can save time by reusing a saved template, but there's nothing ready to go. There are oodles of templates to choose from, but some of them are out of date. I'm writing this article in August, and the list of template options includes Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Winter.
As far as I can tell, the templates have generic text that has nothing to do with my brand, so the user needs to manually create and input product-specific content.
After opening the tinyAlbert campaign page, it's clear this app is built for speed.
Each upcoming weekly campaign is already created, scheduled, and ready to go. The campaign blast dates are built in, which is a real-time saver.
The AI automatically designs the content with seasonally appropriate themes. Remember, I'm writing this article in August, so the page displays end-of-summer, back-to-school, and Halloween themes, which are all spot-on for this time of year.
Optionally, users can manually create campaigns with user-defined send dates.
Features | Klaviyo | tinyAlbert |
Template drag-and-drop content blocks | Y | Y |
Advanced segmentation | Y | coming soon |
Preview text | Y | Y |
Auto-scheduled campaigns | N | Y |
Custom campaigns with user-defined send dates | Y | Y |
AI subject line assistant | Y | Y |
Subject line auto-suggestion | N | Y |
AI subject line assistant
Both apps have an AI tool that helps users write more compelling subject lines.
Klaviyo's campaign builder doesn't auto-fill the subject line with an AI-inspired suggestion. To enable the AI, the user opens the editor and clicks an icon. Inside the Subject Line Assistant popup, the user completes a few steps, like adding background text (up to 400 characters), and then selects an option (or manually inputs a subject line). Not such a big deal, but remember this - you have to repeat these steps for every campaign just to get a subject line!
tinyAlbert auto-generates an AI-powered subject line for every campaign message. Even better, you can see the subject line in the Preview panel. To auto-generate a new subject line, just click the Regenerate button. Of course, users can also manually input or edit the subject line. One big time-saver is that users don't have to input custom background text for each subject line. tinyAlbert users input all that background and branding information one time when they tune the AI. Click here to learn more about tuning the AI.
App automations
Both apps have automations that cover four essential e-commerce needs: abandoned cart, win-back, welcome series, and thank you for purchase.
Klaviyo has the most automations (flows) and a robust selection of automations tied to customer purchases (e.g. first purchase upsells and direct mail to big spenders) and inventory (back in stock).
tinyAlbert has six automations and more in the pipeline. Users can customize each automation with a drag-and-drop editor.
Email automations | Klaviyo | tinyAlbert |
Abandoned cart | Y | Y |
Abandoned product browse | Y | coming soon |
Customer win-back | Y | Y |
Request a product review | Y | Y |
Post-purchase thank you | Y | Y |
Welcome email series (with discount) | Y | Y |
Welcome new subscriber | Y | Y |
App pricing
Klaviyo calculates costs based on list size with limits on total monthly sends. If a campaign blast pushes total sends over the monthly limit, Klaviyo stops the send. Ouch! The solution to this problem is to enable the auto-upgrade billing option. Another ouch.
tinyAlbert users don't experience monthly send limits. Monthly pricing is based on list size with no limits on sends (within reason, of course - we're always on guard for spamming). That's good value for store owners who want to maximize customer engagement.
Contacts | Klaviyo | tinyAlbert |
500 | $20 (max 5000 sends) | $10 (unlimited) |
2501 | $70 (max 30,000 sends) | $48 (unlimited) |
5001 | $110 (max 55,000 sends) | $93 (unlimited) |
10,001 | $175 (max 105,000 sends) | $165 (unlimited) |
25,001 | $425 (max 260,000 sends) | $369 (unlimited) |
100,001 | $1,440 (max 1,050,00 sends) | $1,315 (unlimited) |
150,000 | $1,995 (max 1,500,00 sends) | $1,771 (unlimited) |
All fees above are monthly subscription fees. Fees checked on August 17, 2023.
The bottom line
For features and functions, Klaviyo is the Cadillac of Shopify email marketing apps. But here's the thing, not everyone wants the best. Small store owners and solopreneurs may not have the time -- or desire -- to learn all the tools.
That's why tinyAlbert is such an appealing alternative. You get a powerful suite of email marketing tools on an easy-to-navigate platform backed up by a responsive support team. Learn the tools and get set up with automations and campaigns in minutes, not days or weeks. That's what I call an unbeatable time-to-value ratio.