ActiveCampaign vs. Klaviyo vs. Mail Engine

I've been using ActiveCampaign since around 2018-2019 and I've always been satisfied with the software. It's simple to use, connects with the other tools I use and makes it easy for me to duplicate automations, email templates and workflows as I need to. On top of that, any time I've had an issue (which I think is around twice in the past 5/6 years), the customer service has always been super helpful and my issue has been resolved quickly.

Incentivized

Klaviyo is a must-have email marketing platform for any company using Shopify for their e-commerce websites. The best use case scenario is if all your purchases are coming from Shopify site and/or Shopify POS. However, if you use hybrid sales (e-commerce + sales reps), then Klaviyo can be leveraged only for your e-commerce customer segment. There is a workaround where you can manually upload the list of your offline customers to have a less personalized campaigns for them, and having ultra-personalized campaigns running for your e-comm segment. But note that this method will require governance from a team member who understands compliance and data architecture as it will require regular database clean up and understanding how exclusions work.

Incentivized

• Collects and filters emails from various lead magnets exceptionally well (especially if a user wants to re-sign up to the same lead magnet and go through it again, they can)
• Super easy to use email creation that is aesthetically pleasing and user friendly
• Easy email sequences and user classification from a large range of opt in trigger options

Incentivized

• Very easy to setup Klaviyo with Bigcommerce for email & SMS capture, comes with templates that are simple to edit and publish.
• Very easy to set up Klaviyo with other 3rd party apps like Yotpo Reviews and Loyalty, giving you easy access to send emails based on loyalty points or asking for a review.
• Automated campaigns are a breeze! They come with preset templates to get started quick. Including a Welcome Series, Cart Abandonment Series, Lost Customer Series, and Browse Abandonment Series among others.
• The platform is easy to navigate and use without having to spend time learning from videos or help files, we were able to just jump right in and use it.
• Great features like targeting based on anything available in your data, including products purchased, loyalty standing, interactions, etc.

Incentivized

• It took me a while to get to understand where to find things, and I used a free online course from a consultant who specialises in AC to help me get the foundations set up more easily. That said, there were lots of onboarding workshops, which were good. It just felt like it required a lot of different angles of learning to just get started.
• The customer support took longer than other software to get back to me via email, though once I found the chat option for my most recent query, that was fast.
• I've ended up switching to another programme where more software is more naturally integrated, and the AC equivalent is included in the price, along with many other types of software. However, design-wise, ActiveCampaign is much better.
• I also had a problem with a form used on my WordPress website, which has a BuddyBoss platform - the colours on the form would be overridden by colour choices for the website, so they were hard to read (pink text on purple background instead of the gold text it was meant to be)
• I couldn't always find the templates I was looking for or how to access them for automation-based emails. I think when I used it, there was a new type of template for newsletters that weren't available for automations, so I had to recreate it, which added time.

Incentivized

• At times the platform isn't as intuitive as you would like. Take the time to be onboarded and play around in the platform to get the hang of things. Utilize Klaviyo's resources and attend their live training sessions to help navigate the platform and implement best practices they recommend.
• Can be pricey depending on company and email list.
• Customization is limited at times. The brand font we utilized on all branded content wasn't available through Klaviyo. Previously we would have to go through the back end to implement our branded font, import our font, or create content on another platform to utilize our font.

Incentivized

I am committed at the moment. Rebuilding the automations I have would be a huge time drain. Plus the cost of learning a new system and the risk to deliverability of porting a 6,000 person list to a new platform. Also, AC offers everything I need ast a reasonable (but a little high) price. So, why not a 10? Because, early 2023, AC dropped a massive 2x price hike on long-term customers. They knew few would shift, so this feels like a cynical cash grab and left a bad taste, If they do something like this again, this camel will have a broken back.

Incentivized

Klaviyo is simply a great solution for e-com email marketing & customer relationship management:

1. User journey visibility: We can see our clients' customers on their individual user journeys (open email, site visits) to better understand and accommodate your customers.
2. Flow automation: Creating automated emails that follow up with new leads, those who abandoned carts, purchased.
3. Email design: So easy to use, and more friendly than some other visual builders that we've used.
4. Metrics visibility: We can see our clients' metrics very easily and adjust efforts accordingly.

Incentivized

ActiveCampaign has been the easiest marketing automation software we have ever used. They provide tips throughout the entire process of anything you are building. Their support team through LIVE CHAT has been extremely fast and helpful. The monthly meetings provided with the enablement team has helped us through several large and urgent needs.

The only reason why I did not give it a 10/10 is that it cannot distinguish purchases that came through subscription recharges instead of purchases that were driven directly by email sends. Other than that, the automation qualities, design features, and segmentation options make this an incredible email platform, and I am very happy with it

Incentivized

I haven't experienced application errors or unplanned outages at all. Active Campaign is ultra reliable and I would not be using them if that were the case. Also, the helpful emails they send are welcomed and informative, and present very practical tips and guidance for using the platform. They're always demonstrating new features and I'm thankful for that.

Incentivized

Oh my gosh, Active Campaign's performance gets an A+++ in my book. The pages load quickly and so do the reports. I haven't noticed any slowdowns when it's integrating with other programs and it performs excellently on all levels.

Incentivized

This might be the best part. The chat support lady offered to make a video to help me solve my problem. I worked in customer service for years and I've never done that, lol. So, if they're offering things like that, I can only imagine that they'd be able to handle most any issue you throw at them.

Incentivized

Their support is always quick and we have recurring meetings with our advisor. they were great when we first started at walking us through the platform and helping us understand how to do the overall setup. They also have a wide variety of articles that cover must issues in a very clear manner that will get you out of a predicament really fast.

Incentivized

Very satisfied with our implementation in our professional medical practice, allowing us to be on top of client service, and not miss out on crucial information and insights. Marketing is often neglected in professional practices and ActiveCampaign solved this problem with aplomb.

Incentivized

Don't cut corners, do it right the first time, if you take your time to build everything the way you want it then it will run itself. The platform will help you increase revenue as long as you use the tools it provides. Don't be scared to ask questions, the support team will help you get to the next level

Incentivized

I moved to ActiveCampaign from Mailchimp. Admittedly, I was using the free version of Mailchimp, but I had numerous episodes of subscriber data NOT being added to Mailchimp, despite using API to integrate with my mailing list. Obviously, I couldn't pay for clicks and not capture subscriber data, so I had to find something else. ActiveCampaign has been 100% reliable in testing.

Incentivized

Klaviyo is leaps and bounds above Mailchimp. We just switched from MailChimp because we outgrew it. That is actually my recommended path to take while starting out. MailChimp had a free plan up to 5000 emails. Once we hit that, we switched and got an email marketing team and grew from there.

My web designer told me about Active Campaign and although I don't recall which platform I had before, I LOVE Active Campaign and its user friendliness. The transition was seamless and I've never had a problem with functionality or server failure.

Active Campaign provides so many features, and makes it easy for non-techies to maneuver around the site with ease. They capture information and put it in an easy-to-read format.

At this point, I don't think I'd ever use any other platform!

Incentivized

• I haven't monetized my list yet so no clear ROI but great from a list-building perspective
• The software is not cheap so at times I feel like I may not be getting the most out of the product because I'm not using all of the features

Incentivized

• Newsletter marketing has become a major form of sales
• The success we had in our first year forced us to shift priorities and add more resources to support newsletter marketing
• The price for using the service is a drop in the bucket compared to the attributed revenue earned from using the service

Incentivized