Kevel vs. Klaviyo vs. Springbot

For ad serving, implementing client-side header bidding with prebid was actually easier with Kevel than it is with Google Ad Manager in most cases, particularly for display advertising. I found though that with more complex integrations (like video), there were more solutions and code snippets available with other larger ad servers (Google).

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

Well Suited For:

• Small businesses with small marketing teams.
• Shopify Customers.
• Small businesses that want more reporting/segmented lists.
• Businesses that are upgrading from a service like Constant Contact or Mailchimp.

Less appropriate

• Customer who are currently using Klaviyo.
• Business who do not have a Shopify website.

• More personable team that can address customizations needed to the product.
• Easy to use interface.
• Frequent product updates with notifications via email.
• Well documented API.

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

• The demographic data was great. I could see how many males vs. females, ages, income, married, with or without children. It gave me a good idea of who my customers were.
• Using their tracking URLs in all of our campaigns allowed us to get a better idea of what exactly was driving revenue.
• Not only could I see top performing products, which I can do within Magento, I could also see top selling categories and colors.
• I can pull a Coupon Usage report our of Magento, but Springbot gave me additional info like AOV and ROI on those codes.
• Springbot also gave me a lot of info about our abandoned carts. It shows us which products are most abandoned along with views, conversion rates, etc.
• Springbot gave us an Instagram Shop page that allowed us to curate social shares and then tie them to products on our site.

Incentivized

• User interface could be faster to load.

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

• After our purchase, I let spring or know that I was currently too busy to implement the system and to put things on hold. They ignored this request and kept charging us a monthly fee without using any of their systems. I have only logged in once. Nothing has been set up. They can see that from their side.
• After multiple emails back and forth their out was in the user agreement. I never asked for my money back only credit so I can regroup and when I have time get on to implant the systems. They tell me they don't do that.
• They don't care about any of the customer's needs. They only care about charging you that monthly fee. Terrible bus plan. With enough bad feedback, they will suffer from such a narrow plan.
• I wish we had actual information about the cons using the system. Unfortunately I was not given the opportunity to do unless I wanted to keep paying while not using the system.

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

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

Springbot has top navigation that helps me quickly jump from emails to social, and reporting very easily.

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

We have raved about Springbot's support because they always get back with us so quickly. Our rep, Jared has been phenomenal in helping us, always being available to chat with us and explaining some of the metrics with us so we can better understand. He completely handles our ads, checks on them, and lets us know when to update and why.

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

Kevel was an easier initial implementation for header bidding with prebid. The team worked alongside us to make sure everything was operating as intended. We ultimately switched to Ads Manager to access AdX demand and other features that were not possible with Kevel (for instance, EBDA). There are benefits to both but I appreciated the attention we got from Kevel support when we were first working through the implementation. We are still using Kevel for many things, just not as our primary display advertising ad server.

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.

Springbit is more expensive, more complicated and delivered less.

• Kevel enabled us to get up and running with client side header bidding when our team was still small and the technology was still new. This improved our ability to monetize our inventory.

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

• Springbot gave us a better idea of who our customer was. We just launched in January 2015 having been B2B previously. So we weren't really sure who we were marketing to.
• I only paid $200/month for the service so I didn't waste a ton of money trying it out. They have a 30 day cancellation policy so I wasn't stuck in a year long contract.
• It was a let down because I had such high hopes of everything it would allow me to do and see with one platform. Give them a couple more years and I think they will work out the kinks.

Incentivized