One of the most significant decisions any business has to make is choosing the right marketing platform. This platform decides how their business is going to turn out. It could either lead to profit and success or go downhill.
Two of the most commonly used names in the online industry are Klaviyo and ActiveCampaign. Choosing between these two well-known platforms can get a bit challenging. To help you through the dilemma, I’ll be making an honest comparison below.
It will help you decide which is the ideal one for your business and guide you in making the right choice.
Brief History
Before jumping into the comparisons, it is vital to get to know the platforms thoroughly. ActiveCampaign, a cloud software platform, was built in the year 2013 that is used almost all over the world today.
It is designed for small to medium-size businesses. It gives you marketing automations, email marketing, CRM tools, and much more. With ActiveCampaign, you are guaranteed to get 100% customer satisfaction and an excellent experience.
It is used for Ecommerce, B2C businesses, and B2B businesses as well. Over the years, ActiveCampaign has won the hearts of many companies all over the world.
Klaviyo, an automated marketing software, was founded in the year 2012. It is known for its marketing automations offered through various digital channels. You get multiple choices of methods to market your business.
With Klaviyo, you can send personalized emails, SMSs, automated thank you messages, etc., to your consumers and build a rapport with them.
Email Marketing – Klaviyo vs. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is more of an email marketing platform and has a higher range of marketing features as compared to Klaviyo. Klaviyo, on the other hand, is mainly designed for the e-commerce business. However, it does have a few email marketing tools.
Some of the features that you will find in both platforms are segmentation, flow builders, email templates, email designer, and so on. If yours is an e-commerce business falling into the small or medium company size, it is recommendable to opt for Klaviyo.
Klaviyo is meant for businesses that require more email automations, marketing, etc. It helps you keep track of the products or campaigns that are doing great. Whereas in ActiveCampaign, this feature is available only in high-end plans.
In this context, it’s best to base your decision on the type of business you run and the needs of that firm.
Ease of Use – Klaviyo vs. ActiveCampaign
One of the critical features of any software is its usability. If the platform can perform all the functions required but isn’t easy to use, it fails to be efficient. Both Klaviyo and ActiveCampaign have a user-friendly interface.
ActiveCampaign has a robust list of automations to offer. However, the more high-end automations, the greater are the chances of it being complex. Klaviyo, on the other hand, has an easy-to-navigate interface.
There’s no doubt that ActiveCampaign has much more to offer in terms of email templates, automations, etc. But, Klaviyo is designed to help the non-professionals get a gist of how marketing functions.
If you have zero to less knowledge in technology, I’d recommend you start by using Klaviyo. You could, later on, switch to ActiveCampaign if required.
Integrations – Klaviyo vs. ActiveCampaign
Integrations are a great way of connecting various apps to one platform for better workflow. Both ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo have a wide range of integrations to offer. Klaviyo has connections with major platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, Zoho, Magento, etc. You can automate other integration as well with the use of Zapier.
ActiveCampaign, in comparison, has many more integrations. You could name any tools starting from ecommerce to lead generation software; ActiveCampaign has got you covered. It helps lessen your workload and make business fun.
In terms of integration, I’d say the winner is ActiveCampiagn anytime. However, if you own a small business and do not require many integrations at the moment, then Klaviyo is ideal for you.
Marketing Automations – Klaviyo vs. ActiveCampaign
Marketing Automations are the need of the hour. They handle the work that would otherwise take hours. With ActiveCampaign, you can automate your email follow-ups, text messages, lead scoring, etc.
Through segmentation, you can send the exact information that the customers wish to see. With ActiveCampaign, you can advertise your business in a better manner. It also gives you the freedom to go through your customer’s entire journey in one place/single view.
Klaviyo gives you pre-built automations that smoothen your ecommerce workflow. These automations are highly customizable, giving you the freedom to set triggers as per your requirement. You can keep track of the performance reports and try to do better in future schemes.
Through the A/B testing, you can get a better judgment of which emails lead to more action. You can build flows with a mixture of texts and emails to reach out to more viewers and thereby increase your customers.
Pricing – Klaviyo vs. ActiveCampaign
Klaviyo is anytime much expensive as compared to ActiveCampaign. However, it is worth the price because it provides you with all the features irrespective of the plan you choose. The price Klaviyo offers depends on the number of subscribers you choose.
For up to 250-500 subscribers, the Email plus SMS plan begins at $20 per month. The cost increases based on the increase in your contacts.
On the other hand, you have ActiveCampaign with four different plans to offer. The Lite plan begins at $7.50 per month. It consists of email marketing, marketing automations, drag-and-drop email builder, and a few more features.
The Plus plan and the Professional plan are the most used plans as they give you the feature of creating landing pages, automation maps, SMS marketing, etc. These plans start at $35 and $79.50, respectively.
The last and the most desired plan is the Professional plan starting at $139.50 per month. It includes all the features and aspects that ActiveCampaign has to offer. All the prices mentioned above are for 500 contacts only. The prices may differ on the basis of the number of subscribers you choose.
ActiveCampaign offers you a 14-day trial to give you an experience of its functioning and whereabouts. The only setback here is that you do not get a free plan, whereas Klaviyo gives you free usage up to 250 subscribers.
Final Thought
Now that you have a detailed comparison between the two platforms, I suppose it gives you a better picture to make your decision. Overall I’d say Klaviyo is preferable over ActiveCampaign unless you can pay for its highest plan. You can also check our article on infusionsoft vs activecampaign.
If you want to use all features at a minimal rate, I’d suggest you opt for Klaviyo. Nevertheless, if you have a small business with a few customers, ActiveCampaign is the ideal choice for you.