I didn't think I would ever use an alternative software for my e-commerce email marketing. Klaviyo is so well-regarded and the industry default if you use Shopify, which I have for several years. It's relative ease of use and ubiquitous, universally accepted availability, not to mention it's easy Shopify integration made it the default go-to email marketing software if you were in DTC ecommerce.
But I switched and I don't regret it. Omnisend has been fantastic and probably easier to use. I'm getting email-level revenue attribution reporting in workflows, and I'm even saving some money at my current subscription level. Let's
Where things went wrong with Klaviyo
It was a black swan event for a DTC ecommerce client. A major earned media event created a windfall of website traffic. Their product had magically become the story behind how a high-level professional reached the pinnacle of their profession. When the professional was asked what they'd done differently to reach new heights, the answer was more or less:
"I have been using [client's product] for several years and here I am."
I've made money for many brands using Facebook and paid search ads over the years, but nothing could compare to what we were experiencing here. The client's sales in 1 week exceeded what they'd done the previous year. It was internal pandemonium. A true launching point for any startup.
But when we attempted to set up a native integration with Klaviyo and Shopify via the App Store Marketplace, we were left with a surprise issue that ended up costing the client money in the form of illegitimate, accidental discounts.
Unbeknownst to us at the time, the integration had a bug and, a rogue default pop up form was appearing on the site, just as hundreds of thousands of new visitors were viewing the brand for the first time. Worse yet, the pop-up form was a total template. Default text, no styling, no branding. Completely out of context. It was offering a 15% discount at a time when the product had never been in higher demand. This client had never discounted, either.
We started getting these support tickets asking how people could take advantage of the 15% discount. Very confusing. Making matters worse, we couldn't recreate the bug on our own machines. We had to rely on some prospects sending in screen shots from their own mobile devices. Compounding our problem was, since we hadn't created any forms in Klaviyo, we couldn't figure out where the form was coming from.
All in all, an untold number of people saw this rogue discount that the client never intended to offer.
We were fortunate in that Klaviyo support confirmed that this was a bug of their own making, but the negative impression had been made. The trust in Klaviyo was broken and we needed a new email marketing software that could help us convert more email customers.
Enter Omnisend to the rescue.
What I've Enjoyed Most About Omnisend
What I've enjoyed most is, Omnisend is just easy to use. I've used Constant Contact. I've used Mailchimp. I've used HubSpot the most, and I've adapted to Klaviyo (though I never found their internal UX as intuitive as other systems.)
The email editor is dead simple to use.
I can't put my finger on exactly why, but getting stuff done in this email marketing software is just easy. When I've got a lot to do in a day, I don't want to have to clunk through another one of my SaaS tools.
The UX loads super super fast.
Sometimes you use a software and, you might not notice it completely but, you end up spending too much time waiting for page elements to load. That's not the case whatsoever with Omnisend. I felt like I was flying through the different pages, editors and list building tools. It is a super-subtle difference but you really appreciate it when you're working through your daily to-do list.
Revenue attribution on the email-level at the lowest pricing tier.
This may seem like an odd one, as we could all look at revenue reporting in Google Analytics using UTM parameters. But I noticed in Klaviyo, after having had it for other brands, that at the entry-level tier, it was now no longer available. Super disappointing.
But with Omnisend, revenue attribution per email was right there for me, making it dead-simple to see which of my abandoned cart emails were delivering the most value.
It was also super helpful to see how my ToF site email course offer was contributing to revenue. Little features like this help make a marketers' life easier and Omnisend delivers in this regard.
Omnisend's clean, modern site and UX design
Klaviyo's UX and product design was never super intuitive for me. Even after sending out literally millions of emails from a Klaviyo account, I still found it frustrating to easily send a test email. It was almost like Klaviyo was trying to limit the number of test emails that I actually sent.
I found the opposite was true with Omnisend. Their super clean and modern UX didn't try and hide the test email feature from me, and I was more easily able to get test emails sent out, which is always a help.
The Verdict: Try Omnisend. You Won't be Disappointed
Every DTC ecommerce brand you can meet online or in person will say, Klaviyo Klaviyo Klaviyo. But take it from me - Omnisend is just as good if not better, you'll probably save some money and you're definitely going to save some time.
