When it comes to email marketing and lead generation, Drip and Klaviyo stand out as two of the most popular platforms available today. With powerful features for collecting customer data, segmenting audiences, designing campaigns, and tracking analytics, these solutions can have a big impact on a business’s bottom line.
However, choosing the right email marketing platform is critical – the wrong solution can hamper marketing efforts and prevent companies from effectively engaging their customers.
In this comprehensive Drip vs Klaviyo comparison, we evaluate the two email marketing platforms across a range of criteria important for business owners.
Our goal is to provide an unbiased assessment of strengths and weaknesses so you can determine which platform would best empower your organization to drive revenue growth, boost customer retention, and achieve your goals through email marketing. Read on for a detailed side-by-side analysis.
1. Understanding the Basics
Drip was founded in 2013 by entrepreneurs Rob Walling and Mike Perham as a simplified alternative to complex email service providers. Now over a decade old, Drip has become one of the most popular small business email marketing tools. It caters to over 8,000 customers globally across 100+ countries.
Klaviyo was created in 2012 by Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen to “help companies own their data and build direct relationships” with customers. In 8 years, Klaviyo’s growth has skyrocketed. They now power billions of data-driven messages for over 90,000 businesses. Klaviyo is the top-rated email marketing platform on review sites like G2 Crowd.
Both platforms have engaged Facebook user groups: Drip Community for discussions about Drip and Klaviyo Ambassadors where users share best practices. These groups are highly active and can supplement the provider’s customer communities.
With strong reputations and market presence, Drip and Klaviyo are leading choices. Understanding their origins and present-day status lays the foundation for seeing how they differ across metrics meaningful to business owners targeting growth through email marketing software.
2. Features and Functionality
Automation
Drip
Drip provides a robust set of automation tools to help businesses create customized buyer journeys based on customer behavior. You can build sequences that trigger emails or send data to other apps when contacts take specific actions. Sequences support multiple branches, letting you create segmented, personalized paths.
With Drip’s workflow builder, you visually map triggers and actions for your automated email campaigns to configure automations without code. Pre-built filters, splitters, and connectors detect behaviors like email opens, form submissions, custom events, inactivity, e-commerce transactions, etc. This simplifies mapping detailed journeys to nurture subscribers. You also have CRM-level segmentation for sending the right messages to the right groups.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo takes a data-driven approach to automation with advanced options for tailored flows. Drag-and-drop workflow builder or Klaviyo Script allows UI and code-based creation. Dynamic Segmentation lets you automatically update segments as people meet criteria.
Trigger types include time delays, custom events, e-commerce events, metric thresholds, and profile attribute changes. You can chain unlimited sequences together for elaborate journeys. Klaviyo also offers multi-step abandon cart flows to re-engage non-buying site visitors.
Integration with metrics platforms like Shopify empowers data collection for informed path creation. Klaviyo further stands out with machine learning capabilities to optimize sends automatically based on historical performance.
Winner: Tie
Both Drip and Klaviyo provide extensive automation capabilities for targeted, customized buyer journeys to boost your customer lifetime value. Their strengths are closely matched, offering robust conditional logic, segmentation, workflow builders, and tight integration with apps and platforms. For comprehensive automation power, these two email marketing leaders deliver on par.
Email Templates
Drip
Drip provides professional, customizable email templates to ensure high deliverability and engagement. Choose from a gallery of 150+ mobile-optimized templates covering use cases like welcome series, promotions, announcements, newsletters, and more. Drag-and-drop builder simplifies editing while maintaining structure and design.
Available in a range of styles, Drip’s templates are professionally coded with responsive layouts. You have control over headers, images, colors, fonts, content blocks, buttons, and footers. Templates feature designated spaces for custom elements for on-branding while keeping emails well-structured. Updates push automatically to maintain deliverability.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo offers hundreds of customizable, mobile-optimized starter templates for different email types – welcome flows, campaigns, triggered, transactional, and more. Cloud-hosted editor simplifies drag-and-drop creation and editing while enforcing best practices for responsive layouts, calls to action, etc.
Dynamic content modules let you reuse elements like headers, footers, images, and buttons across templates. Global styling allows brand consistency with fonts, colors, etc. Klaviyo provides WYSIWYG editing and template versioning for iterative updates. You also integrate custom HTML for greater control or management through CSS overrides.
Winner: Tie
Drip and Klaviyo both provide stellar template functionality for professional email creation simplified for users. Their offerings showcase modern designs and extensive customization capabilities while ensuring mobile responsiveness and high deliverability rates. For quality templates that empower branding and usability, Drip and Klaviyo are equals.
Segmentation
Drip
Drip enables intuitive contact segmentation and advanced personalization features to personalize messaging. Segment people based on lifecycle stage, interests, demographics, engagement metrics, custom tags, location, transaction history, and more. Build segments with drag-and-drop filtering or custom JavaScript-based rules.
Visual workflow builder lets you split contacts into groups to receive different messaging paths. Powerful segment match/mismatch options support the dynamic movement of subscribers between lists based on shifting behaviors. Drip also covers basic segmentation by email activity such as opens, clicks, sends, and bounces.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo takes a data-focused approach to contact grouping for relevant communications. Custom and preset metrics filters empower segmentation by geography, age, order history, intent signals, predictive models, and more. You can build dynamic lists that update in real time when someone meets rules-based criteria.
The platform makes it easy to create and visualize audience segments without coding. Flow Dashboard illustrates list sizes, overlap between segments, and how metrics are shifting groups over the last 30, 60, or 90 days. For more advanced users, Klaviyo offers Python Scripting to create custom metrics and programmatically-defined segments.
Winner: Klaviyo
While both platforms provide robust segmentation capabilities, Klaviyo edges out Drip with greater emphasis on custom, dynamic groupings fueled by deep behavioral data analysis. Klaviyo gives clearer visibility into list movement trends while still keeping segmentation accessible to users at all levels through intuitive filtering tools for targeted communications.
Analytics
Drip
Drip provides robust email marketing analytics to inform campaign optimization. Built-in reporting dashboard tracks opens, clicks, unsubscribes, spam complaints, and revenue with visualizations like time series charts. You can filter metrics by date ranges, email types, and customer segments for targeted analysis.
Custom conversion funnels illustrate how contacts progress through journeys to gauge engagement and drop-off points. Event tracking for sites/apps captures granular on-page behaviors for behavioral segmentation. Deep Microsoft Excel integration enables customized reporting with contact data exports. However, advanced users may want more predictive analytics.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo stands out with powerful analytics leveraging machine learning for actionable insights. Quantify email ROI with attribution modeling – analyze performance by factors like traffic source and segment. Anomaly detection identifies unusual metric fluctuations for lists. Flow dashboard visualizes segment movement between dynamic groups.
Built-in metrics include industry benchmarks for comparing performance. Custom Dashboards allow customizable real-time visibility into engagement rates, revenue contributions, projections based on trends, and more. Users can also integrate cloud data platforms like Snowflake for advanced analysis needs including predictive modeling.
Winner: Klaviyo
While both platforms provide email analytics essentials, Klaviyo’s machine learning capabilities crunch behavioral data for optimizable forecasts and benchmarks that exceed Drip’s offerings. Klaviyo gives ecommerce businesses superior visibility through predictive metrics – valuable intelligence for maximizing the value of email marketing programs without a steep learning curve.
Unique Features
Drip
Drip stands out with its robust e-commerce focus, catering specifically to digital product sellers with tools facilitating subscription billing, sales, and customer journeys. Product Onboarding automates post-purchase welcome and orientation. The Lifetime Value Dashboard estimates customer value over time based on past spending habits.
The platform also shines with content-gathering tools like Leadpages integration, signup forms, polls, and surveys to capture visitor data across channels for advanced segmentation and messaging personalization. Drip further enables long-form lead nurturing with its recently launched CMS that seamlessly bridges email and websites.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo offers unique value through its integrated data infrastructure connecting online and real-world customer interactions. The platform offers built-in CRM features like profile record storage and management for holistic data ownership. You also get real-time order data feeds from integrated shopping platforms like Shopify.
The unified data layer feeds Klaviyo’s segmentation engine to group profiles using filters combining attributes like order history, customer service requests, event attendance, and website clicks for highly targeted messaging based on complete individual histories. No data disruption from churn means long-term relevance.
Winner: Klaviyo
For comprehensive, scalable access to integrated data ownership – both online and offline – fueling intelligent segmentation and personalization, Klaviyo is unmatched. Though Drip leads for focused e-commerce functionality, Klaviyo’s integrated data infrastructure provides broader value for a business looking to own the customer relationship across every channel.
3. Ease of Use
Drip
Drip prides itself on usability and an intuitive interface. The visual workflow builder enables drag-and-drop editor and powerful automation without coding. Pre-designed templates, opt-in forms, landing pages, and messaging accelerate campaign creation. Setup wizards guide users through initial configuration.
A clean, uncluttered dashboard efficiently surfaces key metrics and campaign details without feeling overwhelming. In-line help bubbles explain features concisely. Drip also provides free weekly live workshops for customer onboarding and ongoing education.
While powerful under the hood, Drip doesn’t sacrifice user experience. Their focus on simplicity makes the platform approachable even for non-technical users while still supporting sophisticated functionality through custom code widgets.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo also offers a straightforward user experience – though initially, the breadth of data-focused features may seem intimidating. For those new to advanced email marketing, the platform guides you through key setup steps to start collecting contact insights and building audiences.
Klaviyo University provides free on-demand courses on optimizing features. Their blog also offers tailored advice on platform strategy. While Klaviyo offers immense customization depth, first-time users may want to lean on educational resources to navigate steeper learning curves around complex functionality.
Winner: Drip
This Klaviyo Drip comparison shows that Drip is the clear winner here. With user experience central to its design approach, the Drip platform provides the most immediately intuitive interface and fastest path to impact for email marketing newcomers, bloggers, and online stores.
While Klaviyo excels at data-driven messaging for sophisticated strategy, Drip’s simplicity gets you quickly up and running – especially valuable for early-stage and bootstrap companies focused on core revenue operations.
4. Email Deliverability
Drip
Drip prioritizes deliverability through professional email infrastructure and best practices enforcement. All Drip customers send through shared IP pools with strong sender reputations, avoiding new domain blacklist challenges. Drip’s deliverability team proactively monitors reputation and email health for an effective Drip campaign.
Templates enforce proper formatting, content structure, mobile optimization, and sign-off compliance for inbox placement. Image hosting through Drip servers prevents blocked remote hosting. Signup forms apply double opt-in and confirmed subscriptions to ensure engaged recipients. List hygiene tools help manage inactive and bounces.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo also optimizes deliverability with compliant templates, multiple IP warm-up strategies to avoid triggering spam filters, and infrastructure supporting geo-distributed sending for relevant regional delivery. They monitor factors like new vs engaged recipient response rates to optimize list quality.
You can further customize based on delivery metrics – choose ports like Amazon SES for better Gmail delivery or SendGrid for more mailbox provider coverage. Klaviyo provides reporting to compare performance across ESPs over time as you scale upwards. Transparent feedback loops help troubleshoot any mailbox rejection causes for continuous optimization.
Winner: Tie
Both platforms show extensive dedication to maximizing email deliverability through list quality monitoring, infrastructure choices, and optimizable templates driving engagement. They take largely similar approaches based on established best practices – unsurprising given their equal stake in customers’ messaging success driving platform growth and retention long-term.
5. Customer Support and Community
Drip
Drip focuses heavily on customer support and community. All plans include email ticketing and live chat with their top-rated support team. They also offer weekly live workshops for both new users and experts to ask questions directly to their team and network with other customers in real time.
Self-serve support resources include documentation, webinars, and video tutorials. You can engage with other users and experts within the active Drip Community Facebook group which has over 4,300 members. Between official channels and the peer community, Drip customers have ample educational resources.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo also provides email and live chat support alongside their online knowledge base. They produce free, on-demand courses through Klaviyo University to educate users on best practices across platform capabilities. Their blog offers guides, ebooks, and videos as well.
As the largest standalone email platform, Klaviyo benefits from an extensive community of marketers sharing expertise. The official Klaviyo Community forums as well as the Klaviyo Ambassadors group on Facebook with over 13,500 members give newer users access to veteran advice. Integration partners also produce tutorials.
Winner: Tie
Both platforms recognize customer education’s value for driving user success, adoption, and retention. They take comparable approaches with direct ticketing, knowledge bases, on-demand training, and community forums for collaboration – together providing comprehensive resources that set users up for workstream mastery.
6. Integrations
Drip
Drip integrates with over 750+ applications via Zapier including leading marketing, sales, and payment tools. Native integrations also connect key platforms like Stripe, Zoho, and Salesforce.
Workflows bridge email campaigns with webinars, social ads, chat, CRM data, CMS subscriptions, online course platforms, and other martech stack elements. Event tracking APIs capture off-site interactions while custom UI widgets enable bringing visual data into journeys.
Drip’s new Nimble Builder even allows customers to create custom integrations with internal tools using nimble API connectors and pre-built templates for expanding ecosystem connectivity.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo easily integrates with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce for order data flows. Their unified data model also ingests metrics from platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook, Stripe, Salesforce, Zendesk, and Marketo.
Rather than one-off tools, Klaviyo excels at cross-channel data consolidation for complete customer profiles within the platform then actionable across use cases – email, SMS/push notifications, website personalization, and more. APIs also allow data loading from custom in-house systems. Partner docs help ease setup.
Winner: Klaviyo
Both platforms offer robust app integration capabilities – but Klaviyo’s unified data infrastructure provides unique value in centralizing all customer interactions for a complete profile within one analytics and activation engine. This consolidated data asset becomes even more powerful for precision targeting over time.
7. Pricing
Drip
Drip has a simple pricing structure based on the number of contacts in your list. The lowest plan costs $39/month for up to 2,500 people. You can sign up for a free trial on the platform to test out the software before committing to a paid plan.
All plans include unlimited emails, and access to core features like automation, analytics, and integrations. Higher tiers offer more contacts, additional CRM and e-commerce integrations, and priority support.
Overall, Drip is competitively priced and its free tier provides excellent capabilities for early-stage businesses.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo pricing is based on your monthly email volume, starting with the free plan which lets you send up to 500 monthly emails. The Email plan costs $45/month for up to 1,500 contacts and mobile push notifications. For $60/month, you get up to 15K monthly sends.
This transparent, usage-based model means you only pay for the required capacity. Add-ons like SMS credits cost extra.
Klaviyo is positioned as an enterprise-level tool focused on established mid-market and high-volume brands. The pricing reflects robust features and high-touch support.
Winner: Drip
Drip takes the prize for new and growing small businesses on a budget. Their sub-500 contact tier at just $49/month provides welcome affordability and seamless upgrades absent from Klaviyo’s higher minimum capacities and opaque enterprise pricing. For bootstrapped teams, Drip delivers the value.
8. Reviews and Reputation
Drip
Drip earns strong reviews across evaluation platforms. G2 rates them 4.5/5 stars based on 930+ user reviews praising the platform’s ease of use, great support, and automation capabilities. Pricing and some technical limitations around advanced analytics emerge as common downsides.
Capterra averages a 4.5/5 star rating while users on SoftwareAdvice highlight valuable features like visual workflow builder, integrations, and lead capture tools. Some want more template variety. Overall, Drip wins favor with intuitive UI while still supporting sophisticated functions through custom code.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo also scores well across review sites, holding the #1 spot on G2 for email marketing software based on 20K+ merchant reviews. Their 4.7/5 average rating reflects praise for automation and analytics power. On Capterra, Klaviyo averages 4.5/5 stars.
The most frequent positive feedback centers on Klaviyo’s flexibility, segmentation capabilities, and integrations. The downsides mentioned include high pricing for basic plan limits and interface complexity for new users. Yet the ease of generating results counterweighs steeper learning curves for most.
Winner: Klaviyo
With 20x more customer evaluations, Klaviyo emerges as the higher-rated platform reflecting versatility empowering both new and advanced email marketers alike – albeit at a higher cost of entry. While scores are tight and both see wide success, Klaviyo’s combination of strengths edges them as today’s leader.
9. FAQ’s
Drip FAQs
- What types of businesses should use Drip?
Drip is designed for small e-commerce businesses, SAAS, and digital subscriptions looking for intuitive, affordable email marketing and automation oriented around driving repeat sales. - Does Drip have email design templates?
Yes, Drip offers over 150 mobile-optimized email templates covering common use cases like welcome flows, cart abandonment, newsletters, appointments, and promotions. Easy to customize while maintaining structure. - Can Drip integrate with my ecommerce store?
Drip easily integrates e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce via plugins to track customer transaction data used for segmentation and personalization. Workflows can also connect sites.
Klaviyo FAQs
- What types of businesses use Klaviyo?
Klaviyo targets growth-focused mid-market and enterprise brands selling across both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar that take a data-driven approach to email marketing automation and analytics. - Does Klaviyo offer CRM features?
Yes, Klaviyo provides integrated CRM capabilities like customizable profile records for long-term data storage as well as segmentation tools for grouping contacts based on attributes like order history. - Can Klaviyo help with in-store marketing?
Klaviyo helps connect online and in-store interactions through event and transaction tracking tied to customer profiles. This supports personalized messaging guiding customers between locations. Loyalty integrations are also available.
Final Thoughts
Choose Drip if…
You are a small e-commerce business looking for an affordable, intuitive email marketing solution. Drip’s easy-to-use, automation-driven platform optimized around converting and retaining customers through campaigns personalized by purchase journeys stands out for early-stage brands on a budget. Their focus on straightforward UI accelerates time-to-value.
If you feel like Drip isn’t for you, I recommend reading my Drip alternatives article to see some other options.
Choose Klaviyo if…
You are a sophisticated mid-market or enterprise brand ready to take an integrated, data-focused approach to customized messaging across channels. Klaviyo empowers growth-oriented teams to unify data flows centrally and leverage advanced analytics alongside machine learning for optimizable projections – providing unmatched intelligence tailored to metrics-driven marketers.
You can also take a look at my Klaviyo alternatives article to see which platforms are a good choice if Klaviyo isn’t a good fit for you.
The right email marketing platform can have an immense impact on shaping customer relationships and revenue for businesses. Consider your budget, technical needs, and growth levers as you evaluate solutions against current and future ambitions. Feel free to ask any clarifying questions below and leverage our experience guiding clients across industries toward the ideal tools enabling their visions.