Klaviyo is widely recognized as the front-runner in the email marketing space for eCommerce, and has had an impressive growth story over the last 10+ years.
As a Klaviyo Partner, we’ve covered some of Klaviyo’s more advanced features on the blog before: see Three Reasons to Choose Klaviyo for eCommerce Business Growth, and Plan Before You Send: The 4 Elements Of A Strong Email Marketing Strategy.
But what if you’re service-based businesses, or wouldn’t identify as eCommerce businesses? Can Klaviyo still be useful?
We get this question a lot from clients and our network at large, and the answer is: it depends.
Email marketing yields 36x ROI for every dollar spent — and that number is even higher in sectors like retail. But that doesn’t mean Klaviyo is for everyone or that you necessarily have to migrate from Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or whatever other tool you’re using.
This blog aims to clarify what the value add of Klaviyo really is to help you, as a business owner, make the right decision. Because it’s hard to know what you don’t know.
1. Advanced Web Tracking and Integrations
For any business with an online presence, understanding how your audience interacts with you online is an opportunity.
Klaviyo excels in this area because it was designed for eCommerce businesses. It has advanced features like monitoring “Active On Site” events from profiles. It also recently quietly launched a capability to enrich profiles with data after they’ve opted into your list. Meaning once someone’s on your list you will be able to see what pages they’ve viewed prior to signing up, too.
These tools may be must-haves for eCommerce businesses, but they can also be useful for service-based businesses, too. Consider the business that has sales and pricing pages and a strong sales team who would be better at reaching out if they knew what service the person was considering.
Data is useful, but I tell clients all the time that it’s not going to be useful if you don’t have the means to adapt your marketing and sales strategies. I.e., don’t just think about what you can learn — think about what you can do with that insight. Would you do something differently if you had access to this information?
(Of course, that’s what we do for our clients: use data to take action, including improving email deliverability, increasing email revenue, and more.)
2. Advanced Segmentation
The reason having a data-centric email marketing tool is powerful has to do with segmentation. Segmentation means being able to target specific groups of people with offers that are likely to resonate with them because you know something about them.
However, there are other use cases like using segmentation to clean your list. Or using more sophisticated customer retention and re-engagement strategies like VIP programs or ambassador programs or referral programs.
Most B2B businesses have complex audiences like this, where they may have target customers but their business development efforts extend way beyond just making a sale. Here’s where it can get really interesting for service-based businesses. You can use the segmentation features to drive, scale, and grow these other arms of your business. For example, you might segment people who are good candidates for your referral program and email them about unique opportunities.
So even if you’re not an ecommerce business, think about your business and really zoom out. Is there a partner or referral program you’d love to scale? Is there a VIP program? These are the use cases where you’ll likely run into real limitations with other email marketing providers and where having the advanced segmentation possibilities at your fingers with Klaviyio will be most interesting.
3. Consider Your Team
The last, and possibly biggest case for Klaviyo has to do with your team and resources. Klaviyo’s widespread and growing popularity means a larger pool of experts and resources available to you as a business owner. Whether you’re looking for a team member to bring on, a freelancer, or an agency, using Klaviyo will open up a pool of talent, templates, and effectiveness that really is second to none.
At Centric Squared, we offer CRM consulting on a variety of tools. But if a client is looking to have us implement their email marketing strategy, we tell them that’s possible with Klaviyo and Hubspot. It’s not realistic or effective to run an agency that doesn’t have a specialty. And it’s to the benefit of our clients because of the expertise and shared knowledge that happens only in this kind of agency setting. For a look at what we mean, browse our portfolio.
Conclusion
For businesses that are able to make use of Klaviyo’s advanced web analytics features or segmentation features, Klaviyo can be a game-changer for your marketing strategy. Additionally, if you’re in the market for outsourcing your email marketing implementation, it could be the right move.
Klaviyo is not a one-size-fits-all solution. However, if you’re service-based businesses that could benefit from a data-centric marketing strategy, it’s worth considering.
It certainly was for Connect English, our client whose email list we grew by 17,000 in just one year with targeted email strategies.
Interested in exploring whether Klaviyo is the right fit for your non-eCommerce business? Consider creating a free Klaviyo account* and check it out. You only need to upgrade to a paid account when you start sending higher volume campaigns.
About Centric Squared
At Centric Squared, we’re dedicated to fostering customer-centric marketing for data-driven growth. Our team excels in delivering ethical and effective strategies across email marketing, SMS marketing, and list growth services, helping small businesses achieve remarkable results. Looking to elevate your email marketing? Let’s talk.
* Disclosure: Some of the links within this blog post are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. If you choose to sign up using one of our links, we thank you!