Have you heard about the biggest breakup (and now, reconciliation) happening in eCommerce? Nope, it isn’t any of the A-list of celebrities that decided to part ways after going through quarantine together. (Yes, we were shocked by some of those, too!)
It’s actually…
Shopify and Mailchimp.
While the initial split actually happened way back in Spring 2019, not all Shopify stores heard about or even noticed the change. This means you could have been having an issue with your email service provider and information collection for well over a year without ever knowing it.
That’s a big deal. Despite the fact that Shopify and Mailchimp have seemed to mend their relationship, this breakup-makeup melodrama may be cause for concern. Is their partnership reliable? Are their services still dependable?
If you’re one of those companies that feels like this unpredictability could ultimately cause problems down the line, you’ll want to keep reading. Our awesome CAKE team has put together this quick guide to help you understand where to go from here.
What Happened?
Now, let’s dissect said breakup and analyze what exactly happened between these two massive platforms. While there’s a lot of the typical “there’s two sides of every story,” it really comes down to customer information collection.
On the Shopify side, they wanted eCommerce store owners to have more access to the information that customers provide at the time they sign up for the Mailchimp list. However, Mailchimp cited not being able to do this due to evolving privacy laws around the globe, then telling Shopify to end their agreement to work together. For Mailchimp’s part, they cited the issue being that they didn’t agree with the updated terms of service Shopify was holding them to.
But industry insiders feel there was something else that made the two powerhouses decide to go their own ways. Perhaps it had something to do with Mailchimp’s deeper dive into the eCommerce game by partnering with Shopify competitor Square to create shoppable landing pages?
While we don’t know the exact cause, both agreed to the removal of the Mailchimp app from the Shopify store, which is what really creates an issue for eCommerce brands globally.
What Does This Mean for Heartbroken Shopify Store Owners?
Essentially, this put brands in a position where they needed to switch to another mailing platform. Failure to do so meant you would be using two wholly incompatible platforms that weren’t doing any good standing individually.
How so? If your email provider and your store weren’t syncing, it meant you would be losing out on tons of useful marketing data. Furthermore, your messages may not have been reaching your customers. Yikes!
And, while there are a ton of third-party programs out there that could have helped you relink Mailchimp and Shopify, this is more like putting a bandaid on the situation for a temporary fix. Given the unstable and inconsistent relationship between Shopify and Mailchimp – from going their separate ways to, now, repairing their alliance.
So, instead of going back to Shopify and Mailchimp, why not turn to a platform that delivers the same quality services, reliably. That’s where Klaviyo comes in.
The New Love on the Block: Klaviyo
Shopify store owners everywhere are finding that Klaviyo is a new alternative ESP that meets their needs.
Recommended by our CAKE team, this robust email marketing platform features numerous features that make growing your brand easier than ever before. For example:
- Restock Alerts: Let shoppers know when their favorite item is back in stock without having to do anything other than update your inventory.
- Browse Abandonment: Send emails to shoppers when they browse a product but don’t add to cart or place an order.
- Deeper Marketing Segmentation: Divide your customers into groups such as the collection they’ve purchased from or even a specific variant purchased.
- Dynamic Coupon Generation: Stop the code thieves from posting your newsletter sign up offer on a mass website where people who never joined your list get to find and use it.
- Library of Automation Assortments & Pre-Built Workflows: Don’t have experience building workflows or email automations? No problem! Klaviyo has pre-built templates that can save you time and help you jumpstart the money-making process.
And that’s just the start. The team at Klaviyo is dedicated to making email marketing a big deal for eCommerce websites. This is why they also put together a special tool to help you export your data from Mailchimp to their platform. What’s not to love about that?
Want to see how it’s worked for other eCommerce stores?
In three months of us beginning ongoing email cadences and automated workflows (welcome, post-purchase, and abandoned cart) for one of our clients, Holifrog, over 20% of their revenue was coming from Klaviyo emails. They were seeing a conversion rate of 5.1% (the highest of any of their channels) and when compared to the three months prior to using Klaviyo, revenue increased 655.11% from email alone with a 557.78% increase in transactions. Pretty impressive, right?
Need more convincing?
Since Fine Linen & Bath began working with us and using Klaviyo for their welcome series, post-purchase series, and abandoned and browse abandoned cart emails, they are now seeing a 113% increase in revenue with 10% coming from email automations – plus average order value is up almost 50%.
What If You Didn’t Use Mailchimp Anyway?
Well, hey… you’re in luck. Setting up with Klaviyo is easy and our CAKE team can help you get everything handled. We’ve learned the tips and tricks for making this email service provider work the best and are happy to put you on a (not so) blind date to better brand marketing.
Ready to learn more about switching your Shopify store over to Klaviyo? Please get in touch with us today to start discussing.
