Last Updated on November 3, 2024 by Ewen Finser
If you run an ecommerce brand and are trying to figure out if Attentive or Klaviyo is right for you, here’s what I think.
I’ll start by saying that I’ve used both platforms. They are both GOOD, solid email marketing systems.
With this being said, I don’t think every brand is right for each. They really are MORE focused on DIFFERENT use cases than they are similar.
So, let’s take a look at how I see these differences right up front…
Main Differences Between Attentive vs Klaviyo
- Klayio has deeper email automations in addition to SMS, while Attentive offers stronger and easier to implement SMS capabilities.
- Klaviyo offers more in depth and broader integrated analytics and data collection compared to Attentive.
- Klaviyo is more widely integrated with 300+ third party platforms, compared to just over 100 for Attentive
- Klaviyo has a built-in (new) reviews request functionality to generate consistent customer reviews, while Attentive does not have a direct comp.
- Klaviyo offers transparent pricing with a straightforward two-tier pricing plan (email and email + SMS), while Attentive hides their pricing and makes you “request a quote” or “demo” before you learn about pricing (super annoying, I hate when brands do this!).
Klaviyo vs Attentive Pricing Differences
The frustrating part about Attentive is that they do not list their pricing up front. My joke with companies that don’t list their pricing is that it’s probably too expensive.
Having taken a few demos and received some quotes however, Attentive is not all that uncompetitive compared to Klaviyo, but the quote based pricing can vary depending on factors that aren’t entirely transparent.
On the flip side, Klaviyo has a clear and predictable two tier pricing structure. The only distinctiion is whether you want SMS or just email.
Overall, this just feels a bit easier to deal with. I HATE quote based pricing and Klaviyo spells it all out for you (unlike Attentive), including exact pricing based on profiles at each tier.
As a quick aside, I was a bit intrigued with how Klaviyo categorizes “active profiles” instead of subscribers, but this is essentially the same thing: any profile “that can be emailed”.
Pricing Bottom Line: My last quote from Attentive was about 36 months ago so it’s difficult to directly compare. From what I recall, initial quotes are a bit higher than Klaviyo, but can be “negotiated”. I much prefer Klaviyo’s approach here. Their pricing is – in general – much more competitive than I remember, and not just compared to Attentive.
Integrations Compared
I’m a power user of integrations, so knowing what I can integrate (seamlessly) is really important before I start building around a particular platform
Both Attentive and Klaviyo have integrations, but there are some key exceptions and advantages to look at.
As the more established platform, Klaviyo has more third-part integrations BY FAR.
And while I can’t conclusively state that Klaviyo has more integrations than any other email marketing platform, I can say they lead this category for ecommerce-specific email marketing suites.
I was surprised to find some fairly obscure (but interesting) platforms listed. As you can see, they have to break it out by sub-categories just to properly navigate:
Another benefit of their incumbency (and integration friendly culture) is their broad-based AGENCY partnerships.
This makes it incredibly easy to find vetted talent and agency partners to customize Klaviyo for your needs (if needed) and isn’t something many other platforms do (at least not the vetting / directory).
You can even MATCH agencies by specific filters and capabilities:
Attentive – on the ther hand – doesn’t feature as many integrations, but nonetheless has a good number for it’s age and market share:
But what they do offer is a more SPECIFIC integration toolkit for SMS integrations and seems to go a bit deeper specifically in this category compared to Klaviyo.
Bottom Line on Integrations: Klaviyo clearly is the “winner” here with a broader integration list and best in class agency partnerships, BUT Attentive is more focused and integrated specifically in SMS marketing capabilities.
As an aside: Klaviyo does also integrate with Attentive, so you can theoretically get the best of both worlds, albeit a bit more complicated and with dispersed data.
My Standout Attentive Features
These are some key features that stand out for me about Attentive:
- SMS Forward: Attentive really focuses on the SMS and messaging use case, with email marketing as one of the channels (vs Klaviyo’s primary focus on email). If SMS is critical to your marketing strategy, Attentive has a better UI specifically for this.
- SMS Smart Tools: Attentive has dozens of smart tools for building custom displays SPECIFICALLY with SMS and the mobile experience in mind.
- 100+ Integrations: While Attentive doesn’t have quite as many integrations as Klaviyo, Attentive is no slouch either. And, it’s generally friendly to integrate as a stand alone SMS platform, despite also offering email marketing capabilities.
- AI Forward: It’s a bit buzzy, but Attentive has been quicker to integrate AI into their features, specifically for insights, smart sending and A/B testing.
My Standout Klaviyo Features
Similarly, Klaviyo really shines in these areas:
- Designed for eCommerce: This is obvious right from the start. Klaviyo is designed for ecommerce sellers and fits like a glove , particularly (although not exclusively) for Shopify stores.
- Prebuilt Flows & Templates: Most ecommerce operators I know aren’t really email marketing experts. They know they should be doing it, but it’s not the thing they think about on the daily. Klaviyo’s templates (sequences) make it really easy to start maximizing value from your list (and making money) right away. And it’s not just the typical “abandoned cart” sequences…
- Best in class integrations: As I discussed earlier, Klaviyo shines with industry leading direct integrations, combined with a highly searchable database. They also have a full agency partner integration library that helps fill the gaps for any bespoke or general support.
- Analytics and Data: Another feature I love about Klaviyo is their robust data tracking capabilities, analytics, and metric breakdowns. I particularly like how the pre-bundle and collect data on specific user behaviors without me having to really set it up. To be honest, there are some reports I didn’t even think I needed, but proved to be valuable additions.
Alternatives to Check Out
You may have narrowed it down to Klaviyo or Attentive, but I always like to broaden the discussion a bit by comparing them to the field.
- Omnisend: Omnisend is probably one of the closest peers to Klaviyo, but with less time in market. They are basically matching Klaviyo feature-for-feature and can sometimes be less expensive. I still don’t think they have quite as much depth with automations and data insights, but worth looking at if Klaviyo is outside your price range.
- Brevo: Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a solid transactional commerce email platform, but with a unique twist in terms of their pricing model. Rather than billing you for the number of subscribers you have (regardless of how often you send), Brevo has a “cost per send” model that can be particularly cost effective for brands with variable send patterns, or if you just don’t quite know how frequently you’ll be sending yet.
- Postscript: A good option to look at if you are just looking for a solid SMS sender.
- Twilio: The upmarket communications platform. Steeper learning curve, but more latent capabilities if you can get the hang of it.
- Sendlane: Another competitor to Klaviyo, Sendlane is fairly aggressively looking to poach Klaviyo customers (every time there’s an outage or issue). Worth looking at as an option.
- Privy: Privy is in many ways the oppositive of Klaviyo, simple to implement and easy to use for novice marketers, seamlessly integrates with leading ecommerce platforms like Shopify. Privy is a good midpoint between something like Shopify Email and Klaviyo. You want to send emails and they drive some incremental lift, but not enough for a significant investment just yet.
Who Should Go With Attentive?
While Attentive has made many improvements over the last few years, its still really an SMS-first platform.
I’d recommend Attentive to brands who rely on SMS as their primary marketing channel to drive sales.
Who Should Go With Klaviyo?
If email is your main or first send method and is already an important part of your business, I’m not risking it with Attentive here. I’m Klaviyo all the way.
I also don’t think Klaviyo is much of a setback when it comes to SMS sending. I like that their plans are transparently priced (no quote based sales convolution) and fully optional to add either SMS or Email (or do both together in one plan).
I’d recommend Klaviyo over Attentive for most ecommerce businesses, with the exception being SMS-first or SMS-only models where email doesn’t make sense or isn’t currently driving as much value.