Klaviyo: What It Does, How Much It Costs and How to Connect It to Shopify
You can send a newsletter from almost any email marketing tool. The difference shows when you want one message for a new subscriber, another for a regular customer and yet another for someone who didn't complete a purchase. Klaviyo connects email marketing with your store's data and triggers automated messages based on it. With Shopify, then, what matters is not just installing the app, but also the right events, consents and sending rules.
We explain what Klaviyo can do, who it's for, how its pricing works and how to get started with Shopify. We add three automation ideas, including who to exclude from sending and what to test before launch. Prices and available features were verified on 23 October 2026.
What Klaviyo is and what it can do
Klaviyo is a platform for customer communication and marketing automation. On a contact's profile, it combines information from connected systems and uses it for segmentation and messaging. For an online store, useful data includes order history or the checkout started event. The condition is that the integration actually transfers that specific data.
- Campaigns: one-off newsletters and offers for a selected audience.
- Flows: automated scenarios that respond to an event, a list signup or another condition.
- Segments: groups of contacts based on rules, for example customers who repeatedly buy a certain category.
- Forms and templates: collecting subscribers and preparing messages without writing all the HTML.
- Reports: an overview of deliveries, engagement and orders attributed to campaigns or automations.
The platform also offers other channels and add-ons. Their presence in the offer doesn't mean they're all part of the basic email plan or available for every target country. For your first rollout, limit yourself to email and the events you need; evaluate SMS or WhatsApp separately, including availability, consents and price.
Does Klaviyo support Czech?
You can create Czech newsletters and form texts. That's a different question from the language of the admin, though: the app's language list in the Shopify App Store didn't include Czech when we checked. Expect an English interface, for example, and check whether your team can handle everyday work in it. Also check system texts, the unsubscribe page and the subscription confirmation, not just the main template.
According to the help center, the free plan includes email support for the first 60 days; paid users get email and chat. So don't base your choice only on the number of features. It also matters who will deal with a flow that didn't send or an incorrectly transferred contact.
When to choose Klaviyo and when Shopify is enough
Klaviyo makes sense if you have a specific use for customer data and someone to manage the automations. Typically, you want to branch messages by purchases, separate customers from new subscribers or combine several data sources. Database size alone isn't a good enough reason to switch.
If you send one simple newsletter and have no segments or content for other flows ready, first evaluate Shopify's built-in Shopify Messaging. On supported Shopify plans, it includes 10,000 emails a month; the first additional tier costs USD 1 per 1,000 messages. However, it's not the same pricing or feature model as Klaviyo.
Before choosing, write down three specific situations you want to solve. For each, define the available data, the message content and the person responsible. If you can't put this list together, a more expensive tool will probably just move the same work to a different editor.
Also don't see Klaviyo as an automatic replacement for a sales CRM for a team of sales reps. The differences between customer records, sales opportunities and email marketing are explained in our article What Is a CRM System and How It's Used in E-commerce. You'll find a broader selection of add-ons in our overview of the best apps for a Czech Shopify store.
How much Klaviyo costs and how to calculate your budget
The basic email plan depends on the number of active profiles and the monthly email send limit. For billing purposes, an active profile is a profile you can email through Klaviyo; suppressed profiles don't count toward this limit. So don't confuse an active profile with a person who was active on your website in the last month.
The Free plan includes up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month. Hitting the limit can stop sending and cause automation messages to be skipped. A 500-message limit therefore doesn't mean 500 complete multi-step series for 500 customers.
| Example | Profiles and limit | Regular price |
|---|---|---|
| Smaller database | 500 active profiles, 5,000 emails a month | USD 20 a month |
| Growing database | 1,000 active profiles, 10,000 emails a month | USD 30 a month |
These are regular prices for the email-only plan from the public calculator in USD, without paid add-ons, setup costs or any taxes. When we checked, the calculator offered a temporary first-month discount for the 500-profile tier; we don't include it in the long-term budget. Before ordering, verify the specific offer and billing terms for your account.
For your own budget, add up campaigns and automations. For example, four newsletters to 500 people means 2,000 messages. If another 100 people go through a two-step series, that adds 200 messages: 2,200 in total. Every additional branch, repeat or language variant can change the usage. So choose a plan based on how you plan to work with your database, not just on the number of addresses in a spreadsheet.
How to connect Klaviyo to Shopify
Before connecting, prepare access to both systems and find out where newsletters, welcome emails and checkout reminders are sent from today. When migrating, document the existing setup and coordinate disconnecting the old email tool; Klaviyo warns that a parallel old integration can trigger duplicate subscription confirmations.
- Open the Shopify integration. In the full Klaviyo interface, go to Integrations, search for Shopify and enter your store address in the format
store-name.myshopify.com. - Review both sync directions. Decide what to receive from Shopify and what, if anything, to send back. The option to sync all profiles back to Shopify can create new customers even from other imports.
- Complete the authorization. After being redirected to Shopify, review the permissions and, on returning, confirm the correct store and Klaviyo account. Don't leave in the middle of connecting.
- Choose the list for email subscribers. Verify that marketing status transfers; importing a customer profile alone doesn't give you permission to send.
- Check events and on-site tracking. Set up the app embed and behavioral events as needed. On a test profile, check what is actually recorded and how cookie consent works.
If you install the app fresh directly in Shopify, you may come across the simplified Klaviyo Starter with a setup guide. According to current help docs, welcome and abandoned checkout automations can be live as soon as you save them. So don't treat every guide as just preparing a draft. Before saving, check the content, the recipients and any existing sends.
Don't forget the sending domain
Besides the data transfer, also set up a trustworthy sender, a working reply-to address and authentication of your own sending domain. Klaviyo generates specific DNS records that your domain administrator publishes and then verifies. Don't copy values from someone else's guide, and don't rewrite an existing DMARC record without reviewing your other sending services.
After the change, send a test message and verify delivery, display and replies. Start new sending at a reasonable volume to relevant recipients; a successful Shopify connection doesn't guarantee inbox deliverability.
Consents: a contact in the database isn't automatically a subscriber
For a Czech online store, it's essential to distinguish between a customer and a person who only entered an email in a form or at checkout. According to the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection (ÚOOÚ), the existing-customer exemption can be used for your own similar products and services if the legal conditions are met, including the option to opt out when the contact is collected and in every message. A potential customer is not automatically such a customer.
For non-customers, you need prior, demonstrable consent. Double opt-in helps prove that the address owner confirmed the signup. Records should keep the origin and status of the permission; unsubscribes must be respected across lists and subsequent imports. Cookie consent and permission to send a marketing email are two different things.
Don't automatically send abandoned purchase reminders to everyone who entered an address. For the starter flow below, choose recipients with documented marketing consent. Keep purely informational messages about a completed order separate from offers of more products: adding a discount promotion changes the nature of the message. The setup of each store must match how it actually collects contacts.
Three Klaviyo automations to start with
The following flows are suggestions to adapt to your product range, not universal settings with a guaranteed result. Before turning them on, always verify sending permission, exclusion conditions and the events that end the flow.
1. Welcome for new subscribers
Trigger: a new confirmed signup to the main email list. The first message can arrive after confirmation and explain what updates the subscriber will receive. Example subject line: "Welcome: how to choose the right size". Tailor further content to their interests and to whether the person has already bought something.
Exclusions and test: unsubscribed and suppressed profiles must not receive marketing. Don't trigger the welcome flow for your entire historical database through a new import without checking. Try a new address, a repeated signup and an unsubscribe between messages; also verify how a promised coupon behaves, if you use one.
2. Abandoned checkout reminder
Trigger: the Started Checkout event and a chosen delay, for example four hours as a default to test. Before sending, the profile must not have placed an order since entering the flow, i.e. Placed Order zero times since starting this flow, and must meet the marketing rules.
The message could read: "Want to return to your purchase?" The link must lead to the right checkout and dynamic content must not show someone else's items. Don't add a discount automatically. Test both an unfinished purchase and an order completed during the waiting period; the second case should stop the reminder. If you also use a separate flow for Added to Cart, set up exclusions between the two.
3. Helpful post-purchase communication
Trigger: a suitable order or fulfillment event depending on the content. For product care tips, a few days after delivery may make sense; if your integration doesn't confirm delivery, don't claim in the message that the customer has already received the parcel. Example: "How to care for your new product" with specific instructions for the purchased category.
Exclusions and test: check canceled and returned orders, unsuitable product categories and the legal status of the specific content. Send marketing offers for accessories only to eligible recipients. Test at least two different categories and a cancellation, so the customer doesn't receive unrelated advice or an offer after canceling a purchase.
What to test and how to evaluate the benefit
- On one test contact, you can trace the correct events, their timing and marketing status.
- An unsubscribe stops further marketing and a new import doesn't overwrite it.
- The same reminder isn't being sent at the same time by Shopify, the old tool and Klaviyo.
- Links, the mobile template, prices and dynamic products match the specific recipient.
- A completed order removes the profile from reminders, and the plan limit has room for automations.
Besides revenue, track deliveries, clicks, unsubscribes and the reasons for skipped messages. A skip because of a completed order is correct behavior, not a fault. On the other hand, a missing order event can cause the flow to continue even though the customer has already paid.
Revenue attributed to Klaviyo is the result of its attribution model and the configured windows. It isn't automatically revenue that wouldn't have happened without the email. Compare the same period and definitions with Shopify orders; don't add up figures from different systems as independent gains. For follow-up measurement on your website, use our guide to GA4 and Google Tag Manager on Shopify.
Start with one verified flow and add more based on results and your team's capacity. If the standard integration doesn't transfer the data you need, or you need to connect data with other systems, we'll help with app and integration development for your online store.
Frequently asked questions about Klaviyo
Is Klaviyo free?
The free email plan has a limit of 250 active profiles and 500 messages a month. For a larger database or more sending, you need a suitable paid plan. Other products and channels may be billed separately.
Is it enough to install the app in Shopify?
Installation is just the start. Verify profile and consent sync, the right events, the sending domain, content and automation rules. Check separately whether some messages are already being sent by another solution.
Can I upload all my customers to Klaviyo?
Don't confuse a technical import with permission to send marketing. Keep the origin of contacts, unsubscribes and the legal basis for using them. Don't add a database without a documented origin to your sends just because the import went through.
Do I have to turn off Shopify order emails because of Klaviyo?
No. Standard order confirmations can still be handled by Shopify. Divide responsibilities between the systems and limit duplicate marketing flows. Treat replacing transactional communication as a separate project with its own tests.
