Klaviyo is shifting. They're moving from a marketing platform to a full CRM, and the updates they just announced are going to change how e-commerce brands think about retention. Here's everything worth knowing.
The industry context: retention is now the game.
The conversation has shifted from ROAS to retention. CAC keeps climbing. A lot of brands are negative on first order and need to understand their economics to make money over the long term. Klaviyo is responding by going deeper on data, adding new channels, and building out services, all inside one platform.
Klaviyo Marketing: WhatsApp is the big one.
Klaviyo is rolling out WhatsApp. This is going to be massive, especially for UK and European markets. We're going to implement this for every single client and test it for 90 days regardless of price. If you already use Klaviyo for email and SMS, having WhatsApp inside the same platform is a huge unlock. They're also releasing omnichannel campaign and flow builders, so you can set up a product launch that splits into email, SMS, or push based on how each customer engages. Less manual work, better customer journeys.
Klaviyo Data Platform (KDP):
Previously called CDP and only available for accounts with 100,000+ active profiles. Now rebranded as KDP with way more data touchpoints. It pulls everything into one place so you get a true understanding of your metrics without bouncing between Triple Whale, Shopify, and Klaviyo. Better AI models are coming to predict when to push customers back, what products to recommend, and who your real VIPs are. They're also adding custom objects (think storing pet names, breeds, and birthdays for a dog brand) that can trigger specific flows. Plus multi email and multi phone profile merging, so if a customer has three emails and two phone numbers, Klaviyo can unify that into one profile.
Klaviyo Services: customer support inside Klaviyo.
They're launching a customer hub where you can manage and edit orders, plus an AI agent chatbot for your site. The advantage is that this chatbot has more data on your customers than any other platform because it can see every email opened, every page visited, every order placed. Everything feeds into a unified inbox pulling from email, SMS, WhatsApp, and the AI chat. Your support team sees it all in one place.
Why this matters: reducing SaaS bloat.
A lot of brands are paying thousands (or tens of thousands) across a bloated tech stack. Separate tools for email, SMS, chatbots, fulfilment notifications, customer support. Klaviyo is trying to consolidate all of that. It's not cheap, but if you leverage it properly, the ROI is there. Klaviyo's own data showed that brands working with an agency get roughly 5x higher returns from the platform compared to brands managing it alone.
Partnerships are improving.
Klaviyo acknowledged they haven't done a great job with agency partners over the past few years. We've felt that ourselves managing dozens of clients on the platform. They're now making partnerships a top priority, which is a welcome change.
What we're testing next:
WhatsApp for every client over 90 days. The KDP for clients with 100,000+ active subscribers. Omnichannel flow builders. And a couple of new AI driven softwares built on top of email and SMS that could be massive for subscription brands. We'll share results once we have them.
