AI Help for Retail › Tools › Klaviyo
Klaviyo: email and text marketing that follows the sale for you
Wiring this up to your till and setting the first flows can be fiddly. Find a local pro to do it for you.
Our own short explainer -- what Klaviyo is built to do, then the process step by step. Free up to 250 contacts and 500 emails a month; paid starts at $20/mo.
The short version:
- What it does: sends email and text (SMS -- plain text messages to a phone) based on what a customer bought, so the message fits the person instead of blasting everyone the same thing.
- Why a shop cares: the automations run themselves. A first-time buyer gets a welcome. Someone who loved a candle gets a note when it's restocked. A regular who's gone quiet gets a gentle "we miss you."
- What it costs: free up to 250 contacts and 500 emails a month. Paid email starts around $20/mo; email plus text around $35/mo; the price climbs as your list grows.
- The AI part: it drafts subject lines, guesses the best time to send each person, and suggests products they're likely to want.
- The catch: it earns its keep when it's plugged into your sales system. If you just want a plain monthly newsletter, Mailchimp is simpler and cheaper.
Common questions
How much does Klaviyo cost for a small shop?
It's free up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends a month. Paid email starts around $20/mo, and email plus text around $35/mo, then climbs as your list grows. Text credits are bought on top. Check klaviyo.com/pricing for the number at your contact count.
Is Klaviyo good for a store that isn't online?
It can be, but it works best plugged into a sales system. If your POS or online store feeds it purchase history, it sends the right message on its own. With no sales data flowing in, Mailchimp may do the job for less.
What does the AI in Klaviyo actually do?
It picks the best send time per person, suggests products based on past buys, drafts subject lines and copy, and builds ready-made automations like a welcome series or a back-in-stock alert. You approve it; it handles the busywork.
Can a local pro set up Klaviyo for my shop?
Yes. A local AI consultant can connect it to your POS or online store, build your first few automations, and set up a sign-up form at the counter. Find one by zip below.
See it in action
What does Klaviyo do for a shop?
You already know your regulars by name. Klaviyo is a way to keep that up with the hundreds of people you can't remember.
It connects to your point-of-sale (POS -- the checkout system you ring sales through) or your online store, and it watches the buying. From there it sends messages on its own: a welcome to a new customer, a note when the thing someone wanted comes back in, a "here's 10% off, come see us" to a shopper who's gone quiet for a couple of months.
The AI piece is the quiet help. It drafts the subject line so you're not staring at a blank box. It picks the hour each person is most likely to open a message. And it points at products a customer is likely to want next, based on what they already carried out the door.
What does Klaviyo cost?
The free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends a month. That's real, not a trial, and it's enough to run a welcome email and a couple of campaigns to your best customers before you pay a cent.
After that, you pay by how many contacts you keep on your list, not how many emails you send. Text messages are bought as credits on top of the email plan.
| Plan | Starts around | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 250 contacts, 500 emails/mo, basic automations -- a real free tier |
| $20/mo | Email campaigns and automations; price scales with your contact count | |
| Email + SMS | $35/mo | Everything above plus a pool of text credits; also scales with contacts |
Those starting figures are for a small list. As your contacts grow into the thousands, the monthly cost grows with them, so check the number for your own list before you commit.
Pricing is vendor-published and scales by contact count; check today's price at klaviyo.com/pricing (vendor-published, checked 2026-08-14).
Who is Klaviyo right for?
Klaviyo fits the shop that's already collecting emails or phone numbers and sells enough that repeat business matters. If people come back, Klaviyo helps you bring them back a little sooner and a little more often.
Strong if…
- Your POS or online store can feed it purchase history, so the messages match what people actually buy.
- You want the follow-ups -- welcome, back-in-stock, win-back -- to run on their own.
- You'd use text as well as email to reach people who never open their inbox.
- You want to start free and only pay once it's earning.
Maybe not if…
- You just want a plain monthly newsletter; Mailchimp does that for less.
- You're not collecting customer emails or phone numbers yet; sort the sign-up first, or the tool has nothing to work with.
- What you really want is review requests and two-way texting after a sale; that's Podium.
- Your list is large; the monthly cost climbs with your contact count, so price it before you switch.
Want the wider picture first? See the full retail software comparison or our guide to AI email and text marketing for shops.
Sources
Pricing is vendor-published and changes; confirm it with the vendor before you buy.
Klaviyo -- klaviyo.com/pricing (free up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends/month; paid email plan starts around $20/mo and email + SMS around $35/mo, scaling by contact count; SMS bought as credits). Vendor-published, checked 2026-08-14. Last reviewed: 2026-08-14.
Want Klaviyo set up for your shop?
Find a local AI consultant who connects email and text marketing to your point-of-sale and builds your first automations -- by zip code.
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