Campaign Monitor vs Klaviyo for Australian Brands: A Comparison

Campaign Monitor holds a special place in the Australian email marketing landscape. Founded in Sydney in 2004, it was one of the earliest email service providers to offer a genuinely polished product — and it remains popular with Australian agencies and lifestyle brands two decades later.

Klaviyo, on the other hand, arrived later and built its entire product around e-commerce. Its Shopify integration is the tightest in the industry, and it has become the default choice for DTC brands globally, including in Australia.

So which platform should your Australian e-commerce brand be using? This comparison breaks down both options honestly — covering Australian Spam Act compliance, AUD pricing, e-commerce integration depth, and the use cases where each platform genuinely excels.

At Excelohunt, we work with brands on Klaviyo, Campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, and Mailchimp. Our view is platform-agnostic, based entirely on what’s best for your business.

Campaign Monitor: The Australian-Founded Platform

Campaign Monitor was built in Sydney and still has strong ties to the Australian market. It was acquired by US-based CM Group (now Marigold) in 2013, but many Australian agencies — particularly those serving non-e-commerce clients like media companies, publishers, and professional services firms — continue to use it as their platform of choice.

Key strengths:

Clean, professional email builder with strong design control
Solid transactional email capabilities
Agency-friendly multi-account management
Australian support team (historically) with awareness of local market norms
Competitive AUD pricing at lower list sizes

Key limitations for e-commerce:

E-commerce integrations are available but less native than Klaviyo’s
Limited real-time behavioural triggers compared to Klaviyo
Predictive analytics and LTV modelling absent from the core platform
Automation logic is less flexible for complex e-commerce sequences

Klaviyo: The E-Commerce-First Platform

Klaviyo was purpose-built for e-commerce and has become the dominant ESP for Shopify brands globally. Its native integration with Shopify captures real-time purchase and browsing behaviour, enabling flows that other platforms struggle to replicate without additional tooling.

Key strengths:

Native, real-time Shopify integration
Browse abandonment, abandoned cart, and post-purchase flows out of the box
Predictive analytics: predicted LTV, churn risk, next purchase date
SMS marketing built into the same platform
E-commerce-specific segmentation using purchase history and product data

Key limitations:

Higher cost at small list sizes
Less suitable for non-e-commerce brands
Less agency-friendly interface compared to Campaign Monitor
Customer support quality has been criticised at lower tiers

Australian Spam Act Compliance

The Spam Act 2003 requires commercial emails sent to Australian recipients to have consent, clearly identify the sender, and include a functional unsubscribe mechanism that is processed within 5 business days.

Campaign Monitor and Spam Act compliance:

Campaign Monitor has historically been strong on compliance tooling — partly because its Australian roots gave it early awareness of the Spam Act. The platform offers:

Opt-in confirmation (double opt-in) functionality
Automatic unsubscribe processing
Suppression list management
Sender identification in headers and footers

Klaviyo and Spam Act compliance:

Klaviyo meets all Australian Spam Act requirements when configured correctly:

Double opt-in configuration per list
Real-time unsubscribe processing
Consent source and timestamp tracking in subscriber profiles
Suppression list management to prevent re-sending to unsubscribed contacts

Both platforms comply with the Spam Act when set up properly. Campaign Monitor’s longer history in the Australian market means some local agencies have deeper familiarity with configuring it for compliance — but Klaviyo is equally capable.

E-Commerce Integration Depth

This is the clearest differentiator between the two platforms.

Klaviyo’s Shopify integration:

When you install the Klaviyo app on Shopify, it begins syncing:

All historical orders, customers, and products
Real-time purchase events as they occur
Browse behaviour (product views, category views)
Cart events (cart creation, item addition, checkout initiation, checkout abandonment)
Customer profile data including tags, metafields, and addresses

This data powers:

Browse abandonment flows (triggered 30–60 minutes after viewing a product without adding to cart)
Abandoned checkout flows (triggered minutes after checkout abandonment)
Post-purchase sequences personalised to the specific products purchased
Win-back campaigns targeting customers predicted to be at risk of churning
Product-specific replenishment reminders

Campaign Monitor’s e-commerce integrations:

Campaign Monitor connects to Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento through native integrations and third-party connectors. These integrations sync purchase history and allow segmentation by purchase behaviour. However:

Real-time behavioural event tracking (browse, cart) is not natively available
Browse abandonment flows require additional tools or workarounds
Predictive analytics are not part of the platform

For brands whose primary email use case is weekly campaigns (newsletters, promotions, new arrivals), Campaign Monitor handles this beautifully. For brands that want a full behavioural automation stack — abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase, win-back — Klaviyo is the stronger choice.

Email Builder and Template Quality

This is an area where Campaign Monitor has traditionally excelled. Its drag-and-drop email builder is polished and offers fine-grained control over layout and design. For brands that invest heavily in beautiful email design — fashion, beauty, homewares — Campaign Monitor’s builder is genuinely pleasant to use.

Klaviyo’s email builder has improved significantly in recent years. It supports dynamic content blocks (showing different content to different subscriber segments within the same email), product blocks that pull directly from Shopify, and conditional visibility based on customer data. For e-commerce personalisation, these capabilities are extremely powerful — even if the raw design control is slightly less refined than Campaign Monitor’s.

Verdict: Campaign Monitor for design-focused brands sending curated campaigns. Klaviyo for brands that need dynamic, personalised email content driven by customer data.

Automation Capabilities

Campaign Monitor automations:

Campaign Monitor offers a Customer Journey builder — a visual automation builder that handles common sequences like welcome series, birthday emails, and post-purchase follow-ups. It’s well-designed and intuitive, but less powerful than Klaviyo for complex e-commerce automations.

Notable limitations:

Fewer native e-commerce triggers
Less flexible conditional logic within automations
No predictive trigger types (e.g., “customer predicted to churn”)

Klaviyo Flows:

Klaviyo’s Flow builder is built around e-commerce triggers. Standard flows include:

Welcome series (list subscription trigger)
Abandoned cart / abandoned checkout (Shopify event trigger)
Browse abandonment (Shopify product view trigger)
Post-purchase series (Shopify order placed trigger)
Win-back (time since last purchase trigger)
VIP / loyalty milestones (total spend threshold trigger)
Sunset / suppression (email engagement trigger)

Each flow has revenue attribution built in, showing exactly how much revenue each email in a sequence generates. This makes optimisation straightforward.

AUD Pricing Comparison

Both platforms charge in USD. With AUD/USD around 0.63 in April 2026, USD prices inflate approximately 58% in AUD terms.

Campaign Monitor pricing (Lite/Essentials/Premier):

Lite: ~USD $9/month for 2,500 emails to unlimited contacts (~AUD $14)
Essentials: ~USD $29/month for 25,000 emails (~AUD $46)
Premier: ~USD $149/month for 150,000 emails (~AUD $237)

Note: Campaign Monitor’s older pricing model is based on emails sent per month, not contacts. This can work in your favour if you have a large list but send infrequently.

Klaviyo pricing (based on active profiles):

Free: up to 250 profiles
1,000 profiles: ~USD $45/month (~AUD $71)
5,000 profiles: ~USD $100/month (~AUD $159)
10,000 profiles: ~USD $150/month (~AUD $238)
50,000 profiles: ~USD $400/month (~AUD $635)

At very small scales (under 1,000 subscribers), Campaign Monitor can be significantly cheaper. At larger scales (5,000+ active subscribers), Klaviyo’s pricing is more competitive when list hygiene is maintained.

Which Platform Is Right for Your Australian Brand?

Choose Klaviyo if:

Your store is on Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce
You want automated flows for browse abandonment, abandoned cart, and post-purchase sequences
Revenue attribution and e-commerce analytics matter to you
You plan to add SMS marketing alongside email
You have 2,000+ active subscribers and a full automation stack in mind

Choose Campaign Monitor if:

You’re an agency managing email for multiple non-e-commerce clients
Your brand prioritises beautifully designed email campaigns over automation depth
Your e-commerce integration needs are basic (campaign sends to purchase history segments)
You have a smaller list and a tighter budget
You send to a broader audience including B2B or professional services contacts

Consider migrating from Campaign Monitor to Klaviyo if:

You’ve outgrown Campaign Monitor’s automation capabilities
You’re losing revenue to unbuilt flows (browse abandonment, win-back, post-purchase)
You want predictive analytics and LTV-based segmentation

Common Migration Considerations

Australian brands migrating from Campaign Monitor to Klaviyo typically face:

Historical data migration — Klaviyo can import CSV exports from Campaign Monitor, preserving subscriber history, tags, and custom fields with proper mapping.
Flow rebuild — Existing Campaign Monitor automations need to be rebuilt in Klaviyo’s Flow builder. This is an opportunity to improve and expand your flows, not just replicate them.
Template redesign — Campaign Monitor templates don’t transfer directly to Klaviyo. Most brands use migration as an opportunity to refresh their email templates.
Suppression list migration — Unsubscribed contacts from Campaign Monitor must be imported into Klaviyo’s suppression list to maintain Spam Act compliance.

Excelohunt has managed many Campaign Monitor-to-Klaviyo migrations for Australian brands. A clean migration typically takes 4–6 weeks including flow build-out.

How Excelohunt Helps

Whether you’re on Klaviyo, Campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, or Mailchimp, Excelohunt provides done-for-you email marketing management for Australian e-commerce brands.

Our services include:

Platform assessment and migration support
Full automation build-out across all major ESPs
Campaign management and monthly calendar execution
Australian Spam Act compliance auditing
List hygiene and deliverability management

We’re platform-agnostic — our recommendation is always based on what’s best for your business.

Not Sure Which Platform Is Right for You?

Our free email marketing audit covers your current platform setup, flow coverage, list health, and deliverability — and gives you a clear, honest recommendation.

Book your free audit today and let the Excelohunt team help you choose and optimise the right platform for your Australian brand.