Using Shopify with Segment and Klaviyo

The difference between Segment's direct Klaviyo destination, and what Littledata supplies into Klaviyo.

If you are using Shopify, Segment and Klaviyo then Littledata can help you in two ways. Here's how Littledata Shopify to Klaviyo connection works in conjunction with our Shopify to Segment connection.

There are actually 4 different data connections that are relevant to Shopify & Klaviyo:

1. The Klaviyo source for Segment which pulls in customer events from Klaviyo to Segment

2. Littledata's Segment connection fixes tracking automatically and sends data from Shopify to Segment. This can then be relayed to:

3. The Klaviyo (Actions) destination which sends events and sync profiles into Klaviyo.

4. Littledata's Shopify to Klaviyo connection which tracks pre-purchase Shopify events directly into Klaviyo

Email identity

Email marketing platforms such as Klaviyo, require an email property with any server-side event in order to associate events with a customer profile. Littledata adds that email property whenever an email address is set in the user traits() object (in device-mode) or from the Shopify customer record (in cloud-mode).

We do not recommend setting Enforce Email as Primary Identifier to FALSE or Fallback on Anonymous ID to TRUE as this will result in lots of unusable profiles in Klaviyo, which cannot be marketed to but for which you are charged.

Segment-to-Klaviyo vs Klaviyo-direct

Let's compare the last two of these connections in more detail. Both are an upgrade for Klaviyo's inbuilt Shopify tracking, as part of Klaviyo's Shopify app.

Firstly, the Klaviyo destination for Segment which provides the following advantages:

Benefit	Shopify source > Klaviyo (Actions) destination	Klaviyo's inbuilt tracking
Server-side tracking of purchases	✅	✅
Client-side tracking of Product Views	-	✅
Consistent ecommerce event schema *	✅	-
Sync extra customer traits with Klaviyo	✅	-
Sync Segment Engage audiences	✅	-

* For example, to target users in Klaviyo who have purchased a certain product, using Klaviyo's inbuilt tracking, you would need to access the extra.line_items.variant_title property of the Checkout Started event but the Items.VariantTitle property of the Placed Order event.

And secondly, the Littledata's Shopify to Klaviyo connection provides the following advantages:

Benefit	Littledata's Shopify > Klaviyo	Klaviyo's inbuilt tracking
Server-side Identity Resolution	✅	-
Boosts in profiles for retargeting	✅	-
Server-side Add to Cart event	-	✅
Server-side Viewed Product event	✅	-
Requires subscription to Segment Identify	-	-

Conclusion

In conclusion, you'll still benefit from Littledata's Shopify to Klaviyo integration whether or not you use Segment to send data to Klaviyo.

What Segment's Klaviyo destination cannot improve - even with the addition of the Identify module - is the number of profiles that can be idenfied for abandoned cart or browse campaigns.