It’s a question I hear a lot: "Should I use the popups inside Klaviyo or Mailchimp?" It makes sense. If you're already using one of them for email, using their built-in popup feature feels like the easiest path.
While both are fantastic email marketing platforms, their popup tools are often a secondary feature. They’re designed to do one job: get subscribers for their platform. As the person who built Poper, I designed our tool to do one thing exceptionally well: create any kind of popup, widget, or banner you can imagine, and connect it to any tool you want.
Let’s break down the key differences.
The Popup Editor: Simplicity vs. True Power
Mailchimp is known for having a fairly advanced editor with lots of options, which can be great if you have the time to learn it.
Klaviyo, on the other hand, keeps things simpler, which is faster for basic popups but can feel restrictive if you want a unique design.
I designed Poper to give you the best of both worlds. Our editor is a simple drag-and-drop interface, so you can build a beautiful popup in minutes.
But if you need more control, the advanced options are right there when you want them, without cluttering your screen.
Capturing Leads: The Data You Can Actually Collect
This is a big one. With Mailchimp and Klaviyo, you’re often limited to collecting a few standard fields like name and email. This is fine, but it’s a missed opportunity to truly understand your audience.
With Poper, you aren’t limited. You can add custom text fields, dropdown menus, radio buttons, or phone number inputs. Want to ask new subscribers for their birthday to send a coupon later?
Or ask B2B leads about their company size? You can build any form you need and send that rich data to your email platform.
Design Freedom: Are You Stuck in a Box?
While Mailchimp offers some good customization, and Klaviyo gives you the basics, you can quickly hit a wall. You might find you can’t move a button exactly where you want it or match your brand’s unique font perfectly.
I built Poper’s editor so that every single element is customizable. You can drag and drop anything, anywhere. You can change colors, fonts, spacing, and borders with a click—no code needed. This ensures your popups feel like a natural part of your brand, not a generic add-on.
The Mobile Experience: A Separate Strategy
Both Mailchimp and Klaviyo let you preview how your popup looks on mobile, which is a good start. However, a design that works on a wide desktop screen rarely works well on a narrow mobile screen.
This is why Poper includes a completely separate editor for your mobile view. You aren’t just resizing elements; you can create a totally different, mobile-first design. For example, you can remove an image and shorten the text just for mobile users to create a fast, clean experience that converts better.
Targeting and Triggers: Showing Popups to the Right People
This is where dedicated popup tools really pull ahead. Mailchimp and Klaviyo typically offer basic triggers, like showing a popup after a few seconds or when a visitor is about to leave.
In Poper, you get a full suite of triggers. You can launch a popup when a user clicks a specific button (On-Click), when they’re about to leave your site (Exit-Intent), after they scroll a certain percentage down the page, and more. You can also target visitors based on their location, the site they came from, or if they are a new or returning visitor.
For example, you could show a “Free Shipping to the UK” banner exclusively to visitors from the United Kingdom. This level of specific targeting simply isn't available in most all-in-one platforms.
The Freedom to Choose: Avoiding Platform Lock-In
Here’s the most important difference: Mailchimp and Klaviyo popups are built to keep you in their ecosystem. If you build all your popups in Mailchimp and later decide to switch to Klaviyo, you have to rebuild everything from scratch.
I believe you should have the freedom to choose the best tools for the job. Poper is platform-agnostic. You can create a popup with us today and send your leads to Mailchimp. If you switch to Klaviyo, HubSpot, or any of our 100+ integrations tomorrow, you just change the connection. Your popups stay right where they are.
Quick Comparison: Poper vs. Mailchimp vs. Klaviyo
To make it even clearer, here’s a side-by-side look at how we stack up.
| Feature | Mailchimp | Klaviyo | Poper |
| Popup Editor | Advanced but can be complex | Simple and fast for basics | Simple drag-and-drop with advanced options |
| Custom Data Fields | Limited (name, email, etc.) | Limited (name, email, etc.) | Highly Flexible (custom fields, dropdowns) |
| Design Customization | Good, but with limitations | Basic, template-focused | Total control over every element |
| Mobile Editor | Mobile preview | Mobile preview | Separate, dedicated mobile editor |
| Advanced Triggers | Basic (Exit-intent available) | Basic (Exit-intent available) | Full Suite (Exit-intent, On-click, Scroll) |
| Audience Targeting | Basic | Basic | Advanced (Geo-location, Traffic Source, etc.) |
| Integrations | Mailchimp only | Klaviyo only | 100+ integrations (platform-agnostic) |
| Best For | Users already deep in the Mailchimp ecosystem | Users already deep in the Klaviyo ecosystem | Businesses wanting full control and flexibility |
Klaviyo vs Mailchimp Popup: Which Should You Choose?
For Basic, Platform-Specific List Building:
- If you need a simple, no-frills popup and are committed to either Klaviyo or Mailchimp, their native tools can suffice. Klaviyo often has an edge with A/B testing for its forms. Mailchimp's editor might offer slightly more layout flexibility for basic designs.
If you need a simple, no-frills popup and are committed to either Klaviyo or Mailchimp, their native tools can suffice. Klaviyo often has an edge with A/B testing for its forms. Mailchimp's editor might offer slightly more layout flexibility for basic designs.
For Advanced Design, Targeting, Flexibility, and Richer Data Capture:
- If you want truly custom designs, a dedicated mobile experience, advanced triggers and targeting, the ability to collect more than just basic contact info, or the freedom to integrate with multiple tools (including Klaviyo and Mailchimp), then a dedicated popup platform like Poper is the superior choice. Poper empowers you to create higher-converting popups and then seamlessly feeds those valuable leads into your preferred email marketing system.
If you want truly custom designs, a dedicated mobile experience, advanced triggers and targeting, the ability to collect more than just basic contact info, or the freedom to integrate with multiple tools (including Klaviyo and Mailchimp), then a dedicated popup platform like Poper is the superior choice. Poper empowers you to create higher-converting popups and then seamlessly feeds those valuable leads into your preferred email marketing system.
Ultimately, the "best" option depends on your specific needs and priorities. Consider the limitations of native tools versus the enhanced capabilities and platform independence offered by a specialized solution like Poper when making your decision.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can I use both Klaviyo's native popups and Mailchimp's native popups on the same website?
While technically possible (by installing both platform's tracking codes), it's generally not recommended as it can lead to a confusing user experience and potential script conflicts. It's better to choose one primary method for popups.
If I use Poper, do I still need Klaviyo or Mailchimp?
Yes. Poper is a tool for creating and managing website popups and capturing leads. Klaviyo and Mailchimp are email marketing and automation platforms. Poper sends the leads it captures to Klaviyo or Mailchimp (or other CRMs/ESPs) for nurturing, email campaigns, and automation.
Can Poper's popups trigger Klaviyo flows or Mailchimp automations?
Yes. When Poper sends a new subscriber to Klaviyo or Mailchimp, and they are added to a specific list or segment, or tagged appropriately via the integration, this can trigger pre-configured flows (in Klaviyo) or automations (in Mailchimp).
Which platform, Klaviyo or Mailchimp, has better exit-intent popups natively?
Both Klaviyo and Mailchimp offer basic exit-intent triggers for their popups. The effectiveness often comes down to the design of the popup and the offer itself. Dedicated tools like Poper may offer more refined exit-intent technology or additional options for mobile exit intent.
Is it hard to switch from using Mailchimp's popups to Poper + Mailchimp?
No. You would disable your Mailchimp pop-up form, install the Poper script on your site, design your new popups in Poper, and then set up the Poper-to-Mailchimp integration. Your existing Mailchimp audience and campaigns remain untouched; Poper just becomes a new source for subscribers.
