Most eCommerce brands have one or two automations running in Klaviyo. A welcome email, maybe an abandoned cart. What they don’t have is a complete flow strategy — and the gap between “a couple of flows” and “a complete lifecycle program” is worth tens of thousands of dollars a year for the average brand. Here are the five Klaviyo flows every eCommerce brand needs, and what each one should actually do.
1. The Welcome Series (Your Most Important Flow)
The welcome series is the highest-performing automation in almost every Klaviyo account we manage. New subscribers are at peak interest — they just opted in, which means they’re actively paying attention. A single welcome email wastes that moment. A well-built welcome series earns it.
What a strong welcome series looks like:
- Email 1 (immediate): Brand introduction and fulfillment of whatever they signed up for — a discount, a lead magnet, a promise.
- Email 2 (Day 2–3): Your story. Why the brand exists, what makes it different, why someone should care.
- Email 3 (Day 4–5): Social proof. Reviews, bestsellers, user-generated content that builds confidence.
- Email 4 (Day 6–7): Urgency or offer reinforcement for subscribers who haven’t purchased yet.
The goal of the welcome series is a first purchase. Everything that follows is retention. If your welcome series is a single “thanks for subscribing” email, you’re leaving the most valuable moment in your subscriber relationship almost completely unused.
2. The Abandoned Cart Flow (The Most Direct Revenue Recovery)
If your store is on Shopify and connected to Klaviyo, you already have everything you need to recover abandoned carts automatically. The question is how many emails you’re sending — and most brands stop at one.
A solid abandoned cart flow sends three:
- Email 1 (1 hour after abandonment): A simple, low-pressure reminder. No heavy discounting yet. Just bring them back.
- Email 2 (24 hours): Add social proof, address common objections, answer the “why should I trust this brand” question.
- Email 3 (72 hours): Last chance. This is where a small incentive — free shipping, a modest discount — is appropriate if you’re going to use one at all.
The three-email sequence consistently outperforms the single-email approach by 40–60% in recovered revenue. If you’re only sending one reminder, you’re leaving real money on the table every single day.
3. Browse Abandonment (The Flow Most Brands Are Missing Entirely)
Browse abandonment is the automation that catches high-intent visitors before they even add something to cart. A subscriber visits a product page, spends time on it, and leaves — that’s a signal worth responding to. Browse abandonment flows do exactly that.
The conversion rate on browse abandonment is lower than cart abandonment, but the audience is much larger. Most brands skip this flow entirely, which means they’re ignoring every subscriber who showed genuine interest and didn’t make it to checkout.
One important technical note: Klaviyo only fires browse abandonment flows for subscribers who are identified — meaning they’re cookied and known in your list. Your pop-up capture and Shopify integration need to be working correctly for this to function. If you’re not sure whether yours is set up properly, that’s worth checking first.
4. The Post-Purchase Sequence (Turning First-Time Buyers Into Repeat Buyers)
The moment immediately after a purchase is the most underused moment in eCommerce email. The buyer is engaged, they trust you, and they’re thinking about the product. This is the time to build a relationship — not to disappear for a month.
A post-purchase sequence should move through these stages:
- Day 0: Order confirmation and expectation-setting. When does it ship? What should they expect?
- Day 2–3: Shipping update and anticipation-building. Make the wait feel good.
- Day 7–10: Post-delivery check-in and review request. Strike while the product is new in their hands.
- Day 14–21: Introduce related products or complementary items based on what they bought.
- Day 30: Longer-term retention email. Remind them why they made a good decision.
Brands that execute this well consistently see their repeat purchase rate improve within the first 90 days — often significantly. The customers are already there. The sequence just keeps the relationship warm.
5. The Win-Back Campaign (Re-Engaging Subscribers Who’ve Gone Quiet)
After 90–180 days of silence — no opens, no clicks, no purchases — a subscriber becomes a deliverability liability. Sending consistently to unengaged contacts tells inbox providers that your email isn’t wanted, which hurts your ability to reach even the subscribers who do want to hear from you.
A win-back campaign makes one last attempt before suppressing the contact:
- Email 1 (90 days inactive): Soft re-engagement. Remind them of the brand, ask if they’re still interested.
- Email 2 (100 days): Stronger offer or reason to come back.
- Email 3 (110 days): Last chance — “Click here if you’d like to stay on our list. Otherwise, we’ll remove you in 48 hours.”
The contacts who don’t re-engage get suppressed. Your list gets smaller, but your engagement rates go up and your deliverability improves. This is counterintuitive — most people want a bigger list, not a smaller one — but it’s one of the most important things you can do for long-term email performance.
Where Does Your Program Stand?
These five flows represent the foundation of a complete Klaviyo lifecycle program. If you’re missing one or more — or if the ones you have haven’t been updated in months — there’s almost certainly revenue being left on the table.
The best first step is understanding exactly where your gaps are. We offer a free email audit that covers your flows, campaigns, list health, and deliverability — delivered within 48 hours with a clear priority action plan. No pitch, no obligation.
Want to know which of these flows your program is missing? Get your free email audit →
