Klaviyo can build genuinely complex, highly branched automation once you’re comfortable with the platform, and it’s tempting to try to build all of it at once. In practice, a small set of well-built flows does most of the revenue work for a new or growing Shopify store, and a lot of the more elaborate flows only pay off once you have enough customer data and volume to justify them. This post covers the flows worth building first, why each one matters, and roughly what should be in them.
Why Flows Matter More Than Campaigns Early On
Campaigns (one-off sends to your list) require ongoing effort, someone has to plan, design, and send them regularly. Flows are built once, then run automatically based on customer behaviour, generating revenue continuously without repeated manual effort. For a new Klaviyo account connected to Shopify, flows are almost always where the return on setup time is highest, because they capture revenue from customer actions that are already happening on your store, rather than requiring you to manufacture demand through a new campaign.
The Essential Flows
1. Welcome flow
Triggered when someone joins your list (usually via a pop-up or footer signup, ideally offering a genuine incentive like a first-purchase discount, if that fits your margin and brand positioning). This is often the highest-converting flow on the account, because the subscriber has just shown active interest.
What it should include: an introduction to your brand (not just a discount code dump), a clear value proposition, social proof if you have genuine reviews, and a direct path back to shop, typically across 2-4 emails spaced over the first week or so.
2. Abandoned checkout flow
Triggered when someone starts checkout but doesn’t complete it. This is one of the most directly revenue-generating flows because it targets people who’ve already shown strong purchase intent.
What it should include: a reminder of what’s in their cart (with product images), sent reasonably promptly (within an hour or so is typical), followed by one or two further reminders over the next day or two, potentially with a modest incentive on the final email if that fits your margin. Be careful not to train customers to expect a discount every time they abandon, that can quietly erode margin over time if overused.
3. Browse abandonment flow
Triggered when someone views a product (or product category) but doesn’t add to cart. Lower intent than cart abandonment, so expect a lower conversion rate, but still meaningfully more valuable than a cold campaign send since it’s targeted to genuine interest.
What it should include: a reminder of the specific product(s) viewed, complementary product suggestions, and a lower-pressure tone than the cart abandonment flow, since the intent signal is weaker.
4. Post-purchase flow
Triggered after a completed order. Often under-built relative to its value, this flow is about turning a first-time buyer into a repeat customer and building the relationship, not just confirming the order (Shopify’s transactional emails already handle order and shipping confirmation).
What it should include: delivery/setup guidance if relevant to your product, a request for a review once enough time has passed for the product to arrive and be used, and depending on your catalogue, a complementary product suggestion or replenishment reminder timed to typical usage cycles.
5. Win-back / reactivation flow
Triggered when a previously active customer or subscriber goes quiet for a defined period (the right window depends on your typical purchase cycle, a skincare consumable and a furniture piece have very different natural repurchase timeframes).
What it should include: a check-in that doesn’t feel purely transactional, updates on what’s new since their last purchase, and potentially an incentive to return, reserved for genuinely lapsed customers rather than triggered too early.
6. Sunset / list hygiene flow
Not revenue-generating directly, but protects deliverability for every other flow and campaign. Triggered for subscribers who haven’t engaged (opened or clicked) over an extended period.
What it should include: a final re-engagement attempt, then removal or suppression from regular sends if there’s still no engagement, sending consistently to a disengaged list damages your sender reputation and hurts deliverability across your entire account, including your best-performing flows.
Flows Worth Building Once You Have More Volume and Data
These are genuinely valuable but usually make more sense as a second phase, once you have enough customer and purchase data for the logic to be meaningful:
- Replenishment flows for consumable products, timed to typical repurchase cycles
- Post-purchase cross-sell flows segmented by what was actually purchased, recommending genuinely complementary products
- VIP/loyalty segment flows for your highest-value customers
- Product-specific back-in-stock flows, if inventory constraints are a recurring issue
- Customer win-back flows segmented by original acquisition channel or product category, which need enough historical data to build meaningfully different logic per segment
How Flow Timing Should Vary by Product Type
A common mistake is applying the same timing template to every flow regardless of what’s actually being sold. A few adjustments worth considering:
- Consumables and replenishables (skincare, supplements, coffee, pet food) benefit from tighter timing on abandoned checkout emails (within the hour) since the purchase decision tends to be lower-consideration, and from a replenishment-focused post-purchase flow timed to realistic usage cycles.
- Considered, higher-price purchases (furniture, larger homewares, higher-end apparel) often warrant a slightly slower abandoned checkout sequence, since the customer may genuinely need more time to decide rather than being reminded aggressively, and a post-purchase flow more focused on setup/care guidance and review requests than immediate cross-selling.
- Gift-oriented purchases need post-purchase flows that consider the buyer may not be the end user, a review request asking “how are you enjoying your purchase” makes little sense if the product was a gift for someone else.
Reviewing your actual catalogue and purchase patterns before setting flow timing, rather than defaulting to generic templates, is a small adjustment that meaningfully affects how relevant (and therefore effective) each flow feels to the recipient.
Measuring Whether a Flow Is Actually Working
Once a flow is live, don’t just assume it’s working because it’s switched on. Check in Klaviyo’s flow-level analytics:
- Conversion rate per flow, not just open and click rate, opens and clicks are useful diagnostic signals but revenue conversion is the real measure of success.
- Revenue per recipient, which lets you compare flows of different sizes fairly.
- Where in a multi-email flow people are actually converting, if all your abandoned checkout revenue comes from the first email, the second and third may need rethinking rather than assuming the whole sequence is earning its place.
A Practical Build Order
- Welcome flow (highest immediate return, works from day one of list building)
- Abandoned checkout flow (captures existing high-intent traffic you’re currently losing)
- Browse abandonment flow (captures a second, larger pool of interested-but-not-converted traffic)
- Post-purchase flow (starts building repeat purchase behaviour and review volume)
- Sunset flow (protects deliverability as your list grows)
- Win-back flow (becomes meaningful once you have enough purchase history to define “lapsed” sensibly)
Getting the Basics Right Before Adding Complexity
A common mistake is building elaborate, highly-branched flows before the fundamentals are solid, proper list segmentation, clean product feed data syncing correctly from Shopify, and sender domain authentication set up correctly for deliverability. None of the flows above will perform well if the underlying data feeding them is messy, or if deliverability issues mean a meaningful share of emails aren’t reaching the inbox in the first place.
This is where proper setup makes a measurable difference over a default, templated approach, flows built around your actual customer behaviour and catalogue structure, rather than generic templates dropped in unchanged. That’s the core of what Klaviyo email marketing work involves for Shopify stores: getting the foundation right so each flow is actually working with good data and correct triggers, not just switched on.
Flows and Campaigns Should Work Together, Not in Isolation
Flows handle the always-on, behaviour-triggered revenue; campaigns (product launches, sale announcements, editorial content) handle the timely, planned side of email marketing. The two shouldn’t be built as entirely separate efforts, a well-timed campaign can feed new signups into your welcome flow, and a campaign promoting a specific collection can be excluded from browse abandonment logic for that same collection to avoid redundant messaging. Thinking of your Klaviyo account as one coordinated system, rather than a flows project and a campaigns project running independently, tends to produce a more coherent customer experience and avoids the common failure mode of a customer receiving a campaign and an automated flow email with conflicting messages on the same day.
FAQ
How many Klaviyo flows should a new Shopify store start with?
Three to four well-built flows (welcome, abandoned checkout, browse abandonment, post-purchase) cover most of the early revenue opportunity. It’s better to have a small number of properly configured flows than a large number of shallow, default ones.
Which Klaviyo flow typically has the highest conversion rate?
Abandoned checkout flows usually convert highest because they target customers who’ve already shown strong, immediate purchase intent by starting checkout. Welcome flows are often a close second due to the fresh interest of a new subscriber.
Do I need Shopify Plus to use Klaviyo’s advanced flows?
No, Klaviyo’s flow capability isn’t gated by your Shopify plan. Standard Shopify stores can use the full range of Klaviyo flows; the constraint is more about having enough data and volume to make advanced segmentation logic meaningful.
How long should an abandoned checkout flow be?
Typically two to three emails spaced over 24-48 hours works well for most stores, though the right cadence depends on your typical consideration period, a considered, higher-priced purchase may warrant a longer, more patient sequence than an impulse-purchase category.
Should every flow include a discount?
No, over-using discounts across every flow trains customers to wait for one before buying, which erodes margin over time. Reserve discount incentives for flows and moments where they genuinely change the outcome, like a final abandoned checkout reminder or a win-back flow for genuinely lapsed customers.
Next Step
If you’re setting up Klaviyo for the first time, or your existing flows are underperforming, it’s worth getting the foundational setup right before adding more complexity. Book a call and we’ll help you map out the right flows for your store’s actual customer behaviour.
