The 6 Klaviyo Email Flows Every Ecommerce Store Needs

If you're running an ecommerce store and you're not using Klaviyo email flows, you're leaving money on the table every single day. Not in a vague, theoretical sense — in a very literal one. Every visitor who adds to cart and leaves without buying, every customer who never hears from you after their first order, every subscriber who signed up and received nothing — those are revenue events that email automation can capture on autopilot.

This guide covers the six Klaviyo flows that consistently drive the most revenue for ecommerce stores in NZ and Australia, what to put in each one, and the settings that most stores get wrong.

What Is a Klaviyo Flow?

A flow is an automated email sequence that triggers based on a specific action or behaviour — someone signs up, abandons a cart, makes a purchase, or goes quiet for 60 days. Unlike a campaign (which you send manually to a list), a flow runs in the background 24/7 without any intervention once it's set up.

That's the point. Good flows turn your email list from a broadcast channel into a revenue engine.

1. Welcome Series

Trigger: Someone subscribes to your list (without making a purchase)

This is the most important flow for building long-term customer value. A new subscriber has just raised their hand and said they're interested. What you do in the next 48 hours sets the tone for the entire relationship.

What to include:

Email 1 — Deliver and introduce (send immediately) Send whatever you promised (discount code, guide, offer). Introduce the brand in one or two short paragraphs. Don't try to sell yet.

Email 2 — Social proof and story (send 24 hours later) Why do customers choose you? A short origin story or a strong testimonial works well here. Show, don't just tell.

Email 3 — Your bestsellers (send 48–72 hours later) Now you can sell. Show your top products with clear calls to action. This is where the discount conversion typically happens if you're running one.

What most stores get wrong: Making the welcome series too long (5+ emails) or sending all three emails within 24 hours. Give subscribers room to breathe.

Klaviyo tip: Set up a split to exclude anyone who makes a purchase during the welcome series so they don't receive promotional emails mid-checkout.

2. Abandoned Cart Flow

Trigger: Someone adds to cart and leaves without purchasing

This is the highest-revenue flow for most ecommerce stores, full stop. The average ecommerce cart abandonment rate is around 70%, and a well-configured Klaviyo abandoned cart sequence will recover 5–15% of those carts. At any meaningful traffic volume, that's significant revenue.

What to include:

Email 1 — Reminder (send 1 hour after abandonment) Simple, direct. Remind them what they left behind. Show the product image. No heavy selling needed — most people abandon carts because they got distracted, not because they changed their mind.

Email 2 — Address the objection (send 24 hours later) What's the likely reason they didn't buy? Shipping cost? Uncertainty about the product? Returns policy? Answer the most common concern directly in this email.

Email 3 — Final push (send 48 hours later) If you're willing to offer a discount, do it here — not in email 1. Discounting too early trains customers to abandon carts on purpose. A time-sensitive offer ("your cart expires tonight") creates urgency without giving it away up front.

What most stores get wrong: Only sending one email. One email captures the low-hanging fruit — the people who were going to come back anyway. Emails two and three are where the real recovery happens.

Klaviyo tip: Use dynamic product blocks to show the exact items in each subscriber's cart. Generic "you left something behind" emails convert at a fraction of the rate of personalised ones.

3. Browse Abandonment Flow

Trigger: Someone views a product page but doesn't add to cart

This sits just above abandoned cart in the funnel. The subscriber was interested enough to look, but not interested enough to commit. A browse abandonment flow nudges them back.

What to include:

Email 1 — Show them what they viewed (send 2–4 hours later) Keep it short. Show the product. Include a strong product image and one clear CTA.

Email 2 — Social proof for that category (send 24 hours later) Reviews, ratings, or a short testimonial related to the product category they viewed.

What most stores get wrong: Sending browse abandonment emails too quickly. If someone spent 45 seconds on a product page, they may not have been seriously considering it. Set a minimum time-on-page threshold in Klaviyo before triggering this flow.

4. Post-Purchase Flow

Trigger: Someone makes their first purchase

Most stores stop emailing customers once they've bought. That's backwards. The best time to communicate with a customer is immediately after they've paid — they're engaged, they trust you, and they're open to what comes next.

What to include:

Email 1 — Order confirmation and brand warmth (send immediately) This usually comes from your ecommerce platform, but Klaviyo lets you customise it. Use it to reinforce the purchase decision and set expectations for delivery.

Email 2 — Onboard them to the brand (send 2–3 days later) Share content that helps them get the most from their purchase. How-to guide, tips, usage ideas. This reduces buyer's remorse and builds loyalty.

Email 3 — Ask for a review (send after expected delivery) Time this to arrive a few days after the product should have been delivered. Reviews are currency — this is the lowest-effort way to collect them.

Email 4 — Cross-sell (send 2–3 weeks later) Based on what they bought, suggest a complementary product. This is one of the highest-converting emails in the sequence if the product match is relevant.

What most stores get wrong: Not separating first-time buyers from repeat buyers in their flows. The message to someone buying for the first time should be very different from someone on their fifth order.

5. Win-Back Flow

Trigger: A customer hasn't purchased in 90–180 days (set based on your average purchase cycle)

Acquiring a new customer costs 5–7 times more than re-engaging an existing one. Win-back flows are how you recover customers who've gone quiet before they disappear for good.

What to include:

Email 1 — Re-engage (send at 90 days lapsed) Acknowledge the gap. "We haven't seen you in a while" works. Show what's new, what's changed, or what's popular right now.

Email 2 — Offer (send 1 week later) Give them a reason to come back. A discount, free shipping, or early access to new products.

Email 3 — Last chance (send 1 week later) If they haven't engaged, tell them you're removing them from your list. This sounds counterintuitive, but it improves deliverability and the urgency often triggers a response.

Klaviyo tip: Suppress unengaged subscribers after the win-back flow runs without response. Mailing disengaged contacts kills your sender reputation and reduces deliverability for everyone else.

6. Sunset Flow (List Hygiene)

Trigger: A subscriber hasn't opened an email in 180+ days

This is the most overlooked flow — and the one that silently tanks deliverability for stores that ignore it.

An unengaged list is a liability. Email providers like Gmail watch engagement rates closely. If a large percentage of your list never opens your emails, your sender reputation drops and your campaigns start landing in spam — even for people who do want to hear from you.

What to include:

Email 1 — "Still interested?" (send at 180 days) One clear question. A simple "Are you still interested in hearing from us?" with a "Yes, keep me subscribed" button.

Email 2 — Final warning (send 7 days later) Tell them they'll be removed if they don't click. Include the same CTA.

Anyone who doesn't engage gets suppressed. Not unsubscribed — suppressed. That way, if they visit your site and buy, Klaviyo picks them back up.

Setting Up Your Flows: The Order That Makes Sense

If you're starting from scratch, prioritise in this order:

1. Welcome series — highest impact on long-term list value

2. Abandoned cart — fastest revenue recovery

3. Post-purchase — LTV and retention

4. Browse abandonment — incremental revenue above cart abandonment

5. Win-back — recovering dormant customers

6. Sunset — protecting deliverability

Don't try to build all six at once. Get the welcome series and abandoned cart live first, let them run for a few weeks, then add the next layer.

What Good Looks Like in Klaviyo

A well-configured set of flows typically generates 20–30% of total email revenue without any ongoing manual effort. If your flows are generating less than 15%, there's room to improve — either in timing, copy, or the trigger conditions themselves.

If you're not sure where your flows are underperforming, the Klaviyo flow analytics dashboard breaks down open rate, click rate, and revenue per recipient for each email. Start there before changing anything.

Need help setting up or auditing your Klaviyo flows? Our email automation service is built specifically for ecommerce stores that want retention working in the background while they focus on growth.