Mastering Klaviyo Flows: How to Automate Your Emails for Maximum Conversions

If you’re an eCommerce brand looking to increase sales and engagement on autopilot, Klaviyo email flows might be your new best friend. Here’s why:

Instead of sending one-off campaigns and constantly chasing your audience, Klaviyo flows let you set up smart, behavior-based emails that reach the right people at the right time. Brands using Klaviyo flows see up to 30% of their email revenue come from automation alone.

So, how can you master these flows and automate them for maximum conversions? We’ll tell you. In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What Klaviyo flows are
• Best Klaviyo email automation sequences for e-commerce
• Step-by-step guide to setting up Klaviyo email flows that convert
• Common mistakes to avoid during Klaviyo marketing automation
  ‍

Let’s get right in.

Klaviyo flows are automated email sequences triggered by specific actions your customers take. Examples of these actions include signing up for your list, leaving items in their cart, or making a purchase. Think of these flows as smart, behavior-based journeys that respond in real time to how people interact with your brand.

Unlike traditional one-off email campaigns that are sent manually, flows are automated. This means that you set them up only once, and they continue working. 

For example, when someone joins your list, a Welcome Flow might instantly greet them with a thank-you email and a discount code. If they browse your store but don’t buy anything, a Browse Abandonment Flow can remind them of the products they viewed. And if they complete a purchase, a Post-Purchase Flow can help you deliver an exceptional customer experience that keeps them coming back.

Ultimately, with Klaviyo flows, you can:

• Build relationships with new subscribers
• Recover lost sales
• Increase customer lifetime value
• Deliver personalized experiences at scale
  ‍

When it comes to Klaviyo email automation, not all flows are the same. Some flows bring in more revenue, build stronger customer relationships, and do a better job of personalizing the shopping experience. Below are five of these high-impact flows:

1. Welcome Flow

The Welcome Flow is the initial communication a subscriber receives after joining your email list. It sets the tone for your brand and helps you start building trust from day one. According to Klaviyo, welcome emails can achieve open rates above 54%, making them the highest-performing email flows that convert.

When to send it:

Trigger it immediately after a user signs up or subscribes via a form or pop-up.

Ideal email structure for welcome flows:

• Email 1: Warm welcome with a thank-you message and an exclusive offer or discount code.​
• Email 2: Share your brand story, mission, and what sets you apart in the market.
• Email 3: Highlight your best-selling products, customer testimonials, and social proof.​
• Email 4: Remind the subscriber to use the provided discount before it expires.

Best practices for welcome email flows:

• Welcome them warmly
• Share your mission and what sets you apart
• Highlight your bestsellers
• Add unique discount codes
• Optimize your emails for mobile devices to ensure readability.​
• Test different subject lines and content to determine what resonates best with your audience.
  ‍

2. Abandoned Cart Flow

The Abandoned Cart Flow targets customers who add products to their cart but leave without completing the purchase. With over 70% of online carts abandoned, this flow is a direct way to recover lost revenue.

When to send abandoned flows:

• Email 1: Send within 1–2 hours after cart abandonment as a gentle reminder.​
• Email 2: Follow up 24 hours later with additional incentives or information.​
• Email 3: A final reminder 48 hours post-abandonment, emphasizing urgency or limited stock.

Ideal email structure for abandoned cart flows:

• Email 1: A friendly reminder that they left something behind. Include cart contents, product images, and a clear CTA to return.
• Email 2: Build trust with social proof, add customer reviews, UGC, or trust badges to reduce hesitation.
• Email 3: Create urgency. Let them know their cart may expire soon or that stock is running low. Optionally include a limited-time discount.

Best practices:

• Use attention-grabbing subject lines to entice opens.​
• Incorporate product images to remind customers visually.​
• Test different incentives, such as free shipping or discounts, to see what drives conversions.​
• Ensure the checkout process is seamless and mobile-friendly.
  ‍

3. Post-Purchase Flow

This flow is important for retention. It improves the customer’s experience after a sale, helping to reduce buyer’s remorse, encourage repeat purchases, and drive loyalty.

When to send post-purchase flows:

• Email 1: Immediately after purchase, send an order confirmation email.​
• Email 2: Once the product has shipped, send a shipping confirmation.​
• Email 3: A few days after delivery, send an email requesting feedback.​
• Email 4: One to two weeks later, send an email suggesting related products.

Ideal email structure for post-purchase flows:

• Email 1: Order confirmation with a heartfelt thank-you and a clear breakdown of the purchase, including next steps.
• Email 2: Shipping confirmation with tracking info and what to expect upon delivery.
• Email 3: Product tips and usage guide to help the customer get the most out of their purchase.
• Email 4: Request for feedback or a product review and invite them to join your loyalty or referral program.
• Email 5: Cross-sell or upsell email featuring complementary products based on their order.

Best practices:

• Confirm details and use images
• Express appreciation.
• Personalize product recs based on purchase
• Ask for reviews 5–7 days post-delivery
• Include links to customer support or FAQs.​
• CTA: "Track Your Order" or "Explore More Products."
  ‍

4. Browse Abandonment Flow

Unlike the cart flow, this targets users who browsed but didn’t add anything to their cart. These are warm leads. They were curious enough to explore, and this flow re-engages them and helps keep your brand top-of-mind.

When to send it:

Within 1–3 hours after a customer browses a product page but doesn’t take any action. Klaviyo’s behavior-based tracking makes this easy to set up with filters for "Viewed Product" but "Not Added to Cart."

Ideal email structure for browse abandonment flows:

• Email 1: Show the product(s) they viewed with eye-catching images and a short reminder.
• Email 2: Add social proof and include reviews, ratings, or UGC.
• Email 3: Product tips and usage guide to help the customer get the most out of their purchase.
• Email 4: Briefly highlight key product benefits and what makes it worth buying. Also, introduce urgency.
  ‍

Klaviyo flows are great for e-commerce business owners who want to explore email and SMS automation. Instead of manually sending messages, you can set up automated sequences that reach the right people at the right time.

Here’s how to bring these flows to life:

1. Choose the Right Flow

Start by going to the Flows tab in your Klaviyo dashboard and clicking Create Flow. 

You'll see a library of pre-built flows for different goals, like:

• Welcome Series (for new subscribers)
• Abandoned Cart (to recover lost sales) 
• Post-purchase (to increase retention)

Pick the one that best fits your needs. You can also build a custom flow from scratch, but the pre-built options save time and are already optimized for results.

2. Set Up the Flow Trigger

Triggers determine when a customer enters your flow, and each flow starts with a trigger. For instance, when:

• Someone joins your email list: It triggers a welcome email
• A shopper abandons their cart: It triggers a reminder email
• A customer makes a purchase: It triggers a thank-you or upsell email

You can add filters to refine who gets the flow (e.g., only sending to first-time buyers).

3. Add Emails, SMS, and Time Delays

Now, it’s time to build the flow sequence. A typical structure looks like this:

1. First email/message: Sent immediately after the trigger event
2. Time delay: Wait a few hours or days before sending the next step
3. Follow-up email/SMS: Reinforce your message, offer more value, or create urgency

Time delays prevent overwhelming customers with too many messages at once.

4. Use Conditional Splits for Personalization

A conditional split is used to create different paths within the flow based on customer behavior or attributes, allowing for personalized messaging. 

For example:

• Opened the first email?: Send them an exclusive offer
• Didn’t open?: Resend the email with a new subject line
• Made a purchase?: Stop the reminders and send a thank-you

This ensures your messages stay relevant instead of spamming customers with the same content.

5. Review, Test, and Launch

Before going live, double-check everything:
✅ Are all messages clear and engaging?
✅ Are the delays and conditions set correctly?
✅ Is your branding consistent?

Once you're confident, click Review and Turn On to update the status of each action to Live, enabling the flow to start sending messages.

6. Monitor and Optimize

Your work isn’t done after launching. Check Klaviyo’s analytics to see how your flow is performing. Look at:

• Open and click-through rates
• Conversion rates (are people buying?)
• Drop-off points (where are people losing interest?)

Make improvements based on the data. These improvements can include small tweaks, like a better subject line or shorter delay. These tweaks can make a big difference in your conversion rate.
‍

Too many brands set up flows and forget about them, leading to poor engagement and lost revenue. If you want your automation to bring results, avoid these common mistakes:

1. Setting It and Forgetting It

Klaviyo flows aren’t a one-and-done deal. Customer behavior changes, your product offerings evolve, and what worked six months ago might not work now. 

Fix: Regularly check your flows, set a reminder to review key flows (like welcome and abandoned cart) at least every quarter, and make updates where needed.

2. Overloading with Too Many Emails

Yes, automation is great, but too many messages can annoy your audience and increase unsubscribes. If someone doesn’t open the first email, sending five more won’t help; on the contrary, it might just push them away.

Fix: Space out your emails with proper time delays. Use engagement-based splits to adjust messaging instead of bombarding everyone with the same flow.

3. Ignoring Mobile Optimization

Most emails are opened on mobile, yet many brands still design for desktop. If your email looks off, loads too slowly, or has buttons that are hard to tap, you’ll lose potential conversions.

Fix: Always test emails on mobile. Use a responsive design, keep subject lines short, and ensure CTAs (call-to-action buttons) are easy to click.

4. Skipping Personalization

If you’re not using Klaviyo’s segmentation and dynamic content features, your messages will feel robotic and irrelevant.

Fix: Use merge tags to personalize names, recommend products based on browsing history, and tailor content based on past purchases.

5. Not Using Conditional Splits

Sending the same emails to engaged and unengaged subscribers? Big mistake. Without conditional splits, you’re missing opportunities to nurture different customer groups effectively.

Fix: Create split paths based on behavior, such as sending a special discount to repeat customers while re-engaging inactive ones with a different approach.

6. Forgetting a Clear CTA (Call to Action)

If your email doesn’t tell recipients what to do next, your conversions will suffer. A vague “Learn More” or cluttered design can confuse users, making them exit instead of taking action.

Fix: Make your CTA obvious. Use action-driven phrases like “Shop Now” or “Claim Your Discount.” Keep the design clean so your CTA stands out.

7. Not A/B Testing Your Flows

Sticking to the same subject lines, email copy, and layouts without experimenting means you’re leaving money on the table.

Fix: Optimize your Klaviyo pricing plan for maximum ROI. Run A/B tests on subject lines, CTA buttons, email timing, and content. Even small tweaks can improve conversions significantly.

Find out how to optimize your Klaviyo pricing plan for maximum ROI.

8. Ignoring Flow Analytics

Klaviyo gives you data on open rates, click rates, and revenue per recipient, yet many brands don’t check their flow performance regularly. Without data, you can’t optimize.

Fix: Review analytics at least once a month. Identify weak points (e.g., high drop-off rates) and make adjustments accordingly.
‍

Wrapping Up on How to Automate Your Emails for Maximum Conversions

Klaviyo flows aren’t just a “nice to have”; they’re a growth engine for your business. Once you set them up properly, they quietly generate revenue, build loyalty, and create a seamless experience for your customers.

If you’re just getting started, focus on your Welcome Flow, Abandoned Cart Flow, and Post-Purchase Flow. Nail those three, and you’ll already be ahead of most brands.

Need help building out high-converting Klaviyo flows? Book a free consultation with Pro Marketer. 

We’d love to help you automate your growth.

Pro Marketer is an e-commerce marketing agency that helps dark horses increase the probability of achieving their e-commerce goals with our Growth Trust Model®. This innovative approach not only saves our clients valuable time but also spares them from unnecessary sacrifice, enabling a quicker and more efficient path to achieving scalable success.