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What Are Klaviyo Flows?
Flows are Klaviyo's real engine.
Klaviyo flows are automated email and SMS sequences triggered by a customer action, like an abandoned cart or a first purchase, rather than sent on a fixed schedule. Omnisend's 2026 ecommerce benchmark report found automations account for just 2% of email sends but drive 30% of revenue, earning 16x more per send than one-off campaigns.
That gap between effort and payoff is the whole story. A campaign takes an hour to write and gets read once. A flow takes an hour to build and runs for years, triggering every time a new customer matches the condition.
Most Shopify stores using Klaviyo install the app, turn on one abandoned cart email, and stop there. In the audits WebMedic runs on Shopify DTC stores, that single-flow setup is by far the most common gap we find, and it usually explains most of the gap between what a store's email program earns and what it could earn with the same list.
Fixing it does not require a bigger list or a new platform. It requires closing eight specific gaps most Klaviyo accounts share. Here they are, in the order we typically find and fix them during an audit.
Are You Running Klaviyo Without a Welcome Series?
Most new subscribers never hear from you again.
A welcome series is the flow triggered the moment someone joins your list, and it belongs in the highest-volume tier of automations. Omnisend's data shows abandoned cart, welcome, and browse abandonment flows together account for 87% of all automated orders. Skipping the welcome series means giving up a share of that entirely.
A subscriber who just opted in is at their most curious about your brand. That window closes fast. Without a welcome flow, that curiosity gets nothing back until your next scheduled campaign, days or weeks later.
The fix is a 3-4 email sequence: brand story, best-sellers or a signature product, then a light incentive if you use discounts. Klaviyo's flow builder ships a starter template for this; most stores just need to turn it on and adjust the copy.
Is Your Abandoned Cart Flow a Single Email?
One reminder email is not a flow.
The average online store loses 70.22% of carts before checkout, according to Baymard Institute's analysis of 50 abandonment studies. A single reminder email recovers only a slice of that. Multi-step Klaviyo cart flows that pair email with a well-timed SMS nudge catch shoppers across more than one channel and moment.
A single email assumes the customer will see it, open it, and act, all in one shot. Real behavior does not work that way. People close tabs, get distracted, and forget.
A three-touch structure performs better in practice: a reminder within an hour, a social-proof or objection-handling email the next day, and a final nudge with urgency 48-72 hours out. Each step targets a different reason the cart was abandoned in the first place.
Are You Skipping a Browse Abandonment Flow?
Product views are intent signals most stores waste.
Browse abandonment flows message shoppers who viewed products but never added to cart, a signal most stores never act on. Omnisend reports browse abandonment sends grew nearly 2x year-over-year as more brands adopt the flow, because it captures buying intent before cart abandonment even happens. Skipping it wastes traffic your ads already paid for.
This is the flow most stores build last, if at all, because it feels less urgent than cart recovery. But a shopper who viewed a product three times without adding it to cart is showing real interest, just not enough to commit yet.
A browse abandonment flow that surfaces the exact product they viewed, plus two similar options, closes that gap without discounting. Read more in our 5-phase ecommerce email automation system for where this flow sits relative to the others.
Does Your Post-Purchase Flow Stop at the Receipt?
The order confirmation is not the finish line.
Order and shipping confirmation emails convert 22 times better than standard campaign emails, according to Omnisend's 2026 email marketing statistics. Most Klaviyo post-purchase flows stop at that single receipt. Extending the flow with a delivery check-in, a review request, and a relevant cross-sell reaches an audience that is already primed to buy again.
A customer who just paid you is your warmest audience of the week, warmer than any cold ad click. Most brands let that moment go cold by sending nothing else until the next storewide sale.
A post-purchase flow that adds a delivery update, a review request at the 10-14 day mark, and a cross-sell tied to what they bought turns a single order into a second one, without any extra ad spend.
Does this sound like your store? Find out where you're leaking revenue — take the free Revenue Score. 3 minutes. Free. No pitch.
Are You Ignoring Win-Back Flows for Lapsed Customers?
Silent customers are not gone yet.
A win-back flow re-engages customers who have gone quiet, typically 60-90 days without a purchase for most ecommerce categories. Reactivating an existing buyer costs far less than acquiring a new one through paid ads, since the customer already has your product, your emails, and your brand in their inbox. Most Klaviyo accounts never build this flow.
Every store has a segment of past buyers who simply stopped engaging. Without a trigger built specifically for them, they sit in your list until you eventually delete them for poor deliverability.
A win-back flow that leads with "we miss you," follows with new arrivals or a reason to return, and closes with a modest incentive recovers a meaningful slice of that segment before it churns for good.
Is Your Segmentation Too Broad for Klaviyo Flows to Work?
One flow for everyone wastes the entire point of automation.
Sending the same Klaviyo flow to every subscriber ignores what makes automation effective in the first place: relevance. Omnisend's benchmark data shows one in three people who click an automated email go on to purchase, compared with just one in 18 for broadcast campaigns. Segmenting flows by purchase history or engagement level protects that advantage instead of diluting it.
A first-time visitor and a repeat customer with five past orders should never see the identical abandoned cart email. One needs trust-building; the other needs a fast, low-friction nudge.
Klaviyo's segmentation lets you branch a single flow by customer tags, order count, or predicted lifetime value, so the same trigger sends a different message depending on who tripped it. Our ecommerce email marketing strategy guide covers segment logic in more depth.
The setup cost is one afternoon of tagging and condition-splitting inside a flow you already have. Most stores never do it because the flow already "works," even though a broad, one-size-fits-all version leaves an easy conversion advantage unclaimed.
Are You Missing SMS in Your Klaviyo Flows?
Email is not the only channel inside a flow.
Automated SMS inside a flow generates $0.74 per send, nearly 5x the $0.15 that scheduled SMS campaigns earn, according to Omnisend's 2026 benchmark data. Most Klaviyo accounts only use SMS for one-off promotions, never inside the cart or browse abandonment flow where the automation advantage already exists.
SMS gets read within minutes, not hours. Adding one SMS step to an existing flow, not a whole separate campaign, gives you a second, faster chance to reach someone who ignored the email.
The simplest place to start: add a single SMS touch to your abandoned cart flow, timed 2-4 hours after the first email, for subscribers who opted into SMS and have not converted yet.
Are You Skipping A/B Tests on Klaviyo Flow Emails?
Most flows get built once and never touched again.
Subject line personalization lifts open rates 10-14% across industries, and more than 80% of marketers report a measurable improvement from testing it, per Omnisend's 2026 data. A single Klaviyo flow can run untested for years while quietly under-converting, because it was never revisited after the initial build.
Campaigns get tested because they are visible and immediate. Flows run silently in the background, so the same subject line and copy can go stale for a year without anyone noticing.
Klaviyo's built-in A/B testing works inside flows the same way it works in campaigns. Testing send timing, subject lines, and the discount step (if any) once a quarter keeps a flow's performance from quietly decaying.
Which Klaviyo Flow Type Actually Converts Best?
Not all flows earn their place equally.
Abandoned cart, welcome, and browse abandonment flows together account for 87% of all automated orders, making them the highest-priority builds. Back-in-stock flows convert highest per send at 6.46%, and automated SMS earns $0.74 per send versus $0.15 for SMS campaigns, per Omnisend's 2026 ecommerce report.
| Flow Type | Key Benchmark | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cart, welcome & browse abandonment (combined) | 87% of all automated orders | Omnisend 2026 |
| Automated emails (overall) | 30% of email revenue from 2% of sends | Omnisend 2026 |
| Back-in-stock | 6.46% conversion rate (highest single flow type) | Omnisend 2026 |
| Birthday / occasion | Average order value 4x+ higher (~$744) | Omnisend 2026 |
| Automated SMS | $0.74 per send vs. $0.15 for SMS campaigns | Omnisend 2026 |
Source: Omnisend 2026 Email Marketing Statistics
Build in this order if you are starting from scratch: welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase, then win-back and back-in-stock. For a walkthrough of Klaviyo's own setup and pricing tiers, see our Klaviyo Shopify app guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Klaviyo flows?
Klaviyo flows are automated email and SMS sequences triggered by a specific customer action, such as an abandoned cart, a first purchase, or joining a list. Unlike one-time campaigns, a flow runs continuously once built. Omnisend's 2026 data shows automations drive 30% of email revenue from just 2% of sends.
How many Klaviyo flows should a Shopify store run?
Most well-optimized Shopify email programs run six to eight core flows: welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase, win-back, and back-in-stock, with birthday and VIP flows added as the list matures. Fewer than three flows usually signals significant untapped revenue.
Which Klaviyo flow makes the most money?
Abandoned cart, welcome, and browse abandonment flows together account for 87% of all automated orders, according to Omnisend's 2026 benchmark report. Cart abandonment is typically the single biggest revenue driver among the three, since it targets shoppers already one step from paying.
Do Klaviyo flows work with SMS?
Yes. Klaviyo lets you add SMS steps directly inside an existing email flow, not just as a separate channel. Automated SMS generates $0.74 per send compared to $0.15 for scheduled SMS campaigns, per Omnisend's 2026 data, making it a strong addition to cart and browse abandonment flows.
How often should you review Klaviyo flows?
Review core flows at least once a quarter: check open and click rates against the previous quarter, test one subject line or send-time change, and confirm links and discount codes still work. Flows left untouched for a year commonly show measurable performance decay.
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