Klaviyo Email Flows That Print Money: The 7 Essential Automations

Every e-commerce brand we work with arrives with the same problem: their Klaviyo account has a welcome email and maybe an abandoned cart, both written by someone who left two years ago. Meanwhile, the seven core flows that actually drive revenue are either missing or built badly. This guide walks through each one — setup logic, segment criteria, and the copy patterns we use across every client.

Why flows beat campaigns

Campaigns are one-off sends. Flows are triggered automations that fire when a customer takes an action. The difference matters because:

• Flows hit customers at the moment of highest intent (just abandoned cart, just bought something, just hit a milestone)
• Flows run continuously without team effort — set once, earn forever
• Flows have 4-6× higher conversion rates than broadcast campaigns
• Flows scale linearly with your traffic, campaigns don't

For Sleepy UK, our first 60 days were entirely about building the flow stack. By month two, automations were generating 32% of email revenue. By month four, that figure was 58%.

1. Welcome series

The most-built flow, and the most often built badly. The mistake is treating it as a "thanks for subscribing!" email. It isn't. It's the customer's first sustained brand experience — make it count.

Trigger

Fires when someone subscribes via your pop-up, footer form, or first purchase. Make sure to exclude already-subscribed customers from re-entering when they subscribe twice (Klaviyo handles this if "skip if already in flow" is on).

Structure (4 emails)

1. Day 0 — Welcome + delivery of offer. Send the discount code or freebie immediately. Brand intro, what to expect.
2. Day 2 — Brand story. Why does the company exist? Who founded it? What's the mission? This is where you build emotional connection.
3. Day 4 — Bestsellers. Social proof. The products other customers love. Reviews. Press mentions if you have them.
4. Day 7 — Urgency. Reminder that the welcome offer expires. Soft urgency, not pushy.

Expected results

A well-built welcome series achieves 30-45% open rates and 8-15% click rates. Conversion of new subscribers to first purchase should sit at 12-20% within 14 days.

2. Abandoned checkout

The highest-revenue flow in nearly every account we audit. Customers who reach checkout and don't complete are the most qualified pool you have — they wanted to buy, something stopped them.

Trigger

Fires when a customer starts checkout but doesn't place an order within 4 hours. Klaviyo has a native "Started Checkout" trigger that you can configure here.

Structure (3 emails)

1. Hour 4 — Reminder. "You left something behind." Show cart contents, single CTA.
2. Hour 24 — Social proof. Reviews of the abandoned product. Address common objections (shipping time, returns).
3. Hour 48 — Discount. Last attempt with a modest discount (5-10%, not more) and clear urgency.

Some brands run a 4th email at day 7, but our data shows the marginal recovery doesn't justify the unsubscribe risk.

Expected results

A solid abandoned checkout flow recovers 8-15% of abandons. For a brand doing £100k/month with a 70% abandonment rate, that's £4-8k/month in incremental revenue from one flow.

3. Browse abandonment

Less common, often underweighted. Fires when someone views products multiple times without adding to cart. These customers are interested but not yet committed.

Trigger

"Viewed Product" event with a filter: "Viewed Product 3 or more times in last 7 days AND has not placed order in last 30 days." Set up via Klaviyo's flow filters.

Structure (2 emails)

1. Day 1 after qualifying browse — Education. Send content related to the viewed category. How to choose. What to look for. No discount yet.
2. Day 4 — Direct ask. "Still thinking about [product]?" Show the specific items they viewed, with a low-pressure CTA.

4. Post-purchase

The flow that drives repeat purchase — the most overlooked revenue lever in e-commerce. Done well, post-purchase increases customer LTV by 15-30%.

Trigger

Fires when a customer places an order. Trigger on "Placed Order" event, with optional filters by product type, order value, or first-time vs repeat.

Structure (5 emails over 90 days)

1. Order +1 day — Order confirmation expansion. Beyond the receipt. What to expect, delivery timing, how to use the product.
2. Order +5 days — How-to. Care instructions, how to get the most out of the product. Value-add content.
3. Order +14 days — Review request. Often pulled out into a separate flow (see #5), but can sit here.
4. Order +30 days — Complementary products. Personalised based on what they bought. Soft upsell.
5. Order +60 days — Reorder/reorder reminder. Especially powerful for consumables.

5. Review request

Reviews are the cheapest social proof you can manufacture. Most brands ask for them inconsistently and lose 60-80% of the reviews they could have collected.

Trigger

14-30 days after order, depending on your product. Consumables: shorter wait. Durable goods: longer wait. Test in 7-day increments.

Structure (2 emails)

1. Initial ask. "How was [product]?" Direct, short, no fluff. Star rating widget if your review tool supports it.
2. Reminder (7 days later) if no review submitted. Soft nudge with social proof of recent reviews from other customers.

6. Win-back

For lapsed customers — those who haven't ordered in 90-180 days. The customers most likely to never return without intervention.

Trigger

Customer hasn't placed an order in X days, where X depends on your average reorder cycle. For most brands, 120 days is a good starting point.

Structure (3 emails)

1. Day 1 — "We miss you." No discount. Just a check-in. Brand voice, warm tone.
2. Day 5 — "What's new since you left." New products, brand updates, anything to re-engage.
3. Day 12 — Final discount. 15-20% off, one-time, time-limited. Last attempt before considering them churned.

7. VIP welcome

For your top customers (top 10% by spend or order count). Triggered when a customer crosses a VIP threshold. Builds loyalty and gives them perks before competitors poach.

Trigger

Customer hits 3rd order, OR lifetime value crosses £500, OR they place a single order above £200. Customise to your AOV.

Structure (single email + ongoing tagging)

Single high-quality email welcoming them to VIP status. Could include: early access to new launches, member-only discount, dedicated support email, free shipping permanent. Then tag them so they receive different campaigns going forward.

How they stack together

Build in this order for maximum impact:

1. Abandoned checkout (highest immediate revenue)
2. Welcome series (best for list growth ROI)
3. Post-purchase (drives repeat)
4. Review request (compounds over time)
5. Browse abandonment (catches interest signals)
6. Win-back (recovers churned customers)
7. VIP welcome (LTV optimisation)

Don't try to build all seven at once. We see brands attempt this and end up with mediocre versions of everything. Build one a fortnight, ship live, optimise the previous one as the next launches.

"The brands that win at email aren't the ones with the most flows. They're the ones with seven flows that all work properly, then optimised quarterly."