The 7 essential Klaviyo flows (and how much they should generate)

Why flows are your best investment

Flows account for 30 to 50% of email revenue for a well-optimized DTC brand. Unlike campaigns that require work every week, a properly configured flow runs continuously, 24/7, with no intervention.

Yet most brands only have 3-4 active flows (cart abandonment, welcome, post-purchase). The 3-4 missing flows represent $2,000 to $10,000/month in lost revenue depending on your volume.

Here are the 7 essential flows, ranked by revenue impact.

The reference benchmarks

Flow 1: Cart abandonment

Impact: the highest. 35-45% of flow revenue.

Trigger: Checkout Started → no order in the next 4h.

Recommended structure:

• Email 1 (1h), simple reminder, product name in subject, no promo
• Email 2 (24h), social proof, customer reviews, product benefits
• Email 3 (48h), incentive (free shipping or discount), VIP/new split

How much it generates: $2,000 to $8,000/month for a brand at $3-10M in revenue.

Most common mistake: a single email with -10% in the first message. You’re training your customers to abandon their cart to get the promo.

For a detailed guide: Cart abandonment flow: anatomy of a flow at +$4,000/month.

Flow 2: Welcome flow

Impact: 15-25% of flow revenue.

Trigger: sign-up to the main list (popup form, footer, landing page).

Recommended structure:

• Email 1 (immediate), welcome + first-purchase offer (if you have one)
• Email 2 (Day +1), brand story, values, differentiation
• Email 3 (Day +3), best-sellers, social proof, UGC
• Email 4 (Day +5), reminder of the welcome offer (if not yet converted)
• Email 5 (Day +7), last chance, soft urgency

How much it generates: $800 to $4,000/month. Variable depending on your sign-up volume and your welcome offer.

Most common mistake: a single welcome email with the promo code, then nothing. 60% of subscribers don’t open the first email; without a sequence, you lose them.

Flow 3: Browse abandonment

Impact: 10-15% of flow revenue. Often missing, always profitable.

Trigger: visited a product page → no add-to-cart in 2h → not already in the cart abandonment flow.

Recommended structure:

• Email 1 (2h), “Interested in this product?” + image + CTA
• Email 2 (24h), similar or complementary products

How much it generates: $500 to $3,000/month. It’s near-free revenue, this flow captures intent before there’s even a cart.

Most common mistake: not having it. It’s the flow most often missing from Klaviyo accounts, and one of the easiest to set up.

Flow 4: Post-purchase

Impact: 8-12% of flow revenue. Critical for repeat purchase.

Trigger: order placed.

Recommended structure:

• Email 1 (immediate), confirmation + thank you (not just the Shopify transactional)
• Email 2 (Day +3), usage tips, product guide
• Email 3 (Day +7), review request (if satisfied) or support (if issue)
• Email 4 (Day +14), cross-sell or complementary product
• Email 5 (Day +30), incentive to reorder (if not yet repurchased)

How much it generates: $500 to $2,500/month. The indirect impact is even bigger: a good post-purchase increases repeat purchase rate by 15-30%.

Most common mistake: sending the cross-sell too early (Day +1). The customer hasn’t even received their product yet. Wait at least Day +7.

Flow 5: Win-back

Impact: 5-10% of flow revenue.

Trigger: customer with 2+ orders, no purchase in 90 days.

Recommended structure:

• Email 1 (Day +90), “It’s been a while” + reminder of favorites
• Email 2 (Day +97), what’s new since their last visit
• Email 3 (Day +104), exclusive comeback offer

How much it generates: $300 to $2,000/month. Each recovered customer has a potential LTV of $200-500.

Most common mistake: only targeting customers 180d+ inactive. By that point, it’s often too late. Win-back must trigger at 90 days, not 180.

Flow 6: Back in stock

Impact: 2-5% of flow revenue. High per send, variable volume.

Trigger: a product comes back in stock AND the contact viewed or added it to cart when unavailable.

Recommended structure:

• Email 1 (immediate), “[Product] is back” + direct CTA
• Optional: SMS if consent

How much it generates: variable, but often the highest conversion rate of all your flows (10-20%) because intent is at its peak.

Most common mistake: not configuring it between Klaviyo and your back-in-stock app. Setup is simple but often forgotten.

Flow 7: Sunset

Impact: 1-3% of direct revenue. Massive indirect impact on deliverability.

Trigger: no open or click in 180 days.

Recommended structure:

• Email 1, “Are you still there?” + CTA to confirm interest
• Email 2 (Day +7), “Last chance before we say goodbye”
• If no interaction → suppression or permanent exclusion

How much it generates: little direct revenue, but protects your deliverability. A good sunset flow can improve your overall open rate by 3-5 points by cleaning out dead contacts.

Most common mistake: never cleaning your list. Inactive contacts destroy your sender reputation without you seeing it.

Calculating what you’re missing

Take your total email revenue from the last 30 days. Look at the flow share:

• Less than 20% → your flows are broken or insufficient. Estimated shortfall: 30-50% of your current email revenue.
• 20-30% → you have the basics but flows are missing. Shortfall: 15-25%.
• 30-50% → you’re in the normal range. Optimize flow by flow.
• More than 50% → excellent. Focus on campaigns.

Where to start

1. List your active flows in Klaviyo right now.
2. Identify the missing flows from the list above.
3. Start with the missing flow with the highest impact: usually browse abandonment (easy to set up) or win-back (high impact).
4. Audit your existing flows with our performance benchmarks.

If you want an automatic diagnosis of all your flows, which ones are missing, which are underperforming, and how much each should generate, connect your Klaviyo to Retain. Results in 5 minutes.