Klaviyo Flows Every Store Needs: What to Build First, With 2026 Benchmarks
The Klaviyo flows every ecommerce store needs, in the order to build them: trigger, timing and emails for each, plus Klaviyo's 2026 benchmarks to judge them by.
Table of contents
A Klaviyo account with good campaigns and missing flows is leaving the easiest money on the table. Flows send the right message at the moment a customer acts: they joined, they started checkout, they bought, they went quiet. They run every day without anyone pressing send.
Klaviyo’s own numbers make the case. Across its customers, flows generate nearly 41% of email revenue from just 5.3% of sends, with revenue per recipient nearly 18 times higher than campaigns (Klaviyo 2026 benchmarks). Flow click rates average 5.58% against 1.69% for campaigns.
These are the Klaviyo flows every ecommerce store needs, in the order we build them, with the trigger, the timing and a sourced benchmark for each. Benchmarks were checked against their sources on 10 October 2026.
The flows at a glance
| Flow | Klaviyo trigger | Emails | Build order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abandoned checkout and cart | Started Checkout (or Added to Cart) | 3 | 1 |
| Welcome series | Subscribed to your sign-up list | 4 to 6 | 2 |
| Browse abandonment | Viewed Product | 2 to 3 | 3 |
| Post-purchase | Placed Order | 3 to 5 | 4 |
| Win-back | Placed Order, then a long delay | 3 | 5 |
| Sunset | Added to an unengaged segment | 2 to 3 | 6 |
| Replenishment | Placed Order for a consumable | 1 to 2 | 7 |
| Back in stock and price drop | Back-in-stock request, or a price drop on a viewed item | 1 to 2 | 8 |
| Review request | Order delivered or fulfilled | 1 to 2 | 9 |
We build the first three before anything else because they catch shoppers who are already deciding. The next three protect the customers and the list you already have. The last three depend on what you sell.
1. Abandoned checkout and abandoned cart
What it does: recovers shoppers who started checkout, or added to cart, and left.
Trigger: Klaviyo splits this in two. Abandoned checkout triggers on Started Checkout; abandoned cart triggers on Added to Cart, which only fires for shoppers Klaviyo can already identify. Build the checkout flow first. Exit anyone who places an order, checked before every message.
Timing: three emails at about 1 hour, 24 hours and 72 hours. The first is a reminder, the second answers the main objection (fit, shipping, returns, proof), the third gives a reason to finish now.
Benchmark: Klaviyo’s 2026 Abandoned Cart Benchmark Report (2 October 2026, over 110,000 Klaviyo customers) puts average abandoned cart email revenue per recipient at $6.77, with the top 10% at $13.70, and the average click rate at 6% (top 10%: 11.3%). For SMS the average is $4.48 per recipient and a 10.3% click rate. The pool is big: Baymard Institute’s average documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22% across 50 studies (Baymard, updated 22 September 2025).
Timing, subject lines, templates and setup are on our Klaviyo abandoned cart flow page.
2. Welcome series
What it does: turns a new subscriber into a first-time buyer, and sets expectations for what they’ll get from you.
Trigger: subscribing to your main sign-up list, usually through a Klaviyo form. Exit anyone who places an order, and split buyers from non-buyers if your series runs long.
Timing: the first email immediately, with whatever you promised at sign-up. Then brand story, product education, social proof and objection handling over one to two weeks, finishing with a clear offer and a real deadline.
Benchmark: Klaviyo’s welcome series guide (15 June 2026) puts the average welcome open rate at 51.26% and revenue per recipient at $2.35, with top performers reaching click rates around 15% and placed order rates near 10%.
Email-by-email structure and setup are on our Klaviyo welcome flow page. If your sign-up rate is the bottleneck, start with Klaviyo sign-up forms.
3. Browse abandonment
What it does: follows up with known subscribers who viewed a product and left without adding to cart.
Trigger: Viewed Product. Filter out anyone who started checkout or ordered since the flow began, and anyone who received the flow recently, so regular browsers don’t get it every visit.
Timing: the first email a few hours after the view, a second a day or two later. Add a third only for high-price products.
Benchmark: Klaviyo’s 2026 report puts browse abandonment email at a 5.6% average click rate (top 10%: 9.8%) and $2.08 revenue per recipient (top 10%: $4.32) (Klaviyo, 2 October 2026). Lower intent than a cart, but a much bigger pool of shoppers.
Filters, timing and examples are on our Klaviyo browse abandonment flow page.
4. Post-purchase
What it does: makes the first order lead to a second. It reduces refunds and support tickets, gets the product used correctly, and sets up the reorder.
Trigger: Placed Order, with separate branches for first-time and repeat buyers. Keep order and shipping confirmations transactional; put the marketing in the emails that follow.
Timing: a thank-you and what happens next, usage or care guidance around delivery, a cross-sell once the product has been used, and a review request when the customer can judge the product.
Benchmark: post-purchase transactional emails average a 61.68% open rate, the highest of any flow in Klaviyo’s data (Klaviyo, 8 January 2025). Judge the flow on second-purchase rate, not opens.
The full sequence is in our post-purchase email flow guide.
5. Win-back
What it does: reactivates customers who bought and then stopped.
Trigger: Placed Order, followed by a time delay as long as your lapse window, with a filter that removes anyone who orders in the meantime.
Timing: Klaviyo suggests treating a customer as dormant after 3 to 6 months of inactivity, adjusted to your own buying cycle. Three emails: what’s new, a reason to come back, and a last check-in. Lead with product before discount.
Benchmark: the top 10% of win-back emails earn $1.60 in revenue per recipient (Klaviyo, 28 September 2026). Win-back is smaller money per send than cart or welcome; it earns its place because the alternative is losing the customer.
Timing by category and the three emails are on our Klaviyo win-back flow page.
6. Sunset
What it does: gives subscribers who stopped engaging one last chance, then suppresses them. It protects deliverability and stops you paying for profiles that never open.
Trigger: being added to an unengaged segment. Klaviyo’s prebuilt Sunset segment targets profiles created at least 180 days ago that have received at least five emails in the last 72 weeks with no opens, clicks, site activity or orders (Klaviyo Help Center, updated 11 March 2026).
Timing: Klaviyo recommends one to three emails and no more than three. Then suppress everyone who didn’t respond.
Build steps and the segment definition are in our sunset flow guide.
7. Replenishment
What it does: reminds customers to reorder before they run out, for products that are used up on a schedule.
Trigger: Placed Order for a consumable product, with the delay set from days of supply. Count from delivery: days of supply, minus the time a reorder takes to arrive, minus a few days of buffer.
Timing: one reminder before the product runs out, and a second if they haven’t reordered. Once your store qualifies, Klaviyo’s predictive analytics estimate each customer’s expected date of next order. Klaviyo requires at least 500 customers who have placed an order, at least 180 days of order history with orders in the last 30 days, and some customers with three or more orders (Klaviyo Help Center).
The formula and examples are in our replenishment email flow guide.
8. Back in stock and price drop
What it does: tells shoppers that the thing they wanted is available again, or cheaper. Both are short flows with very high intent.
Trigger: a back-in-stock request from a product page form, or a price drop on a product the shopper viewed or added to cart.
Timing: send as soon as the stock or price changes. One email, plus an SMS for subscribers who opted in.
Setup and what converts are in our guide to Klaviyo price drop and back-in-stock flows.
9. Review request
What it does: collects reviews and photos you can use as social proof in every other flow.
Trigger: order delivered or fulfilled, with the delay set to when the customer can judge the product: soon for apparel, weeks later for skincare or supplements.
Timing: one request and one reminder. More asks mostly add unsubscribes.
Timing by category is in our review request email guide.
How to run them together
Flows overlap. A new subscriber can be in the welcome series, browse abandonment and a campaign on the same day. Three rules keep that under control:
- Exit on purchase in every revenue flow. Use a “Placed Order zero times since starting this flow” filter, which Klaviyo checks before every message.
- Use Smart Sending and flow priorities so a customer doesn’t get two automated emails within hours of each other.
- Report flows and campaigns separately, on revenue per recipient and placed order rate, not opens. Our email marketing benchmarks post has Klaviyo’s 2026 numbers by industry to compare against.
Our target for a well-run DTC account is 30-40% of revenue from email and SMS. In our experience you don’t get there with campaigns alone: the flows above are the base everything else sits on.
Want them built for you?
We design, build and test these flows for ecommerce brands as an official Klaviyo partner. See what’s included in Klaviyo flow automation, or start with a free Klaviyo audit and we’ll tell you which of these flows your account is missing and what each one is worth.
Sources
- Klaviyo, 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks
- Klaviyo, Email Marketing Benchmarks 2026 by industry (24 Feb 2026)
- Klaviyo, 2026 Abandoned Cart Benchmark Report (2 Oct 2026)
- Klaviyo, Welcome Series Guide (15 Jun 2026)
- Klaviyo, Email Automation Examples (8 Jan 2025)
- Klaviyo, Win-Back Email Examples (28 Sep 2026)
- Klaviyo Help Center, How to create a sunset flow (updated 11 Mar 2026)
- Klaviyo Help Center, Predictive analytics
- Baymard Institute, Cart Abandonment Rate (updated 22 Sep 2025)
/ Frequently Asked Questions
Q.01 What are Klaviyo flows? +
/ Answer
Flows are Klaviyo's automated email and SMS sequences. Each one starts from a trigger, such as joining a list, starting checkout, viewing a product or placing an order, then sends a set of messages with time delays and filters in between. Campaigns are one-off sends to a list or segment; flows run on their own, for every customer who meets the trigger.
Q.02 Which Klaviyo flows should I set up first? +
/ Answer
Start with abandoned checkout, the welcome series and browse abandonment, because they catch shoppers at the highest-intent moments. Then add post-purchase, win-back and sunset. Replenishment, back in stock, price drop and review request come next, depending on what you sell.
Q.03 How many flows does a Klaviyo account need? +
/ Answer
There is no magic number, but most ecommerce stores need eight to ten: welcome, abandoned checkout, browse abandonment, post-purchase, replenishment if products run out, back in stock and price drop, review request, win-back and sunset. More flows are not better if they overlap; check that a customer can't receive three automated emails in one day.
Q.04 Are Klaviyo flows better than campaigns? +
/ Answer
They do different jobs, but flows earn far more per message. Klaviyo's 2026 benchmarks say flows generate nearly 41% of email revenue from just 5.3% of sends, with revenue per recipient nearly 18 times higher than campaigns and a 5.58% average click rate against 1.69% for campaigns. Campaigns are still how you launch products and run sales.
Q.05 How long should a Klaviyo flow be? +
/ Answer
As long as the decision takes. An abandoned checkout flow is usually three emails over about three days. A welcome series runs four to six emails over one to two weeks. Klaviyo recommends no more than three emails in a sunset flow. Every flow should exit customers as soon as they buy.
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