Best Klaviyo flows for e-commerce: welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase and loyalty

Episode recorded in Polish and published on 30 October 2024; the Klaviyo features, statistics and pricing discussed reflect what was available at the time.

How many customers buy after an email to 1,000 people?

Maciek: Hi! In today's episode we're looking at automations you can set up in your store with Klaviyo. Tomek, do you know how many customers will buy from you if you send an email to 1,000 people?

Tomek: I have no idea, though I assume you're about to surprise me with a number I'm not expecting at all.

Maciek: Based on Klaviyo's statistics, we can assume that out of those 1,000 people, on average 520 will open the message and 17 will buy. Now imagine your list is many times bigger. Not 1,000, but tens or hundreds of thousands of people.

Tomek: Okay.

Maciek: And you can do this regularly, every week, sending different automations and making your e-commerce business more effective. Sounds good, or are you not convinced?

Tomek: No, I'm very convinced, because that sounds fantastic for a marketing channel that was declared dead years ago: mailings, newsletters and winning customers with email nudges. It sounds very encouraging, almost unbelievable that we're talking about numbers this big. I assume you're quoting statistics Klaviyo checked across a pretty large group of its customers.

Maciek: A pretty large one.

Tomek: Okay. Then your numbers have convinced me. As you said, in today's episode we'll go through the types of email campaigns and email automations we could use in our stores. I think it'll be really interesting for our listeners and viewers, because we'll get into the substance: how to group these campaigns, what types of campaigns we're talking about, and also which tricks make them even more effective.

Maciek: I think we could call it "Seven, ten types of campaigns every store must have". But maybe we should start with what Klaviyo is.

What is Klaviyo?

Tomek: Yes, I think that's a must. I'd guess most of you have heard of Klaviyo. It's definitely the leader in its category, meaning platforms built specifically for marketing automation. I also found a nice definition: it's a tool for building strong customer relationships. I think that captures its essence and what it can do, because within this tool we can first segment customers by various criteria, which we'll probably come back to when we talk about the automated processes, and then build all kinds of marketing workflows and automations, in other words make the magic happen. What else? Klaviyo is above all very well integrated with e-commerce systems, let's remember that…

Maciek: But not only with those.

Tomek: Not only, right.

Maciek: It's very easy to connect with all kinds of CRMs and other tools. For example, you can connect it with Google Ads or other ad engines, let's call them that. These systems can exchange data. For example, in Google Ads we can build segments or audiences based on the segments we have in Klaviyo, and the other way round: in Klaviyo we can build, say, a segment of customers who were targeted by specific campaigns.

What goals can email campaigns have?

Tomek: Okay. Before we get into the details of very specific flows and email sequences you can build in Klaviyo, let's outline and categorize the goals you can set for marketing or email campaigns. What can we actually achieve with them?

Maciek: Sure. The first basic group that comes to mind is preventing lost sales, meaning all the campaigns that help recover a cart. The second type is loyalty campaigns, which help us keep the customer. The third I'd describe as campaigns that help build the relationship…

Tomek: Or even strengthen it.

Maciek: Strengthen the relationship with the customer. We'll talk through examples. The others are, for example, campaigns that encourage more frequent purchases, and informational campaigns about new products. I think those are the main goals.

Tomek: The last one, which I think is completely basic: updating and notifying users about the order they've placed.

Maciek: Order-related ones.

Tomek: Yes. We'll also talk about how that doesn't have to be just one notification congratulating someone on their order.

Maciek: Sure. I skipped that one because in a Shopify setup I prefer all the transactional emails about the order to go through Shopify's notification system, and the marketing automation emails through Klaviyo.

Welcome series: from a hello to onboarding with the brand

Tomek: Okay. Let's start with the first flow, which seems the most natural: the campaign we call the customer welcome. We see a lot of room here for it to be more than just welcoming a new user to our store, more like an onboarding experience with our brand. What steps can a sequence like that include?

Maciek: You can approach it in a very basic way and send a welcome email, and not even to a customer yet, but to a subscriber who signed up for our communication: a newsletter, a club or a loyalty program. We can send a personalized message, but we can also expand it into a whole sequence. In the first message we welcome them, in the second we present our bestsellers, in the third we invite them to our social media, and in the fourth, as a thank-you, we can give them a discount code for their first purchase, for example.

Tomek: Okay. With every one of these flows we're talking about, it's important to keep the messages in order, that's obvious, but also to place them on a timeline. We don't want to hit the customer with the four messages you mentioned on day one, the moment they show up, because they'll feel overwhelmed. The idea is to lead them by the hand step by step and bring them further into our brand. Are there any established standards for this flow, or at least recommendations? How would you time it?

Maciek: The first email should of course go out immediately after sign-up, and the next ones every few days, or possibly every few weeks. But we want to get to the first purchase relatively quickly, so I think two or three days apart is reasonable.

Tomek: Okay. And which elements do you think bring the most benefit in a campaign like that? Welcome emails in particular, the ones we get from different stores, vary a lot: from very formal or very simple to super flowery, beautiful and colorful. Are there any good practices you'd recommend?

Maciek: What we see working is a personal approach. Introducing the team or the founders works well, so does informal language, and not bombarding the user with a sales offer right away, focusing on building the relationship instead. That would be my recommendation.

Tomek: So, as with everything we try to communicate: the human face of the brand. People like to feel there are real people on the other side and to identify with them.

Maciek: Yes. Just like in B2B services, in retail too: people buy from people, and you like doing business with someone you know.

Tomek: So a quick summary of the first type of campaign we should run. First, let's make sure it isn't just a simple hello, but a broader introduction to our brand that gives people a sense of belonging to it. Second, let's make these messages as personalized and personal as possible.

Maciek: Exactly.

Tomek: Right, shall we move on?

Maciek: Let's move on.

Abandoned cart: when to send and what to show

Tomek: Okay. Second on the list, which we see as key for effectiveness and sales growth, is the whole sequence of messages for customers we've tagged as having abandoned their carts. In other words, people who added a product to the cart but, for various reasons, didn't complete the purchase. That's definitely a very attractive segment, because we're dealing with someone who's been convinced by our product. They may well be close to buying, but something on the home stretch distracted them, maybe they changed their mind, or maybe they didn't have time to finish…

Maciek: Or they're still thinking about it.

Tomek: Or they're still thinking about it. Which emails do you think work best in that case?

Maciek: The standard is an abandoned cart recovery email. It can be a single email, but a sequence is better. The recommended time to send the first email is after 10 hours. That's been tested by Shopify, and it's even the default setting of the flow built into Shopify. You send the next ones after roughly 24 and 48 hours. It's definitely worth using product blocks, showing the product.

Tomek: You mean the message should make it clear right away that it's about the product they were looking at?

Maciek: Yes.

Tomek: So they keep the same feeling. Okay.

Maciek: Exactly. If you have fewer products, or you've noticed that one is a bit more expensive, or your store sells a single product, you can add extra information to these messages, reviews or product videos or a link to a video, and give the customer an extra incentive. And in the second email of the sequence you can offer a discount to complete the purchase.

Tomek: Okay, and do you think there's room at this stage of the sequence to also send similar products? Or is that more of a distraction, pulling attention away from the product that was added to the cart? Or maybe it addresses the fact that the customer didn't buy because the product wasn't a 100% fit for them?

Maciek: I'd rather assume it would be a distraction. Unless we have data that supports it. For example, we know that if customers haven't bought our expensive product within nine days, they probably won't. Then we can send a cheaper alternative or a cheaper version of that product.

Tomek: Okay. Anything else on that?

Maciek: No, I think we've covered it.

Browse abandonment: price drop alerts and low stock

Tomek: Then let's go one step further. The next flow is a kind of alternative to abandoned carts. The flow itself is very similar, but we don't address it to customers who didn't finish the purchase, but to those one step earlier: they browsed products but for some reason never added them to the cart. That's a big group of our customers; we know, or can find out, what they were looking for, but we need to understand why they didn't start the purchase at all. What behaviors and triggers in the store do you think should set off that kind of action?

Maciek: A nice example: we know a customer keeps coming back to a product page but still doesn't add it to the cart. Then we can set up a price drop alert and try to win them back that way. That's one variation. Of course you can also send a standard reminder about a product they viewed, say, 10 times in the last week, along with a nudge to add it to the cart, possibly with a discount code.

Tomek: Yes. I think the standard element that always triggers a customer reaction is the sense that something is about to run out, in other words low stock.

Maciek: Yes.

Tomek: That's an event that should definitely trigger this kind of action.

Maciek: Exactly.

Post-purchase emails: thanks, education and a review request

Tomek: Right, let's move on. We have customers who didn't complete their purchase, the abandoned carts, and customers who are only just looking at our range. We've set up email activity for both. But it's worth stressing that email marketing should largely focus on customers who have successfully completed a purchase, because there's huge potential in them. As you said at the start, the goals of email campaigns are building relationships, increasing customer loyalty or rewarding people for being our customers. Those are key, because they translate into a bigger business. So the first type we should have set up in the store is post-purchase campaigns. On one hand, notifications about the product and the order status, which is the basics. But it's also a good moment to encourage customers to buy again and to leave us a review after the purchase. Once we've delivered the product and they're happy with it, their willingness to leave a review is probably at its highest, and it's easiest to get one then. What else do you see here?

Maciek: I think the basic one here is a sequence that thanks the customer and educates them about the product they bought. A nice example is the email sequence from Suitsupply, which sells elegant menswear. After you buy a suit, they send a sequence explaining how to care for it and how to check whether it fits well. That also builds a good relationship with the customer.

Tomek: Definitely. But look, instructions like that often have a direct effect on reducing returns, too. When you've been properly taught how to measure a product, wear it, care for it, prepare it and store it, that translates directly into how you judge its quality later. And sometimes the return simply doesn't happen.

One-time buyers and replenishment

Tomek: An interesting option among post-purchase campaigns is one that needs a bit more preparation and data collection on the store's side: it identifies customers who are likely to buy from your store only once.

Maciek: So, for example, we know that if someone buys a coffee machine in our store, they'll buy it once and they're gone.

Tomek: And they won't come back. But we sell coffee.

Maciek: Or we have some…

Tomek: Or we have accessories for that machine. Historical data shows this customer doesn't usually come back and has bought only once so far. That's great information for building a campaign for these customers: first the segment, then an email campaign where you offer them, say, a discount code on the accessories or the coffee. Not to mention that you can later move the coffee to a subscription model.

Maciek: And that's another example of automation, the so-called replenishment flow. We can send the customer a monthly reminder that they've probably run out of coffee or filters for the machine and it's time to stock up.

Tomek: Exactly. I think that shows a really wide range of post-purchase campaigns, because counterintuitively it often turns out in practice that stores forget about the customer after the purchase. Their marketing focuses on converting people who haven't bought yet. And we know that building retention, repeat purchases and customer loyalty leads to much bigger sales growth later on.

Winback and VIP status

Tomek: One more campaign we should talk about targets customers who haven't been active in our store for a very long time.

Maciek: Where "long" probably depends on the type…

Tomek: On the type of product. You're right.

Maciek: "Long" will mean one thing in fashion and something else in…

Tomek: Cars.

Maciek: Exactly.

Tomek: Exactly, that's what I mean. Customers who bought from us but, say, haven't been active in any way for three months, not even the cookies picked up that they came back and browsed. That's the perfect moment for an email campaign that invites them back and tempts them with a discount or with new offers. It's worth linking those new offers or products to what the customer has bought so far. Sometimes we have something that would complement the product they bought back then, or a new generation of something they bought from us a few months ago.

Maciek: Another example I like is a sequence for a customer who has reached a certain purchase threshold based on their behavior in the store. Let's say they've made five or 10 purchases or spent a certain amount. Using Shopify Flow, for example, we assign them VIP Gold status. That's the trigger for a sequence that tells them, shows appreciation and rewards them with a discount code or points in a connected loyalty program. And that's it.

Loyalty program: birthdays, anniversaries and early access

Tomek: Sure. I think you've already touched on the next flow I wanted to cover: email campaigns within a loyalty program, or a club, as some call it. Some things seem very obvious and many treat them as basics, but let's not forget a series of emails, or at least an action that triggers emails, for the customer's birthday, if we have that data. Sometimes even for the store's birthday, or because the customer has been with us for, say, a year. That's the perfect moment to show appreciation and offer them something extra and special. That's one thing to remember. Second: they're a loyal customer, so we can reward them for it, for example with exclusive access to a new collection. So let's make sure the right communication is prepared for that.

Maciek: So you mean early access?

Tomek: Yes, early access, for example. Exactly. Early access for that customer.

Maciek: Or even access to a limited promotion on a bestseller, but only for customers in the loyalty program.

Tomek: Exactly. Of course, everything depends on how our loyalty program is set up and what we reward customers for. But they're the easiest people for us to reach: we usually have all the consents for communication, and being in the program shows their loyalty. So we have a really wide range of ways to reward them, single them out and show appreciation.

Automation without losing the human touch

Tomek: I'll stress something I think applies to all the flows we're discussing. Even though these actions are automated… It's worth mentioning, because someone might ask: "Why automate this at all? Creating campaigns like that isn't a problem." But remember, stores often have tens if not hundreds of thousands of customers. And just in this short conversation we've listed at least a dozen types of campaigns you could easily run in parallel. Doing that manually is simply impossible, so automation is necessary. But let's not let automation make our communication soulless: there should still be a personal element, an attempt to reach the customer and make them feel they matter to us as a person.

Maciek: Sure. It's also worth saying that the communication we send, from Klaviyo for example, shouldn't be only about purchases. Klaviyo has a whole area of email campaigns where we can tell customers about upcoming events like Black Friday or a boutique opening, or send guides and that kind of thing. I think it's worth balancing that, so the customer knows that an email from our address won't always be just an attempt to sell them something.

Tomek: It's a form of ongoing, maybe not daily, communication with the customer on many levels, as you said.

Less obvious automations: deal hunters, list hygiene and reviews

Tomek: Maciek, we've covered what I think are fairly standard types of email campaigns that every store should have in place. Because what you said at the very beginning about the statistics means a very concrete increase in sales, which in the end comes down to a few or a few dozen extra orders a month. But maybe you have examples of something less obvious worth recommending? Because you do, you always do.

Maciek: I do. One thing I recommend is tagging customers who mostly buy with discount codes of various kinds or only during sales. It's worth tagging them with an automation and building a segment of them. That's a chance to give them a slightly different marketing message. Maybe so that, to put it bluntly, you don't burn marketing budget trying to sell them something they won't buy anyway. Sending emails costs money on every platform, so it's worth cutting them out. Along the same lines, it's worth setting up an automation that flags users who are no longer active in your emails, meaning they haven't opened 10 or 20 messages in a row, or none at all within a given period. Again, it's about keeping a healthy…

Tomek: A bit of list hygiene.

Maciek: …email list, because we pay for emails sent and delivered, not necessarily opened.

Tomek: Fair point.

Maciek: That's the second one. I also noted a third example worth doing: review follow-ups. We can reward a customer with a discount for leaving the review we asked for. Depending on what the rating was, we can design different actions. If the review was negative, we can send a notification to another system, for example connect Klaviyo with Slack, so the customer service team can contact that person and ask what went wrong. That would definitely be appreciated as an investment in the customer relationship.

What's next?

Tomek: Okay. So, Maciek? I think we've managed to cover what mattered most in today's episode. Do you have any more questions?

Maciek: I think we have an overview of the most common and most interesting automations that give a very interesting return on investment.

Tomek: As you well know, this is by no means a closed list. We actually think it's just a slice of all the possibilities. That's one. Two: we know that what we talked about today is really just the starting point for actually setting this up in Klaviyo and preparing the campaigns. We have two messages for you. First: we're very curious what you think about the flows we covered and picked for you today. Do you think anything needs clarifying? Maybe you have other interesting ideas? We'd love to hear them.

Maciek: Maybe you want to share them with the competition.

Tomek: Exactly. What works for you? Second: when it comes to the technical, configuration side, we're ready to make an episode where we show you step by step how to actually do it. But, I won't hide it, we need a comment from you and a bit of encouragement that you'd be interested. Then we'll get to work and record that episode. While preparing for today, we realized that email marketing and Klaviyo itself are a topic for a really long conversation, and we didn't want to bore you.

Maciek: We'll start that sequence of events if you give us the trigger.

Tomek: Exactly, that'll work. Right, Maciek, thanks a lot for today's conversation.

Maciek: Thank you too.

Tomek: As always, it was great…

Maciek: …to meet you.

Tomek: …to meet you and talk about really interesting topics. Thanks a lot for watching this episode. See you in the next one.

Maciek: Thanks, bye.