Most brands sign up for Klaviyo, connect their store, send a few campaigns, and stop there. That's a mistake. Campaigns are the emails you send when you remember to send them. Flows are the emails that go out automatically, every day, whether you're paying attention or not. They're the backbone of retention marketing, and for most ecommerce brands, flows generate more revenue per email than campaigns do, because they're triggered at the exact moment a customer is most likely to act.
If you're setting up Klaviyo for the first time, the flow library can feel overwhelming. There are dozens of pre-built templates, branching logic, conditional splits, and a settings menu that assumes you already know what you're doing. This guide strips that back. You'll learn what a flow actually is, which ones matter first, and how to build them without wasting a week on flows nobody will ever see.
What Klaviyo Flows Are and Why They Matter More Than Campaigns
A flow in Klaviyo is a series of automated messages triggered by a specific event or condition. That trigger could be a person joining a list, viewing a product, adding something to their cart, completing a purchase, or going quiet for 60 days. Once triggered, the flow runs on its own: no one has to press send.
This matters because timing is the single biggest driver of email performance. An abandoned cart email sent an hour after someone leaves your site converts at a completely different rate than a generic newsletter sent to your whole list on a Tuesday. Flows let you talk to the right person at the right moment, which is the entire premise behind lifecycle email marketing: matching the message to where the customer actually is, not where your content calendar says they should be.
Klaviyo organises flows under Flows in the left-hand navigation, and each flow is built from three components: a trigger, filters, and actions. The trigger starts the flow. Filters decide who qualifies (or gets kicked out partway through, if they've already converted). Actions are the emails, SMS messages, time delays, and conditional splits that make up the sequence itself. Once you understand those three pieces, every flow in Klaviyo starts to look the same, just with different triggers and different content.
The Five Flows Every Beginner Should Build First
You do not need 20 flows on day one. You need five, built well, in this order:
1. Welcome series. Triggered when someone joins your email list. This sets expectations, introduces your brand, and usually includes a discount or incentive to convert a new subscriber into a first-time buyer. This overlaps heavily with a customer onboarding email sequence, and the same logic applies: the first few days of a relationship set the tone for everything after.
2. Abandoned cart. Triggered when someone adds a product to their cart but doesn't check out. Klaviyo's pre-built template for this lives under Flows > Create Flow > Cart Abandonment, and it's one of the highest-converting flows in the entire platform because the intent is already there. You're just removing friction.
3. Abandoned checkout (browse or checkout started). Slightly different from cart abandonment: this catches people who started the checkout process but didn't finish. Klaviyo separates these because the buying intent and the right message differ slightly at each stage.
4. Post-purchase flow. Triggered right after someone buys. This covers order confirmation follow-ups, shipping updates, and the early relationship-building that turns a one-time buyer into a repeat customer. Klaviyo's documentation on flow triggers and event properties, available at help.klaviyo.com, covers exactly which order events you can hook into here.
5. Win-back / lapsed customer. Triggered when someone hasn't purchased or opened an email in a set window, typically 60 to 120 days depending on your purchase cycle. This is where a well-written win-back email earns its keep, because you're trying to re-activate someone who has already drifted.
Build these five first. Get them live, let them run for a few weeks, and check the flow-level analytics in Klaviyo before adding anything else.
How to Actually Build a Flow: Step by Step
- Go to Flows > Create Flow. Klaviyo will show you a library of pre-built templates by category (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, etc). Start from a template rather than a blank flow. It saves time and the logic is usually sound.
- Set your trigger. For most starter flows, this is a metric like "Started Checkout," "Placed Order," or a list/segment membership like "Subscribed to List." Klaviyo lets you combine a trigger with additional filters, e.g. "trigger on Added to Cart, but only if the person is not already a customer."
- Add a time delay. Most flows don't fire immediately. Abandoned cart usually waits 30-60 minutes before the first email; a win-back flow waits weeks. Delays live between each action in the flow builder as their own step.
- Build your email sequence. Two or three emails per flow is normal to start. Use Klaviyo's drag-and-drop editor or start from a template. Keep the first email simple: what they left, why it matters, and a clear way back to checkout.
- Add a conditional split if needed. This is where flows get powerful. You can split based on whether someone opened the previous email, whether they've since purchased, or any custom property. Klaviyo's own guide to conditional splits (help.klaviyo.com) walks through the logic in more depth than most beginners need on day one, but it's worth bookmarking for later.
- Turn the flow live. New flows sit in draft/manual mode until you switch them to Live. Double-check your trigger and audience filters before flipping the switch. This is the step people forget, and it's the reason a "finished" flow sends zero emails for a week.
Common Mistakes First-Time Klaviyo Users Make
The most common mistake is building too many flows before the core five are dialled in. A brand-new Klaviyo account with 15 half-finished flows performs worse than one with five flows that are properly tested, timed, and reviewed monthly.
The second mistake is ignoring flow-level analytics. Klaviyo shows you open rate, click rate, and revenue per recipient for every flow individually. If your abandoned cart flow has a low open rate on email one, that's a subject line problem. If it has a good open rate but low click-through, that's a content or offer problem. These numbers tell you exactly where to fix things instead of guessing.
The third mistake is not connecting flows to your segmentation strategy. A flow that treats a first-time browser the same as a five-time repeat customer misses the point of automation. As your list grows, layer in segment-based filters so your flows adjust tone and offer based on who's actually receiving them, which is a natural next step once your five foundational flows are solid and you're ready to think about reducing churn across your whole customer base.
Klaviyo flows are the single highest-leverage thing you can set up in your first month on the platform. Get the five starter flows live, watch the analytics for a month, then start layering in segmentation and secondary flows. If you want a second set of eyes on your current setup, GrowNowNow offers a free lifecycle audit at grownownow.com where we'll review your existing flows and tell you exactly what to fix first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a Klaviyo flow and a campaign?
A campaign is a one-time email you send manually to a list or segment, like a newsletter or sale announcement. A flow is automated and triggered by a specific event or behaviour, like abandoning a cart, and runs continuously without you having to send it each time.
How many flows should a beginner set up in Klaviyo?
Start with five: welcome series, abandoned cart, abandoned checkout, post-purchase, and win-back. These cover the highest-intent moments in the customer journey and typically generate the majority of flow revenue for new accounts.
How long should I wait before sending an abandoned cart email?
Most brands see the best results waiting 30 to 60 minutes after cart abandonment for the first email, then following up 24 hours later if there's still no purchase. Waiting too long reduces the chance the person still wants the item.
Can Klaviyo flows include SMS as well as email?
Yes. Klaviyo supports SMS actions within the same flow builder, so you can add a text message step alongside or instead of an email at any point in the sequence, provided you have SMS enabled and the contact has opted in.
Do I need to know how to code to build Klaviyo flows?
No. Klaviyo's flow builder is drag-and-drop, and the email templates use a visual editor. You don't need HTML or coding knowledge to build a full flow, though basic familiarity with merge tags and conditional logic helps as your flows get more advanced.