How to build Solid Klaviyo Email Flows For Your Shopify Store
Simply put, building Klaviyo Email Flows allows you to automate consistent engagement and sales in your Shopify store.
This is worth spending time on to get right, because these flows are supposed to be relatively evergreen.
So take your time with this.
1. Getting Started with Klaviyo
Before you start building flows, ensure your Klaviyo account is set up and integrated with your e-commerce platform, like Shopify, otherwise the triggers won’t work. So go to the settings in Klaviyo, and check your ecom platform is properly integrated, you should see something like this:
2. Understanding the Types of klaviyo email Flows
There are several types of flows you can set up in Klaviyo for your Shopify store, for a more comprehensive guide on what exactly to add, check out this post.
3. Creating Your First Flow
- Navigate to Flows: login to Klaviyo and click “Flows” on the left hand side.
- Start a New Flow: Click on the “Create Flow” button. You can start from scratch or use one of Klaviyo’s pre-built templates.
- Set the Flow Trigger: The trigger determines what starts the flow automation. For example, the trigger for a Welcome Series might be “List Added” when someone subscribes to your newsletter. For an Abandoned Cart flow, the trigger would be “Checkout Started.”
- Design the Flow: Start by adding actions, such as sending an email, sending an SMS, or updating a profile property.
Time Delays: Next, set time delays between actions. So you might wait 1 hour after a cart is abandoned before sending the first reminder email. But split test this.
Conditional Splits: Use conditions to tailor the flow based on customer behavior or characteristics. E.g., if someone is a customer, they should receive a different tone & messaging than someone who isn’t a customer. - Build the Emails: You can use Klaviyo’s drag-and-drop editor to create visually appealing emails, but we recommend using Figma and then importing into Klaviyo.
- Review and Test: Before activating your flow, review all the steps and send yourself a test email to ensure it works as expected. Note: how an email looks in Klaviyo is NOT always how it will look when you receive it, so it’s worth double checking.
- Activate the Flow: Once you’re satisfied with the setup, activate the flow by clicking “Update status” in the top right hand corner of the flow.
And that’s it.