Cart abandonment is one of the most significant and consistent revenue leaks in e-commerce. The average abandonment rate sits between 70-80%, meaning for every ten people who add something to their cart, seven or eight leave without completing the purchase.
The good news: a well-built abandoned cart email flow recovers a meaningful proportion of those customers. The bad news: most abandoned cart flows are not well-built. They’re a single generic reminder sent 24 hours too late with a subject line that says ‘You left something behind!’
This guide covers how to build a Klaviyo abandoned cart flow that works, from the initial setup through to advanced optimisation.
Before You Start: Understanding the Klaviyo Abandoned Cart Trigger
In Klaviyo, an abandoned cart flow is triggered by the ‘Checkout Started’ metric, which fires when a customer begins the checkout process but doesn’t complete it. This is distinct from ‘Added to Cart’, which fires earlier in the process.
For the trigger to work, the customer needs to be identified in Klaviyo: either they’ve previously purchased (and Klaviyo has their email), or they’ve entered their email at the checkout start page. Anonymous visitors who abandon without identifying themselves can’t be reached by email (though they can be retargeted via paid advertising).
Before building the flow, confirm that your Klaviyo integration with your e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.) is correctly passing the Checkout Started event. You can verify this in Klaviyo under Analytics > Metrics.
The Three-Email Sequence: Structure and Timing
The most effective abandoned cart flows typically use three emails, with specific timing and distinct purposes at each stage:
Email 1: The Frictionless Nudge (1 hour after abandonment)
The first email should be sent approximately one hour after the checkout was started but not completed. At this point, the customer is still warm. The purchase is fresh in their mind. They may have been interrupted, had a question, or simply got distracted.
This email should be short, warm, and low-pressure. Its job is not to persuade. It’s to remove the friction that may have caused the abandonment. Something along the lines of: ‘Looks like you left something in your cart. We’ve saved it if you want to pick up where you left off.’
No discount. No urgency. No pressure. Just a gentle, helpful reminder from a brand that noticed. This email consistently has the highest open rate and click rate of the three, because the timing is right and the tone is right.
Email 2: The Persuasion Email (24 hours after abandonment)
If Email 1 didn’t convert, the customer has now had 24 hours since they abandoned. They’ve probably looked at other options, thought about whether they really need the product, and encountered any objections they might have had.
Email 2’s job is to address those objections. The most effective approach is to identify the two or three most common reasons customers don’t complete a purchase in your specific category and address them directly. Delivery times. Returns policy. Product questions. Size or fit uncertainty. Social proof in the form of specific customer reviews.
This email can be slightly longer than the first. It should include a clear call to action and the product image. Still no discount, at this stage.
Email 3: The Incentive Email (72 hours after abandonment)
By 72 hours, if the customer still hasn’t converted, you’ve done the frictionless nudge and the persuasion. The third email is where an incentive can legitimately be introduced, if your margins support it.
Free shipping is often more effective than a percentage discount, because it addresses a concrete objection (the cost of delivery) rather than just reducing the price. A modest 10-15% discount with a genuine deadline is the other common approach.
Klaviyo allows you to generate unique discount codes automatically for each customer, which prevents the code being shared publicly and appearing on voucher websites. This is a significant practical advantage over manually created codes.
The deadline must be real. If you extend it, you lose credibility for future urgency.
Setting Up the Flow in Klaviyo: Step by Step
Step 1: Create the flow
In Klaviyo, go to Flows and click Create Flow. Select ‘Build your own’ or use the abandoned cart template. Set the trigger to ‘Checkout Started’.
Step 2: Add a filter
Add a trigger filter: ‘Has not placed an order since starting this flow’. This prevents customers who complete the purchase after receiving Email 1 from receiving Emails 2 and 3.
Step 3: Set up the time delays
After the trigger, add a time delay of 1 hour before Email 1. After Email 1, add a time delay of 23 hours (bringing the total to 24 hours after abandonment). After Email 2, add a time delay of 48 hours (bringing the total to 72 hours).
Step 4: Build the emails
For each email, click ‘Add Action’ and select ‘Send Email’. Use Klaviyo’s drag-and-drop builder. Include the cart contents dynamically using Klaviyo’s product block, which pulls in the abandoned items automatically from your integration.
Step 5: Add conditional splits (optional but recommended)
Between Email 1 and Email 2, you can add a conditional split: ‘Has clicked email in this flow’. If yes, they’ve shown interest but not converted, which might warrant a slightly different Email 2 than someone who didn’t click at all. This level of personalisation can improve conversion rates meaningfully.
Step 6: Activate the flow
Review each email carefully. Check that the dynamic product block is pulling correctly by previewing with a test profile. Set the flow status to ‘Live’.
Copy Principles for Each Email
Subject lines:
Body copy principles:
Advanced Optimisation: Going Beyond the Basics
Segmenting by cart value
Add a conditional split at the start of the flow based on cart value. Customers who’ve abandoned a £200+ cart deserve different treatment than those who’ve abandoned a £15 item. Higher-value abandoned carts warrant more personalisation, a more premium tone, and potentially a phone call or live chat follow-up for very high-value situations.
Segmenting by customer history
A customer who’s bought from you five times and abandoned a cart is different from a first-time visitor. Klaviyo allows you to split by purchase history within the flow. Loyal customers shouldn’t receive the same discount-first messaging as someone who doesn’t know your brand yet.
Testing subject lines
Klaviyo allows A/B testing within flows. Test two subject lines on each email, with a 50/50 split. After 500 recipients, Klaviyo can automatically send the winner. Over time this compounds into meaningfully higher open rates.
SMS as an additional touch
If you have SMS opted-in customers, consider adding an SMS touch between Email 1 and Email 2. A short text (‘Your cart is still available’) at the 4-6 hour mark can catch people who are primarily mobile users and don’t check email frequently.
What Results to Expect
Results vary significantly by industry, price point, and how well the flow is configured. As general benchmarks:
The most important metric is the incremental revenue compared to having no flow at all. Even a modest recovery rate on a meaningful volume of abandonment represents significant additional revenue at essentially zero marginal cost once the flow is built.
Getting Started with Klaviyo
If you’re not yet on Klaviyo, the abandoned cart flow is one of the best reasons to start. The free plan includes full access to flows, including abandoned cart, which means you can build and run this sequence before committing to any paid plan.
The integration with Shopify takes about ten minutes. The flow itself, if you follow the structure above, can be built in a few hours. The revenue it generates runs indefinitely without further input.
Start your free Klaviyo trial and build your abandoned cart flow today.
Try Klaviyo free: lifecyclelab.io
No credit card required. Full access to abandoned cart flows and all automation features from day one.