How We Set Up a Klaviyo Sunset Flow: +7% Monthly Revenue
Most eCommerce brands are leaving thousands of dollars on the table every month.
It’s not in their ad accounts or their conversion rate optimisation. It’s sitting in their Klaviyo account, in a segment they ignore or actively mismanage: their unengaged subscribers.
We recently took on a client whose sunset flow was a perfect example of this. It was a single, generic email sent after 90 days of inactivity. It was costing them sales and hurting their deliverability.
We rebuilt it from the ground up. The new flow now generates an extra 7% in monthly revenue for their business. Here’s exactly how we did it.
Client’s initial Klaviyo sunset flow shortcomings
When we first audited this client’s account, their approach to inactive subscribers was common. It was also completely ineffective.
They had a single flow triggered for anyone who hadn’t opened an email in 120 days. The one and only email in this flow was a generic, “We miss you” message with a 10% off coupon. It felt like an afterthought because it was.
This setup had four major problems.
First, the engagement was terrible. Open rates were in the low single digits, and the click rate was near zero. It wasn’t winning anyone back.
Second, it was driving up unsubscribe rates. The people who did open it were often annoyed by the generic offer and just hit ‘unsubscribe’. This sent a negative signal to inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook.
Third, it was actively damaging their overall deliverability. By continuing to email a huge, unengaged segment, they were teaching Gmail that their emails weren’t wanted. This lowered their sender reputation, which meant even their engaged subscribers were less likely to see their campaigns in the primary inbox.
Finally, it was leaving a huge amount of money on the table. Their inactive segment was over 60,000 subscribers. Even a small improvement in re-engagement could mean thousands in recovered revenue. Their single email wasn’t doing the job, and the problem was getting worse every month. This is a classic issue we see when we perform a free Klaviyo audit for a new prospect.
Redefining the Klaviyo sunset segment for better targeting
The first problem to fix wasn’t the flow itself. It was the definition of who entered it.
The client’s trigger was “Has not opened an email in the last 120 days”. This is a blunt instrument. It lumps a customer who bought 121 days ago in with someone who subscribed two years ago, never opened a single email, and never bought. These are not the same people.
We scrapped that definition. Instead, we built a more nuanced set of rules for our new sunset segment. Our goal was to isolate subscribers who were truly dormant, not just infrequent email openers.
Our new definition for a ‘sunset’ subscriber was a combination of factors: * Has not opened an email in the last 150 days * AND has not clicked an email in the last 180 days * AND has not made a purchase in the last 180 days * AND has not been active on the website in the last 120 days
This multi-conditional logic is far more precise. It correctly identifies subscribers who show no signs of engagement across any channel. Someone who ignores emails but still browses the site occasionally is not a candidate for sunsetting. Someone who bought six months ago but doesn’t open campaigns is still a customer we want to keep.
This approach creates a much smaller, but much more accurately defined, segment of inactive users. It means our re-engagement efforts are focused only on the people who are genuinely at risk of churning for good.
The key is that these are dynamic Klaviyo segments. When someone in the sunset segment suddenly clicks an email or visits the site, they are automatically removed and no longer qualify for the flow. This ensures we don’t accidentally send a “goodbye” email to someone who just showed renewed interest.
How to set up a Klaviyo sunset flow: Our multi-step architecture
With the right segment defined, we built the new flow. A single email was never going to work. We needed a multi-step sequence designed to give subscribers several chances and reasons to re-engage.
Our new flow has four core emails spread over 30 days. It’s not about bombarding people. It’s about a strategic, escalating conversation. Good Klaviyo management is about designing the right conversation for the right segment.
Flow entry and exit logic
The entry trigger is simple: a subscriber is added to the segment we just defined. That’s it. They are now considered ‘at risk’.
The exit logic is just as important. We have flow filters that remove a person immediately if they take any positive action.
The exit conditions are: * Opens or clicks any email in this flow * Places an order * Is active on the website * Starts checkout
If any of these things happen, they are immediately pulled from the flow. They won’t receive the next email in the sequence. This prevents the awkward situation of sending a “last chance” email to someone who just bought from you yesterday.
Strategic email sequence and timing
The flow itself is a carefully timed sequence.
Email 1: The Gentle Nudge (Day 1) The first email is sent as soon as they enter the segment. The subject line is a simple question, like “Still interested in [Brand Name]?” The goal isn’t to sell hard. It’s a pattern interrupt to see if we can get a simple open. The content is light, reminding them of the brand’s value proposition.
Email 2: The Value Offer (Day 7) After a 7-day wait, the second email goes out. This one focuses on what they’ve missed. We use dynamic content blocks to show them new best-selling products or categories they’ve previously shown interest in. There’s no discount yet. The goal is to re-engage them with products, not just a coupon.
Email 3: The Compelling Offer (Day 21) We wait a full 14 days before this one. If they haven’t engaged yet, a value proposition isn’t enough. This email contains the strongest offer, like 20% off or free express shipping. The copy is more direct, framed as a special offer to win them back.
Email 4: The Breakup (Day 30) After another 9-day wait, this is the final email. The subject line is clear: “We’re cleaning our list”. The email explains that to ensure we only send emails to people who want them, we’ll be removing them from the list in 48 hours unless they click a single button to stay subscribed. This is a powerful tactic. It frames list cleaning as a benefit to all subscribers and gives them one last, clear choice. Anyone who doesn’t click is then suppressed. For more on the technical setup of flows, Klaviyo’s own help documentation is a good starting point.
This structure gives us four distinct chances to win a customer back, each with a different angle.
Specific re-engagement tactics and compelling offers
The structure is the skeleton. The content and offers are what make it work. We used a few specific tactics inside the emails to maximise their impact.
First, we went beyond a single, flat discount. In Email 3, we A/B tested two offers. Offer A was a simple 20% off coupon. Offer B was “Free Express Shipping on any order”. For this particular brand, with an average order value of $110, the free express shipping offer (valued at $15) actually performed better. It had a 22% higher click-through rate and led to more conversions.
Second, we used heavy personalisation. The “Value Offer” email (Email 2) didn’t just show generic bestsellers. It used Klaviyo’s dynamic product feeds to show items from the specific category the user last browsed or purchased from. If they last bought a pair of men’s running shoes, the email showcased new arrivals in that same category. This makes the email feel relevant, not like a generic blast.
Third, we introduced a feedback mechanism. In the final “Breakup” email, alongside the button to “Keep me on the list”, we included a link to update their email preferences. This link led to a Klaviyo preference page where they could choose to receive emails weekly instead of daily, or only receive emails about specific product categories. This gives a small but important group of subscribers a way to stay on the list, but on their own terms. About 3% of people who clicked in this email chose to update preferences rather than just stay subscribed.
We also A/B tested subject lines relentlessly. For the final email, we tested “We’re saying goodbye” against the more utility-focused “We’re cleaning our list”. The “cleaning our list” version won, with a 4-point higher open rate. It felt less emotional and more like a simple, factual update, which resonated better.
These details matter. A good flow isn’t just about timing; it’s about testing every element to see what actually motivates a dormant subscriber to take action.
Measurable results: Revenue, re-engagement, and deliverability gains
The impact of this new Klaviyo sunset flow was immediate and significant.
The headline number is the revenue. The flow is now directly responsible for 7% of the brand’s total monthly revenue from Klaviyo. For a brand doing seven figures, this is a substantial amount of money recovered from a list segment that was previously producing nothing.
But the other metrics are just as important.
The re-engagement rate for subscribers entering the flow is now 11.4%. That means more than one in ten “inactive” subscribers are now making a purchase or re-engaging with the brand directly because of this sequence. The old flow had a re-engagement rate of less than 1%.
We also saw a huge improvement in list health and overall deliverability. After running the new flow for 60 days and suppressing the truly unresponsive subscribers, the brand’s account-wide average open rate climbed from 19% to 24%. Their click rate increased from 1.5% to 2.2%.
By removing tens of thousands of unengaged contacts, we taught inbox providers that this brand sends emails that people want to open. This improved their sender reputation, which has a positive knock-on effect for every single campaign they send. Better Klaviyo Deliverability is a direct result of smart list hygiene, and a proper sunset flow is the most important tool for that.
The long-term benefit is a leaner, more engaged, and more profitable email list. It also reduced their Klaviyo subscription cost, as they were no longer paying for 40,000+ subscribers who would never open an email anyway.
This isn’t a one-off fix. It’s a system that continuously cleans the list and recovers revenue every single day.
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If your sunset flow hasn’t been touched in the last year, it’s almost certainly underperforming.
