Klaviyo Automation Guide: Framework for Growth

12 June

Most eCommerce brands treat Klaviyo like a crockpot. They set it, forget it, and hope something good happens in six months.

The flows they built in 2022 are still running. The segments are gathering dust. They look at open rates and feel busy, but they aren’t connecting automation to revenue.

I’ve seen this pattern across dozens of accounts we’ve audited. A powerful tool used for basic tasks. It’s like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Real growth from email automation doesn’t come from just having flows. It comes from having a framework. A structured, phased approach that builds a sophisticated system over time, not all at once. This is the framework we use at Elite Brands to build and scale Klaviyo accounts.

Phase 1: Auditing and foundational Klaviyo automation setup

You can’t build a strong house on a weak foundation. The first step is always to figure out what you’re working with and secure the basics. For most brands, this means a deep audit and setting up the five core flows correctly.

Too many founders skip this. They get excited about a complex VIP flow they read about, while their abandoned cart email is still using the default Klaviyo template from three years ago.

Conducting a comprehensive Klaviyo audit

Before we build anything new, we look at what’s already there. An audit isn’t just a quick glance. It’s a systematic review of every part of the account.

We analyse flow performance, looking for emails with deliverability below 98% or click rates under 1%. We check segment health to see if lists are growing or shrinking. We map out the entire customer journey to spot gaps. Is there a post-purchase experience, or does communication just stop after the credit card is charged?

Most of the time, this process reveals low-hanging fruit. We recently audited an apparel brand and found their welcome series had a 4% unsubscribe rate on the first email. The culprit was a broken dynamic coupon code. Fixing that one issue immediately added an estimated $12,000 in annual revenue.

If you want an expert eye on your setup, you can request a free Klaviyo audit from our team. We’ll show you exactly where the opportunities are.

Establishing core Klaviyo flows

Once the audit is done, we ensure the five foundational flows are in place and working properly. These are the non-negotiables.

Welcome Series: This isn’t just about delivering a 10% off code. It’s your chance to introduce the brand story, set expectations, and guide the first purchase. A good starting point is three emails: one with the offer, one with the founder’s story or brand mission, and one with social proof.
Abandoned Cart: This is pure revenue recovery. The goal is to handle objections and make it easy to complete the purchase. We usually see the best results with a two or three-email sequence over 24 hours.
Browse Abandonment: This targets shoppers who showed interest but didn’t add to cart. It’s a softer touch than the abandoned cart flow. It reminds them of the product they viewed and often shows related items.
Post-Purchase: This is the most overlooked flow. It bridges the gap between purchase and delivery. Use it to thank the customer, provide shipping updates, offer product care tips, and ask for a review. It’s critical for building a long-term relationship.
Customer Win-back: This flow targets customers who haven’t purchased in a while. The timing depends on your product cycle. For a supplement brand it might be 90 days, for a mattress brand it could be five years. The goal is to re-engage them with a compelling offer before they churn for good.

We also establish a clear naming convention and folder structure from day one. It seems trivial, but when you have 30 flows and 150 segments, you’ll be glad you organised it.

Phase 2: Segmenting for personalised Klaviyo journeys

With the core flows running, the next phase is to move from generic messages to personalised experiences. This is where segmentation comes in. Sending the same email to every single person on your list is a waste of potential.

Personalisation isn’t just using {{ first_name }}. It’s about sending the right message to the right person at the right time, based on their behaviour.

Leveraging customer data for segmentation

Klaviyo is powerful because it integrates deeply with Shopify. It knows who your customers are, what they’ve bought, what they’ve looked at, and how often they engage. All of this is data you can use.

We start by looking for the data points that actually influence purchasing. For a skincare brand, it might be skin type or specific concerns. For a fashion brand, it could be preferred size or colour. We pull these in as custom properties.

This allows us to build segments that are far more powerful than just “all subscribers”.

Crafting dynamic segments for flow personalisation

Once you have the data, you can build dynamic segments. These segments automatically update as customer behaviour changes. This is where the magic happens.

Here are a few high-impact segments we build for almost every client:

VIPs: Customers who have spent over a certain amount or purchased multiple times. They get exclusive offers and early access.
Potential VIPs: Customers who have purchased once and are highly engaged. We create flows to encourage that second purchase.
Engaged Non-Purchasers: Subscribers who open and click emails but have never bought. They might need a stronger offer or more social proof to convert.
Product Interest Segments: People who have viewed a specific product category but not purchased. We can send them targeted content about that category. For example, ‘viewed running shoes but not purchased’.
Cross-sell Segments: Customers who bought product X but not the complementary product Y. If someone buys a coffee machine, we can automate a follow-up about our coffee beans a week later.

With these segments, you can use conditional splits in your flows. A VIP entering an abandoned cart flow might get a better discount than a first-time browser. This level of detail is what separates a basic Klaviyo setup from a revenue-generating machine. If you’re unsure how to identify the most impactful data points for your brand, our free Klaviyo audit can pinpoint exactly where your segmentation opportunities lie.

For a deeper look at building these, check out our Klaviyo segmentation guide.

Phase 3: Optimising and iterating your Klaviyo flows for impact

Automation is not a “set and forget” activity. Phase 3 is about continuous improvement. The goal is to treat your email flows like you treat your ad campaigns, with constant testing and data analysis.

A flow that worked well last year might be underperforming today. Customer behaviour changes. Your product line changes. Your flows need to adapt.

A/B testing strategies for Klaviyo flows

A/B testing in Klaviyo is simple to set up, but most brands don’t do it enough. They might test a subject line once and call it a day.

We test everything.

Subject Lines & Previews: The obvious starting point. We test short vs. long, questions vs. statements, including emojis vs. not.
Offers: 10% off vs. free shipping vs. a gift with purchase. The winner is often surprising.
Timing: Does the abandoned cart email convert better after one hour or four hours? Does the win-back flow work best at 60 days or 90 days?
Content & Creative: We test different hero images, button colours, and copy approaches. Long, story-driven emails vs. short, direct ones.
Sender Name: Testing “Dan from Elite Brands” vs. just “Elite Brands” can have a measurable impact on open rates.

The key is to test one variable at a time and let the test run long enough to get a statistically significant result. Klaviyo makes this easy. Once you have a winner, you roll it out and start the next test.

Continuous improvement and iteration cycles

We schedule a formal review of all major flows every quarter. In this review, we look at the core performance metrics and identify the weakest link in each chain.

If a welcome series has a big drop-off between email two and three, we focus our testing there. We might rewrite the content of email two or change the time delay.

This creates a feedback loop. Data informs the test, the test generates new data, and that data informs the next optimisation. Over time, these small, incremental gains compound into significant revenue growth. You can see some of our results from applying this exact process. This iterative approach is what turns a good email program into a great one.

Integrating SMS into your Klaviyo automation strategy

Email is the workhorse, but SMS is the closer. It’s a high-urgency, high-engagement channel that, when used correctly, can dramatically boost the performance of your existing flows.

The mistake I see many brands make is treating SMS like another email channel. They send long messages or blast their whole list. This just leads to high unsubscribe rates. SMS is for timely, concise, and critical communication.

Strategic SMS placement in Klaviyo flows

We don’t build separate SMS-only flows. Instead, we strategically add SMS messages into our existing email automations using conditional splits.

First, we check: does this person subscribe to SMS? If yes, we can send a text.

Here are some of the most effective placements:

Abandoned Cart: Send an email one hour after abandonment. If they don’t convert, send an SMS three hours later with a final reminder. This one-two punch is incredibly effective.
Shipping Notifications: While email is good for the initial confirmation, SMS is perfect for “Your order has shipped” and “Your order is out for delivery” alerts. These have near 100% open rates.
Flash Sales: Use email to announce a 24-hour sale. Send an SMS to subscribers in the last four hours to create urgency and drive final conversions.
Back in Stock: For high-demand items, an instant SMS alert is the fastest way to notify interested customers and secure a sale before the product sells out again.

The goal is for email and SMS to work together, not compete. We have a detailed guide on building a Klaviyo Abandoned Cart Flow SMS integration that walks through the technical setup.

Best practices for SMS consent and content

Compliance is non-negotiable with SMS. In Australia, the rules are governed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). You must have explicit consent to text your customers for marketing purposes. This means using a separate checkbox at checkout, not just bundling it with email consent. You can read the official guidelines on the ACMA website.

Keep your SMS copy short and direct. Include the brand name, the core message, and a link. Always provide a clear opt-out option, like “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”. Balancing frequency is key to avoiding fatigue and maintaining a healthy, engaged list.

Measuring Klaviyo automation success beyond vanity metrics

If you’re still judging your email performance on open rates, you’re looking at the wrong numbers. Open rates are unreliable due to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, and they don’t tell you anything about revenue.

A high open rate with zero sales is a failure. A low open rate that drives five-figure revenue is a success. We focus on the metrics that directly connect email activity to business growth.

Key metrics for Klaviyo automation performance

These are the numbers we put on our client dashboards. They are the true measure of success for any email automation ecommerce program.

Attributed Revenue: How much money did this specific flow or campaign generate? Klaviyo’s attribution is robust. This is the ultimate measure of success.
Revenue Per Recipient (RPR): This normalises performance across emails with different audience sizes. It answers the question: “How much is each email we send worth?” We aim to constantly increase this number.
Flow Conversion Rate: Of the people who entered a flow, what percentage made a purchase? This tells you how effective the entire sequence is.
Placed Order Rate: This is the conversion rate on a per-email basis. It helps us identify the strongest and weakest emails within a flow.
Average Order Value (AOV): Are customers who buy through email spending more or less than other customers? We can use flows to specifically encourage higher AOV.

Attributing revenue and long-term value

Accurate attribution is crucial. We set Klaviyo’s attribution window to match the brand’s buying cycle, typically between 3 and 7 days. This ensures we are giving credit where it’s due without over-inflating the numbers.

Beyond the immediate sale, we look at the long-term impact. We analyse how email automation affects Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). Are customers who engage with the post-purchase flow more likely to buy again? Does our VIP segmentation lead to higher overall spend from that cohort?

Connecting Klaviyo data to your broader eCommerce analytics gives you a complete picture. It shows that email isn’t just a sales channel. It’s a powerful tool for building customer relationships and driving sustainable, long-term growth.

This level of analysis can be complex. It often helps to have a Klaviyo expert team to configure the reporting and interpret the data correctly.

Not sure if your Klaviyo setup is leaving money on the table?

We’re Klaviyo Master Gold partners. Our free Klaviyo Audit checks the 24 things that most often kill email revenue on Shopify stores. Takes 5 minutes to request, delivered within 48 hours.

Request the free Klaviyo Audit →

This framework isn’t a quick fix. It’s a systematic process for building a powerful, revenue-generating asset for your brand. It requires discipline and a commitment to data-driven decisions.

If you want to implement this framework but don’t have the time or in-house expertise, we can help.

Dan Nikas