It’s no secret that Klaviyo is the eCommerce poster child of brilliant marketing automation tools. Whether you’re a Klaviyo maestro or a newbie, marketing to your audience effectively boils down to the perfect email ‘flow’. Let’s look at the top email flow tips that ecommerce marketing pros worldwide live and breathe by.

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Klaviyo has gained enormous popularity since its birth in 2012 with over 100K companies across 80 countries as devoted customers today. Its seamless UX has enabled everyday users to design and execute highly effective email marketing campaigns and strategies. If you’re new to Klaviyo it’s important to know the basics behind the ‘email flow’ (an automated sequence of marketing emails or SMS) and why each step is essential when engaging with your audience. Here are a few of the most crucial steps used by Klaviyo devotees.

The Welcome Email

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

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Essentially it’s the ‘nice to meet you’ email that gets triggered once a customer (or potential one) signs up to your email list. This is a key opportunity to not only welcome them but assure them they have made the right move by signing up. You may want to do this with a special discount promo code, entry to a competition or any other incentive that feels like a true welcome. This is the perfect time to show the recipient who you are, what you do and that you truly value their custom.

The welcome email can come as anywhere between three and five emails sent out within a day or two of each other. The first email welcomes and rewards the customer with the coupon or promo. The second email may arrive 24 to 48 hours after the first and could highlight a product range or special offer. The third could be a brand awareness piece that tells an inspiring story about your brand’s beginnings or intentions. Be sure to keep these short and to the point and space their dispatch well.

Checkout Abandonment Flow

That Friendly Little Reminder

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We’ve all done it – shopped like there’s no tomorrow but failed to complete the purchase. It’s not necessarily your fault when a customer abandons their purchasing journey and their cart collects cobwebs. It could come down to a simple interruption such as a random knock at the door, dinner burning on the stove or them passing out drunk before hitting that final stride. This is where a friendly (guilt-free) email reminding the customer of their abandoned cart comes in. Never pushy or nagging, this email should come across as helpful and caring, outlining the abandoned cart contents and making the continuation and completion of their purchase as easy as possible.

Browse Abandonment

For the Everyday Window Shopper

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This email is for recipients who viewed certain products but didn’t pop them in their cart. They’re essentially the digital version of window shoppers. The intention here is to incentivise the punter to return to your site to view similar products or so that you can introduce new ones to them. If this leads to a purchase, that’s a bonus, but for now it’s mostly about site visits – so keep the tone warm, helpful and more about what’s in store than clinching a sale.

After Purchase

Confirming Their Brilliant Decision

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People love the ‘ping’ of a post-purchase email. It’s that wonderfully reassuring feeling of knowing your purchase is good to go. The tone of this email stage should be bubbly, positive and bright.Find a way to congratulate the customer on their purchasing decision, so they feel justified in their actions and excited for the next steps in the customer journey. You may want to include a line or two that tells the customer to keep an eye out for a future email confirming their order has been shipped. This simply adds to the assurance that everything is under control..

Cross Purchase Flow

Spreading the Love

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When it comes to making further product recommendations, ‘product relevance’ is key. This email provides a great opportunity to suggest products that relate to those recently purchased or suggest a line of products that the customer may not have thought of previously. It’s important not to come across as overly pushy in this email.Your tone should be helpful, insightful and concise. If the recommendation isn’t relevant to the customer’s purchase history, the email will feel spammy, so keep it real.

VIP Email Flow

Make Them Blush

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Each brand has its own criteria that offers a customer its VIP status. It could be based on loyalty points, purchase frequency or the amount they spend. Customers feel special when a VIP status comes across as well earned as opposed to it being handed out willy nilly. Be sure to explain how and why they are considered a VIP customer and outline the rewards or benefits concisely. The objective here is to get the customer to return to your site and make further purchases based on the benefits the VIP status affords them. Inject a level of excitement in the tone to evoke a sense of exclusivity.

Special Events Email

Three Cheers For Your Customer

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So long as they aren’t cheesy, special events emails can make a customer feel valued while incentivising them to visit your site based on what you’re offering. It could be a coupon or discount code for their birthday, holiday season or an anniversary as your customer. The more value you add to this opportunity the more likely your customer is to take up the offer. This email could also take the form of inviting them to participate in an exclusive sale based on their purchase history. Think outside of the box here and get creative in terms of what you’d like to celebrate with them.

The Quiz Flow

Keep it Simple

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We’ve all seen them, but do we always filter out? The quiz (or zero data) flow is a clever way of capturing customer data that can help inform key marketing strategies. They can live on a pre-purchase email or on the homepage of a site. The chosen answers then trigger further emails introducing a product line based on the customer’s response. The golden rule with the quiz copy is to keep it short, sharp and easy to follow. Consider a one line question of no more than 8 to 10 words followed by tick box options. Your quiz may have a few stages to it in order together as much data as possible, however be sure to limit these stages in numbers or you risk annoying the customer. It would be a shame if a pesky quiz lead to a customer unsubscribing.

There are plenty of online tutorial videos and tips on making the most out of Klaviyo’s features and some of them suggest additional email flow ideas that can contribute to your current marketing strategy. Remember that the tone of the email copy is paramount to the open rate and overall success of your email marketing approach, so invest some time in getting your tone of voice pitch perfect.

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