A customer visits your eCommerce website. They fall in love with your products and click Add to Cart. But for some unfathomable reason, they leave the cart behind with all of their goodies still inside. This is where your Klaviyo abandoned cart flow swoops in to coax that customer back, encouraging them to complete their purchase.
If you want to know how to create the best online shopping cart abandonment flows, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some tips from actual Klaviyo experts on how to make the most of this effective automated email flow.
Why Klaviyo Abandoned Cart Flows Are So Worth It
A customer abandoning their cart still means they're interested in your products. They liked what they saw and will most likely purchase in the future if/when they come across your products again. It’s sort of like window shopping, but online.
Research from the Baymard Institute shows that cart abandonment is mainly caused by unexpected shipping costs and complicated checkout processes among other things.
The good news is that you can bring your customers right back and make money through Klaviyo abandoned cart flows. In fact, if your store has an AOV of $100 to $500, then you have a chance to recover up to 5% of abandoned carts. Some quick back-of-napkin math makes it easy to see that the time invested in setting flows up properly with the help of email marketing experts is completely and totally worth it!
Best Klaviyo Abandoned Cart Email Examples
Here are a few examples of how to create the best Klaviyo abandoned cart flow emails:
Try Something New
Instead of sending customers a simple email with a list of the items in their cart, why not share some extra info about the product itself? Even simple things such as making sure you have a high-quality image or additional technical details about the product help your customer glean more insight into the product right from the comfort of their email inbox.
Show them different ways to use the product. Take them behind the scenes and share what the products are made of, where they’re made, or how they can help satisfy the customer’s needs - the opportunities to increase perceived value are endless. This works especially well if you have an eco-friendly brand with products made from sustainable materials or your products are made in the country that you’re selling them in (the “Made in America” pitch is nearly always a winner, for example!). It’s also a great way to show the value of your products, as shown in Plant People’s email campaign.
Social Proof for the Win
One of the best ways to appeal to customers is through word of mouth. In fact, 74% of people trust ratings and reviews from others. Seeing that someone else had a good experience with your brand can give on-the-fence shoppers the nudge they need to purchase and provide reassurance to first-time buyers who are weighing up their options. So why not leverage this age-old marketing practice by adding a few reviews to your Klaviyo abandoned cart emails?
Apparel brand Hanes does a great job of this with this promotional email.
Brooklinen frequently uses social proof in its abandoned cart emails by integrating customer testimonials and ratings. Likewise, so does Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, SKIMS.
And so does Kmart Australia.
Timing Is Everything
To ensure that your Klaviyo abandoned cart email flow is successful, you need to send it at the right time. Strike while the iron is hot and send the first email a couple of hours after cart abandonment—just enough time for the customer to step away but stay interested. Then, follow up with a second message 24 hours later. This sequence has proven effective, converting at around 16% if sent within a day, with a dip in engagement if delayed. Finally, a third email 3 to 5 days later with a special discount or FOMO-driven reviews helps bring back those who still haven’t returned.
Since timing needs vary, it’s crucial to continuously test and adjust your intervals. Even small tweaks between the first and second emails can impact engagement, and some audiences convert best with slightly longer delays. For instance, while abandoned cart emails see a strong 50% open rate on average, experimenting with timing can reveal an ideal cadence for your unique audience.
Ultimate Klaviyo Abandoned Cart Content Tips
Keep it Simple
When crafting your abandoned cart email, keep it straightforward. Only feature the items that a customer has already added to their cart. This reminds the customer how much they liked the products. Then, make sure that the CTA button is clear and leads to the check-out page. That way, it’s super convenient for the customer to complete the transaction. The less steps that the customer needs to take toward the purchase, the higher the likelihood of getting the sale.
Add a Perk
Sometimes, the customer needs a little bit of an incentive in order to convert. Here, you can entice the customer to click “check out” by offering them a special discount on the items in their cart. Then, create a sense of urgency by placing an expiry date on the discount or even the availability of the items. This could be the final push that a customer needs to make a purchase. As much as people don’t like to admit it, FOMO works, plain and simple.
Turn Doubters into Buyers
Sometimes, a customer leaves a full cart behind because they’re just not sure. One of the best ways to get ahead of the doubt is to integrate a FAQ section in your email. If you have an existing loyalty program, consider reminding customers of all the points they stand to gain once they complete their purchase.
Getting Personal with Segmentation
One of the coolest things about Klaviyo is how it helps you personalize your emails. Not every customer is the same, and Klaviyo’s segmentation features let you target different types of shoppers with the right message. First-time buyers might love a welcome discount, while repeat customers may appreciate reminders about loyalty points they’ve earned.
You can even tailor your emails for customers with high-value carts, giving them a little extra push by mentioning how limited or exclusive their items are. By using Klaviyo’s segmentation tools, you can make your emails feel more personal, which goes a long way toward turning abandoned carts into completed purchases.
Tracking Success: What to Watch Out For
Klaviyo’s built-in analytics are super helpful for understanding how your abandoned cart flow is performing. Keep an eye on open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to see how your customers are engaging with your emails. You can also track exactly how much revenue your flow is bringing in during a given time period, which gives you a clear picture of how well it’s working now and how well it was working before, too. This is super useful if you find yourself tweaking your automated workflows relatively often (as you should be doing!)
With Klaviyo, you can easily test different subject lines, email designs, and call-to-action buttons to see what performs best. A/B testing makes it easy to keep improving your flow, so you’re always optimizing for the best possible results.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Even with Klaviyo’s powerful tools, there are a few mistakes to avoid. One common misstep is sending too many emails—nobody wants to feel spammed. With Klaviyo’s Smart Sending and Throttling tools, you’ve got all the flexibility to control the timing and frequency of your emails. Stick with 2 to 3 thoughtfully spaced messages to keep your flow balanced—just enough to stay on your audience's radar without overdoing it.
And, for an extra edge, use split testing to figure out which approach resonates best with your contacts, so each message hits the mark.
Another thing to keep in mind is making sure your emails look great on mobile. A lot of people will open your emails on their phones, so use Klaviyo’s responsive design features to make sure everything looks clean and easy to navigate, no matter the device.
And finally, don’t forget to keep testing and tweaking your flow based on the performance data. Klaviyo gives you all the tools you need to adjust and improve, so make sure to use them.
Going the Extra Mile for Maximum Recovery
If you want to go beyond the basics, Klaviyo has some advanced features that can help you recover even more abandoned carts. For instance, browse abandonment flows can work alongside your cart flows to target customers who showed interest but didn’t add anything to their cart. This is an effective strategy, as browse abandonment emails drive conversions at a rate of 0.96% compared to the 0.10% conversion rate of an average email campaign.
What’s more, while abandoned cart automated emails generally convert at higher rates—3.55%, on average—browse abandonment flows tend to earn higher open rates, making them especially good at capturing shopper interest. Together, these flows capture a broader audience, engaging those who may be undecided but are still likely to purchase.
Klaviyo’s predictive analytics push this strategy further, helping you figure out which customers are most likely to come back and finish their purchase. Brands using predictive analytics with Klaviyo have reported impressive results. For example, Willow Tree Boutique saw a 44.6% increase in Klaviyo-attributed revenue and a 53.1% boost in campaign revenue within six months, thanks to segments based on customer lifetime value and shopping habits. Using these insights can mean smarter, better-timed messages that drive conversions from interested shoppers.
The Verdict
Klaviyo abandoned cart flows take the guesswork out of keeping in touch with your customers. You can customize them according to your needs, and choose to send 1, 2, or 3 emails. They also allow you to personalize the headlines so that they speak directly to your customer, making them feel special and recognized. Plus, you can decide ahead of time when you want the email sequence to go out. It can be a few hours from the time that they abandon their cart or a few days.
And without a Klaviyo abandoned cart email sequence, you’re literally leaving money on the table. Data from Forrester Research shows that abandoned carts cost eCommerce companies up to $18 million in lost revenue annually.
Ready to get those customers back? Get in touch with the Klaviyo experts to help you craft the most effective abandoned cart flows possible.
