One of the earliest hurdles e-commerce businesses face is working out which flows to set up. Many great owners eventually navigate the maze of Klaviyo templates and filters, but one question we're asked again and again is: why are there so many cart abandonment flows to choose from?
Put simply, cart abandonment can happen at many stages of the customer journey, not just at the checkout. Klaviyo and Shopify account for this with two specific triggers, but if you don't know the difference when setting up, it gets confusing fast. We've broken it down below, and explained why having both in your ecosystem is critical.
Trigger 1The abandoned "added to cart" flow
The first trigger you'll stumble on when setting up is "added to cart." It targets people who've added a product to their cart but haven't yet reached the checkout page. Maybe they were browsing and saving items for later, or fully intended to buy but got sidetracked.
This flow gently reminds customers about what they added and why they should pick up where they left off. It's also a great moment to teach them about first-order discounts and your free shipping threshold.
Filter out anyone who reaches the checkout, otherwise they'll receive both the added-to-cart and abandoned-checkout flows at the same time.
Trigger 2The abandoned checkout flow
The abandoned checkout flow is the other option once you've integrated Shopify with Klaviyo. It focuses on customers who proceed to checkout but don't buy, and is set up with a "started checkout" trigger.
The reason for an incomplete order varies, but it's typically shipping costs, final order value, delivery timelines or loss of interest. So this flow needs to focus on reselling the value, until those hesitation points no longer deter them. Newer customers often need a financial push, a discount or saving, to start a transactional relationship. Returning customers usually need less: brand reinforcement or a personal message from the founder often does it.
Filter out anyone who has purchased. You don't want to nudge someone back to a cart they've already paid for.
Why you should run both
There are multiple drop-off points when a customer visits to buy. Some leave before they get past your homepage. Some view products but never add to cart. Some build a wishlist, and some hesitate right before they hit "buy now."
Running both means you catch customers at two critical drop-off points instead of one, which is exactly why they belong together in your Klaviyo ecosystem.
Different drop-off points need different flows. Set up both, and you catch more sales.
Let's set up both flows
the right way.
Not sure how to build these flows, or how to filter them so they don't overlap? Our email marketing experts can set the whole thing up for you.
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