The Four Tiers of Intent in Klaviyo
Most ecommerce stores stop at a single abandoned cart flow. That is a mistake.
Across hundreds of client accounts and roughly $5.8 million in generated revenue at In-box, we see that customer intent sits on a spectrum. An active site visitor has very different buying intent than someone who made it all the way to checkout with a credit card in hand.
To capture lost revenue properly, you need four distinct automations working together:
- Site Abandonment: Lowest intent, triggered by active on-site behaviour.
- Browse Abandonment: Mid intent, triggered by viewing a specific product.
- Abandoned Cart: High intent, triggered by adding an item to the cart.
- Abandoned Checkout: Highest intent, triggered by starting the checkout process.
Abandoned Cart: Segmenting by Buyer History and Collection
Your abandoned cart flow triggers when someone adds an item to their cart. Keep in mind that for Shopify stores, the Added to Cart snippet often requires manual installation on your theme before Klaviyo can track it.
The biggest architectural mistake brands make here is sending the exact same email to everyone. In my books, you should immediately split this flow based on customer order history (Placed Order equals zero overall time). First-time visitors need an incentive to overcome purchase friction, whereas existing customers do not need to be trained to expect discounts on every repeat purchase.
For timing, I like to split test a 15-minute delay against a 30-minute delay using a random sample. As a rule of thumb, the more expensive your product, the more time someone needs to consider it. A $500 item might warrant a 45-minute or 60-minute window before the first recovery email fires.
After a 24-hour delay, use trigger splits based on product collections. If someone added an item from your towels collection, send an email highlighting that specific collection with relevant cross-sells. If they added bedding, speak directly to bedding. If their cart contains multiple collections, send them down a generic fallback path. Personalising by category drives significantly higher conversion rates than a generic cart reminder.
Abandoned Checkout: Closing the Highest-Intent Shoppers
The abandoned checkout flow mirrors the structure of the cart flow, but it triggers off Started Checkout. Because this shopper took the extra step to input their details, they are significantly closer to buying.
Your flow filters must ensure people do not receive both automations simultaneously. Add a filter to your abandoned cart flow that excludes anyone who has started checkout or placed an order since starting the flow. That way, the moment checkout starts, the cart flow stops and the checkout flow takes over.
Keep the recovery offers consistent between both flows, but differentiate the copy and design. Address specific friction points that happen at the final step, such as shipping thresholds, payment security, and return guarantees.
Browse Abandonment: High Volume with Strict Guardrails
Browse abandonment triggers when a subscriber views a product page without adding it to their cart or starting checkout. Because this action requires minimal effort from the user, you must put strict filters in place to prevent inbox fatigue.
Always add a flow filter specifying that the profile has not been in this flow in the last 14 days. Without that restriction, an active browser will receive multiple browse abandonment emails in a single week, driving up unsubscribes.
Split this flow by purchase history as well. For first-time buyers, send a reminder after 15 to 30 minutes, followed by a second reminder 24 hours later with an incentive. You can use dynamic countdown timers through tools like Sendtrick to introduce real urgency.
For existing customers, be cautious with multi-email sequences. A second follow-up to an existing buyer on a viewed product often delivers low ROI and higher spam complaint rates. If deliverability dips, cut that second email immediately.
Site Abandonment: Turn It On During Promotions Only
Site abandonment is triggered simply by a subscriber being active on your website, without viewing a specific product, adding to cart, or checking out. Because it is so low touch, it can become annoying very quickly if left running permanently.
I recommend keeping this flow switched off during standard trading periods and only turning it on during site-wide sales or major promotional events. Set a strict flow filter restricting entry to once every 30 days.
Because you do not know which specific product caught their attention, keep the email simple. Use a single-email sequence that highlights your campaign offer, your best-selling categories, or your top three hero products, driving them straight back to the homepage.
Final Thoughts
Treating every abandoned session the same is leaving money on the table. By separating site, browse, cart, and checkout abandonment into dedicated flows, you match your messaging directly to where the shopper dropped off. Set up your flow filters correctly, split by customer history, and let the data guide your send delays.
If you want our team to audit your current flows and build out a high-converting automation system for your store, take a look at our Email Automations service.
