The Goal of the Win-Back Flow
A win-back flow is an automation designed to bring previous buyers back into the fold after a set period of inactive time. Across the brands we have worked with at In-box, where we have driven roughly $5.8 million in email revenue, getting customer retention right consistently produces some of the highest ROI in the entire account.
Too many ecommerce brands set a generic 60-day delay after a purchase, fire off a 10% discount code, and hope for the best. That is a mistake. A customer who bought a 30-day supply of supplements has completely different buying intent than someone who bought a winter jacket.
You need an automation that reacts dynamically to what the customer actually bought, when they need more of it, and whether they have ever bought from you before.
Setting Up the Trigger and Critical Flow Filters
The win-back flow begins with the standard Placed Order trigger. The real work happens in the flow filters, which protect your deliverability and keep you from sending embarrassing messages to the wrong people.
You need four standard flow filters added immediately at the flow level:
- Placed Order zero times since starting this flow: If someone buys during the sequence, they must exit immediately.
- Refunded Order zero times since starting this flow: Pitching a replenishment to someone who returned their order creates terrible customer experiences.
- Cancelled Order zero times since starting this flow: The same logic applies to cancellations.
- Has subscribed to email marketing at least once: If a customer checked out as a guest and did not opt in, you cannot legally send them marketing flows.
Always respect consent. Trying to bypass consent filters to squeeze out a few extra sends is not worth burning your domain reputation or running into compliance fines.
Using Trigger Splits by Collection and SKU
A trigger split evaluates the specific event data that started the automation. In this case, it inspects the contents of the order that pulled the profile into the flow.
If you have a compact catalogue with under five SKUs, you can split by specific item. For larger stores, split by collection. For example, if you sell fruit, your first split might check if the order contains items from the 'Apples' collection. If yes, they go down the left branch. If no, they move to the next split testing for 'Bananas'.
This structure allows you to customise the time delay for each product type. If a customer bought fresh produce, a 90-day delay makes no sense (they consumed it within 5 to 7 days). If they bought a durable good or a bulk multi-pack, 60 to 90 days might be the minimum wait time before it makes sense to prompt another order.
Repurchase Messaging vs Cross-Selling
Once you have split your customers by collection and timed the delay to match their usage cycle, you have two primary strategies for the first email:
- Replenishment: Prompt a direct reorder of the exact item or collection they bought. You can use dynamic product blocks in Klaviyo to pull their previously purchased items right into the template.
- Cross-selling: Suggest complementary categories. If you know they buy apples, suggest bananas or complementary snack products that fit their buying profile.
You can also combine both approaches into a single email by featuring the repurchase call-to-action at the top and a curated cross-sell section underneath.
Do not worry about customers receiving the same replenishment reminder email months apart if they consistently reorder on a long cycle. If your delay is 90 days or longer, subscribers will not remember the previous template. Consistency beats constant redesigns every single time.
Building the Catch-All Fallback Path
Trigger splits work by process of elimination. If an order does not match your first split, it falls to the second, then the third, until it reaches the final 'No' branch at the far right of your flow canvas.
This fallback path handles miscellaneous items, unassigned products, or newly added inventory that has not been categorised into your main collections yet. Because you do not know the exact product consumption cycle for this group, set this final branch delay to match your business's longest average buying cycle.
This ensures nobody slips through the cracks, while preventing you from spamming buyers who purchased slow-consumption goods too early in their journey.
The Second-Purchase Conditional Split
Here is one thing I like to do near the tail end of the sequence: place a conditional split based on historic order count.
The first sale is always the hardest sale to make. The second sale is the second hardest. Once a customer has bought twice, their lifetime value jumps significantly, and converting them a third time is much easier.
Set a conditional split testing if Placed Order equals 1 overall time:
- Yes branch (First-time buyers): These customers have made only one purchase and have not converted during the standard win-back timing. Send them an email with an introductory repeat-purchase incentive, such as a discount or free gift with their second order.
- No branch (Repeat buyers): These customers have purchased twice or more in the past. They already trust your brand, so you do not need to give away margin with heavy discounting. Use social proof, loyalty perks, or new product highlights instead.
Final Thoughts
A high-converting win-back flow relies on product-specific timing rather than one-size-fits-all delays. By splitting orders by collection, setting accurate consumption delays, and giving first-time buyers an extra reason to place order number two, you will turn one-off purchasers into predictable repeat revenue.
If you want our team to audit, build, and optimise your automated flows in Klaviyo, take a look at our email automations service.
