Most fashion brands spend their first £5,000 on Meta ads. They should spend it on Klaviyo flows first.

Automated Klaviyo flows generate nearly 18x more revenue per email sent than broadcast campaigns. Flows account for just 5.3% of total email sends but drive close to 41% of total email revenue. That is not a rounding error. That is the difference between a leaking bucket and one that holds water.

Running paid ads before your flows are live means paying to fill that leaking bucket. Every pound spent on acquisition loses value the moment someone hits your site, because without flows, there is no system to capture, nurture, or convert them.

Build these five flows first. Then run ads.

Flow 1: The welcome series

When it triggers: a new subscriber joins your list via popup, checkout, or lead magnet.

This is the highest-engagement window you will ever have with a subscriber. Open rates on welcome emails run 3 to 4x higher than regular campaigns. The subscriber just raised their hand. They are paying attention. Do not waste it on a single Thanks for signing up email.

What a good welcome series looks like for a fashion brand:

Email 1, sent immediately: deliver the incentive. One image. One CTA. Do not overwhelm.

Email 2, day 2: tell the brand story. Not your founding date, the reason the brand exists. What does your label stand for? Give people something to belong to.

Email 3, day 4: social proof. Best reviews, most-worn pieces, real customer photos. Let other people do the selling.

Email 4, day 7: soft urgency. If the discount code has not been used, remind them it expires. If they have already bought, skip this and move to the post-purchase flow.

Flow 2: Abandoned cart recovery

When it triggers: someone adds to cart and leaves without buying.

The average eCommerce cart abandonment rate sits between 70 and 75%. A solid cart recovery flow recaptures 5 to 15% of those lost sales automatically.

Email 1, one hour after abandonment: simple. Show the product. Make it easy to return.

Email 2, 24 hours later: social proof on the specific product. Address the silent objections before they harden.

Email 3, 72 hours later: urgency. A small incentive if your margins allow. But do not make this your default first move.

Flow 3: Post-purchase

When it triggers: order confirmed.

The post-purchase window is the best chance you have to build loyalty, cut returns, and generate a second purchase.

Email 1, immediately: order confirmation. Make it warm, not a receipt.

Email 2, day 3: build anticipation. How-to-wear content works well here for fashion brands.

Email 3, day 7: check in. Ask for feedback before you ask for a review.

Email 4, day 14: cross-sell. Based on what they bought, suggest something that works with it.

Email 5, day 30: ask for the review.

Flow 4: Browse abandonment

When it triggers: someone views a product page but does not add to cart.

Email 1, four to six hours after browsing: light and non-pushy. Show the product. Add one detail they may have missed.

Email 2, 48 hours later: only send if they have not purchased. Social proof or a back-in-stock signal if relevant.

Flow 5: Win-back

When it triggers: a previously active subscriber or customer has not engaged or purchased in 60 to 90 days.

Email 1, at 60 days inactive: a best-seller or a new arrival.

Email 2, at 75 days: a real offer.

Email 3, at 90 days: last chance. Suppress them after no response.

Get the infrastructure right first

These five flows are the infrastructure that makes everything else worth paying for. Without this in place, you are paying for traffic that has nowhere useful to go.

Once your flows are running, we cover how flows and campaigns work together in Klaviyo Flows vs Campaigns.

Want us to see what your Klaviyo setup should be doing? See how we approach email for DTC brands and get in touch.

Want to go deeper? Read our Mastering Klaviyo playbook for the full strategy.