Klaviyo Flows

Klaviyo Welcome Series

The welcome series is the only flow every subscriber sees, and it runs at the exact moment attention is highest. We build source-aware welcome sequences that deliver the promised incentive reliably, earn the second open before asking for the first order, and quietly warm your sending reputation while they do it.

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Klaviyo welcome series flow showing signup source branching, incentive delivery and a three to five email sequence

Why it matters

Someone just gave you their email address. You get about 48 hours of real attention.

Welcome emails are opened at rates no campaign will ever match, because the subscriber asked for them minutes ago. Most stores waste that with a single automated send containing a code and nothing else — no reason to stay subscribed, no reason to open the next one. The other common failure is treating every subscriber identically, when someone who signed up in the footer after reading three blog posts is in a completely different frame of mind to someone who typed their address into a popup to make it go away. Source, timing and sequencing are what make this flow work, and all three are decisions made before any copy gets written.

Sound familiar?

Your welcome flow is one email with a discount code in it.

These are the patterns we see most often when a list is growing but new-subscriber revenue isn't following it.

  • Every subscriber gets the same first email, whether they came from a popup, the footer or checkout.
  • Customers who just bought still receive a first-order discount code the following morning.
  • Your popup fires the second the page loads, so most addresses collected never open anything.
  • You believe a welcome series is just the discount code delivery, so it stops after one send.
  • Subscribers who miss email one drop straight into your campaign list and never engage again.
  • The promised code arrives late, excludes half the catalogue, or fails silently during a sale.

What's included

What a welcome series build includes

One flow, several entry points, and a sequence that earns the sale rather than opening with it.

Signup source segmentation

Popup, footer form, checkout opt-in, back-in-stock and giveaway signups are not the same audience and shouldn't get the same first email. We branch on source so the message matches the context — the popup subscriber gets their code, the checkout opt-in already bought and gets something useful instead.

Incentive delivery that actually works

If you promised a code, it arrives within minutes, works on the products you intended, and doesn't stack with a sitewide sale by accident. We generate unique codes where volume justifies it, set expiry deliberately, and add a resend path for the people whose first email lands in Promotions.

Three to five emails, sequenced with intent

Email one delivers the promise. Two tells the brand story and the reason you exist. Three handles the objections — sizing, materials, shipping, returns. Four brings social proof and best sellers. Five, where it's warranted, creates a reason to act now. Sequence beats volume every time.

Non-opener and engagement branching

Subscribers who don't open the first email get a resend with a different subject line rather than the next email in the sequence. Those who open everything move faster. People who never engage at all exit the flow before they start damaging your inbox placement.

Deliverability warm-up by design

A welcome series is a stream of highly engaged opens and clicks landing in the mailbox providers you most need to convince. Built well, it does the reputational work that lets your campaigns reach the inbox later. Built badly, it teaches Gmail that your mail gets ignored.

Popup and offer strategy feeding it

The flow is only as good as what fills it. We review popup timing, trigger rules, mobile behaviour, field count and the offer itself — because a popup that fires instantly on page load collects addresses that never open anything, and those addresses cost you deliverability.

How it runs

How the build actually runs.

Two to four weeks from kickoff to live. The popup and signup source audit happens first, because there's no point sequencing emails for an audience being collected badly.

  1. 01

    Audit the front door

    Every signup source mapped: popup rules and timing, footer forms, checkout opt-in, landing pages. We check which lists and properties they write to in Klaviyo, and whether consent is being captured cleanly enough to send at all.

  2. 02

    Design the sequence

    Branch logic per source, email count, delays and the point where the sequence starts selling. You approve the skeleton — subjects, jobs and timing for each send — before any design work begins.

  3. 03

    Build and test the promise

    Templates built on your brand system, codes generated and validated against real products, then end-to-end tests from each signup source on desktop, mobile and dark mode. We break it on purpose before your subscribers do.

  4. 04

    Launch and refine

    Live, then monitored on open, click, placement and unsubscribe by source. After a few weeks of volume we test subject lines, the delay before email two, and whether the incentive is earning its margin.

3–5

Emails in sequence

Paced over the first week

< 60s

Incentive delivery

Before they leave the site

4+

Signup sources branched

Popup, footer, checkout

2–4 wks

Build to live

Creative and logic

Straight answer

When a welcome series build is worth doing.

A good fit if…

  • You're adding subscribers consistently and want more of them to reach a first order.
  • You have a real brand story, not just a catalogue — sequencing gives you somewhere to tell it.
  • Your popup and forms already work, or you're willing to fix them as part of this.
  • You accept that emails two through five matter as much as the code in email one.

Probably not, if…

  • You add a handful of subscribers a month — the flow won't have volume to justify the build.
  • You only want the discount code automated; that's a fifteen-minute job you can do yourself.
  • Your list came from a purchase or import, so a welcome series would land straight in spam.
  • You want to sell hard in every email; that produces unsubscribes faster than it produces orders.

Keep exploring

More on Shopify email marketing

Welcome Series is one part of how we run Shopify email programmes. Here's the rest of the picture.

The full service

Shopify Email Marketing & Klaviyo

The complete service — every flow, campaigns, segmentation and deliverability.

View the serviceClosely related

Deliverability & Inbox Placement

An email that lands in spam converts at zero, however good the welcome copy is.

Read the guideClosely related

Segmentation & Predictive AI

Where new subscribers go after the welcome series ends, and how they get sent to properly.

Read the guide

All guides in this series

Beyond this service

Other things we do

Most stores need two or three of these working together. Book a call and we'll tell you which ones actually move your numbers.

View all services

Frequently asked questions

  • Three to five for most Shopify stores. Three is the floor: deliver the promise, tell the story, handle objections. Five earns its place when you have a considered purchase, a genuine brand narrative or a broad catalogue that needs guiding. Beyond five you're usually repeating yourself, and the unsubscribe rate will tell you so. What matters far more than the count is that each email has a distinct job.

Welcome flow only sending a code?

Book a 30-minute call. We'll review your signup sources and current welcome flow, and tell you what's worth rebuilding and what isn't.

Book a free call