# Klaviyo Winback Flow: Turn One-Time Buyers Into Repeat Customers (2026 Klaviyo Tutorial)

Channel: Emiel Dingemans | eCommerce Retention Marketing
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu8tHETQSa8
Duration: 19 min
Language: English
Words: 3701
Transcript page: https://viewrankai.com/tools/youtube-transcript/mu8tHETQSa8

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[0:00] Did you know that it costs up to five times more to find a new buyer than to keep an old one? So, if you're only spending money on new ads and forgetting about your past buyers, you're leaving a ton of money on the table. So, in this video, I will show you the exact customer win back flow you need to turn one-time buyers into repeat fans, giving you results just like this. And my name is Emil and I've helped over 120 e-commerce stores recover thousands of dollars in lost sales using simple email systems. So listen to this video closely and don't let your old customers buy

[0:39] from your competitors. So let's get straight into the video. So before we dive into the exact customer winback structure, let's first discuss why this matters even more than ever. Because acquiring new customers keeps getting more expensive. We all notice that as an ecom founder. So ad cost on meta on Google on Tik Tok they climbed steadily and for most ecom brands customer acquisition cost is now one of the biggest threats to profitability. So that makes your existing customer base one of your most valuable assets. So a customer who has already bought from you once has already cleared the biggest hurdle which is trust. I talk about it

[1:18] all the time on my YouTube channel. So they know what you sell. they've experienced your product and if that experience was positive, there's a real opportunity to bring them back without spending a dollar on acquisition. So, a well-built customer whim flow does that exactly. It just re-engages the lab's customers automatically at the right moment with messaging that feels

[1:40] personal rather than just transactional. So, done well, it turns one-time buyers into repeat customers, which is where the real lifetime value is built. So, what is the customer win back flow? So, it's an automated email sequence that triggers when a customer hasn't purchased in a set period of time. The goal is to re-engage them before they drift so far away that bringing them back becomes nearly impossible because there's only a small window of opportunity to bring them back. So the flow typically starts with a soft brandled reconnection and gradually increases urgency ending with a strong incentive for customers who still haven't come back. So but the most

[2:21] important decision in the entire flow the ones uh the one that most brands get completely wrong is timing. And this is essential which brings us to the most important section of this video. So the timing problem that most ecom brands get wrong all the time. So, the default recommendation that you'll almost see everywhere on YouTube or on social media is to trigger your customer win back

[2:43] flow at 90 days after the last purchase. And for some brands, that does make sense. But for many others, it's just far too late. And here's why this matters. So, every ecom brand, they have their own natural repurchase cycle. So, for a brand selling premium supplements taken daily, the average time between orders might be 25 to 30 days. But for a fashion brand, it might be 45 to 60 days. For a luxury homegoods brand, it could generally be 6 months or more. So if your average customer reorders every 30 days and you don't trigger your win back flow until day 90, you already missed the window by two full purchase

[3:25] cycles. And this is something that I see go wrong all the time. So that customer didn't just go quiet, they probably went somewhere else because you were way too late with your customer win back flow. So how to find your actual re purchase cycle? So before you set your win back timing, you have to look at your data. It's as simple as that. So we use a tool called Hyro Analytics for this which makes it straightforward to see the actual average time between the first and second purchase across the customer base. And you can also pull this from Claio or your Shopify analytics with a little bit of digging. But then we use a

[3:58] tool called Hyro Analytics. And with this tool, we can see exactly what the time between orders is. Like for for this brand, it's 48 days. And we can see like percentage wise when people are reordering. So the majority of the people are reordering within the first 30 days. Then there's still a group in the between day 30 to 60. And then you can you can see it go down between days 60 and 90. and then a little spike up between nine uh day 90 and day 180 and then almost goes to zero afterwards. So that means we have to focus for this brand uh on the first 40 to 50 days. So

[4:36] this is something you can see exactly with a tool like hierro analytics. So whatever the number is like in this case it's 48 days but take that as your baseline. So your window flow should trigger shortly after a customer exceeds uh that window without purchasing again. So if your average repurchase cycle is 35 days, triggering at day 45 or 50 makes far more sense than waiting until day 90 like we see all the time with winback flows. So really important, set your timing based on your actual data, not just on a generic industry default or something that you see in a YouTube video. Hold up. Before we go to the next

[5:15] point, I just wanted to mention I have a free email marketing course on my website that breaks down these exact systems in more detail. It's completely free and it cuts out all the fluff. So, if you want to access it, check out the link in the description below. Now, let's continue. So, three critical things to check before we're going to actually build the customer win back flow. So before you set up a single email in this flow, you have to check out these three things. Skipping the step is how brands end up creating a poor experience without realizing it. So

[5:48] first check your post-purchase timing. Really important. Your post-purchase flow and your win flow are two separate things in Claio. But to your customer, they're just emails from your brand. They don't see that difference. So they don't see flow names. They don't know one email came from an automation triggered by the purchase and another from a different sequence entirely. Uh they just see your name in the inbox. So that means if your post purchase flow runs for 40 days and your winback flows triggers at day 40, those two flows could be sending emails to the same person on the same day or within days of each other. And from your side of Claio,

[6:26] everything looks fine. But from their inbox point of view, it looks like you're flooding them with emails. So map out exactly when each email in your post purchase flow goes out. And your win back flow should not start until the post purchase flow has clearly ended with a reasonable gap between the last post purchase email and the first customer win back email. Really important. Second thing is remember that they're also receiving your campaign. So this is something almost no guide or video on winback flows mentions but it is critical to be aware of. If you're running your email marketing properly, you're you should be sending campaigns

[7:02] three to four times a week to your engaged email subscribers. So, the customers entering your customer win back flow are likely still on your active list, which means they're receiving those campaigns at the same time that they're moving through the win back sequence. So, that means on any given week, a customer in your win back flow could be receiving two to three campaigns uh plus a win back email. And that just adds up fast. So if your win back flow is aggressive with its timing, you risk overloading people who are already hearing from you regularly through your campaigns. So they are receiving campaigns and this flow at the

[7:37] same time. So take your campaign frequency into account when you space out the emails in your win back flow. Really important to be aware of the emails should feel like a natural part of their experience with your brand, not just a sudden pileup of on top of everything that you're already receiving. Again, for your customer, there's no difference uh between flows and campaigns or between different flows. They just see your name in the inbox. And then the third thing is to check the timing against your average order value and the product type. So, what I mean with this is that a customer who spent $200 on a single product needs

[8:14] a different re-engagement approach than someone who bought a $30 consumable. So higher ticket items have longer natural repurchase cycles and pushing urgency too early can feel out of place. So you have to match the tone and the timing of your win back flow to what you actually sell. So that's what I see go wrong all the time. People watch a YouTube tutorial like these on custom winback flows and they literally copy the exact same strategy for their brand even when it's not applicable to their niche and product type. So with that being said, let me show you how to set up this flow inside Clavio. So we're in our Claio

[8:52] demo account and what we're going to do in the left menu. First of all, we're going to flows and then you're on this page and then in the top right corner, you can hit create flow and what you see already is uh start with the essentials. And then you can already see a custom winback flow over here. So this is Clayio's default template. So we're just going to take this one as a base to work with. We're going to call this custom win back demo. What you'll see the trigger is placed order. So if you're using Shopify, this is all good. And then we're going to hit use template. So

[9:23] this is Claio's default template. So what you're first going to check is the triggers. So what you can select is like the re-entry criteria. So do you allow people to re-enter this flow over and over again or after a certain time period? And also you can set up like profile filters. By default, it says place order zero times since starting this flow. And let's say someone has placed an order because the initial trigger is when someone placed order and someone has already placed another order within that time frame. You don't want them to receive the win back flow. It's only to only want to send this flow to

[9:57] people who haven't bought from you in the last x days. So this is all good. Then the actual flow, Claio recommends waiting 75 days. Again, this date really depends on your actual repurchase period. So, I'm not going to touch this right now, but again, keep in mind this depends on your repurchase behavior of your brand's customers. Then, by default, Glacio takes two emails and we're going to add a third one. We're going to go into like the exact structure in a in a sec. Uh, but this default structure is already good to have like a base wave. Do keep in mind in the actual email to turn off smart

[10:33] sending and to turn on UTM tracking. UGM tracking is for your Google Analytics and stuff like that. So it can track like the attribution. Smart sending. You want to turn this off because I always want to make sure that people receive my flow emails. If you have smart sending turned on, it will skip sending this particular email to anyone who received an email within the last 16 hours. And you can also adjust this time frame. So you can make it the last two hours if

[10:56] you want and then turn on smart sending. Uh but I just like to turn off smart sending for all my flows. So also for this customer whimmer flow. So that's something to be aware of. But basically with this default Claio uh structure we're already in a good spot. Now I will show you the structure that we recommend. So the full customer winback flow structure. So again the flow

[11:17] trigger that's what I just showed you. So place order X days and go. So check your analytics again flow filters that's what I just mentioned. The flow itself is just going to be a threepart sequence. I know you might wonder okay shouldn't this be like a six seven eight part sequence? No. For the reason that I just gave you, people already receive three to four campaigns a week from your site. If you're going to overload them with a ton of emails in this flow, they're just going to un unsubscribe because they're getting too many emails from your site. So, a threepart sequence is more than enough. If you see that

[11:51] your metrics are good, you can always add more emails, but by default, I would stick to a threepart sequence spaced out with seven days in between each email, as you can see. Now, let's dive into every single email and what should be in there. So, email one. So, the timings, it's shortly after the customer exceeds their expected repurchase window based on your data. So, again, if your repurchase window is 30 days, you could send this after 35 days or 40 days. The goal of this first email is just a casual warm reconnection. So, there

[12:22] won't be any discount in it, no urgency. It's just a friendly acknowledgement that it's been a while paired with a reason to come back and browse. Now, a quick note on the tone of this email. You want to avoid the we miss you angle. Again, this is something that for years people have been recommending. And to be honest, it's also been our default wimach email approach for years. And

[12:44] customers are completely onto it. Everyone knows that no brand actually misses them personally. So, skip out on this we miss you angle. They know it's an automated email. They just simply know it. So using that angle doesn't build a real connection. It just reminds people that they're inside a marketing sequence. So it's 2026. People know these kind of tactics nowadays. There's also a practical problem with it. So if you're sending campaigns three to four times a week, which you should be again, your customers have probably already heard from you like multiple times in the past week alone before receiving this email. So opening with we miss you

[13:24] when you email them on Wednesday or Monday or Friday, it just sounds off, you know, it doesn't match the reality of how often you're actually in their inbox. So just skip it. Instead, keep the tone casual and straightforward. Acknowledge that it's been a while since the last order. That's something that you can acknowledge. uh but you just want to keep it light and focus on uh the email and giving a general reason to come back rather than trying to manufacture an emotional moment that just simply doesn't land. So what to include just a natural it's been a while since your last order tone casual and direct and a reason to click back to the

[14:01] store. So for the product content there are a couple of options depending on your brand. So option A is new arrivals. So if your brand regularly releases new products highlight what's new since the last order. So this will give them a general reason to come back and look around. So this is like my preferred option, the new arrivals angle. Uh second option is like product recommendations via the Claio product feed. So if you don't have like frequent new arrivals, you can simply use Claio's product feed to pull in personalized recommendations based on the previous order. Uh this keeps the email relevant without requiring new inventory. So you

[14:35] can just say, "Hey, last time you bought this, this is what we now recommend for you." You're basically giving them a clear next step on what to buy. Third option is to uh trigger split based on previous purchase category. So if your catalog has like distinct product categories, set up trigger splits in your flows. So people can receive an email tailored to the category they previously bought. So for example, a customer who bought skincare gets different product recommendations than someone who bought hair care from your store. So that's something uh that you can do as well. You always want to have like a fallback email if you use the

[15:09] option C because if Claver can't return determine the right split uh the customer should receive like a solid generic email rather than nothing or a broken experience. So that's something to be aware of. So an example for a brand uh that we work with Sabers Pro. So the Galaxy never stops moving. So they say they sell sabers. So this is all about the Star Wars theme. So it's been a while since your last ignition blah blah blah. And then we show them

[15:33] new sabers that has joined the arsenal. It's blank over here, but we use Claio's product feed to show like the newest arrivals since this brand is um yeah having like new sabers all the time. And we always have like a fallback option with a shop all button. Another example for a brand called Cry of Art. So we've been curating here's what's new. So we highlight the new arrivals and we show them over here as well. So this is a bit more laidback style where again we highlight like the new arrivals which is our preferred method. Email two. So, we're going to send this one 7 days

[16:05] after the first email. The goal is to give them a compelling reason to come back and buy. So, in other words, we want to use a discount because that's sometimes just what someone needs. This is also like the biggest testing lever in the entire flow. So, treat it that way. You don't just want to default to a

[16:20] percentage discount and call it a day. So, u you want to test out different offer structures and see what resonates most with your specific customer base. So what we found works particularly well is pairing like a modest discount with a free gift or bonus. So it makes the customer feel generally val valued rather than just being handed a coupon code. So a 10% off feels more transactional while a 10% discount plus a free sample or a bonus item feels like they're treating them as a loyal

[16:50] customer which is exactly what they are. They're already a customer and they should be important to you. So what to include in these emails? also a warm appreciative tone, your offer, and a product recommendations where possible. So things we're testing in this email are things like discount only versus discount plus free gift, percentage off versus fixed amount of and a discount with a minimum order threshold versus no threshold to boost your average order value. So an example of such an email for us when hide, we made this. So take 50% off your next pair. Use code ready to upgrade your footwear game. And then we show them some some products over

[17:24] here and a review as well. So, super simple format that for this brand just works extremely extremely well. So, email three, the timing 7 days after email two. The goal of this email is simple. It's just going to be a final plain text reminder that feels like a genuine personal message from a real person. So, not a designed marketing email, not a campaign, just a founder reaching out directly. This email works because it looks and feels completely different from everything else in their inbox. So there's no header image, there's no branded template, there's no product grid, it's just text, plain text. So when done right, it just reads

[18:02] like a friend emailing you. And the contrast alone is what gets it opened and act on. So that's why the plain text emails really, really work. So you want to write it in first person from the founder using their actual name also as a sender name. Uh and should be like a casual conversational tone. So not salesy, not urgent in an aggressive way, just generally human. And um yeah, you should just have like a single mention that the discount expires in 24 hours, a simple link to shop now, and an invitation to reply if they have any questions because if people reply to your email, uh a good reply rate really

[18:36] helps with your email deliverability. So that's like an extra thing. And again, it makes the email feel more like a personal one-to-one email rather than an automation, which is what we want. And yeah, that's the threepart sequence for this customer win back flow. Even if you know how to set up a win backflow, you still need to make sure the rest of your email marketing is strong enough to keep your business growing. So, if you want my team to build and run the best email systems for your brand so you can scale to eight figures and beyond, check out the link below and book a free call with

[19:08] me today. And right after that, check out this video where I explain how to build a whole welcome series flow from scratch. And after watching this video, you will know exactly how to turn your new website visitors into happy firsttime customers.

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