How to Set Up Abandoned Cart Emails in Klaviyo (Step-by-Step)

If your Shopify store has no abandoned cart flow — or one that sends a single email an hour after the cart is abandoned — you are leaving serious money on the table. Abandoned cart flows are consistently the highest-ROI automation in ecommerce, recovering 5–15% of revenue that would have walked out the door.

We've built this flow from scratch for dozens of clients across Klaviyo. Here's the exact setup we use — triggers, timing, email count, copy angle, and discount logic.

Step 1: Set Up the Trigger Correctly

In Klaviyo, the abandoned cart flow is triggered by the Started Checkoutmetric — not "Added to Cart." Many brands make this mistake and trigger too early, before the buyer has even shown strong intent. Started Checkout means they entered their email and began the checkout process.

Set your trigger filter to: Has not placed an order since starting this flow. This prevents sending abandoned cart emails to people who converted during the flow window.

Klaviyo's documentation on setting up abandoned cart flows covers the technical setup in detail — but it doesn't tell you the strategy. That's what we're covering here.

Step 2: The 3-Email Sequence

We build a 3-email abandoned cart sequence for every client. Here's the timing and angle for each:

Step 3: Smart Suppression Logic

Add a flow filter at the flow level: Placed Order zero times since starting this flow.This ensures anyone who purchases mid-flow stops receiving subsequent emails. Without this, you'll send discount emails to people who already bought at full price — which trains your customers to abandon carts deliberately.

Step 4: Personalize the Product Block

Klaviyo's dynamic product blocks pull the exact items from the abandoned cart automatically. Use these in all three emails — showing the buyer exactly what they left is more effective than a generic "you forgot something" message.

For high-AOV items (over $100), include a product image, product name, price, and a direct link to that specific product page — not just the checkout URL.

What to Expect

A properly built abandoned cart sequence should generate 8–15% of total email revenue. If you're under 5%, the flow is either missing emails, using weak copy, or discounting too aggressively on the first email. If you're over 20%, check your trigger setup — you may be capturing purchases that shouldn't be in this flow.

For a full breakdown of the other flows you need alongside abandoned cart, read our guide: The 5 Klaviyo Flows Every Ecommerce Brand Must Have.

The Bottom Line

Abandoned cart is non-negotiable. If you don't have it running, you're losing revenue every day. If you have it running but it's only one email, you're still leaving most of that recovery on the table.

Cold Strike Digital builds and manages complete Klaviyo setups — including all five core flows — as part of our email marketing retainer. Starting at $2,500/month. Or contact us and we'll audit your current Klaviyo setup for free on the discovery call.