- "Flows are live" and "flows are converting" are two different things. Check each flow email by revenue per person.
- If your product runs out and you don't have a reorder flow, that's the first leak I'd fix.
- Welcome email #1 earned about 30x what emails #2 to #5 earned across four consumable brands, so a weak first email costs more than a weak series.
- If sends show opens and revenue but zero clicks, your tracking is broken and your reports are lying to you.
Why are my Klaviyo flows not converting?
Often, the flows exist but they're not doing the job they're there for. They were built from a template, nobody decided what each email should do, and nobody has checked them since.
That's the pattern I see when I take over from cheap freelancers: flows with no intention behind them, flows that are missing or broken, and campaigns that go to everyone with no segments. Any one of those can keep revenue flat for months.
Here are the seven leaks I'd check, in the order I'd check them.
Leak 1: You don't have a reorder flow
If your product runs out, build the reorder flow before anything else. Across four consumable brands in my data, replenishment flows earned about $2.23 per person, about 28x the best campaign. Only 2 of those 4 brands had one built.
A skincare brand I work with saw its reorder reminder flow grow 496% in one month as new customers hit their reorder window. That's what happens when the flow is there to catch them.
If you sell anything that gets used up, start with how to build a Klaviyo replenishment flow.
Leak 2: Your welcome effort is spread across emails 2 to 5
Welcome email #1 earned about $4.50 per person in my four-brand data. Emails #2 to #5 earned about $0.10 each. That's roughly 30x.
A wellness brand I work with had a welcome email #1 that made $2,160 from 50 deliveries in one month, about $43 every time it was sent. It's tempting to treat email #1 as a quick hello and save the good stuff for later. Flip that. Put your best offer, your clearest reason to buy and your strongest proof in the first email, and keep the rest of the flow short.
Leak 3: Your winback stops after one email
Winback email #3 earned about 2x what email #1 earned ($0.23 vs $0.11 per person). If your winback is a single "we miss you" email, you're stopping right before the part that pays.
Same idea with cart abandonment. Email #5 still earned about $0.25 per person, the same as email #3. Keep welcome short. Keep cart and winback long.
Leak 4: Your campaigns go to everyone
When every campaign goes to the whole list, two things happen. You earn less per person, and you can't tell what worked.
A fitness tech brand I work with sent one campaign to an engaged segment of 7,145 people and earned $0.19 per person. A full-list blast to 49,475 people earned $0.04 per person. Segmenting isn't about sending less. It's about sending the right thing to people who are likely to act on it.
Leak 5: Your content sends never ask for the sale
Content warms people up, but somebody has to ask for the sale. Pair every content send with a reason to buy.
A wellness brand I work with sent a month of all-educational emails with no offer. Campaign revenue went from $3,146 to $110, down 96.5%. A fitness tech brand sent 12 educational campaigns in one month, some with 6 to 10% click rates, and made $547 total. People liked the emails. They just weren't given a reason to buy.
Leak 6: Your tracking is broken
Across the brands I work with, about 20 sends showed opens and revenue but zero clicks. That's not a great email. That's broken tracking.
The reverse is a leak too. A fitness gear brand sent a restock email with a 0.40% click rate, double its other sends, and it made $0. Clicks with no sales means something broke between the email and checkout: a dead link, a sold-out page, a discount that didn't apply. Click every link before you hit send.
Leak 7: You're judging by opens
In my four-brand data, click rate tracked revenue at 0.65. Open rate tracked it at 0.32. For one brand, open rate tracked revenue negatively: more opens, less money. Apple Mail auto-opens pushed open rates past 85% on some segments.
If you're tuning subject lines and celebrating open rates while revenue sits still, that's your answer. Judge by clicks and revenue per person. More on that in open rate vs click rate.
Where these numbers come from
The per-person flow numbers and correlations are pooled from 4 consumable brands I work with: 2,897 campaigns and $17.7M in email revenue. It's a small sample, so read it as directional. The single-brand numbers are from individual client accounts.
FAQ
Why is my Klaviyo revenue flat even though my flows are live?
Usually because the flows exist but aren't built to convert. The most common leaks are a missing reorder flow, a weak first welcome email and a winback that stops too early. Check revenue per person on each flow email to see where it drops off.
How do I know which Klaviyo flow is underperforming?
Look at revenue per recipient for each email in each flow, not just the flow total. Compare email #1 to the rest. If a flow email gets clicks but no orders, check the links and the landing page.
Should I add more flows or fix the ones I have?
Fix what's broken first, then add what's missing. The one exception is a reorder flow. If your product runs out and you don't have one, build it now.
How long does it take to see email revenue move after fixing flows?
I work in 90-day blocks. A lot of brands notice a lift in the first 30 days, and most see it within 90. That's a pattern, not a promise. It depends on your list, product and offer.
Can a better subject line fix flat revenue?
Rarely on its own. If the email has no reason to buy, the tracking is broken or it's going to the wrong people, a subject line won't save it. Fix those first, then test subject lines on your own list.
Founder of Bardown Digital, a Chicago-based Klaviyo email and retention agency for Shopify brands. He's worked with brands doing $500K to $100M a year, with $100M+ in email-attributed revenue across them.