Most Dutch webshops spend thousands of euros on Meta and Google every month to attract new visitors. A large portion of that same traffic then disappears again, without making a purchase. Meanwhile, the channel that *does* bring those people back is not optimally set up for most stores.
That channel is email. Not the weekly newsletter you manually push out, but automated flows: messages that are automatically sent at the right time, to the right person. Automated emails account for about 2% of the total sending volume, but generate 30 to 37% of email revenue for most stores.
In this article, we show which Klaviyo flows every Shopify store needs, how to segment, how email compares to paid advertising in terms of ROI, and how to switch from Mailchimp to Klaviyo.
A flow is an automated series of emails that starts based on behavior: someone subscribes, abandons a cart, or makes a purchase. You set them up well once, and then they run 24/7 without you having to worry about them.
These are the five flows that no serious online store can do without.
Your welcome flow is your first impression and immediately your best-performing moment. New subscribers are at the peak of their interest: they've just left their email address and want to hear from you. Welcome emails therefore achieve the highest open rates of all automated emails, averaging around 83% in eCommerce.
Use this flow to introduce your brand, set expectations, and encourage the first purchase. A welcome discount of 10 to 15% works well, provided you position it as a reward for subscribing and not as a desperate lure. A good welcome flow consists of three to five emails, spread out over the first few days.
The powerhouse of your entire email strategy. Globally, about 70% of shoppers abandon their carts without checking out. A good abandoned cart flow recovers a portion of that: on average about 3 to 5% of lost revenue, and even more with optimized flows.
The key lies in the structure. A series of three emails generates 60 to 70% more recovered revenue than a single reminder. The proven timing: the first email within an hour of abandonment, the second after 24 hours, the third after 72 hours. Show the exact abandoned products with image and price, to make the barrier to completion as low as possible.
The most overlooked flow among Dutch webshops, and precisely for that reason, a direct opportunity. Browse abandonment targets visitors who viewed a product but didn't add anything to their cart. Their purchase intent is lower than with an abandoned cart, but they *did* show interest in something specific.
A short, friendly reminder with the viewed product and a few relevant alternatives brings some of these people back. Since almost no one runs this flow, you gain an edge over your competitors here.
The most underestimated flow of all. Many stores see a purchase as the endpoint, while it is precisely the starting point of a customer relationship. Bringing back an existing customer is many times cheaper than acquiring a new one through ads.
Use the post-purchase flow to thank the customer, set expectations around delivery, ask for a review, and at the right moment, suggest a suitable follow-up purchase or cross-sell. This is where you turn a one-time buyer into a repeat customer.
A portion of your customer base naturally goes quiet. They once bought something, but you haven't heard from them in months. The win-back flow tries to reactivate those dormant customers before they churn permanently, for example, with a personal reminder or a targeted offer.
The beauty of it: these people already know your brand. A well-timed win-back costs you next to nothing and recovers revenue from a group you otherwise wouldn't engage with at all.
💡 Pro tip: Audits show that most webshops are missing three to five of these flows. Browse abandonment and post-purchase are the most common omissions. Start there, as that's where you'll see the quickest gains.
Setting up flows is step one. The biggest gains come from who you send them to. Sending one message to your entire list is the quickest way to leave money on the table and lose subscribers. Segmented campaigns perform significantly better than unsegmented sends.
Effective segmentation starts with a few logical axes:
By purchase behavior. First-time buyers receive a different message than loyal customers. A VIP who has ordered ten times doesn't need a welcome discount; they want exclusivity and early access. A one-time buyer, on the other hand, needs a reason to return.
By engagement. You can email people who open and click your emails more frequently. Inactive subscribers should receive fewer, more targeted emails, or you can try to reactivate them. By treating your inactive contacts separately, you also protect your deliverability: a clean, engaged list is more likely to land in the inbox than a large, silent list.
By value. Send premium recommendations to customers with a high average order value, and sharper offers to price-sensitive segments. This ensures every message aligns with what that specific group truly wants.
Klaviyo excels here because it links all your customer data from Shopify to behavior on your site. This allows you to segment based on real signals: what someone bought, how much they spent, how long ago, and what they viewed on your site. Predictive analytics, such as expected customer lifetime value and next purchase date, then help you send the right offer at the right time.
This is where it gets concrete. The reason email is the most underutilized channel has everything to do with where attention and budget are allocated.
Paid advertising typically yields about 2 to 5 euros for every euro invested. Not bad, and essential for acquiring new traffic. But email is in a different league: the average return is around 36 euros per euro invested, and even higher for well-optimized programs. (Figures are international benchmarks; absolute numbers vary by market, but the ratio between channels is comparable everywhere.)
The reason for this significant difference is logical when you think about it:
With ads, you pay for every impression, every click, every new visitor. Costs increase linearly with your reach. With email, you primarily pay for the platform and setup. Once your flows are running, each additional email sent costs you next to nothing, while you're communicating with people who already know you and have shown interest.
The most striking figure comes from the comparison within email itself: flows generate up to approximately 18 times more revenue per recipient than standalone campaigns, because they engage people at the moment their purchase intent is highest. An abandoned cart is a warmer lead than any ad impression.
The conclusion isn't that you should stop advertising. Ads and email complement each other: ads bring in new traffic, and email ensures that traffic actually converts and continues to purchase. The point is that most stores heavily invest in the former and neglect the latter. That's where the growth lies.
Klaviyo operates an agency partner program that categorizes agencies based on proven results and experience: from Silver, through Gold and Platinum, to Elite. As a Klaviyo Gold Partner, Catalyzed is in a tier that can only be achieved by demonstrably performing for clients.
What does that mean for you as an online store?
The difference lies in the execution. Anyone can open a Klaviyo account. The difference between an account that contributes a few percent to revenue and one that drives 30% or more of your revenue lies in the strategy, the construction of flows, segmentation, and continuous optimization. That's precisely the work a partner with proven results does.
In practice, our partner status means we have early access to new Klaviyo features, that we work with tested flow frameworks instead of improvising, and that we treat email not as a standalone channel but as part of your broader conversion strategy. We involve colleagues who handle email strategy, while we focus on your CRO. Email and CRO reinforce each other: a better checkout and better flows pull the same levers.
Many Dutch online stores start with Mailchimp and eventually encounter its limitations: the e-commerce functionality is limited, the Shopify integration is superficial, and serious segmentation based on purchasing behavior is cumbersome. Klaviyo is built from the ground up for e-commerce, and the transition is less drastic than many people think.
Broadly speaking, the migration looks like this:
1. Export your data from Mailchimp. You extract your contact lists, tags, and engagement history. Klaviyo has tools and integrations that largely automate this.
2. Connect Klaviyo to Shopify. This is the step where Klaviyo truly adds value. The integration pulls in your complete order and customer data, forming the basis for all segmentation and flows.
3. Rebuild your flows, better. Don't blindly copy your old Mailchimp automations. The migration is the perfect opportunity to set up your welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase, and win-back flows freshly and strategically, leveraging the capabilities that Klaviyo offers.
4. Warm up your sending domain and monitor deliverability. When switching platforms, it's wise to gradually build up your sending volume to ensure your inbox placement remains intact.
5. Migrate your signup forms and pop-ups. Ensure your on-site lead generation feeds into Klaviyo before you close your Mailchimp account, so you don't miss out on new subscribers.
The biggest risk during a migration isn't the technology itself, but a messy transition where flows temporarily fail or data is lost. That's precisely where an experienced partner makes all the difference.
The fastest-growing Dutch online stores don't treat email as the final piece of their marketing puzzle, but as a core component. They know that ads bring in traffic and that flows convert that traffic into customers and repeat purchases, at a return on investment that no other paid channel can match.
The five flows discussed in this article are the foundation. Smart segmentation refines them. And a platform built for eCommerce, like Klaviyo, maximizes their potential.
Curious how much untapped revenue is sitting in your store's email? As a Klaviyo Gold Partner, we'd be glad to help you explore.
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