Klaviyo welcome series examples

The series is attached to a list, not to a visit

A welcome series is a list-triggered flow. Klaviyo’s getting-started guide uses it as the example of emailing someone when they are added to a specific list. The flow does not start because a person viewed a page. It starts because they were added to the list you selected on the trigger.

New accounts include an empty list named Email List. You can use it or create another list. The list on the flow has to be the list the sign-up form or subscribe page writes to. A form that subscribes people to “Popup” while the flow listens to “Email List” will sit there marked live and send nothing. Open the form, read the list it submits to, then open the flow trigger and read the same name.

Klaviyo’s welcome-series guide names four ways a contact can be added so the series can trigger: a sign-up form, a subscribe page, a manual add, or the Lists API or Subscribe API. A later article on how profiles join lists says that the Add to list action on an individual profile does not change subscription status, does not send a double opt-in message, and does not trigger flows. Those are not the same path. Before you import a file or click through a set of profiles, add one test address the way you intend to add the rest, and look at the flow’s activity. Confirm that the test is queued before you assume a bulk add will email the file, or that it will stay silent.

Double opt-in is the default, and it moves the start

By default, every list in Klaviyo is double opt-in. Klaviyo recommends leaving that on for the main list so the address is one a person actually controls. The sequence in their welcome-series guide is specific. The person signs up, receives a confirmation email or text, confirms, lands on the opt-in confirmed page, and is added to the list. Only then does the welcome series trigger. If the first message is set to send immediately, immediately means after that confirmation, not after the form is submitted.

A profile can exist before confirmation. Klaviyo’s double opt-in article says a sign-up form or an SMS keyword can create a profile with the details the form collected, plus tracked activity, before the person confirms. That profile is not on the list and has not confirmed marketing consent. A subscribe page with double opt-in does not create the profile until they confirm. Do not judge the form by whether a profile row exists. Judge it by the list’s Members tab after the confirmation step. The newest members are listed first, and a CSV upload stamps the same added date on every row, so a test signup is easier to see than a file you just imported.

SMS consent is not email consent. Klaviyo says to always use double opt-in for SMS lists, and that carriers often require it, particularly for abandoned cart messages. For people who opt in through an SMS keyword, the keyword’s opt-in settings override the list. Transactional SMS consent can be recorded without adding the person to a marketing list. An SMS message dropped into an email welcome flow still needs its own consent. Email opt-in does not cover the text.

The pre-built series, and three ways to use that shape

Klaviyo documents a pre-built flow named Welcome Series with three emails, and says you can change the goal of any of them. The first email has no time delay after the trigger. In the template, it introduces the brand and collects email preferences. If the form promised a discount, a guide, or a code, this is the message that has to deliver it. The person confirmed in order to receive that thing. A brand essay that never mentions the offer teaches them that the next subject line is optional.

The second email is scheduled 3 days after signup. The template uses that send to point at social profiles. The third email is scheduled 4 days after the second, about a week after signup, and the template uses it to show best-selling products. Those gaps are the pre-built series, not a result measured in your account. Change them when the product needs a different gap. What you should not change by accident is the first message’s delay. A multi-day wait in front of email one makes the promised incentive late, and another flow or a campaign can reach the person first.

Example one is that pre-built shape when the form is a newsletter or a first-order incentive: the immediate delivery of what you promised, a shorter note on day 3, and a product note about a week out. Replace the social ask if you do not want a follow on a profile you do not maintain. An email that links to an unused account is a reason to unsubscribe, not a brand impression.

Example two splits after the first email on a preference the form actually writes. The pre-built first message is there to collect preferences. A conditional split can send the rest of the series toward the category they chose, with everyone who skipped the question on the default path. Build the split only after you preview a real signup and see the property on the profile. A split on a property the form does not set sends everyone down the empty branch.

Example three keeps the channels apart. The email series triggers from the email list after double opt-in. An SMS welcome, if you send one, triggers from the SMS list or keyword, with its own double opt-in, and does not assume the email subscriber wants texts. Klaviyo’s welcome article points SMS at its own setup. One flow can contain both channels, but each message still has its own consent and its own Smart Sending window.

Re-entry, status, and the subscribers you already have

Someone receives a list-triggered flow’s messages once under the default re-entry setting. Klaviyo’s welcome article states the result: if a person subscribes, goes through the flow, unsubscribes, and later resubscribes, they do not receive those messages again. The list-update article names the setting. List-triggered flows default to no re-entry, and you can allow re-entry when someone rejoins the list or after a period you choose. Change it when you want a returning subscriber to see the series again. Do not discover the default by promising a code the flow will not send.

Each email is draft, manual, or live on its own. The flow-level control updates configured actions. Unconfigured actions stay draft. A draft message is skipped and the person continues. If the first email is still an unconfigured draft, they can miss the introduction and still receive a later live email. If every message is draft, nobody enters until at least one is live or manual. Preview the from-name, from-address, subject, and offer, then use Update status or Review and turn on, choose Live, and save. Manual is for seeing who is queued and sending them yourself. People waiting on a manual message can still receive a later live message.

Email Smart Sending defaults to 16 hours. SMS defaults to 24 hours, and push defaults to 24 hours. A skipped message is not retried when the window ends. The first welcome email is the one most likely to be skipped, because the person may have received a campaign, a checkout reminder, or another flow on the day they subscribed. Open that message’s settings and decide whether skip-recently-emailed profiles should be on. Leaving it on protects the inbox and can also swallow the only email that contains the code. Klaviyo says not to enable Smart Sending for transactional email. A welcome series is marketing. Make the choice on the message, not as a default you never open.

Adding past profiles places existing list members into the series. For a list trigger you can add them at the beginning or throughout the flow, based on when they joined. Throughout requires a time delay. They are queued only at actions that are live or manual. This is how a new welcome series emails a list uploaded last year. Finish the content, decide whether existing subscribers should receive a “welcome,” and only then add past profiles. A list update action in another flow can also add someone to this list and start the series. It adds them even when the list is double opt-in, and it does not itself change consent. If a post-purchase flow drops buyers onto the welcome list, they get the new-subscriber emails unless re-entry or a profile filter stops them.

Read it as the new subscriber will

The review is short if you do it in order. Which list does the form write to, and which list does the trigger use? Is that list still double opt-in? Is the first message immediate, and is its status live rather than an unconfigured draft? What are the later delays, in days, and do they match the offer you described on the form? Would adding past profiles mail the current members? Does a second flow, or a list-update action, also add people to this list?

KlavyFlow shows the connected flow on a day-by-day timeline after a read-only Klaviyo connection, with the creative on the day it is scheduled. The gap between an immediate first email and a message three days later is visible without opening each delay card. The workspace does not send the series, change the list’s opt-in setting, or turn a draft message live. Those controls stay in Klaviyo. The timeline is for seeing the series you actually turned on, across the client workspaces you have to compare.