E-commerce and subscription · Klaviyo · Win-back

When should a Klaviyo win-back email go out for a skincare or coffee brand?

By BREME · Updated 23 October 2026

Who this is for: Owners and marketers of small Australian skincare, coffee and other consumable brands selling online through Shopify or a similar store connected to Klaviyo, who want lapsed customers back without emailing people who are simply between orders.

Why a fixed number of days goes wrong

Skincare and coffee are both products people run out of, so customers come back on a rhythm. The trouble is that the rhythm depends on your products. A 250 gram bag of beans and a 1 kilogram bag do not run out at the same time, and a cleanser lasts longer than a serum used twice a day.

If your win-back fires on a round number like 30 days, it can land on people who are not lapsed at all, just halfway through a jar. They receive a we-miss-you email with a discount they did not need. If it fires too late, the customer has already found another brand.

Klaviyo's own advice is to set the first delay a little longer than your business's average buying cycle, so customers get some leeway before they hear from you.

Work out your buying cycle first

1. In Klaviyo, create a segment of customers who have placed an order at least 2 times in the last 2 years. Klaviyo's help centre uses exactly this definition.
2. Export the segment to CSV and average the Average Time Between Orders column. That number, in days, is your buying cycle.
3. If you sell very different pack sizes, do this for your main product groups separately. Your beans and your pods, or your daily moisturiser and your occasional mask, may have quite different cycles.
4. If your account qualifies for Klaviyo's predictive analytics, you can use each customer's Expected Date of Next Order instead of one store-wide average. Klaviyo shows predictive analytics once you have at least 500 customers who have placed an order, at least 180 days of order history, orders within the last 30 days, and some customers with 3 or more orders.

Replenishment before, win-back after

Think of the two flows as before and after the customer's usual reorder point. A replenishment flow reminds people just before they are likely to run out. Klaviyo's example is a 30-day supply with the reminder about 25 days after the order. It is helpful and needs no discount.

A win-back flow is for people who have gone past their usual reorder point and still not come back. Klaviyo suggests moving replenishable products into their own replenishment flow, so the win-back only reaches customers who really have drifted.

Setting the flow up in Klaviyo

1. Go to Flows, choose Create Flow, then Create From Scratch. If your store integration added a pre-built winback flow, you can edit that instead.
2. Set the trigger to Metric, then Placed Order.
3. Add the profile filter Placed Order zero times since starting this flow, so anyone who buys again drops out before the next email.
4. Add the first time delay: your buying cycle plus a little leeway. As an example only, if your customers reorder every 40 days on average, you might start somewhere around day 50 and test from there.
5. Add email one, then a delay and email two, then a delay and email three. Klaviyo recommends keeping a win-back flow to three emails per recipient.
6. Use Review and turn on, set the flow to Live, and save.

What each of the three emails does

Klaviyo's suggested structure is a light first touch with a handful of best sellers or new products, a second email that reminds people of any offer and adds a reason to act now, and a final email that makes the last call and shows a clear unsubscribe link.

You do not have to lead with a discount. For a coffee brand, a new seasonal roast is often a better reason to come back than 15 percent off. For skincare, a short note asking whether the product suited their skin can bring back customers a discount would not.

How to know if the timing is right

Change one thing at a time: the first delay, then the gap between emails, then the content. Klaviyo also warns that Apple Mail Privacy Protection can inflate opens, so judge the flow on orders placed rather than open rates.

Hi [first name],

It's been a little while since your last order of [product], so I thought you might be getting close to the bottom of the [bag / jar].

If you'd like to restock, it's here: [link]. And if you fancy trying something new, [new product or seasonal roast] has just come in.

If something wasn't quite right last time, just reply and tell me. I read every reply.

[Name], [Brand]

Hi [first name],

We haven't seen you in a while, and that's completely fine. Tastes change and so do routines.

If you'd like to come back, [offer, if you are using one] is open until [date]: [link].

If you'd rather not hear from us, you can unsubscribe here: [unsubscribe link]. No hard feelings.

Thanks for giving [Brand] a go.

[Name], [Brand]