Klaviyo agency for Shopify brands. Flows that win the second order.
The first order costs ad spend. The next one does not have to. This is how we build flows and campaigns in Klaviyo that turn one-time buyers into regular customers.
From firefighting to profitable growth in two markets, with a team that stayed small.
- +227%
- REVENUE YEAR ON YEAR
- +222%
- META SALES YEAR ON YEAR
- 5.0
- BLENDED ROAS
Email is where one-time buyers become regular customers
Email marketing for an online store is automated flows and planned campaigns that get customers you have already paid to win to buy again. As an ecommerce email marketing agency, we build it in Klaviyo, set up the flows before the campaigns and measure revenue per recipient rather than open rate. At By Doodle Dog, flows for welcome, abandoned cart, abandoned checkout and browse run alongside a campaign calendar in both the Danish and the Swedish market.
Of the channels we run, email is the only one where you do not pay per view or per click. The list is yours, and a platform that changes its prices cannot take it from you. At By Doodle Dog, the flows and the campaign calendar bring steady, recurring revenue without extra ad spend.
The first order is bought. The second has to be earned.
The Klaviyo flows have to be built before the campaigns
A flow sends the right email to the individual customer when they do something: sign up, add a product to the cart, buy. It runs every day without anyone pressing send. A campaign runs once. So we build the flows first, in the order that moves the most.
- 01Post-purchase for first-time buyers
How to use the product, what goes with it, and a reason to come back. This is where the second order is decided.
- 02Welcome
For new sign-ups, before they have bought. Often the flow that earns the most.
- 03Abandoned checkout
For people who got all the way to payment. The flow where the effect is easiest to prove.
- 04Abandoned cart
One step earlier: a product in the cart, but no checkout.
- 05Browse
For people who looked at a product without adding it to the cart.
- 06Replenishment
When the product is about to run out. Built last, once there is purchase history to work from.
The order is the same at every store we take over, and we have written about it in Klaviyo flows we build for every single client. Win-back, birthday and VIP tiers come later, once those six are running and measured.
The campaigns follow your calendar, not just the retail one
We plan campaigns in a fixed campaign calendar, built around your commercial year: launches, the season in your range and the big shopping days. Not just Black Friday and Christmas. And every campaign goes to a segment, not to the whole list. At By Doodle Dog the calendar runs in both the Danish and the Swedish market.
- Launches and products back in stock
- The season in your range
- Black Friday and Christmas, planned well ahead
- Content that is not about discounts
- Segments by engagement and purchase history
Send to the right people, not to as many as possible. Recipients who never open hurt the sender's reputation with Gmail and the other providers, and that drags down every other email. So the inactive ones are filtered out before the frequency goes up.
Deliverability comes before volume
A good email in the spam folder sells nothing. Gmail and Yahoo require senders who send a lot to have a domain authenticated with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and a one-click unsubscribe. We set up the domain, warm it up and keep the list clean before the volume goes up.
Measure revenue per recipient, not open rate
Open rate has become an unreliable number. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection loads the images in emails automatically, so many emails count as opened even though nobody read them. At By Doodle Dog the open rate peaked at 83%, and that is a fine health check of deliverability. But it is revenue per recipient and repeat purchase that show whether email is doing its job.
| Number | What it shows | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Open rate | Inflated by Apple's privacy feature | Checking deliverability |
| Click rate | Whether the content moves people on | Testing content and offers |
| Revenue per recipient | What each email is worth | Prioritising flows |
| Repeat purchase rate | The share who buy again | Whether email does its job |
| Unsubscribes and spam complaints | Whether you send too much | Frequency and segments |
- Open rate
- What it showsInflated by Apple's privacy feature
- Use it forChecking deliverability
- Click rate
- What it showsWhether the content moves people on
- Use it forTesting content and offers
- Revenue per recipient
- What it showsWhat each email is worth
- Use it forPrioritising flows
- Repeat purchase rate
- What it showsThe share who buy again
- Use it forWhether email does its job
- Unsubscribes and spam complaints
- What it showsWhether you send too much
- Use it forFrequency and segments
By Doodle Dog runs email in two markets
At By Doodle Dog, email is part of the same system as the ads: automated flows in Klaviyo, server-side tracking and profit reporting, set up by the same team.
- +227%
- REVENUE YEAR ON YEAR
- +222%
- META SALES YEAR ON YEAR
- 5.0
- BLENDED ROAS
The point of email in a store that grows on ads is simple: every new customer from Meta or Google goes into a flow that works for the second order. The same holds when the store opens a new market. The customers there have to go into the flows too, or every new country becomes a place where you buy the same customers again and again. The rest of the partnership is in the By Doodle Dog case.
Email cannot save a product nobody buys again
If customers never buy again, email is not the problem. The answer lies in the product, the range or the experience after the purchase. If you sell products people buy once, email can still sell accessories and care. And a list with no new customers coming in at the top does not grow from good flows. If you have few visitors, Meta Ads or Google has to bring in the customers email can then work with.
More about how we run email marketing as a channel.
On a call we look at your flows, your list and your deliverability, and what we would build first.
Book a call30 minutes. We look at your account and your numbers and tell you honestly what we would do.
Book a callWhat we are often asked.
Email marketing is automated flows and planned campaigns to the customers and sign-ups the store already has. The flows react to what the customer does, such as an abandoned cart or a first purchase, while the campaigns go out on a calendar. The goal is the second order and repeat purchases, without paying for ads again.
Because a flow works every day on every new customer: it starts when they sign up, add a product to the cart or buy, without anyone pressing send. A newsletter or campaign runs once, to a segment, on your campaign calendar. The post-purchase flow for first-time buyers is where the second order is decided, so it comes before the campaigns.
As often as recipients are willing to open and click. The most engaged can get several emails a week, while the inactive should get fewer or none. At Nordic Athlete we set a fixed rhythm of at least one send a week.
Klaviyo is built for online stores and pulls orders, products and behaviour straight from Shopify. That makes it possible to start flows on what the customer actually does, and to segment by purchase history instead of sign-up date. The same system can also send SMS.
Mostly something about deliverability. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection makes many emails count as opened even though nobody read them, so at By Doodle Dog the 83% peak is a fine health check of whether the emails land in the inbox, not of sales. Revenue per recipient and the repeat purchase rate show whether email is doing its job for the store.
Yes, especially the flows, because they are built once and then work on every new customer. A small list of active recipients is worth more than a big list nobody has written to in a long time.
