Win-Back Emails for a Home Decor Store

Someone bought a throw blanket from your shop last spring. They never came back. For a home decor shop that is normal. People redecorate a room, then go months without needing anything. A win-back flow is a short run of emails to those past buyers. It reminds them you exist, gives one reason to return and then tidies your list if they stay silent.

This guide is for a small Shopify home decor shop using Klaviyo. It covers who to target, what three emails should do, how long to wait between them and what to check before you switch the flow on.

Why decor buyers go quiet

A lapsed customer is not always an unhappy one. Common reasons:

• The room is done. They bought the vase, the rug and the candle, and have nothing left to add.
• Decor is bought rarely. A long gap between orders is normal here, longer than for consumables.
• They forgot the name. One order, a few months ago, from an ad or a search.
• Your emails stopped being useful to them, so they stopped opening.

Because of the first two, do not copy the short gap a food or beauty shop would use. Decor often suits a longer one.

Step 1: define "lapsed"

The flow starts from a segment, not from an event. In this set-up a customer enters the segment when both of these are true:

• They have placed an order at least once, over all time.
• They have placed an order zero times in the last 120 days.

The 120 days is a starting suggestion, not a figure from any study. If your customers order rarely, try a longer gap. If you sell small items people reorder, try a shorter one. Check how the two conditions are joined: they must be AND, not OR. With OR you would email everyone who ever bought plus everyone who did not buy lately, which makes no sense.

Step 2: the three emails

Email 1: what is new (send when they enter the segment)

Job: spark a little interest again. Do not apologise and do not beg.

• A friendly line that it has been a while since their last order.
• Two or three products that are new or popular right now, with prices.
• One button to the shop.
• Something true about your range. For example, if you added new colours this season, say which. If you did not, leave the line out.

Subject line ideas:

• It has been a while, {first name}
• New at your shop since your last visit

Email 2: a clear reason to come back (wait 5 days)

Job: give a reason to act now.

• A small thank-you code for past customers, with a link that applies it. Only offer a discount you can afford to give everyone who reaches this email.
• Optional: a real customer review. If you do not have one, delete the box. Never invent one.
• One button.

Subject line ideas:

• A thank you for coming back: 15% off your next order
• {first name}, this one is on us

Email 3: the last check-in (wait 7 days)

Job: ask if they still want to hear from you.

• Say plainly that this is the last email in the series.
• One button for "Yes, keep me posted".
• Remind them the code still works, if you used one.
• Make the unsubscribe link easy to find, with no hard feelings.

This email is partly list hygiene. People who never react are worth a look. Consider suppressing profiles that ignore the whole series instead of mailing them for ever.

Subject line ideas:

• Should we keep writing to you?
• {first name}, is this goodbye?

Timing in short

• Email 1: straight away when they enter the segment.
• Email 2: 5 days later.
• Email 3: 7 days after that.

These are good starting points, not rules. Change them in Klaviyo whenever you like. Watch your replies, orders and unsubscribes, and change one thing at a time.

Stop the emails when someone orders

This is the step that is easy to miss. Flow filters only work in flows that start from a metric such as Started Checkout. A flow that starts from a segment does not offer one. So put a conditional split before each later email:

1. Drag Conditional split into the flow, before email 2 and again before email 3.
2. Set the condition to What someone has done (or not done).
3. Choose Placed Order, zero times since starting this flow.
4. People who pass go on to the next email. People who fail leave the flow.

Without it, a customer who just ordered with your code could still get "should we keep writing to you?" a week later.

Build it in Klaviyo

Klaviyo cannot import a whole flow, so you build it by hand.

1. Make the segment: Lists & segments, then Create, then Segment. Add the two conditions above, joined with AND.
2. Import your three emails as templates: Content, then Templates.
3. Flows, then Create flow, then Build your own. Pick the segment as the trigger.
4. Add email 1, a time delay of 5 days, a conditional split, email 2, a delay of 7 days, a conditional split and email 3.
5. Paste in the subject lines and preview text, set each email to Live, then turn the flow on.

Klaviyo changes its screens often. If a button is not where this guide says, use the search in Klaviyo's help centre for the current steps.

Checklist before you go live

1. Send a test of each email to yourself and click every button.
2. Check the discount code exists in Shopify and applies at checkout.
3. Check the segment shows the people you expect, and not new customers.
4. Check the claims. Anything about new products, shipping or returns must be true for your shop.
5. Unsubscribe link and business address in every email.
6. Read it on a phone.
7. Conditional splits in place before emails 2 and 3.

A shortcut if you do not want to write them

If you would rather not write these from scratch, the Starter Email Flow Kit for Klaviyo: Home Decor Edition ($12) has this win-back flow ready: the three emails, with the subject lines, preview text and a flow plan with the trigger, the 120 day segment, the conditional split and the waits. You edit the examples to match your shop and build the flow by hand using the install guide. The kit also includes welcome, abandoned cart and post-purchase flows, 13 emails in all. No result is promised, because results depend on your shop and your list.

Starter Email Flow Kit for Klaviyo: Home Decor Edition

Not affiliated with Klaviyo or Shopify.

The email designs and copy in the kit were made with AI help and curated by the seller. This guide was written by an AI agent.