Understanding flow triggers and filters

You will learn

Learn more about Klaviyo filters which can be used to further narrow triggers or actions in flows. For example, if a flow triggers when someone places an order, a trigger filter could be added to limit this to specific product types. Trigger filters are evaluated alongside the trigger itself to only let certain people into a flow.

If you want to target a very specific behavior or group of people, you can use a more general flow filter. Flow filters are applied when people enter your flow, as well as before every email in the flow is sent. In this way, flow filters ensure that only people that still qualify continue moving through a flow.

Illustration of how flow filters function 

The diagram below illustrates when trigger filters and flow filters are applied in the flow lifecycle.

Flow trigger

A flow can be triggered:

• When someone takes an action (metric) that is tracked by Klaviyo, such as placing an order
• When someone is added to a list or segment
• Based on a date property attached to a contact's profile
• When an item someone viewed or started checkout with lowers in price by a certain amount or percent

Someone will qualify to enter the flow as soon as they meet the trigger action.

Here is a list of the five different types of triggers and when they might be used:

• List
  If you have a signup form(s) or a subscribe page on your website, you likely add all new subscribers to a list in Klaviyo. Using the list trigger, you can ensure every new subscriber is queued to receive a series of automated emails from you. For example, you can use a welcome series to send an email immediately when someone signs up and then automate two–three other emails, each a few days apart. A profile will enter a list-triggered flow only once. 
• Segment
  Segments are defined by a set of conditions, and will thus grow as new people meet the conditions and shrink when certain people no longer do. Triggering a flow based on when someone new is added to a segment will allow you to ensure everyone who meets a certain set of conditions will be queued for this flow. This can be useful when you want to use multiple actions to trigger a flow. Keep in mind, however, that segment-triggered flows will only send to a person once: the first time they are added to the segment. For this reason, segment-triggered flows cannot be used to automate order-related follow-up emails or any other emails you might want someone to receive multiple times for repeat behavior. These types of flows should instead be set up using the metric trigger.
• Metric
  This trigger option allows you to queue people for a flow when they take a certain action. This action can be any event activity captured through an integration (e.g., started a checkout, placed an order, filled out a form) or events created via the Klaviyo API. For example, an abandoned cart flow would trigger off the Started Checkout event, with an additional flow filter to restrict the flow only to those who have not followed through with placing an order.
• Price Drop
  A price drop flow allows you alert people when an item they viewed or started checkout with drops in price. The price drop can either be a set amount (e.g., $10) or a certain percentage (e.g., 20%). 
• Date Property
  You can build an automated flow that starts on a specific date, or you can instead choose to set a flow in motion before a specific date. A person will qualify to enter a date property-triggered flow whenever the date property is added or updated on their profile. This can be useful if you're creating a flow that centers on a specific date, like a birthday or anniversary. Additionally, these flows can recur on a monthly or yearly basis.

After selecting the flow trigger, you will be prompted to choose the specific list, segment, event, or date property. You will then see options to restrict further who gets emails from your flow, which are the trigger and flow filter. 

Setting filters

Trigger filters

If you select a specific metric to trigger the flow (e.g., Started Checkout, Placed Order, etc.), by default, everyone who completes this action will qualify to enter your flow. Similarly, price drop flows will alert everyone who looked at or began checkout with an item when it lowers by the amount you set.

You may, however, want to narrow the scope and target only a subset of these contacts. This is where trigger filters are used. Trigger filters evaluate the data coming in from the event that triggers the flow, and not profile properties, meaning only price drop- and metric-based flows can have trigger filters.

These filters are only checked when an individual first enters the flow. A trigger filter is useful for grabbing only certain events for your triggering metric. For example:

• Post-Purchase Cross-Sell 
  You may have a particular category of items (Category A) that is often purchased alongside another category (Category B). To turn a post-purchase flow into a targeted cross-sell opportunity, use the Placed Order metric as your trigger, but then use a trigger filter so only orders that included Category A and didn't include Category B qualify for your flow.
• High-Value Item Browse Abandonment
  Browse abandonment flows can help you convert casual window shoppers into customers by following up with those that view items on your site but never start a checkout or purchase. You may not want to trigger browse abandonment emails for every item in your catalog, however. You may want to limit the scope of this follow up for high-value products only. Trigger your flow using the Viewed Product metric, but use a trigger filter to specify that only items with a value over X amount with qualify for the series.
• Post-Purchase Thank You and Tips
  Certain items you sell may require some how-to instructions, or otherwise warrant a targeted post-purchase message. For a flow triggered by your Placed Order metric, use a trigger filter to target the purchase of just a specific item to give these customers the personalized follow-up they need.

Flow filters

Flow filters are useful when you'd like to target specific subscriber behaviors or attributes. Flow filters operate at the profile level, meaning they will evaluate whether or not someone qualifies based on properties about them or actions they have previously taken. 

Flow filters are checked when someone first enters a flow and before each action takes place (e.g., before any email or SMS sends or a profile property is updated). If someone fails an element in a flow, they will continue to move through the flow, but they will be skipped from each step until they exit the flow. We will reevaluate them each time they hit another “actionable” element (i.e., email, SMS, and/or notification). If the subscriber fails the initial trigger, they will simply not start the flow itself.

The one exception to this is the Skip anyone who has been in this flow at any time filter. This filter is only checked when someone enters the flow. To see who entered the flow but failed the flow filter before an action, navigate to Analytics (Last 30 Days) > Recipient Activity > Other. Here, you will find the Skipped: Fails Flow Filters bucket. 

Abandoned carts flows, for example, are built on the Started Checkout metric. The behavior you want to target, however, is when a customer starts a checkout and then abandons the process. This means you have to add a flow filter to target this specific behavior: Has placed order zero times since starting this flow. This will ensure that people only receive a flow email after they started a checkout but did not place an order.

You can also use multiple filters if you'd like — the example below demonstrates a flow that would only send to people that have not placed an order since starting the flow and live in the United States.

If someone is skipped due to failing flow filters, this person still move forward and be scheduled for the next step. We do not remove someone from a flow completely if they fail the flow's filters at a single step; contacts will continue to be scheduled for the next step. Due to the nature of some flow filters, if someone is skipped once, they will continue to be skipped for all subsequent steps. However, this is not true for all flow filters. For some, the evaluation could change as someone moves through a flow. For this reason, to keep behavior consistent, we do not remove someone from a flow completely if they fail the flow's filters at a single step.

Note that the flow filter Has not been in flow in X days acts similarly to a trigger filter and is not available for list- or segment-triggered flows. List- and segment-based flows only trigger once, so there is no need for this filter. 

Options for filter conditions

This dropdown menu for filters shows all the top-level properties available for a flow. After choosing a property, add your value. A value will only show up if it has synced to Klaviyo along with a tracked event (e.g., Placed Order) or that exists on someone's profile. If your desired value isn't displayed, copy and paste it into the empty value box. If the property value you paste is identical to the value that will eventually sync to Klaviyo, the flow will work as expected.

Only certain synced properties are available in a flow. For data management purposes, only the most important details of an event are synced as "top-level" properties, and only these top-level properties are available to filter a flow.

If you view the raw data Klaviyo syncs for an event, you will see key data points for the event. A Placed Order event, for example, includes the top-level properties listed below:

• Value
• Collections / Categories
• Item Count
• Items
• Source Name

You will see an array labeled Extra or Details. You cannot use this data in a flow, although you can insert it into an email template

Setting an additional filter for a single flow message

Adding additional filters to an email or SMS within a flow allows you to tailor specific messages after a person has set off a broader trigger. Additional filters are similar to flow filters in that they also operate at the profile level, meaning they will evaluate whether or not someone qualifies based on properties about them or actions they have previously taken. The crucial difference is that they only apply to a single message within the scope of the entire flow. 

For example, you may want everyone to receive the first SMS in your welcome series after they sign up, but you may not want those who have made a purchase since starting the flow to receive the fifth email. Additional filters allow you to narrow your audience for a single message. If someone is skipped by this type of filter, they will continue in the flow. 

1. Click on the message card.
2. In the left-hand panel, under the section labeled Settings, click Additional Filters to be brought to a page where you can specify additional filters for this particular message.

Let's say you have a flow that sends to customers several weeks after their first purchase encouraging them to order again. Your first message might include, "We Missed You." This message may also provide a discount code or some other incentive to convince your customer to come back.

As you add more actions to this flow, you may want to consider sending certain messages only to those that have failed to open a prior message. This is a great way to resend a great offer or partially recycle a great design until you grab the attention of your customers.

As an example, for email, this additional filter will consist of one condition: 
What someone has done (or not done) > has Opened Email zero times over all time 
> where Subject equals ______ 

Additional resources

• Understand AND vs. OR
• How to preview a flow trigger setup
• How to change a flow trigger