How to Set Up Browse Abandonment in Klaviyo

For every customer who adds a product to cart, there are ten who browse and leave. They looked at your products, showed interest, and then vanished. Without a browse abandonment flow, those potential customers are gone forever.

Browse abandonment is the second most valuable automated flow you can set up in Klaviyo, after cart abandonment. It targets the largest segment of your traffic — identified visitors who viewed products but did not take the next step — and nudges them back with a personalised reminder.

We set up browse abandonment flows for every Klaviyo account we manage, and the results are consistent: 1-3% conversion rates on a high-volume audience that would otherwise be lost entirely.

What is browse abandonment?

Browse abandonment is an automated email (or SMS) sent to identified visitors who viewed one or more products on your store but left without adding anything to their cart. It sits earlier in the purchase funnel than cart abandonment:

Flow type	Trigger	Typical conversion	Audience size
Cart abandonment	Added to cart, did not purchase	5-10%	Small
Browse abandonment	Viewed product, did not add to cart	1-3%	Large
Site abandonment	Visited site, viewed no products	0.5-1%	Very large

The power of browse abandonment is in the volume. Even at a lower conversion rate, it often generates more total revenue than cart abandonment because it reaches a much larger audience.

How browse abandonment works in Klaviyo

Klaviyo uses the Viewed Product event to trigger browse abandonment flows. Here is the sequence:

1. A visitor with a known email address views a product page on your Shopify store
2. Klaviyo records this as a "Viewed Product" event, capturing the product name, image, price, and URL
3. After a set delay (typically 1-4 hours), Klaviyo checks whether the visitor has since started checkout or placed an order
4. If they have not, Klaviyo sends a personalised email featuring the product they viewed
5. If the first email does not convert, a follow-up can be sent 24 hours later

Browse abandonment only works for identified visitors — people whose email address Klaviyo already knows. This is why growing your identified visitor pool through popups, signup forms, and customer accounts is critical to maximising this flow's revenue.

Step 1: Verify your tracking is set up

Before creating the flow, verify that Klaviyo is correctly tracking the Viewed Product event on your Shopify store.

1. In Klaviyo, go to Analytics > Metrics
2. Search for Viewed Product
3. Click on it and check that events are being recorded with the correct product data (name, image URL, price, URL)
4. If the metric does not exist or has no recent data, check your Klaviyo-Shopify integration settings

For the integration to track Viewed Product events, Klaviyo's JavaScript snippet must be installed on your Shopify store. If you installed Klaviyo via the Shopify App Store, this happens automatically. If you used a custom integration, verify the snippet is present in your theme's layout/theme.liquid file.

Testing the tracking

1. Go to your live store and browse a product page whilst logged in or after identifying yourself via a Klaviyo form
2. Return to Klaviyo and check Analytics > Metrics > Viewed Product
3. Your event should appear within a few minutes with the correct product data

Step 2: Create the flow

Now create the browse abandonment flow:

1. In Klaviyo, go to Flows and click Create Flow
2. Search for "Browse Abandonment" in the flow library
3. Select the pre-built Browse Abandonment template
4. Click Create Flow

Alternatively, build it from scratch:

1. Click Create Flow > Create from Scratch
2. Name it "Browse Abandonment"
3. Set the trigger to Metric > Viewed Product
4. Click Create Flow

Step 3: Configure flow filters

Flow filters are critical for preventing irrelevant or annoying emails. Without proper filters, you will send browse abandonment emails to people who have already purchased or who are already in your cart abandonment flow.

Essential flow filters

• Has not placed an order since starting this flow — prevents emailing people who have already bought
• Has not started checkout since starting this flow — lets the cart abandonment flow handle these people instead
• Has not been in this flow in the last 7 days — prevents over-messaging repeat browsers

Trigger filters

Add trigger-level filters to refine who enters the flow:

• Viewed Product at least 2 times — targets people who showed genuine interest by viewing the same product multiple times
• Product value is greater than X — focus on higher-value products where email intervention is more worthwhile
• Product is not in a specific collection — exclude sale items or low-margin products

For more on flow configuration best practices, see our Klaviyo flow optimisation guide.

Step 4: Design your emails

Email 1: The gentle reminder (sent after 2 hours)

The first email should be casual and helpful, not salesy. The customer browsed voluntarily — a subtle reminder is more effective than a hard sell.

Subject line examples:

• "Still thinking about it?"
• "We noticed you looking at [Product Name]"
• "Forget something? Here's another look"

Email structure:

1. Personalised greeting
2. Dynamic product block showing the browsed product (image, name, price)
3. Brief copy — "We noticed you were looking at this. It is one of our most popular items."
4. CTA button — "View Product" or "Take Another Look"
5. Optional: 3-4 related product recommendations below

Use Klaviyo's dynamic product blocks to automatically populate the email with the specific product the customer viewed. The block pulls the product image, title, price, and URL from the Viewed Product event data.

Email 2: The follow-up (sent 24 hours later)

If the first email did not convert, send a follow-up with a different angle:

• Add social proof — "This product has 4.8 stars from 200+ reviews"
• Create urgency — "Stock is limited" (only if true)
• Offer help — "Have questions? Our team can help you decide"
• Show alternatives — "Not quite right? Here are similar products"

Do not offer a discount in the browse abandonment flow. Reserve discounts for cart abandonment, where the purchase intent is higher and the customer is closer to converting.

Step 5: Set timing and delays

Optimal timing

Email	Delay	Rationale
Email 1	2 hours after browse	Product is still top of mind
Email 2	24 hours after Email 1	Different time of day, different angle

Some brands test shorter delays (30 minutes) but we find 1-2 hours strikes the right balance between relevance and not feeling intrusive. Going beyond 4 hours for the first email significantly reduces conversion rates.

Smart sending

Enable Klaviyo's Smart Sending on this flow to prevent browse abandonment emails from being sent too close to other emails. Set the smart sending window to 16-24 hours to avoid over-messaging.

Advanced strategies

Segment by browse behaviour

Create conditional splits in your flow based on the customer's engagement level:

• VIP customers — show personalised product recommendations based on past purchases
• First-time browsers — include brand story content and trust signals (reviews, guarantees)
• Repeat browsers — create urgency with stock alerts or offer early access to sales

For more on segmentation, see our cart abandonment guide.

Category-specific flows

For stores with diverse product categories, create separate browse abandonment flows per category. A beauty brand might have different messaging for skincare, makeup, and fragrance browsers.

Use conditional splits based on the product's collection or category tag to route customers to the appropriate email content.

Add SMS as a channel

For subscribers with SMS consent, add an SMS step alongside or instead of the second email. SMS browse abandonment messages are short and direct:

"Hey [First Name], the [Product Name] you were looking at is selling fast. Take another look: [link]"

Product recommendation engine

Klaviyo's product recommendations can dynamically populate your browse abandonment emails with related products. This is particularly effective when the originally browsed product might not be the perfect fit — offering alternatives increases the chance of conversion.

For the full picture on essential flows, see our 7 Klaviyo flows guide.

Common mistakes to avoid

1. No flow filters

Without proper filters, you will send browse abandonment emails to customers who have already purchased, are already in your cart abandonment flow, or have been emailed recently. This damages your sender reputation and annoys customers.

2. Generic content

A browse abandonment email that says "Come back and shop" without showing the specific product viewed is a wasted opportunity. Always use dynamic product blocks to personalise the content.

3. Too many emails

Two emails in the browse abandonment flow is sufficient. Three or more starts to feel intrusive for someone who only viewed a product — they did not even add it to cart.

4. Discounting too early

Offering a discount in browse abandonment trains customers to browse and wait for the discount email. Reserve discounts for cart abandonment or winback flows where the stakes are higher.

5. Ignoring mobile

Over 60% of browse abandonment emails are opened on mobile. Ensure your email templates are mobile-responsive with thumb-friendly CTA buttons and appropriately sized product images.

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Browse abandonment is one of the most underutilised flows in Klaviyo. It captures revenue from the largest segment of your traffic — identified browsers who showed interest but did not commit — and does so automatically, 24 hours a day.

The setup takes under an hour, but the revenue it generates compounds every month as your identified visitor pool grows. If you are not running browse abandonment yet, it should be your next priority after cart abandonment.

Need help setting up or optimising your Klaviyo flows? See our Klaviyo services or get in touch for a free account audit.