How to win back lapsed customers
Bring past Shopify customers back with a winback flow timed to your own buying cycle: a light first email, a reminder with a deadline, and an honest last call.
What this is for
A lapsed customer is someone who bought from you and then stopped, for longer than your customers usually wait between orders. They already know your products and have been through your checkout once. What decides whether a winback works is timing: too early and you nag people who were about to reorder, too late and they have a new favourite. source, checked 28 September 2026
This guide builds that timing from your own order data, then a three-email winback flow in Klaviyo, and finally a once-a-year campaign for the people the flow does not reach.
Time needed and what you need
Time needed: about 2 hours. Half an hour to work out the buying cycle, half an hour to set up the flow, and an hour to write three emails.
- Klaviyo connected to Shopify with at least several months of order history
- A spreadsheet, for averaging the time between orders
- A list of which products are consumables that run out and which are one-off purchases
- A discount code in Shopify with an expiry date, if you plan to offer one
The steps
Steps 1 and 2 set the timing; get them right and the emails do most of the work.
1. Measure your own buying cycle
Build a segment of customers with at least two orders, since only they have a gap between orders to measure. If Klaviyo's predictive analytics are on for your account, each profile has an average time between orders; export the segment and average that column. That number, in days, is your buying cycle. source, checked 28 September 2026
Without predictive analytics, reason it out from the product: how long does a bag of dog food, a bottle of shampoo or a pair of running shoes last? Pick a number of days and correct it after the first few months.
2. Take replenishable products out of the winback
Products that run out on a schedule, such as coffee, supplements or razor blades, need a replenishment reminder, not a winback. Someone whose 30-day tub is empty on day 32 is not lapsed; they are due. Give those products their own flow and keep the winback for everything else. source, checked 28 September 2026
3. Create the flow and stop it on a new order
Stores with the Shopify integration usually already have a winback flow in their account; use it, or pick one from the flow library. It starts when someone places an order. Add the profile filter that removes anyone who orders again, so a customer who comes back after email 1 never gets email 2. source, checked 28 September 2026
4. Set the first delay just past the buying cycle
The first delay is the one that matters. Set it a little longer than the cycle you measured in step 1, so people have time to reorder on their own before you ask. If your cycle is 60 days, a first delay of 70 to 75 days is a reasonable start. source, checked 28 September 2026
5. Write email 1 as a light, short check-in
The first email is the shortest: a line or two saying you have not seen them in a while, and a small set of products, either best sellers or what is new since their last order. Klaviyo suggests three to six. source, checked 28 September 2026
Klaviyo's pattern puts an incentive in this first email. The alternative is to hold it back until email 2, so customers who were coming back anyway pay full price. Test both if your volume allows.
6. Write email 2 as the reminder with a deadline
Email 2 goes a week or so later. It repeats or introduces the offer and gives it an end date, and it shows different products from email 1: if the first showed best sellers, this one shows new arrivals. It can be longer and more personal, such as a note from the founder or a look at the team. source, checked 28 September 2026
7. Write email 3 as an honest last call
The last email says this is the final reminder and offers three clear choices: come back, get fewer emails, or unsubscribe. Make the unsubscribe link easy to find. A clean exit is better for you than a customer who ignores every email or marks one as spam. source, checked 28 September 2026
- Come back: one button to the shop, the offer if it is still open
- Fewer emails: a link to your preference page
- Leave: a visible unsubscribe link, not buried in grey text
8. Give your best customers their own path
A customer with eight orders who goes quiet is worth more attention than someone with one. Add a split on order count or total spend, and give the high-value path a more personal first email and a better offer, or a note asking if something went wrong. source, checked 28 September 2026
9. Once a year, send a re-engagement campaign
The flow catches customers as they lapse. People who lapsed before it existed, or went through it and stayed silent, need a separate one-off campaign. Split them into past buyers and never-buyers, send each a personal email about what is new, and suppress those who do not respond. source, checked 28 September 2026
A worked example
For an outdoor apparel store with 1,150 repeat customers
Worked example (an invented store, with invented numbers)
The store's 1,150 repeat customers average 96 days between orders, so it sets the first winback delay to 110 days. In a typical month, 640 customers pass 110 days without ordering and get email 1, which has no discount. 22 of them order.
The filter removes those 22, so 618 get email 2, which carries a code that expires in 7 days. 31 order. That leaves 587 for email 3, the last call: 9 order and 46 unsubscribe.
That is 62 returning customers in the month (22 + 31 + 9). At an average order of $85, the flow brings back $5,270, and only the 31 who ordered after email 2 used a discount.
Common mistakes
Starting the winback at a round number that has nothing to do with your store, such as 30 or 90 days. A store whose customers reorder every four months emails them while they are still happy; a store with a two-week cycle waits far too long. Use your measured cycle.
Leaving out the purchase filter. Without it, someone who reorders after email 1 still gets "we miss you" and a discount a week later. Check the filter is on the flow, not just on one email.
Hiding the unsubscribe link in the last email. It is a legal requirement in every marketing email, and in a winback it is also the kindest exit for someone who has moved on. source, checked 28 September 2026
Treating opens as the result. Apple Mail inflates opens, and a winback exists to bring orders. Judge it on orders per recipient and on how many customers return within the following few months. The guide to reading a Klaviyo flow report shows where those numbers sit.
Doing this with Tilly
Tilly's email marketing agent writes a winback of 2 emails for customers 60 days after their last order: the first straight away, the second 10 days after that. Anyone who buys drops out before the next email, and a discount is only allowed in email 2, with a code that exists in your store.
Klaviyo has no way for an app to start a flow on days since the last order, so Tilly writes the emails and you build the flow in Klaviyo by hand, following steps 3 and 4 above. If your buying cycle is longer than 60 days, use your own number for the first delay. The winback flow page covers the copy.
Questions people ask
How do I know the re-engagement campaign worked?
Klaviyo gives a simple line for its once-a-year campaign: if it clears a set open rate, it was worth sending, and you can repeat it next year. Also compare the two groups; if past buyers respond and never-buyers do not, email only past buyers next time. source, checked 28 September 2026
What is the difference between a winback flow and a sunset flow?
A winback goes to people who bought and stopped, and tries to sell again. A sunset goes to people who have never engaged at all, and asks whether they want to stay on the list before you suppress them. See cleaning an email list for the sunset side.
Should the winback email come from a person?
It is worth testing, especially for the first and last emails. Klaviyo's re-engagement advice leans the same way: a personal, text-style email with the customer's first name. source, checked 28 September 2026
See this on your own store
Paste your store URL. The first pass takes about a minute and needs no account. Save a card (nothing is charged) and Tilly reads the whole store and works out who buys from you.