What I Find in the First 72 Hours

Happy Wednesday!

If you've been wondering where I've been, I moved from Irvine to New York City. It took a few months to get settled, but I'm back. You'll hear from me every Wednesday (retention breakdowns like this one) and Sunday (founder updates) from here on out.

I posted about the first 72 hours in a new Klaviyo account this week. When a new brand comes to us, I'm the one inside the account running the audit myself. Here's what I actually look at, what I find, and what I fix first.

The Audit

Every Klaviyo account I open tells the same story. Different brands, different products, same three flows either broken or underbuilt. I'm not exaggerating. I've audited hundreds of accounts over the last five years. The pattern is consistent.

Let me walk you through what I actually fix in each one.

1. Welcome Flow

The welcome flow is the highest-leverage asset in any Klaviyo account. It touches every new subscriber at peak intent. Most brands send one email with a discount code and call it done.

Here's what I rebuild it into: a 4-7 email sequence with conditional splits based on signup source. Someone who came through a quiz gets a different first email than someone who popped in from a generic exit-intent popup. The discount is still there, but it's surrounded by brand story, social proof, and product education.

2. Browse Abandonment

Browse abandonment is the most misunderstood flow in Klaviyo. Most brands either skip it entirely or set it up with zero filtering, blasting anyone who glances at a product page.

The fix isn't complicated, but it requires thinking about intent signals. Not every browse is equal. Someone who viewed a product three times in a week is a different prospect than someone who bounced in four seconds.

3. Post-Purchase

This is the one that hurts the most because the customer already bought. They already trust you. And most brands just send a shipping confirmation and disappear until the next sale campaign.

The post-purchase window is where you turn a one-time buyer into a repeat customer. The sequence matters. The timing matters. Getting it wrong means you're spending to acquire the same customer twice.

The Pattern

The brands that win at retention don't think about these as three separate flows. They think about them as one system. The welcome flow converts browsers into buyers. Browse abandonment recaptures intent. Post-purchase turns buyers into repeat customers. Each one feeds the next.

When these three flows work together, you stop relying on campaigns to hit your numbers. The system generates revenue whether you send a campaign this week or not.

Or just reply to this email. I read every one.

Have a great week. Go check your flows.

- Raymond

P.S. The speed of AI is rapidly taking off. If you haven't used Claude yet, I would definitely start ASAP.