Behavioural email: answering what somebody just did, while it still matters

The behaviours worth answering, from loudest to quietest

Not every click deserves an email. The signal gets louder the closer somebody gets to paying, and the email should get more direct as it does.

Behaviour tells you what somebody did. It won't tell you why. Somebody who looked at three candles might be buying a present, and that's where zero-party data, the things people tell you on purpose, earns its place.

Why behavioural email only reaches people Klaviyo already knows

Klaviyo can't email somebody it's never met. It only records a product view or an added basket for a visitor it can identify: somebody who signed up, bought before, or clicked through from one of your emails on that browser. An anonymous first visit leaves nobody to email.

The size of every behavioural flow is set by your capture, not your copy. A sign-up form that earns its place, and an email field early in checkout, grow every one of these flows at once. Added to Cart also needs Klaviyo's onsite tracking installed, so check the event's arriving before you build on it.

Where behavioural email tips into feeling watched

There's a line, and shoppers know exactly where it is. An email about the basket they left is helpful. One that lists everything they looked at on Tuesday night reads like surveillance, and gets the unsubscribe it deserves.

• Answer one behaviour per email, not the whole session
• Wait long enough that it doesn't look like you were watching the tab
• Stop the moment they buy, with an order check before every send
• Let the stronger signal win when two flows want the same person

That last one is the easiest to miss. Somebody who adds to basket and keeps browsing sets off two flows at once, and stopping flows overlapping takes one list and one filter.