The replenishment email flow that arrives just before they run out
Your customer's jar is nearly empty. This is the automation that asks for the second order right about then.
One purchase, one open wait, then three sends and a fork
Every wait, every check and every way out.
Somebody buys a product that gets used up
It fires on a purchase, and only on the lines people actually finish and buy again. One product group per flow.
Y daysset per product
Hold for one product lifecycle
The playbook leaves this one open as Y days, because it belongs to your product, not to us. Coffee, contact lenses and dog food empty on different clocks.
Has the product been bought again since that order?
The nudge, with nothing attached
Subject line · Time to top up?
Short, no offer, nothing assumed. One button that puts the same thing back in the basket.
Has an order been placed in the last two days?
The one that names the product
Subject line · Time for more {product_title}?
Same ask, with their product pulled into the subject line, so it reads like a note about their thing.
Has an order been placed in the last day?
Is the customer's order total three or more?
The last decision is about the customer, not the timing. That's why this flow ends in two emails.
Email three, for the regulars
Subject line · Running low on {product_title}?
Nothing off it. Somebody this regular is already in the habit, and paying them to keep it is margin spent on a sale you'd already won.
Email three, for everybody else
Subject line · Top up now and get 10% Off.
Same reminder, small offer on it, and it only reaches the people whose reorder isn't automatic yet.
Both arms finish in the same place
Every check above lets go on an order. Somebody restocks, the flow releases them, and the campaign calendar takes over.
The two day and one day waits are the playbook's own. The first one has no number because it belongs to your product, so we set it from your repeat purchase data in the first month. We rewrite the subject lines in your voice.
What you lose when nobody watches the reorder clock
Three dynamics, and not one of them shows up in a campaign report.
The reorder goes to whoever asked first
Your customer runs out on a Tuesday and buys from whoever was in the inbox that week. Your reporting will never show it.
One wait across a catalogue that empties at different speeds
A single global delay sends half the reminders before anybody is low and the other half after they've restocked. Both land as noise.
Regulars paid to do what they were doing anyway
No order-count check on the last send, and your steadiest customers take money off every reorder you'd already earned.
The three tests, and the order we run them in
The length of the first wait. Then the order count the last split turns on, then whether the offer arm beats the plain reminder. Each test runs long enough to be decided on placed orders, not opens.
What a rebuilt retention stack did to repeat orders
Village Wax Melts, 2025. Reorder timing is one flow inside that rebuilt stack, not the whole of it, and the workings are in the case study.
FAQs
What is a replenishment email flow?
A replenishment email flow starts when somebody buys a product they'll finish, waits roughly as long as that product lasts, then asks them to reorder if they haven't already. Ours runs three emails off a single purchase trigger, with an order check in front of every send, so anybody who's restocked drops out.
How long should the delay be before the first replenishment email?
As long as your product actually lasts, minus a few days. Our playbook writes this wait as Y days on purpose: a thirty day supplement and a six month filter cartridge can't share one number. We take the median gap between first and second orders per product. The first send sits just inside it, and it moves once there are orders to read.
Which products should have a replenishment flow?
Anything with a natural finish line: supplements, skincare, coffee, pet food, cleaning refills, candles, razor blades, filters. The test is whether your order history shows repeat gaps clustering around a particular number of weeks. Second orders scattered randomly across the year? That's a considered repurchase, and a cross sell or winback flow will do more for it.
Should a replenishment email include a discount?
Only for the people who need one. We split the third email on order count: established repeat buyers get a plain reminder with nothing off, everybody else gets a small offer. Discounting a reorder somebody was going to make anyway is the most expensive habit in retention email.
How is a replenishment flow different from a subscription?
A subscription takes the decision away and charges automatically. A replenishment flow leaves the decision with your customer, and puts it in front of them at the right moment. Most brands want both: the flow catches the people who won't commit to a recurring order.
Is a replenishment email flow allowed under UK GDPR and PECR?
Yes. These are existing customers being offered a similar product, and that's what the soft opt-in in PECR covers, as long as they had a clear chance to refuse marketing when they bought and get a one-click unsubscribe in every send. We record the consent basis on the profile and keep order confirmations outside this flow.
Every evergreen automation, one decision tree each
The eCommerce Email Automation Playbook
Twelve pages of decision trees, one per evergreen automation, each with its trigger, waits, checks and exits.
The other automations that reach the same customer
The real trigger, the real waits, and the real exits, on each one.
- WelcomeThe first sequence after signup
- Site searchSearched, then went no further
- Category browseBrowsed a category, opened nothing
- Browse abandonmentViewed a product, then left
- Back in stockThe moment the stock lands
- Price dropOnly the people already watching
- Abandoned cartBasic and advanced, on one page
- Checkout abandonmentStopped at the payment step
- BirthdayOne date, given on purpose
- Post purchaseThe first order welcome
- Cross sellThe second product, not the same one
- VIPYour best customers, kept close
- WinbackThe dormant shopper, before sunset
- SunsetThe profiles that stopped reading
- The flow libraryAll fourteen, in one place
Which flow owns which moment? That's a lifecycle strategy question. The channel is email marketing, and the whole stack is drawn in the Automation Playbook.
Want this one timed properly on your store?
Nobody wants a fourth reminder email. Bring your Klaviyo login and your repeat purchase data, and we'll tell you which products have a reorder window worth automating, and how long yours is.
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