What is a winback flow?
Nicklas Segatz Mortensen · Growth Hacker · Fractional CMO · Meta Ads Nerd · 8 July 2026 · 3 min.
Definition
A winback flow triggers when a former customer has been inactive for a while — and tries to get them buying again before they're considered lost.
Also called: Winback flow, Win-back flow, Reactivation flow
Sådan virker det
Winback-flowet forsøger at vække kunder, der er holdt op med at købe, før de er tabt for altid. Selv en beskeden reaktiveringsrate er billig omsætning — det er kunder, du allerede har betalt for at anskaffe, hentet tilbage uden en ny annoncekrone.
01Bring customers back before they're gone
A customer who's stopped buying isn't necessarily lost — yet. The winback flow steps into the window between “inactive” and “gone for good” with a reminder, a relevant offer, or simply a reason to come back. Even a modest reactivation rate is cheap revenue: these are customers you've already paid to acquire.
Timing is everything. Klaviyo's predictive analytics can estimate when a customer is statistically about to churn, so the flow can fire before they slip away rather than after. If the reactivation doesn't work, the profile naturally moves on to the sunset flow, which protects your deliverability.
Frequently asked questions
When should a winback flow trigger?+
When a customer's time since their last purchase exceeds their normal repurchase interval — ideally informed by predictive analytics, so you reach them before they churn. Too late, and the customer is already mentally gone.
What if the winback doesn't work?+
Then the profile should move on to the sunset flow and gradually out of active sending. Continuing to email a dead contact hurts your sender reputation, and with it your deliverability to active customers.
Related terms
Glossary
What is a post-purchase flow?
A post-purchase flow is an automated sequence triggered after a purchase — with an order confirmation, product onboarding and a nudge toward the next order.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is a sunset flow?
A sunset flow gradually steps profiles that haven't engaged over a longer period down and eventually out of active sending — to protect your sender reputation.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is churn rate?
Churn rate is the share of customers or subscribers who leave you in a given period. A 32% churn means just under a third of customers aren't back next period.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is retention rate?
Retention rate is the share of customers who are still active from one period to the next. A 68% retention means a good two-thirds of customers buy again.
Read the entry →
Nicklas Segatz Mortensen
Growth Hacker · Fractional CMO · Meta Ads Nerd at Oaksmond
Growth hacker and fractional CMO with 10+ years' experience and hundreds of millions in managed ad spend behind him. Background from larger Danish and international scale-ups, and from the agency world.
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