Klaviyo abandoned cart flow filters: stop emailing people who already bought

Why buyers get "you left something behind"

An abandoned cart flow in Klaviyo starts when someone triggers Started Checkout (or Added to Cart), then waits for its time delay before the first message. A completed purchase is tracked separately, as the Placed Order event. So a shopper who starts checkout, then buys an hour later, is already in the flow. Unless the flow has a filter that looks for that order, the reminder still goes out.

Klaviyo's Help Center puts it plainly: a customer can place an order after triggering the flow but before the next message is sent, and if your flow filters do not exclude recent purchasers, the message can still send.

The filter that fixes it

Add this profile filter to the flow trigger:

The steps, as Klaviyo lists them:

1. Open the abandoned cart flow and click on the trigger.
2. Choose Profile Filters.
3. Click Add a Flow Filter.
4. Choose What someone has done (or not done).
5. Set it to Placed Order zero times since starting this flow, then click Save.

Use a profile filter, not a trigger filter. Klaviyo checks profile filters when someone enters a flow and again before every email or text message. A metric trigger filter is only checked once, when the person first enters. Everyone who starts checkout still enters the flow, because at that moment they have not bought. The profile filter is what skips them later, once the order comes in, for every remaining message.

Running Added to Cart and Started Checkout flows together

Klaviyo recommends two separate flows: one triggered by Added to Cart and one by Started Checkout, because starting checkout shows stronger intent and may deserve different timing or copy. On Shopify, Added to Cart needs the Track behavioral events setting turned on.

If you run both, a shopper who adds to cart and then starts checkout would qualify for both flows. Klaviyo's fix is a second filter on the Added to Cart flow:

That moves them out of the Added to Cart flow and leaves them in the Started Checkout flow. Keep the Placed Order filter on both.

Stop repeat sends to the same shopper

Someone who checks out, leaves, and comes back next week can enter the flow again. Klaviyo gives two ways to limit that:

• Re-entry criteria in the flow trigger settings. You choose whether a profile enters only once, enters again whenever it qualifies, or enters again only after a minimum time.
• The older profile filter Has not been in this flow in the last so many hours, days or weeks.

Klaviyo notes that Re-entry criteria is checked only when someone enters the flow, not at every step.

How to check that it is working

Open the flow's analytics for the last 30 days, then Recipient Activity, then Other, and look for the Skipped: Fails Profile Filters bucket. Those are people who entered but were skipped before a message.

A large number there is normal. Klaviyo says you will typically see many people skipped for failing profile filters in an abandoned cart flow, and that this simply means the flow is not sending cart reminders to people who placed an order. An empty bucket on a busy store is the warning sign.

If buyers still get cart emails, Klaviyo's troubleshooting list is short:

• Confirm Placed Order events are syncing from your store.
• Confirm the flow's profile filters include Placed Order zero times since starting this flow.
• Check that your time delays make sense against how long your orders usually take to complete.

To stop one person right away, cancel their waiting message from that message's Recipient activity tab. They stay eligible for your other flows.

Timing, in Klaviyo's words

• Klaviyo's ready made abandoned cart flows wait 4 hours before the first message.
• Klaviyo recommends the first message 2 to 4 hours after checkout starts, and a second 20 to 48 hours later.
• For integrations other than Shopify and BigCommerce, Started Checkout may not sync right away. If you need a short delay, Klaviyo suggests at least 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Klaviyo advises against a coupon in the first email, because it can teach customers to abandon carts. If you offer one, hold it for the final email or for people who have never bought.
• Turn off your store's own abandoned cart emails, so shoppers do not get two sets of reminders.

A five minute checklist

1. Profile filter on the trigger: Placed Order zero times since starting this flow.
2. If you also run an Added to Cart flow: Started Checkout zero times since starting this flow, on that flow.
3. Re-entry criteria, or Has not been in this flow, set to a window that suits how often people come back.
4. Skipped: Fails Profile Filters is not empty for the last 30 days.
5. Shopify's own abandoned checkout email is off.

Where FlowsFixed fits

A missing exit filter does not show up as a number in our free Flow Gap Check, which compares revenue per recipient for your abandoned cart, welcome, browse abandonment and post purchase flows with Klaviyo's published averages. It is one of the settings we review when we fix a flow. If you would rather not do this yourself, request a fix. We are taking requests now and not accepting payments yet.

Sources

• Klaviyo Help Center, "How to create an abandoned cart flow" (updated October 7, 2026): help.klaviyo.com
• Klaviyo Help Center, "Understanding flow triggers and filters" (updated October 7, 2026): help.klaviyo.com

Read on October 18, 2026. Klaviyo may change its menus and advice. FlowsFixed is not affiliated with Klaviyo.