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Eliminate delay in triggering welcome flow after double opt-in?


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  • Contributor III
  • 6 replies

Hi! For my primary newsletter list, I have implemented double opt-in. This works great. When the user completes the form, the confirmation email (with link) is sent immediately. Yay!

However, in my testing, after clicking the confirmation link in the email, there is a delay of 13-15 minutes before the first welcome email is sent.

I would like my new subscribers to get my first welcome email right away, as they are already engaged and interacting with their inbox. It feels as though we’ve just begun to have a nice, consensual conversation, and then I completely clam up for no perceivable reason. (It’s socially awkward!)  😁

Behind the scenes, I have this set up as:

  • upon confirming double opt-in, add to Newsletter list
  • All Subscribers segment references membership in the Newsletter list
  • Welcome Flow trigger is set as “user joins the All Subscribers segment”
  • Welcome Flow includes no delays

If I set this up correctly, there should theoretically be no delay, right? I’m wondering:

  • Is the delay here intentional or expected? (Is this delay because, say, Klaviyo does not process additions/changes to segments immediately but as a periodic batch process, e.g. every 10 minutes?)
  • Can the delay be reduced or eliminated?

Here’s a screenshot from a test profile (partially redacted). Note the timestamps on each step — e.g. subscribed at 11:28 AM, but Welcome Email #1 is not delivered until 14 minutes later.

Thanks for any guidance!

 

Best answer by retention

Hi @scottm, 

First of all, thanks for setting up the question so nicely and having all the screenshots.  Not only does it make it easier to understand, I think it’ll be helpful for future visitors of this thread. 👍

In your setup, it looks like your “Welcome Flow” is a “Segment Triggered” Flow.  I’m not sure what other rules you have with your Segment, but any Segment triggered Flow can have up to 15 minutes delay as Klaviyo processes Segment periodically.  So depending on what moment the users Subscribe, it might catch it at just the wrong time where it can take 13-15 minutes until they receive their first message.  A bit more detail about Segment Triggered Flows are here if you want the details:

You can see in that section, it points out:

Customers enter segments through actions (e.g., placing an order or opening an email) as close to real-time as possible. However, if you have a higher volume of customers entering segments, you may see a brief delay (up to one hour) in these updates. 

 

However, if you switch your Segment Triggered Flow to a List Triggered Flow, then the emails will come almost instantaneously.  In your example, they will get their email closer to the “11:29AM” mark then waiting for it to be process into the “All Subscribers Segment” at 11:40AM.

I’m not sure what other conditions or rules you have for your “All Subscribers Segment” - I assume you’re combining various Lists into one Segment. Alternatively, I recommend you do the opposite, put all your emails into one list (e.g. Newsletter) with different custom properties of each source value (e.g. use the $source value) and then Segment people out of this main List.  So instead of combining multiple Lists into one Segment, you have one Main List (e.g. “Newsletter”) that can then have multiple Segments for your various use cases down the road.  

Give that a try and see if that works.

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retention
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  • 2025 Champion
  • 973 replies
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  • March 24, 2025

Hi @scottm, 

First of all, thanks for setting up the question so nicely and having all the screenshots.  Not only does it make it easier to understand, I think it’ll be helpful for future visitors of this thread. 👍

In your setup, it looks like your “Welcome Flow” is a “Segment Triggered” Flow.  I’m not sure what other rules you have with your Segment, but any Segment triggered Flow can have up to 15 minutes delay as Klaviyo processes Segment periodically.  So depending on what moment the users Subscribe, it might catch it at just the wrong time where it can take 13-15 minutes until they receive their first message.  A bit more detail about Segment Triggered Flows are here if you want the details:

You can see in that section, it points out:

Customers enter segments through actions (e.g., placing an order or opening an email) as close to real-time as possible. However, if you have a higher volume of customers entering segments, you may see a brief delay (up to one hour) in these updates. 

 

However, if you switch your Segment Triggered Flow to a List Triggered Flow, then the emails will come almost instantaneously.  In your example, they will get their email closer to the “11:29AM” mark then waiting for it to be process into the “All Subscribers Segment” at 11:40AM.

I’m not sure what other conditions or rules you have for your “All Subscribers Segment” - I assume you’re combining various Lists into one Segment. Alternatively, I recommend you do the opposite, put all your emails into one list (e.g. Newsletter) with different custom properties of each source value (e.g. use the $source value) and then Segment people out of this main List.  So instead of combining multiple Lists into one Segment, you have one Main List (e.g. “Newsletter”) that can then have multiple Segments for your various use cases down the road.  

Give that a try and see if that works.


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  • Author
  • Contributor III
  • 6 replies
  • March 24, 2025

@retention Yes, this explains it perfectly. Thank you so much! And you are correct in your assessment. I will rework my lists and change the trigger to be list-triggered, so there’s no delay. 

Amazing, thank you for the helpful reply. 👏