Klaviyo: Flow only sends to new segment members – how to target existing users?

Hey ​@Lee Kocher ,

You’re very close here, the missing piece is how Klaviyo handles who gets enrolled when a flow is first activated.

A flow triggered by a segment will only send to people who enter that segment while the flow is active by default. That’s why you’re seeing only “new” people going through.

If you want existing segment members to receive it, here’s the correct way to handle it:

The right setup

1. Keep your segment exactly as it is
   Your “last ordered 180 days ago” logic is solid.
2. Use the segment as the flow trigger
   So: Segment → Flow
3. When you turn the flow on, make sure you enable back-population
   Klaviyo will then ask if you want to include people who already match the segment.
   You need to explicitly choose to include them (this is the step most people miss).

That’s what enrolls your existing audience.

Important nuance (this is where most people go wrong)

Once someone is enrolled in the flow, Klaviyo tracks them individually. So:

• They won’t re-enter unless they leave and re-qualify again
• Your reminder step works naturally inside the flow (no campaign needed)

One extra best practice

If this is a winback flow, I’d strongly consider using:

“Placed Order zero times since starting this flow”

This prevents edge cases where someone already converted but still gets later steps.

Simple mental model

• Segment = who qualifies right now
• Flow = what happens next
• Back-population = include people who already qualified before you turned it on

That’s the piece you were missing.

Once you enable that, your existing segment will go through exactly as intended.

​@Lee Kocher - Welcome to the community!

If you just created the Segment, and then created the Flow, it doesn’t automatically add everyone from the Segment to the Flow because by definition, the Flow was created after the Segment already processed (and at the time the Segment Processed, the Flow didn’t exist). 

And, as the documentation says, any updates to an existing Segment will only pick up new people that enters the Segment next.  My best guess is that this prevents people from entering Flow accidentally as you adjust the definition of the Segment (you wouldn’t want it to keep triggers emails as you adjust the Segment)

When I manually update a segment, will new added members get scheduled for flows triggered by the segment?

No. When a flow is triggered by a segment, only those that get added to the segment organically based on behavior and activity will automatically get scheduled for connected flows. When you create, edit or update a segment, new populated members will not get scheduled.

However, Klaviyo let’s you “re-enter” folks into the Flow using the “Add Back Profiles” - it’s sort of tucked into the corner of the interface here:

You can then add people to the Flow by selecting the first option:

Give that a try and let us know if it works!

​@retention I have discount coupons, so it doesn’t work like that :( Do I have to make a new Flow and then do this step before I include any coupons?

​@Wout Groot Thanks fo the Tipp. We set the “Placed Order zero times since starting this flow”. But thanks for the info :)

Per Klaviyo - you don’t need to rebuild everything, you just need a clean campaign segment + exclusion logic - this is how I’d set it up:

1. Keep your original segment 

your:

“last ordered 180 days ago”

2. Create a campaign segment (I think this is what you are asking for in your post)

you want:

• everyone who qualifies for 180 days

• BUT has not already gone through / received the flow email

so build a segment like:

Definition:

• Placed Order = 0 times in last 180 days
  AND

• Has not received email → [your flow email name]
  (or)

• Has not been in flow → [your flow name]

I usually prefer:“Has not received email”

because it’s tighter and avoids edge cases

3. Send campaign to that segment

this does exactly what you want:

• captures all the existing people sitting in the segment

• avoids double-sending to anyone already in the flow

4. Let your flow handle everything else

after that:

• new people entering the segment → go into the flow

• reminder email (30 days later) → stays in the flow