Set up automated messages for your restaurant
Flows are an automated series of messages that you set up in Klaviyo. Unlike campaigns which you manually send or schedule, flows will send messages to recipients as soon as they complete an action that triggers the flow to send, say placing an order or setting up a reservation.
Most restaurants start with a welcome flow that automatically sends new guests an email welcoming them to your business. The trigger for this flow is when someone joins your email list. Once a guest subscribes, they will automatically enter your flow and receive your first preset message, getting them excited to place their next order.
Once you create your flow in Klaviyo, you can sit back and let your flow drive orders for you, creating a good experience for both you and your guests.
For more detailed information about flows, head to our course: Getting started with flows.
Click through the gallery tabs for some ideas of key flows you should create to engage your guests throughout their journey with your restaurant: before, during, and after their dining experience.
Pre-order
Let’s say you have subscribers who have opted into your marketing, and you want to encourage them to visit your restaurant or place an order. Maybe they haven’t done either yet, or maybe it’s just been a while.
There are a number of flows you can create in Klaviyo to help you encourage guests to engage with you online and offline:
- Welcome series (consider using conditional splits to make this location-specific)
- Birthday
- Cross-sell
- Winback
During order
While a guest is in the process of placing an online order or setting up a reservation, focus on elevating their experience to ensure that they complete this action.
You can set up the following flows that engage guests during this part of their journey:
- Order updates (for customers with SMS and Shopify)
- Browse abandonment
- Abandoned order
- Reservation confirmation
Post-order
Once a guest completes their online order or their on-premise reservation, ensure they come back again in the future by engaging them with follow-up messaging that makes them feel valued and appreciated.
Try some of these post-order flows to nurture your guest relationships and encourage them to come back again soon:
Enhance your flows with more tools
Explore the dropdowns below to learn about features available to help you quickly and easily design more effective flows.
Flow library & templates
The Klaviyo Flow library is a comprehensive database of flow templates designed to help you accomplish specific goals. Browse the library for inspiration on new flows to create, and find templates to get started quickly and easily.
To access the Flow library:
- Log into your Klaviyo account.
- Click Flows on the left-hand navigation menu.
- Select Create flow to land in the Flow library.
You can use the search field to find specific templates, or filter by integration type and message channel. You can also browse flows by goal, including encouraging repeat orders, building customer loyalty, and more.
Use Flows AI to design flows in seconds
Have an idea for a new automation, but not sure how to build it yourself? Use Flows AI to generate what you’re looking for in seconds, and then you can make any necessary tweaks after.
To access this AI feature:
- Log into your Klaviyo account.
- Click Flows on the left-hand navigation menu.
- Select Create flow.
- Click Build your own.
- In the side panel that appears, name your flow.
- Select Create with AI. Describe your automation details in the field labeled Describe the flow.
- Click Generate draft, and watch the flow populate before your eyes.
Want to make a few tweaks, Just click Edit in builder to make your changes.
Use conditional splits to send messages via the guest's preferred channel
Adding conditional splits to your flows allows you to create branches of personalized messages.
Conditional splits are criteria you can set which determine the next message someone in the flow receives. An example conditional split might be: has placed an order in the last 30 days. You can then create a message version for those who have placed an order in the last 30 days and for those who haven’t.
Your guests will then move down the path of messages that specifically applies to them; in this example, whether or not they’ve placed an order in the last 30 days.
Consider adding conditional splits to your flows for message type (e.g., email versus SMS), so you can send your guests messages via their preferred channels.
Let’s say you’ve set up a birthday flow that provides guests with 20% off if they place an online order today. You’d like to send this message via SMS for all profiles who have subscribed to receive SMS messages, to get this message in front of them quickly. However, you still want your email-only subscribers to receive the birthday discount as well.
In that case, insert a conditional split after your flow trigger, with the condition:
- If someone can or cannot receive marketing > can receive > SMS marketing.
Any guest who joins the birthday flow and has subscribed to SMS marketing will be sent down the YES path of the flow, while guests who join the flow and are only subscribed to email marketing will be sent down the NO path.
Drag an SMS message under the YES path and an email message under the NO path, and customize your birthday messages from here.