A complete guide to flow triggers, switching logic, and why enabling more flows leads to better results.
Instant AI Flows are automated emails triggered by shopper behaviour. They’re designed to recover lost revenue, increase conversion, and keep your brand front of mind — all with zero manual setup.
Unlike traditional platforms, Instant AI dynamically enrols each shopper into the single most relevant flow based on what they do on your site. You don’t need to worry about conflicts, multiple flows running at once, or shoppers receiving too many emails.
Because of this, we recommend enabling all available flows. The more flows you have turned on, the more opportunities AI has to identify high-intent behaviour and respond with the right message at the right time.
How Flows Work
- Each flow targets a different type of shopper behaviour — like viewing a product, abandoning checkout
- Shoppers are only ever in one flow at a time.
- If someone triggers a higher-intent action after a flow has started, their current flow is automatically cancelled and the new one begins from the start.
- Shoppers will dynamically move between all of your enabled flows, depending on which is most suitable to their latest action
How Flow Timing is Calculated
Instant AI automatically adjusts send times to increase open and conversion rates. This optimisation happens in three stages:
1. Instant Default Timing
Used when a flow is first activated.
- We use industry-tested default delays: 1hr, 24hr, and 72hr
- Once we start to see enough activity amongst your customers, we can begin to personalise your send time logic
- Typically used for the first week, depending on how many emails are sent per flow
2. Site-Wide Average Timing
Once enough data is collected, we calculate the best-performing send times for your store.
- Based on when your existing customer base tend to open and click
- Each flow still sends 3 emails over 7 days, but delays will vary (e.g. 2hr → 28hr → 68hr)
- The delay time may differ for different merchants, depending on the behaviour of your demographic
- This becomes your new default timing for all shoppers, including new shoppers who enroll in their first flow on your site
3. Per-Shopper Personalised Timing
Once we have a site specific average, for returning customers, Instant AI personalises send times based on that specific shopper’s past behaviour.
- We look at the average time of day the shopper opens emails
- Personalise the send time to close to when they typically open emails, to increase your chance of opens
- Every email in a flow may go out at different times for different people, depending on their email habits
- This only applies once a shopper has received enough emails to establish a pattern
You don’t need to do anything to enable this dynamic send times. We’ll auto calculate it and display what time was selected on the email preview.
How are Flows Triggered
Instant AI automatically selects the most relevant, highest-intent flow and ignores all others. This prevents conflicting messages and duplicated emails.
- A shopper can only be in one flow at a time
- If they take a higher-intent action (e.g. abandon checkout after browsing), we:
- Cancel the old flow
- Start the new one from the beginning
Flow logic also handles product content smartly:
- Abandon Browse: Sends about the last product viewed
- Abandon Collection: Sends based on the most recent collection viewed
- Abandon Cart: Includes all items in their cart
- Price Drop: Focuses on the most relevant product viewed or carted in the last 60 days
- Low in Stock / Back in Stock: Always reference a specific, recently interacted product
Breakdown of Available Flows
The flows below are listed in order of shopper intent, from highest to lowest. If a shopper qualifies for multiple flows, the highest-intent option (top of the list) will always take priority.
1. Abandoned Checkout
Trigger: Shopper starts checkout but doesn’t complete
Intent level: Highest
Why use it: Converts high-intent shoppers who were 1 step from buying
Turn off in other tools: Checkout abandonment flows in Klaviyo or similar
Coupons: Automatically applied to this flow based on master coupon rules here
2. Abandoned Cart
Trigger: Shopper adds to cart but doesn’t check out
Intent level: High
Why use it: Recovers sales from interested buyers
Turn off in other tools: Cart recovery flows
Coupons: Automatically applied to this flow based on master coupon rules here.
3. Abandon Browse
Trigger: Shopper views a product but doesn’t add to cart
Intent level: Medium
Why use it: Nurtures early-stage interest
Turn off in other tools: Product view-based flows
Coupons: Automatically applied to this flow based on master coupon rules here
4. Abandon Collection
Trigger: Shopper views a category or collection page
Intent level: Low-medium
Why use it: Drives product exploration
Turn off in other tools: Collection or category page flows
Coupons: Automatically applied to this flow based on master coupon rules here
5. Low in Stock - Coming Soon
Trigger: Product they viewed or carted is almost sold out with less than 5 units available
Why use it: Adds urgency to previously viewed items
Note: Most effective when triggered shortly after a browse or cart action
Coupons: Not applied to this flow
6. Back in Stock - Coming Soon
Trigger: Product they viewed is now available again
Why use it: Brings shoppers back to something they wanted but couldn’t buy
Coupons: Not applied to this flow
7. Price Drop
Trigger: Product they added to cart in the last 60 days has dropped 10% or more in price
Why use it: Converts value-driven shoppers
Note:
- Focuses on a single relevant product — not every item on sale
- If multiple products go on sale, we will notify them on the last product viewed
- We will automatically pick which messaging is the most appealing depending on the sale
- E.g. We’ll calculate the discount amount and alter the messaging according to whether saying $20 off or 50% off will be more appealing for conversions
Coupons: Not applied to this flow
8. Welcome Flow
Trigger: Shopper signs up via an email capture form
Why use it: Introduces your brand, builds trust, encourages first purchase
Note:
- This is the only flow that can run in parallel with others (e.g. a shopper can receive welcome emails while also qualifying for abandonment flows)
- Works automatically if you’re using Klaviyo forms, Alia, or Instant AI’s forms
- Our recommended setup is to use Instant AI forms to handle both capture and email delivery in one flow
- The same email address will be added to both Instant AI and your Klaviyo list if you’re using a third-party form
Coupons: Automatically applied to this flow based on master coupon rules here
9. Win-Back - Coming Soon
Trigger: No activity on site for 30+ days
Why use it: Re-engages lapsed customers
Turn off in other tools: Existing win-back campaigns
Coupons: Not applied to this flow
How to Enable Flows
You can view and manage all flows directly in your Instant AI dashboard.
- Scroll to see which flows are enabled or disabled
- Click into each one to view conversion metrics and performance
- Toggle flows on or off at any time
- Send yourself a preview of any flow email to see what’s going out
How to transition from other Platforms
If you’re using other email platforms like Klaviyo, we recommend pausing any flows that overlap with Instant AI. Because Instant AI sends flows based on shopper behaviour, keeping similar flows active elsewhere can lead to duplicate or conflicting emails. Particularly when other platforms don’t have the same dynamic flow rules, they may enrol shoppers in multiple flows at once.
Here’s what we suggest:
- Check for any live flows in your other platform related to:
- Abandoned cart
- Checkout recovery
- Browse/product views
- Welcome sequences
- Win-back campaigns
- Pause or disable any flows that would send under the same conditions Instant AI already handles.