Published data puts automated flows at roughly 30% to 41% of email revenue while making up only 2% to 5.3% of sends. A common working target is about half from flows and half from campaigns. If flows are far below 30% you are probably missing core automations, and if they carry most of your email revenue you are probably not sending enough campaigns.
A healthy split is somewhere between 40/60 and 50/50, flows to campaigns. Klaviyo's benchmark data shows flows producing nearly 41% of email revenue across its customers, Omnisend's shows 30%, and a common agency target is half and half.
There is no single correct ratio. What matters is that neither side is being carried by the other, and that you know why your number sits where it does.
The difference between flows and campaigns
A campaign is an email you write and send once to a list or segment at a time you choose. A product launch, a weekly newsletter, a sale announcement.
A flow is an automated sequence that sends to one person at a time because of something they did, or did not do. They joined the list, left a cart, bought for the first time, or went quiet. You build it once and it keeps running.
- TriggerStarted checkout, no order
- Wait 1 hour
- Email 1Reminder with the items left behind
- Wait 1 day
- SplitHas ordered before?
- Email 2Answer objections, add reviews
- SMSShort nudge for consented subscribers
The key difference is timing. A campaign goes out when it suits you. A flow goes out when it suits the customer.
What the published data says
Two large platform datasets cover this, and they point the same way with different numbers.
| Source | Flow share of sends | Flow share of email revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo benchmarks, 2026 | 5.3% | Nearly 41% |
| Omnisend 2026 report (2025 data) | 2% | 30% |
Klaviyo's email marketing benchmarks report that flows generated nearly 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends, with campaigns making up the other 94.7% of volume. Klaviyo puts revenue per recipient for flows at nearly 18 times that of campaigns.
Omnisend's 2026 ecommerce marketing report, based on emails sent in 2025, found automated emails were 2% of sends and 30% of email driven revenue. Each automated email earned $2.87 per send against $0.18 for a scheduled campaign, about 16 times more.
The two platforms serve different mixes of stores, so I would not expect the numbers to match. The honest summary is a range: flows bring in roughly 30% to 41% of email revenue from a low single digit share of sends.
There is also a target that is not measured data. In an article on Klaviyo's blog, a Klaviyo partner agency describes aiming for about half of email revenue from flows and half from campaigns. That is higher than either platform average, which makes sense: averages include many accounts with only one or two flows live.
Why flows earn more per send
The chart above uses figures from Klaviyo's benchmark article. Open rates are almost the same for both, 31% for campaigns and 32.2% for flows. The gap opens after the open: flows get more than three times the clicks and about 13 times the placed order rate.
The reasons are not mysterious.
- Intent. A flow reaches someone minutes or hours after they showed interest. A campaign reaches everyone, including people who are not thinking about you today.
- Relevance. The flow email is about the exact product they looked at or the order they just placed.
- Small audience. Flows go to few people, so a handful of orders makes the per send number look large.
- New buyers. Klaviyo reports that nearly 48% of flow revenue comes from new buyers, against 16% for campaigns. Welcome and abandonment flows are doing first purchase work.
Omnisend's report adds that welcome and abandoned cart messages accounted for 76% of all automation generated orders. A small number of flows do most of the earning.
What a healthy mix looks like
I treat the published figures as a floor and the half and half target as the goal. Between 40% and 50% of email revenue from flows is a comfortable place for most stores that send campaigns every week.
Your business model shifts it. Stores with a long consideration period or a high order value tend to lean on abandonment and welcome flows. Stores with frequent launches or a consumable product tend to earn more from campaigns, because there is always a reason to send.
What it means if you are far off
Flows well under 30%
This usually means the basics are missing or broken. Check that welcome, abandoned checkout, abandoned cart, browse abandonment and post purchase flows are live, have more than one email, and are actually triggering. A flow that is live but receives almost nobody is a tracking or filter problem.
Flows carrying most of the revenue
This looks like good news but often means campaigns are neglected. If you send once or twice a month, flows will dominate by default. It can also mean flows are carrying heavy discounts. More regular campaigns to engaged segments usually lift total email revenue here, even though the flow share drops.
A split that swings month to month
That is normal around big sale periods, when campaign revenue spikes. Compare the same month year over year or use a rolling 90 day view.
- Use the same attribution settings for the whole period
- Look at 90 days, not one month
- List which flows are live and how many emails each has
- Check each flow's recipients, not only its revenue
- Count campaigns sent per week and to which segments
- Note any large sale that skews the period
What to do next
Pull flow revenue and campaign revenue for the last 90 days and work out the split. If flows are under 30%, build or repair the core flows before anything else, starting with welcome and abandoned checkout. If flows carry most of your email revenue, set a weekly campaign schedule and stick to it for two months. If you are in the 40% to 50% range, the next gains come from testing inside each flow. And if you want help working out which side is holding you back, book a call and I will go through the account with you.
Questions people ask
What percentage of email revenue should come from flows?
Published platform data puts it at 30% (Omnisend) to nearly 41% (Klaviyo). A common agency target is about half from flows and half from campaigns.
What share of email sends are flows?
A very small share. Klaviyo's benchmarks put flows at 5.3% of sends and Omnisend's report puts automated emails at 2% of sends.
Why do flows make more money per email than campaigns?
They are triggered by behavior, so they reach people at a moment of high intent with a relevant message. Klaviyo reports flow click rates of 5.58% against 1.69% for campaigns.
Should I stop sending campaigns and focus on flows?
No. Flows only fire when people visit, sign up or buy, and campaigns bring subscribers back to the site. In Klaviyo's data campaigns still account for the larger share of email revenue.