Klaviyo Flow Statuses: Scheduling Your BFCM Activation

A flow tied to a commercial operation has a start and an end. Klaviyo lets you enter them in advance: a flow's status can change at a chosen date and time. This article explains what the three statuses do, how to schedule the change, what becomes of the manual review queue, and what the documentation does not say.

TL;DR. In Klaviyo, a flow message is in Draft, Manual or Live. Draft queues no one, Manual puts profiles in the Needs Review queue without sending anything automatically, and only Live sends automatically. The status of all of a flow's actions can be changed in one go, right away or on a scheduled date, with at least 5 minutes between two changes. Scheduling is not available for date-property triggered flows. When a message goes back from Manual to Live, profiles already in Needs Review receive nothing automatically. In our view, these settings are tested before BFCM on a test flow.

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Three statuses, three behaviors

Klaviyo's pages describe the behavior of each status for a message and for a whole flow (Klaviyo, how to bulk update or schedule flow statuses; Klaviyo, understanding how contacts move through a flow).

Two details matter for an operation. For Manual, the page gives the example of a first message in Manual, followed by a 3-day delay then a second message: the profile receives the second after 3 days, even if the first was not sent by hand. And to schedule a profile while waiting indefinitely before sending, the page says to choose Manual.

The bulk update page adds that, for a flow entirely in Manual, messages and other actions require approval before they are sent or run, with profiles moving along according to the delays (Klaviyo, how to bulk update or schedule flow statuses).

Changing the status of the whole flow at once

In the flow builder, a button at the top right, Review and turn on or Update status, changes the status of all existing actions at once. Klaviyo cites three possible statuses: Draft, Manual or Live. With Review and turn on, only Manual and Live are offered.

If the Flow status options choice appears, you decide between updating right away and scheduling. To schedule, you pick a date, a time and a time zone, then save. A free plan over its active profile limit can neither send emails nor set flow emails Live until it is back under that limit (Klaviyo, how to bulk update or schedule flow statuses).

The rules of scheduling

Klaviyo's page sets the limits of scheduling:

• several changes can be scheduled for different dates and times;
• two changes must be at least 5 minutes apart, otherwise they cannot be saved;
• a scheduled change is edited or deleted with the three-dot menu of the status panel, and a new one is added with Add status change;
• upcoming changes appear in the Flows tab, under the flow's current status;
• the flow history icon lets you review past changes;
• scheduling is not available for date-property triggered flows.

That last point concerns flows like the one in our article on the birthday flow, which is triggered by a date property: changing its status cannot be scheduled.

Three uses for BFCM

Klaviyo's page gives three examples of scheduling: setting a flow live for a promotional event and switching it back to Draft at the end, replacing an old flow with a new one at a specific time, and temporarily setting a flow to Manual while a store undergoes maintenance. For BFCM, this gives the following uses, with our advice.

An operation flow, from launch to end. In our view, two scheduled changes (a switch to Live before the opening, a switch to Draft after the close) keep a "Black Friday" message from going out in January. Our article on the Black Friday waitlist already recommends switching the message back to Draft at the end of the operation. The pages we reviewed say that Draft and Manual both pause sending, and that profiles already in a flow skip messages in Draft. They do not detail the case of a profile already in Waiting for that exact message: test this on a test flow before relying on it.

Replacing a flow. In our view, it is better to schedule the switch from an old flow to its BFCM version, setting the old one to Draft and the new one to Live at the same time, than to edit an active flow a few days before the peak. Our guide to last-minute flows details why an active flow does not catch anyone up.

Setting a flow to Manual during maintenance. Profiles who enter during the maintenance pile up in Needs Review, then the flow goes back to Live at the scheduled time. In our view, the rule described below for a single message also applies after this scheduled return: the profiles in the queue do not go out on their own. The bulk update page does not detail this case, so check it on a test flow.

The Needs Review queue

A message in Manual is active in the flow but nothing goes out automatically at send time: each recipient moves to the Needs Review tab (Klaviyo, how to manually send flow messages to recipients). To count the profiles waiting, you open the message, then Show Analytics. To see them, you go through View details, the Recipient activity tab, then Needs Review.

Each profile can be previewed, sent or canceled individually. The Send All and Cancel All buttons apply to all profiles in Needs Review, regardless of the date range shown. Before sending, Klaviyo checks whether recipients still meet the message's filters, and skips those who no longer do.

One point needs attention: when a message goes from Manual to Live, profiles in the Waiting tab automatically receive it at send time, but those in Needs Review stay there until you act. The page on pausing a message confirms it: if you turn a message set to Manual back to Live, profiles already in Needs Review do not receive it automatically, and you have to review and send them by hand (Klaviyo, how to pause an individual flow message).

In our view, before a late Send All, you reread the content: the contact journey page says a flow uses the version of the message current at send time, including for profiles in Needs Review (Klaviyo, understanding how contacts move through a flow). An expired offer sitting in the queue is removed with Cancel All rather than with a late send.

Pausing a single message

To suspend a message that is currently sending, you change its status in the dropdown on its card, on the flow page (Klaviyo, how to pause an individual flow message). The page only covers messages that are currently Live, and refers to the bulk update for suspending a whole flow.

Both statuses pause sending. Draft also avoids queueing contacts, whereas Manual keeps queueing them, with the option to send to them later. The page recommends Manual if you want to send those messages afterwards.

What the status does not change

Three rules from the contact journey page help you avoid mistakes when you edit an active flow before the peak:

• a changed delay does not reschedule profiles already in Waiting, as our article on last-minute flows describes;
• a step added to an active flow is automatically scheduled for profiles still at an earlier step, but not for those who have already exited;
• deleting a step moves waiting profiles to the next step, except for a split: a profile waiting inside a deleted split, or a deleted path within a split, exits the flow.

To keep the data of an email or SMS without deleting it, the page says you can set the message to Draft.

Checklist before BFCM

These points are Deliver's advice.

1. Each flow in the operation has a start status and an end status, scheduled with time zone and time.
2. Flows triggered by a date property, which cannot be scheduled, have a manual reminder.
3. Two scheduled changes are at least 5 minutes apart.
4. The test flow was used to check the behavior of profiles already waiting at the switch to Draft, and that of the Needs Review queue on return to Live.
5. Messages in Manual are reread before any Send All, and the queue is emptied before the end of the operation.
6. Flows whose delays or steps change are edited before the peak, not during it.
7. The flow history is checked after each change to confirm it happened.

FAQ

Can you schedule a flow's switch to Live and to Draft?

Yes, in the flow builder, with a date, a time and a time zone, and at least 5 minutes between two changes. Scheduling is not available for date-property triggered flows.

What is the difference between Draft and Manual for a flow message?

Both suspend sending. Draft does not queue contacts, whereas Manual queues them in Needs Review, from where they can be sent by hand.

What happens when you switch a message from Manual back to Live?

Profiles in the Waiting tab receive it automatically at send time. Those in Needs Review stay there until you review and send them.

Does Send All send to everyone in the queue?

It applies to all profiles in Needs Review, but Klaviyo checks before sending whether they still meet the message's filters, and skips the others.

How do you see scheduled status changes?

In the Flows tab, under the flow's current status. The history icon lets you review past changes.

Want an outside look at your BFCM flows? We run Q4 readiness audits, or you can talk directly with the Deliver team.