> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Lifecycle Funnel, Klaviyo > Lifecycle Funnel, stage by stage. The customer journey from subscriber to repeat purchaser, not the per-send engagement funnel. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained) • **Category:** [Email Marketing](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > The journey, not the send. This funnel tracks people moving from subscriber to first purchase to repeat purchaser, which is a different question from whether one email got opened. ## At a glance > Lifecycle Funnel plots the customer journey through lifecycle stages, for example subscriber, engaged, first purchase, and repeat purchaser, stage by stage. It is deliberately DIFFERENT from the [Engagement Funnel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/engagement-funnel), which is a per-send mechanic: sent, delivered, opened, clicked. The engagement funnel asks "what happened to this email"; the lifecycle funnel asks "where is this customer in their relationship with the brand". The drop-off between lifecycle stages tells you where customers stall: a wide subscriber-to-first-purchase gap is an activation problem, while a wide first-to-repeat gap is a retention problem. Stages are derived from profile and order history rather than from any single campaign. | | | | ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | The count of customers at each lifecycle stage (for example subscriber, engaged, first purchase, repeat purchaser), shown as a descending funnel. | | **API endpoint + statistics field** | Derived from profile state, engagement events and Placed Order history via `GET /api/metrics` and `GET /api/metric-aggregates`, bucketed into lifecycle stages. | | **Attribution model** | A customer-state funnel, not a per-send attribution metric, so the 5-day click and 1-day view window does not gate stage membership. | | **Email vs SMS aggregation** | Channel-agnostic. Stage membership reflects the customer's overall relationship, not which channel reached them. | | **Chart type** | Funnel (descending stages, one bar per stage). | | **Time window** | Selected period (default 30 days) for stage transitions; some stages reflect cumulative profile state. | | **Alert trigger** | A widening drop-off at any single stage transition versus the prior period, for example first-purchase to repeat shrinking. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Klaviyo data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example An illustrative homeware brand on Shopify using Klaviyo. The 30-day window covers 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26. Figures are illustrative and chosen to show stage shape. | Lifecycle stage | Customers | Stage-to-stage conversion | | ------------------------------------ | --------: | ------------------------- | | Subscriber (on list) | 80,000 | - | | Engaged (opened or clicked recently) | 28,000 | 35% of subscribers | | First purchase | 6,200 | 22% of engaged | | Repeat purchaser | 1,500 | 24% of first-time buyers | ```text theme={null} Subscriber -> engaged = 28,000 / 80,000 = 35% Engaged -> first purchase = 6,200 / 28,000 = 22% First purchase -> repeat = 1,500 / 6,200 = 24% ``` What's interesting: 1. **This is not the engagement funnel.** No sent, delivered, opened or clicked rows appear here. These are people at stages of a relationship, derived from profile and order history, not the fate of a single email. Keep the two funnels mentally separate. 2. **The subscriber-to-engaged drop is the activation gap.** Only 35 percent of subscribers are engaged. A large dormant base drags the whole funnel; a welcome flow and re-engagement programme widen the top. 3. **Engaged-to-first-purchase at 22 percent is the conversion stage.** This is where browse-abandonment and first-purchase incentive flows do their work. A weak number here is a content and offer problem, not a list problem. 4. **First-to-repeat at 24 percent is the retention stage.** This is the same loyalty signal that [Repeat Purchasers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/repeat-purchasers) counts as an absolute number. A narrow transition here is the most expensive leak, because re-earning a lost first-time buyer costs more than nurturing them. 5. **Find the narrowest transition and fix that.** Effort spent widening an already-healthy stage returns little. The lifecycle funnel exists to point you at the single stage where customers stall. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Read these alongside Lifecycle Funnel to understand each stage and to keep it distinct from the per-send funnel. | Card | Why pair it with Lifecycle Funnel | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Engagement Funnel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/engagement-funnel) | The per-send funnel (sent, delivered, opened, clicked). Read it to avoid confusing email mechanics with customer lifecycle. | | [Active Subscribers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/active-subscribers) | Sizes the top of this funnel, the subscriber and engaged stages. | | [Predicted CLV Tiers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/predicted-clv-tiers) | Adds a value dimension: which lifecycle stages hold the high-CLV customers. | | [Repeat Purchasers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/repeat-purchasers) | The absolute count behind this funnel's deepest stage. | | [Top Segments by Revenue Send](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/top-segments-by-revenue-send) | Surfaces which segments map to each stage so you can target the narrowest transition. | ## Reconciling against Klaviyo **Where to look in Klaviyo:** Klaviyo does not ship a single lifecycle funnel chart, so this card composes it from segment counts. Build segments under **Audience → Lists & Segments** for each stage (all subscribers, engaged in last 30 days, has placed one order, has placed two or more orders) and read each profile count. Klaviyo's **Analytics → Customers** and any RFM dashboards offer adjacent cohort views. **Why our number may legitimately differ:** | Reason | Direction of divergence | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | **Stage-definition choices.** "Engaged" and "repeat" depend on thresholds (engagement recency, order count). A segment built with different rules counts differently. | Direct function of the definitions used | | **Time zone.** Klaviyo evaluates dates in the account time zone; Vortex IQ defaults to UTC. Boundary transitions can shift. | Small count difference at the window edge | | **Cumulative vs windowed stages.** Some stages reflect cumulative profile state and some reflect transitions in the window. Mixing the two when comparing to Klaviyo segments causes apparent gaps. | Either direction, definition-dependent | | **Profile merging.** Duplicate profiles not yet merged can place one customer in two stages until Klaviyo reconciles them. | Either direction until profiles merge | | **Event coverage.** Stage membership depends on engagement and order events reaching Klaviyo. Integration gaps undercount the lower stages. | Lower stages can understate | ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **How is this different from the Engagement Funnel?** The [Engagement Funnel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/engagement-funnel) tracks one send through sent, delivered, opened and clicked. The Lifecycle Funnel tracks a customer through subscriber, engaged, first purchase and repeat purchaser. One is about email mechanics; the other is about the customer relationship. They answer different questions. **Why doesn't the top of the funnel match my open or click rate?** Because this funnel is not built from a single send. The "engaged" stage reflects recent engagement across all activity, not the opens or clicks on one email. For per-send rates use the engagement funnel. **The stage definitions seem arbitrary. Can I change them?** The thresholds for "engaged" and "repeat" are configurable through the segments that feed each stage. If you change a definition, rebuild the matching Klaviyo segment with the same rule before comparing counts. **My subscriber-to-engaged drop is huge. Is that bad?** A large dormant base is common, especially after aggressive list acquisition. The fix is a strong welcome flow plus a re-engagement programme to widen the engaged stage. It is an activation problem, not necessarily a list-quality problem. **Where does this overlap with Repeat Purchasers?** The funnel's deepest stage is the same population [Repeat Purchasers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/repeat-purchasers) counts. This card shows it as the end of a journey; that card shows it as a single number. **Does channel affect which stage a customer sits in?** No. Stage membership is channel-agnostic and reflects the customer's overall behaviour, whether reached by email, SMS or neither. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Lifecycle Funnel* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Klaviyo and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.