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What Is a Drip Campaign? Here's Everything You Need to Know

Posted by Emily Hegland on November 5, 2020

It’s been said before. 

The right message... to the right person... at the right time. It’s the recipe for a successful conversion. 

Of course, it sounds simple. But how do you find the right audience? How do you deliver that resonant message? How do you ensure it gets to them at the right moment?  

Well... that’s where an email drip campaign can help.  

What is a drip campaign?

A drip campaign is an automated series of emails that push a customer toward a final conversion. Like a dripping faucet, they deliver bits of content one by one, spread out through a period of time. Little by little, a drip campaign tries to entice your prospect with droplets of compelling information... until they want to quench their thirst with more... and ultimately, buy whatever you’re selling.

How does it work?

The automation is based on specific actions. For example, a new prospect enters their email on your website to sign up for your newsletter. It’s good to give them an incentive to do so -- a discount or coupon for signing up is a solid strategy. That could trigger a welcome email... the starting point for your drip campaign.

You can even have different triggers based on actions. So, depending on what the prospect does with email one (opens or not, clicks through or not, etc.), you can respond differently. Send a more promotional stream to the people who engage with your emails and send a re-engagement stream to those that don’t.

And if you end up with prospects who don’t engage with anything, set up an “Opt In” email to keep your list clean. That way, they can choose whether they want to keep hearing from you.

Here’s a simple look at how a drip campaign could work:

This is a simplified version of a drip campaign. You can get ultra-specific and create even more “droplets” than shown here. And best of all, this can be applied to many industries, from retail to financial services... utilities to B2B services... and beyond. You can use it to capture sales leads for your company or to entice customers to make a purchase from your website.

Data-driven Insights

Even though these campaigns are pre-written and mapped out, that doesn’t mean you can’t personalize them. Take a look at some of our tips on hyperpersonalization to see how to make your emails relevant to each person who receives it.

The key here is data. Make sure you capture the information you need in the initial form... but don’t scare off prospects by asking for too much too soon. Start with a name and email. If you’re a B2B company, ask for their email. For retail, feel free to include checkboxes for interests (like specifying “women’s clothes,” “accessories,” “gift ideas,” etc.) that could help your campaign get more specific. Use website traffic and product interests to highlight what your prospect has been looking at. And try to get an idea of who your audience is – beyond simple age and gender demographics. That way, you can create drip campaigns based on “psychographics,” or the way people behave and think. Invest in this kind of analytics and you’ll be able to create drip campaigns that are timely, relevant and properly targeted.

As experts in the science and art of customer engagement, J&C understands the impact of effective email marketing. From welcome email streams to re-engagement strategies, trigger emails to hyper-personalization and beyond, J&C creates email campaigns that get results. If you need help building a successful email campaign, contact J&C today.

Topics: Email Marketing

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