Email Drip Campaigns. What are they and how do they work?

If you have an email account then you have been marketed to via email. This form of marketing when done properly, can be a very effective, and a benefit to both the marketer and the recipient. However, a lot of marketers only think about this tactic from a one off perspective. A single message equals a single marketing campaign. The reality is, these are far less effective than drip campaigns.

What is a drip campaign? To put it simply, it is a predefined series of messages sent to a prospect or customer based on a single trigger or series of events. Here is an example of how a campaign could be planned.

• User registers for a new customer account.
• They are sent an email acknowledging their subscription and asks them to confirm their email address.
• 24 hours later the user receives an email explaining the value benefit of the service and why they should continue to use the service.
• 48 hours later, if the user has not yet confirmed their email address, they receive a follow up reminder.
• 7 days after registration the user receives a survey asking them to provide feedback on the service.

This type of campaign is effective in keeping the brand top of mind with the user while keeping the messaging relevant to them and their activity. Amazon is incredible at this form of marketing. They track what you have looked, what you have placed on your wish list and what you have purchased. They can then simply provide dynamic offers and reminders that are completely relevant to your interests and past behaviors.

Here are the four most important things to consider when creating a drip campaign.

1) What are you trying to accomplish?
This may sound obvious but what is your business objective for the campaign? Are you trying to create awareness, drive immediate sales or push someone down a purchase funnel?

2) What messaging would be most relevant?
Just sending someone an email every week and calling a drip campaign won’t be effective if the messaging isn’t relevant to the target. Make sure that what you are communicating to them is going to entice them to read the message and then ultimately convert based on the predefined objectives.

3) Timing and frequency are key
Sending someone an email six months after they created an account but never activated it is probably not worth your while. However, weekly notifications on discounts for a recently shopped product category is. It is important to remember however that there is such a thing as too frequent messages. A splash of water in the face every once in awhile is a great way to get someones attention but continual drips is like Chinese Water Torture. Over saturation of messaging will dramatically increase your opt-outs and give customers a negative opinion of your brand.

4) Analyze and Modify
Even the best planned campaign may not create the results we had hoped for. That’s why continually analyzing your campaigns for effectiveness is key to long term success. See which messages have the best response rate and modify or eliminate those key elements that are not driving engagement.

If you have any questions or would like to add your own ideas please comment below.