Drip campaign

As marketers and sales reps, we often have to do more with less investment. But what if there’s a way to boost revenue without expanding your budget? You can get more engagement and sales conversions by enhancing your email outreach efforts with drip campaigns. That’s a powerful tool that allows you to do more with less.

But what are drip campaigns, and what is an email drip campaign? Read on to learn more about drip campaign definition, their types, and examples. 

What is a drip campaign?

A drip campaign is a series of pre-designed, automated messages sent to potential customers or subscribers over time. They can be delivered through email, SMS, or social media, email being the most common channel.

An email drip campaign, meaning a chain of scheduled emails, usually follows a predetermined timeline. Messages are automatically sent one by one at specific intervals triggered by a recipient’s response to the previous email.

WHAT IS THE DRIP email? That’s a single message in the set carefully crafted to provide value and build relationships. Each email gently guides recipients toward desired actions, like making a purchase or signing up for a service.

Drip email campaigns fit into various stages of the customer journey. Whether you aim to onboard new clients, promote products, or re-engage inactive subscribers, drip campaigns enhance your marketing efforts. They make your communication automated, personalized, and more efficient.

For example, with the Snov.io cold email software, you can create engaging drip campaigns using advanced technology:

• Search email addresses to create a high-quality contact list.
• Send automated emails with trigger-based follow-ups and real-time notifications.
• Personalize each email and A/B test to choose the best ones.
• Nurture leads cross-channel with smart LinkedIn actions (profile views, connection requests, and much more).
• Analyze performance and gain valuable insights from detailed reports.

Why drip marketing is essential for your business growth

According to Litmus, email marketing boasts an impressive ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, outperforming any other channel. But if you send emails sporadically and don’t consider your audience’s preferences, you might lose your prospects one by one. You should develop a system for sending regular, personalized emails that bring value. And this is where drip marketing campaigns come to the rescue. 

Here are the most evident reasons why developing an effective email drip campaign strategy matters for your business:

Lead nurturing

Based on the 2023 Lead Nurturing & Acceleration Benchmark Survey, lead nurturing practices may grow your sales opportunities by 30%. Email drip campaigns you’ll regularly send to your leads will help them better understand your products or services. A result? Their journey throughout the sales funnel will become quicker and smoother.

→ Learn more about the art of lead nurturing from this quick guide. 

Communication automation

Drip campaigns are easily automated, saving you time and improving your metrics. According to Omnisend, automated messages may result in a 2270% increase in conversion rate! Just set them up once, and they’ll run smoothly with little effort, ensuring consistent communication. 

Content personalization

Studies show that 71% of users would better interact with emails if they looked personalized. In email drip campaigns, you can add this personal touch to every email based on the recipient’s demographics or interests. Moreover, drip marketing campaigns may supply your prospects with relevant content based on the specific stage in the sales cycle. This can be recent product updates, educational guides, case studies, etc.

Increased engagement

Drip campaigns, which you stuff with promotions, special offers, or valuable content, can boost engagement tremendously. For instance, studies show that videos embedded into emails may increase click-through rates by 65%. 

Customer retention

Drip email campaigns may favor customer loyalty. By regularly sending drips of engaging content to your customers, you maintain strong relationships that will last long. Isn’t that one of the top priorities on your way to growing a successful business?

Data-driven decision-making

Drip marketing campaigns let you track and analyze the performance of your email sequences. By measuring open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and other key metrics, you can understand how effective your emails are. This data provides valuable insights into your prospects’ preferences and behaviors, informing your marketing strategies and decision-making. 

Sales scaling

Email drip campaigns can be designed with specific goals, such as driving sign-ups, conversions, and sales. According to Salesmate, companies that use drip marketing emails generate 80% more sales and can bring in over 7x revenue. Impressive stats, right?

How to create a successful drip campaign

Ready to boost sales with email drip campaigns but unsure where to start? Here is step-by-step guidance on how to craft a killer drip campaign:

1. Define your goals
2. Identify your target audience
3. Create valuable content
4. Design the drip campaign
5. Automate your drip sequences
6. Personalize your emails
7. Test and optimize
8. Keep an eye on your KPIs
9. Ensure compliance

1. Define your goals

Start by setting clear sales objectives your drip campaign will align with. What are you trying to achieve?

Here’s a little list of things to ask yourself before you get down to work:

• Do you want to find new leads?
• Are you looking to smoothly onboard users?
• Is increasing user engagement among existing leads your priority?
• Do you wish to upsell or cross-sell?

2. Identify your target audience

Now, think about who you want to reach with your drip email campaign. Then, segment your list thoroughly based on relevant criteria, including demographics, purchase history, engagement level, or other factors.

WHY SEGMENTATION IS SO IMPORTANT According to the Hubspot report, such emails drive 30% more opens and 50% more clickthroughs than unsegmented ones.

Create valuable content

This might include educational emails, exclusive offers, discounts, promotions, or other incentives. Make sure your content is informative and relevant to your audience, being also aligned with your sales goals.

4. Design the drip campaign

Plan your campaign based on your sales goals and audience preferences, considering frequency, timing, and email order. For example, a typical drip campaign starts with a welcome email and is followed by a series of nurturing emails. This sequence is crowned up with promotional emails.

5. Automate your drip sequences

Sending email drip campaigns to multiple users manually is next to impossible. That’s why it’s crucial to automate the process. Automation boosts efficiency, saves time, and can even increase your campaign’s profitability.

AUTOMATION INSIGHTS According to a recent report from Litmus, 36% of marketers want to create more automated emails in the next 12 months. Modern drip email automation tools do wonders, allowing you to create workflows, set triggers, customize content, and more. For instance, with the Snov.io cold email tool, you can create personalized campaigns, automate follow-ups, and perform A/B testing. This drip marketing automation solution offers a FREE plan with all the needed features to help you build lasting customer relationships. This drip marketing automation solution offers a FREE plan with all the needed features to help you build lasting customer relationships.

6. Personalize your emails

According to Marigold’s 2023 Global Consumer Trends Index, nearly half of the surveyed consumers feel frustrated by irrelevant content (49%), messaging that doesn’t reflect their want and needs (42%), and poorly timed communications (24%).

That means you should personalize your emails to make them more engaging. Customize them based on your audience’s preferences, behaviors, and interests. Use personalized subject lines, salutations, and dynamic content that speaks directly to your recipients.

BUT HOW TO AUTOMATE A CAMPAIGN AND YET MAKE IT HIGHLY PERSONALIZED?

Luckily, modern email marketing tools allow sending bulk messages yet making them relevant to every prospect in your list. For instance, with Snov.io cold software, you can build and automate complex chains of messages using personalization variables. They’ll autofill necessary contact information just on the go while your emails are flying to the prospect’s inbox.

You can choose among default variables, customize them, or apply more advanced features, such as dynamic content and Spintax.

7. Test your drip campaign

Continually test and optimize your drip campaign. Experiment with subject lines, content, CTAs, timing, and other elements to discover what appeals to your audience. Use the insights from your testing to make data-driven improvements and drive better sales outcomes.

8. Keep an eye on your KPIs

Monitor email KPIs to assess your campaign’s performance and pick the elements you need to optimize.

Here are a few crucial metrics to watch:

• Open rate: 20% and a higher open rate indicates a well-optimized email drip campaign.
• Click-through rate: Aim to grow this metric as it reflects the effectiveness of your email copy and content.
• Reply rate: High open rates with low replies could signal copywriting issues or a lack of personalization.
• Bounce rate: If your bounce rate is high, review your list and verify the accuracy of your contacts.
• Unsubscribe rate: Track when people drop out of your drip campaign and improve the content to minimize unsubscribes.

HOW TO TRACK EMAIL DRIP CAMPAIGNS WITH YOUR AUTOMATION TOOL?
Snov.io cold email software lets you track engagement metrics — emails sent, opens, clicks, replies, bounces, unsubscribes — both overall and for individual variants.

View and download a statistics report for any selected period to monitor your drip campaign’s performance at all times. This will allow you to determine how to adjust your drips to attain the desired results.

What’s more, with Snov.io Email Deliverability Tool, you can quickly find up why your emails perform not so well as expected. You can test your spam rate, get content improvement recommendations, and warm up your account for better KPIs in future campaigns.

9. Ensure compliance

Double-check that your drip marketing campaign adheres to relevant laws and regulations, such as anti-spam and data privacy rules. Compliance is crucial for protecting your sender reputation and maintaining a successful performance over time.

Top drip campaign examples to fuel your email marketing strategy

Need some inspiration for your drip campaign? In this part, we’ll provide you with the most common types of email campaigns. Each of them will be followed with examples from those who’ve already mastered the art of drip marketing.

Types of drip campaigns:

• Welcome campaign
• Onboarding campaign
• Educational campaign
• Roundup newsletter campaign
• Curated content campaign
• Top-of-mind campaign
• Promotional campaign
• Product launch campaign
• Post-demo campaign
• Event invitation campaign
• Re-engagement campaign
• Post-purchase campaign
• Survey campaign
• Unsubscribe campaign
• Social proof campaign

Welcome campaign

First impressions count! When new contacts join your list, make them feel special with a warm welcome email thanking them for signing up. A series of welcome emails goes a long way to show prospective customers you care. Not surprisingly, 72% of all email campaigns launched are welcome emails, according to Mailmodo. At Snov.io, we always try to make a lasting impression right from the initial “Hi! We start our welcome email marketing campaign with a message that warmly greets potential customers and explains the next steps:

Why it works:

• Each email follows the logical steps a user should complete. So, the whole welcome drip campaign guides new leads to the desired goal smoothly and clearly.
• The overall design isn’t cluttered with too many CTAs. The ones used are visually appealing and immediately grab attention.

Onboarding campaign

If new sign-ups need more training on how to use your tool, a good onboarding drip campaign will always save the day. Your mission here is to spotlight the basic features. Plus, you should suggest steps to give users a taste of what your product or service can do.That’s what Moz does in its onboarding drip email. It welcomes new users into the Moz community and showcases some of the tool’s best features. A great way to get newbies excited and ready to explore, isn’t it?

Why it works:

• The first drip email provides clear, handy next steps for getting started so users won’t feel overwhelmed.
• The message helps potential leads quickly understand the product’s value, making the onboarding process smoother and more engaging.
• Welcoming new users into the community fosters a sense of belonging and support. It encourages them to explore your business further and feel more confident using the product.

Educational campaign

You may have already introduced your clients to your business, but they might still need more details about your product. To prevent customers from dropping off due to a lack of information, deliver it through a timely educational drip campaign!

Asana, for instance, uses a drip model to send emails outlining its service offerings and their benefits. This is a fantastic opportunity to address frequently asked questions among its clientele.

Why it works:

• The drip email thoroughly explains what to do with the product that is offered.
• Comprehensive guidelines accompanied by visuals give users confidence in the product they are dealing with.

Roundup newsletter campaign

Regular newsletters help businesses connect with potential and existing customers and grow. As an option, you can send weekly roundups of your best blog content to keep your audience engaged. That’s a strategy Reactful follows, consistently supplying their readers with weekly digests of their best guides:

Why it works:

• The drip email acknowledges the audience’s limited time and presents a solution to save it. That’s how Reactful creates value by removing the need for users to search for CRO insights on their own.
• Each article on the list is supported by brief hooking descriptions. They focus on the benefits and reasons the reader should engage with the content.
• The CTA at the bottom invites readers to share their favorite articles or learn more about Reactful. It subtly encourages interaction without being too intrusive.

Curated content campaign

This type of campaign is an excellent way to share valuable content from various sources with your subscribers. And you don’t need to invent it from scratch. Simply collect links to relevant articles, videos, or other resources that would resonate with your audience’s interests. Then, add these pieces to your campaign and enjoy how it extends into months or years.

Just take a look at how Email on Acid targets its audience with valuable content wrapped up into the drip campaign:

Why it works:

• The message and its design speak directly to the interests of the niche audience — email developers and marketing professionals. This makes the content highly relevant and engaging.
• The email includes both links to a video episode and catchy blog articles. Such a mix of interactive formats would appeal to different preferences, keeping the audience interested.

Top-of-mind campaign

Don’t let your prospects forget about you. Top-of-mind drip email campaigns keep you on their radar by reminding them of your offerings. Send these emails if prospects haven’t interacted with your site for a while or just need a bit of nudge.

For example, to stay connected with its users, Zombies Run sends motivational messages celebrating personal running records. Their soulful drip emails not only fill runners with encouragement but also keep them delighted with the app.

Why it works:

• Kind congratulations make users feel included in the Zombies Run community, motivating them to engage further with the app.
• The overall message appeals to both users’ visual and emotional senses. The crumpled paper effect makes it feel more human, while the childish drawings evoke sweet memories from the past.
• Emails are customized for all members of the community who play the fitness game.  As you can see, this message addresses Runner Five.

Promotional campaign

Promotional drip campaigns featuring limited-time offers, deals, or sales can work wonders for boosting engagement and sales. Dangle irresistible ‘carrots’ like free trials, promo codes, or flash sales in front of your prospects. Everyone loves feeling they’ve scored a great deal!

But you may say: “Okay, in e-commerce, it’s a widespread practice. But what can a B2B marketer do if there’s no Black Friday ahead to share coupons and discounts?” Be creative like 1973 Ltd marketing agency! They cleverly used humor in both the subject line and the drip email content to keep readers hooked:

Why it works:

• The intriguing question in the subject line grabs attention and makes recipients curious, hence more eager to look inside.
• The email’s design and content align perfectly with the “darkness” and “scary” theme, creating a cohesive and engaging experience for the reader.
• The humor is tailored specifically to the company’s audience: email marketers and sales professionals.

BE CAUTIOUS We recommend you make sure the type of humor you use suits your audience. Beware of sending such emails to those who might misunderstand your intent.

Product launch campaign

This drip campaign type is designed to build excitement and guide potential customers through the product release process. It’s typically used in the lead-up to, during, and after a product launch to keep the audience engaged and informed.

At Snov.io, we often encourage users to try our products before they are officially launched. Customers love exploring new features and participating in the improvement of our tools. Recently, for example, we’ve started our product launch campaign related to the soon rollout of our new product – Search Booster:

Why it works:

• The drip email starts by addressing a common pain point in prospecting — finding leads in a narrow niche. This immediately resonates with the target audience, grabbing their attention and making the solution feel relevant.
• Offering the expanded searches for free during the beta test adds a sense of urgency. The prominent CTA button guides readers to test the feature here and now without any risk, growing chances for engagement.
• The conversational tone makes the email feel approachable and easy to read.

Post-demo campaign

After a product demo, it’s important to keep the momentum going. A post-demo email drip campaign helps to follow up with potential customers and answer any lingering questions. Plus, it’s your opportunity to recap the prospect’s pain points and reinforce the value of your product or service.

Take a look at the example of the first message of a post-demo campaign from Amaro:

Why it works:

• This drip email highlights the main points discussed in the demo, keeping the prospect in focus.
• It interweaves the demo summary with the current prospect’s problems, implicitly pressing their painful buttons again.
• The message offers further steps, encouraging prospects to proceed with the purchase.

In the follow-up emails of your post-demo drip marketing campaign, you can restate your features and include case studies, testimonials, and detailed explanations. This would significantly increase the chances of converting demo attendees into paying customers.

Event invitation campaign

Does your business arrange marketing or sales events for lead generation? A good event invitation campaign may become a handy accompaniment. 

Start it with a save-the-date message, followed by reminders with added incentives like early registration discounts or exclusive content access. After the event, send a wind-up email to thank attendees for participating and request their short feedback.

Event invitation campaigns are a great way to maintain engagement and attract more prospects to your product or service. Not a surprise so many B2B companies love these campaigns. Recently, I’ve got one from Ambition inviting me to participate in the Peak Sales Coaching Summit. Just look how compelling this drip is:

Why it works:

• The message provides all the essential information — date, time, location, and cost — in a clear and organized manner. This makes it easy to understand the event’s logistics at a glance.
• The company offers a 50% discount, but how! The playful “Shhhhh” with a respective emoji adds a casual, friendly touch that feels like a secret perk.
• The chance to win a spot at an exclusive VIP dinner makes the experience more appealing and prestigious, motivating early sign-ups.

→ Learn how Snov.io may help you with lead generation from this post. 

Re-engagement campaign

Have got a cold prospect? Time to heat things up! Re-engage with your prospects using a casual “Hey, haven’t heard from you for ages” or a formal invitation to reconnect. Sometimes, you may need to retarget them with a different approach. In any case, the ultimate goal is to turn prospects into engaged clients.

See how Webflow does it in their re-engagement drip emails:

Why it works:

• The company’s drip campaign features eye-popping statistics: “Since we last saw you, 10,234 designers started using our CMS.” That’s quite impressive, especially for those in the design industry who must stay ahead of the curve.
• Bold typography and striking design elements, like an accompanying video, catch the eye and keep subscribers interested.

→ Learn more about how to win back lost customers with re-engagement emails. 

Post-purchase campaign

Courting prospects is crucial, but having existing customers come back is more important. They are more likely to make future purchases with you than your would-be clients. The good news is that you can charm this part of your audience again with effective post-purchase email marketing campaigns!

And when it comes to B2B marketing, the most efficient strategies are cross-selling or upselling. Take a look at the upselling email from Grammarly, for instance:

Why it works:

• With a bold 20% discount in the spotlight and the attention-grabbing call-to-action, it’s hard to miss the offer.
• The message highlights the exclusive features of the premium version, making the upgrade feel more desirable.
• A side-by-side comparison of the free and premium versions helps users understand why upgrading is worth it.

Survey campaign

These drip campaigns look similar to the post-purchase cadences, where you ask new customers for feedback about your product. However, survey emails can be sent at any time, not necessarily after the purchase. You can survey event attendees’ impressions, request client reviews, ask about audience preferences, etc.

To motivate more people to complete a survey, offer them compelling incentives like discounts, exclusive content, or giveaway entry. Or you can borrow a smart strategy from Slack, which resorts to some clever psycho-tricks in its campaign drips:

Why it works:

• The email emphasizes that a user has been chosen among the rest, creating the feeling of exclusiveness.
• The overall tone is super polite, making the reader feel they’re treated with honor.
• The message mentions how many minutes the survey will take, setting a clear timeframe for the respondent.

Unsubscribe campaign

Breaking up is hard, but sometimes, people just need a little space. The truth is, when someone unsubscribes from your drip campaign, they might not want to cut ties completely. They might just want fewer emails or prefer to follow you on social media instead. 

A link to a “Sorry to see you go” webpage or a message offering alternative ways to stay connected might prevent people from disengaging entirely.

And who said your emails within the unsubscribe campaign should be boring? Take the example of BetaList company, which used a well-known cartoon reference in their message:

Why it works:

• Cultural references are a universal language people react to. BetaList used a famous “Toy Story” shot as an irresistible visual cue to get users back.
• The P.S. section creates an urgency effect to encourage users to change their opinion and mentions the business is ready to improve.
• Finally, the prominent CTA button allures those who unsubscribed to subscribe again — a logical crowning touch for the email, isn’t it?

→ Learn how to reduce the number of unsubscribed contacts from this post.

Social proof campaign

Social proof is key — it’s like getting a thumbs-up from others to reassure new or hesitant users. To motivate prospects to try your solution, add some real customer success stories as testimonials to your drip campaign.

Thumbtack is a pro at this approach. The first message of their drip campaign shows a happy customer experience, followed by a short list of their benefits. This combo makes for a compelling pitch, demonstrating the power of social proof in action.

Why it works:

• The message displays a brief video – the content users adore so much these days.
• People trust the opinions of others. Real customer stories and testimonials make the product more credible, reducing prospects’ skepticism and building trust in your business.

Social proof in such email drips also helps to build an emotional connection. By seeing happy customer experiences, prospects feel more confident and optimistic about choosing your product.

Need more ideas for your drip campaigns? Consider our other posts on the topic.

Wrapping up

Whether you’re looking to nurture leads, re-engage customers, or provide educational content, drip campaigns are a wonderful tool in any marketer’s arsenal. In this post, we’ve done our best to tell you:

• What is a drip campaign
• Why drip campaigns work
• How to craft a winning drip campaign

We also shared the most common types of campaigns and provided top examples to enrich your insights. Now, it’s time to implement everything into your routine. Automate your sales and marketing strategy with the Snov.io drip email service and enjoy higher engagement and more conversions!