Email Drip Campaign: The Secret To Automated Marketing Success

When an email user opens up their inbox one morning and sees an email from a random shoe or cologne brand asking them to buy products, it’s fairly certain they would immediately delete the email, at least. This is because springing a sales pitch on someone all of a sudden is rude and rarely works.

Imagine if you could talk to a potential lead via email and work your way towards a conversion. That is exactly what an email marketing drip campaign helps you do — you can warm up an email marketing subscriber, build a relationship, personalize your sales pitch, and then convert them.

Let’s learn all about this wonderful email marketing strategy and discuss ways in which it can benefit you.

Drip Marketing Explained

Drip marketing or drip email content marketing is a strategy that involves sending a series of pre-planned, automated messages or email content to a targeted group of recipients over a specified period of time. The term “drip” refers to the gradual and consistent delivery of these messages — like water dripping from a faucet.

Drip marketing is typically used in email marketing, but it can also encompass other channels such as:

What Is an Email Drip Campaign?

When you use email communication to execute a drip emailing campaign, it is called an email drip campaign. The goal of an automated email drip campaign is to disperse information to a group of subscribers in a slow and controlled manner.

Such campaigns use automation to deliver a series of targeted emails over a predetermined time period. There are numerous use cases — for example, a campaign to upgrade membership levels for a credit card or an automated legal drip campaign.

Different types of email campaigns fall under the drip campaign umbrella term, such as:

Characteristics of Automated Drip Campaigns

Check out the key features of email drip campaigns:

Lead nurturing: You can utilize email drip campaigns to nurture leads and guide them through the email marketing funnel. They provide a sequence of well-timed and relevant content designed to build trust, educate prospects, and prompt specific actions, such as making a purchase or seeking further information.
Onboarding: For new customers or subscribers, drip email marketing campaigns offer a structured onboarding process. They help these individuals become familiar with your products or services, help them get started, and make the initial interaction a positive one.
Email engagement: You can keep your existing customers engaged through drip campaigns. By consistently delivering suitable content and enticing offers, you can maintain engagement and encourage repeat business.
Email personalization: You can send mass personalized emails by tailoring the content of your emails to match your recipient’s preferences, behavior, and position in the customer journey. Personalized messages tend to be more effective and resonate better with the audience.
Email marketing automation: Email drip campaigns rely on drip email marketing automation to schedule and send messages at predefined intervals based on triggers or a predetermined schedule. This means you don’t have to intervene manually and ensures recipients receive the right messages at the right times.
Analytics and optimization: You can use analytics to track the email performance of drip campaigns, tracking email open rates, click-through rates, email marketing conversion rates, and more. Use this data to fine-tune the email content and timing for better results.

The adaptability and versatility of email drip campaigns make them a valuable tool for guiding them toward specific marketing objectives.

What Are Drip Emails?

Drip emails are automated sequences of pre-written messages sent to email subscribers over a set period. They are typically part of a drip feed campaign. Triggered by specific actions (such as signing up) or timelines, they deliver relevant content progressively.

Drip emails aim to nurture leads, onboard users, or re-engage contacts without manual intervention.

How Many Emails Should Be in a Drip Campaign?

There’s no magic number for emails in marketing automation drip campaigns. The optimal quantity depends entirely on your specific goals, the complexity of your message, and your audience’s engagement.

Campaigns often range from 4 to 11 emails, spaced appropriately to achieve the objective without annoying subscribers.

Slow Email Drip

A slow email drip refers to an automated email sequence where the emails are sent out with significantly longer intervals between them compared to a standard drip email marketing campaign. Instead of days, the spacing might be weeks or even months apart.

This approach is typically used for:

Long-term nurturing: Keeping leads warm over extended sales cycles without being intrusive.
Complex education: Delivering in-depth information or training modules gradually over a longer period.
Maintaining awareness: Staying connected with an audience (like past customers or low-priority leads) infrequently but consistently.
Re-engagement: Gently attempting to reconnect with dormant subscribers over time.

The key idea is gradual, less frequent communication designed for objectives that unfold over a longer timeframe.

Email Campaign vs Email Drip or Flow

Let’s clarify two fundamental email marketing concepts that are often confused.

The following table compares email campaigns and email drips or flows. It will help understand the key differences in purpose, automation, triggers, and timing and when to use each strategy effectively.

Feature	Email Campaign	Email Drip or Flow
Definition	An email campaign consists of a coordinated set or series of emails, sometimes just a single blast.	An email drip or flow is an automated sequence composed of pre-written emails.
Primary goal	Its primary goal is often to promote a specific event, offer, or product, or to announce news.	Its primary goals include nurturing leads, onboarding new users, or reacting to specific user behavior.
Trigger	Campaigns are frequently triggered manually, by specific calendar dates, or broader marketing initiatives.	Drips are automatically triggered by specific user actions, periods of inaction, or relevant dates.
Timing	Campaign emails are typically sent to defined segments at specific, pre-set times.	Flow emails are sent based on the individual user’s unique timeline and the specific trigger point they met.
Automation	While campaigns can incorporate automation elements, they are often manually initiated.	Drips are inherently automated; once configured, they run continuously in the background.
Duration	A campaign typically has a defined start and end date.	Flows will continue to run indefinitely as long as users meet the necessary trigger criteria.
Scope	The scope of a campaign is usually broader, focusing on group-level communication for a specific purpose.	Communication within a drip or flow is designed to be highly personalized, based on specific behavior.
Example	Common examples include a Black Friday sale series or a monthly newsletter blast.	Common examples include a welcome sequence for new subscribers, or a user onboarding tutorial sequence.

Email Campaign vs Email Drips

Next, let’s look at use cases for email drip campaigns.

When to Use Email Drip Campaigns

Since the main goal of email drip campaigns is to feed information to your subscribers slowly and strategically, you can use certain points in the sales funnel to kickstart the campaign.

Here are 6 examples:

Trigger	Explanation
Subscription or sign-up	When a user signs up, you can use a drip campaign to welcome them and introduce different products
Abandoned cart	A lead that abandons a cart is a hot lead. You should use a series of emails to push them towards completing the purchase process.
Product purchase	Once a purchase is complete, it’s a great opportunity for you to build a relationship with the customer and also inform them of delivery details or other related products they may be interested in.
Lead magnet download	If they’re interested in your lead magnets, they’re interested in your content and your products/services. You can create an email drip campaign to engage these warm leads.
Webinar registration	Using a drip campaign to convert your webinar signups often gets great results.
Product or service interest	If your website analytics tell you about a lead who is interested in a product or service, you can use a drip campaign to inform them of benefits, use cases, offers, and more, to attract them toward the point of conversion.

Triggers for email drip campaigns

You can send trigger emails for the scenarios above; depending on your industry, different triggers can perform much better than others.

How to Use Different Email Drip Campaigns

There are several types of email drip campaigns, each designed to achieve specific goals and engage with recipients in distinct ways.

Here are 5 common examples of drip campaigns and how to use them:

Welcome series: You can use this type of drip campaign when a new subscriber or customer joins your email list or signs up for your service. It typically consists of a series of emails that introduce the recipient to your brand, products, or services, and helps them get started.
Lead nurturing campaign: These drip campaigns educate and engage leads over time. Lead nurturing tracks user behavior and provides relevant content and information to move prospects through your sales funnel and ultimately convert them into customers.
Abandoned cart email: When a user adds items to their online shopping cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, you can trigger an abandoned cart recovery email sequence. These emails aim to entice the recipient to return and complete their purchase.
Post-purchase: You can use a post-purchase drip campaign to make your customers feel special about doing business with you. Send emails thanking them for their purchase and update them on post-purchase steps (like delivery updates); this is excellent for brand goodwill.
Re-engagement campaign: Run a re-engagement email campaign to win back inactive subscribers or customers. This drip campaign can rekindle interest and encourage your recipients to become more active or make a purchase.

The choice of the email drip campaign type depends on your specific marketing goals and the needs of your audience. You can use different campaign types in combination to create a comprehensive email marketing strategy that guides your subscribers toward desired actions.

Less Popular But Effective Drip Campaigns

You don’t have to stick to the greatest hits; depending on your industry, you may achieve excellent results from the below campaign types as well.

Product onboarding,
Educational email series,
Feedback request,
Drip campaigns for related or new products.

Let’s expand on these drip campaign types.

If you have a complex product or service, a product onboarding email series helps new customers get started. It provides guidance on how to use your product, highlights key features, and offers helpful tips and resources.

Educational email drip campaigns provide your recipients with a series of informative and educational content. These can establish your authority in a specific industry, showcase customer testimonials, and build trust with your audience.

Asking for feedback can make your subscribers feel valued. These emails help gather feedback or survey responses from your customers. You may follow up with reminders and express gratitude for their input.

You can employ email drips for various purposes, including cross-selling related products, announcing product restocks, and promoting new products.

You can always test out these drip campaigns to see if they receive good engagement from your subscribers. Different drip flows can bring interesting results, depending on your industry.

Benefits of Email Drip Campaigns

Email drip campaigns are a perfect way to guide your lead through a sales funnel.

Let’s see why using drip mail campaigns makes so much sense for your business:

Superior engagement: By having a logical flow to your emails, you are sending emails that your customer is more likely to engage with. By sending personalized and relevant content, you are greatly improving your chances of email opens and clickthroughs.
Lead nurturing: By sending emails as a reaction to behavioral triggers, you are approaching your customers at a critical point in the sales funnel. By implementing a follow up drip campaign, you can provide information or offer an incentive to nudge a subscriber toward a purchase.
Brand recall: It’s not all about conversions; you can use drip email campaigns to remind your customers about your brand and keep your products fresh in their memory.
Reviving inactive subscribers: Drip campaigns are the best way to re-engage your inactive subscribers and potentially loop them back into your sales funnel. You can create a campaign that highlights the value of your products/services, or you can also collect feedback on what turned them away from your business. At the very least, it’s a learning experience!
Automated process: An email drip campaign is an excellent example of marketing automation. You don’t have to track every move your customers make and come up with a sales pitch; you can set triggers, write your content, and let your emails do the work. In sales, timing is everything, and email drip campaigns work even when you’re sleeping.
Better understanding of your customers: The best feature of drip email campaigns is the information they give you on your end users. By analyzing the performance of your campaigns, you can get an excellent insight into what works for your customers and what doesn’t.

Sold on the idea of email drip sequences yet? Let’s learn how to create one next!

How to Set Up an Email Drip Campaign

Creating email drip campaigns involves careful planning, content creation, and strategic execution. Here are the steps you can take to create the best drip email campaigns.

Define Your Campaign Goals, Audience, and Triggers

Before setting up an email drip campaign, it’s crucial to establish clear objectives. What do you want to achieve with this campaign? Are you aiming to nurture leads, onboard new customers, re-engage dormant subscribers, or promote a product?

Once you’ve identified your goals and clearly defined the behaviors that will trigger the drip sequences, define your target audience. Implement an email segmentation strategy to ensure your messages are relevant. Understanding your audience is fundamental to the success of your drip campaign!

Plan Your Email Sequence

Determine the content and structure of your email drips. Outline the number of emails, the timing between each email, and what content each message should contain. Consider the email marketing customer journey and what information is most valuable at each stage of the drip email campaign workflow.

Your first email can be a warm welcome, followed by educational content, product recommendations, and calls to action. Personalization can be a powerful tool to influence your reader, so prepare your content with your recipient’s needs and preferences in mind.

Create Engaging Email Content

This stage is where you design and write content for your campaign emails.

Write compelling email subject lines to grab recipients’ attention, and ensure your email copywriting is clear and concise. Add visual elements, like images or videos, wherever appropriate. Include eye-catching graphics or branding elements.

Don’t forget to add effective email CTAs to each message in the email drip sequence; these guide recipients toward the desired actions, whether it’s clicking a link, making a purchase, or requesting more information. Ensure your content is suitable for mobile email marketing, as many recipients check emails on their mobile devices.

Set Up Automation Rules and Triggers

Within your chosen email marketing platform, set up drip email automation rules for your campaign.

Configure triggers for each email in the sequence, specifying when the emails should be sent. Triggers can be based on actions, such as sign-ups, purchases, website visits, or time-based intervals.

Don’t forget about email A/B testing best practices; test the automation in every way possible, to ensure it functions as intended, and create fallbacks in case recipients don’t take the expected actions.

Monitor and Analyze

After launching your email drip campaign, closely monitor its performance. Track key email campaign metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and email unsubscribe rates. Use analytics to gain insights into how recipients are engaging with your emails.

Based on this data, make data-driven adjustments to improve your campaign’s effectiveness. Experiment with elements like subject lines, email content, CTAs, and timing to improve your results. Iterate and refine your email drip sequence regularly to ensure it continues to meet your goals and aligns with the evolving needs of your audience.

By following these steps, you can successfully set up and execute a campaign that engages your audience and guides recipients toward your desired actions.

How Many Emails Should Your Drip Campaign Have?

The number of emails in your email drip campaign can vary based on your specific goals, the nature of your business, and your target audience. A common range for the number of emails in a typical drip campaign is between 3 and 10 emails.

Here are 5 factors to consider when deciding the number of emails in your campaign:

Campaign goals: Consider the primary objectives of your campaign. If your goal is to nurture leads or onboard new customers, you may have a longer sequence with more emails to provide valuable information and build a relationship. On the other hand, a campaign aimed at a quick promotion or event may be shorter — this is perfectly okay.
Audience journey: Think about your recipient’s journey and the stages they go through. Your campaign should align with this journey, offering content that is relevant to where the recipient is in their interaction with your brand.
Content relevance: Ensure each email in your campaign delivers valuable and relevant content. Analyze the amount of information you have to share and the time it takes to convey that information effectively, to decide the number of emails. Find the sweet spot!
Engagement levels: Study your campaign metrics, such as open rates and click-through rates, to determine if recipients are staying engaged with your emails. If you notice a drop-off in engagement, it may be a sign your campaign is too long or needs adjustment.
Timing and frequency: Consider the ideal timing between emails. If you send emails too frequently, recipients may feel overwhelmed, while sending them too far apart might lead to a dip in engagement. The frequency depends on the purpose of the email — you can spread a 7-email welcome sequence over a month, whereas for an upcoming event, stick to about 4 emails, with the first email going out 2 weeks before and the last one 48 hours before D-Day.

In general, it’s a good practice to start off with a moderate number of emails in your drip campaign, such as 5 or 6. It’s essential to strike a balance between providing value and maintaining the recipient’s interest; tailor the sequence length to your specific objectives and adapt as needed.

Sample Email Drip Campaign Schedule and Examples

Wondering what a typical drip campaign schedule should look like?

Here’s a sample schedule for a welcome email drip campaign:

Email No.	Day	Purpose
1	Day 1	Welcome and Introduction
2	Day 3	Showcase your top-selling products
3	Day 7	Exclusive offer
4	Day 10	Brand story and values
5	Day 17	Personalized recommendations
6	Day 23	Customer testimonials and social proof
7	Day 30	Create urgency to claim the exclusive offer

Sample Email Drip Campaign Schedule

Next, you can see drip campaign email examples for each of the above 7.

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome email example — A sample welcome email from Rawpixel

Showcase Your Top-selling Products

Exclusive Offer

Brand Story and Values

Personalized Recommendations

Customer Testimonials and Social Proof

Create Urgency to Claim the Exclusive Offer

If you’re ready to craft your own effective drip campaigns, the next section shows you how.

Email Drip Campaign Example: E-Commerce Company

We used the above structure to create a hypothetical email drip campaign for new leads of an e-commerce business named Apollo Watches.

This campaign aims to engage and stimulate prospective customers who have shown interest in the brand but haven’t made a purchase yet.

You can customize these emails for your own business.

Drip Campaign Email #1

Subject line: “Welcome to Apollo Watches — Discover Timeless Elegance”

Description: This is where you warmly welcome the recipient to Apollo Watches. Provide a brief introduction to Apollo’s story and commitment to craftsmanship. Include compelling images of your best-selling watches and encourage the recipient to explore your website and view your collection.

Drip Campaign Email #2

Subject line: “Discover Our Best-Selling Watches!”

Description: In this email, highlight a selection of your top-selling watches, each with a brief description. Emphasize their unique features, quality, and style. Provide a CTA linking to the product pages.

Drip Campaign Email #3

Subject line: “Your Exclusive Offer Awaits: 25% Off Your First Purchase!”

Description: This is where you entice your customers with an email coupon. Introduce a limited-time exclusive offer for new customers. Explain the discount and any specific terms or conditions. It’s a good idea to include a striking image of a watch alongside the discount code. Encourage the recipient to take advantage of the offer by clicking on the CTA.

Drip Campaign Email #4

Subject: “The Heart of Apollo Watches: Our Story and Values”

Description line: Share a more detailed narrative of Apollo Watches, including the brand’s history, philosophy, and commitment to quality. Highlight any sustainability or ethical practices, if applicable. Reiterate the value of owning an Apollo watch and encourage recipients to be a part of the Apollo Watches community by sharing their love for watches.

Drip Campaign Email #5

Subject line: “Timeless Elegance, Tailored for You”

Description: Leverage recipient data to recommend watches based on their previous browsing behavior or preferences and showcase personalized product suggestions. Also provide insights on why these watches might be the perfect match, and don’t forget to include a clever CTA.

Drip Campaign Email #6

Subject line: “See What Our Satisfied Customers Are Saying”

Description: This is a good opportunity for testimonial advertising; social proof will boost your case. Feature reviews and user-generated content to build trust. Include images and quotes from happy customers who’ve purchased Apollo Watches. Encourage recipients to join the satisfied customer community. Wrap up the email with a CTA to browse the entire collection on your website.

Drip Campaign Email #7

Subject line: “Final Opportunity: 25% Off Expires Soon!”

Description: In this email, remind recipients of the exclusive offer introduced in Email #3. Emphasize the limited-time nature of the discount and its impending expiration. Encourage the recipient to act quickly by clicking the CTA.

This sample email drip campaign engages prospects by providing valuable information and offers, building a connection with the brand, and ultimately encouraging them to become loyal customers of your company.

Tips to Build Email Drip Sequences

These tips for email drip campaigns can get you stellar results.

Segment correctly: Defining your audience is critical; focus on segmentation and targeted email marketing. This can lead to higher engagement, improved conversions, and reduced unsubscribes.
Personalization: Ensure the content is relevant for your readers — it drives higher engagement, trust, and conversions. When you tailor emails to your reader’s interests and needs, they are more likely to engage with your messages, resulting in increased engagement.
Be concise: Throughout your drip campaign, be clear about the purpose of each email. You must know precisely where the customer is in the sales funnel, and tweak your content to get the message across clearly.
Optimize subject lines: Create compelling subject lines that pique your recipient’s interest and encourage them to open the email. And keep that consistent across the board — if your readers skip a few emails in your drip campaign, the later ones won’t be effective.

With these best practices, you can ensure your drip campaigns are effectively influencing subscribers and achieving better conversions.

Best Practices for Email Drip Campaigns

If you already have an email drip sequence but you’re not too happy with its performance, here’s a list of 7 drip marketing best practices to try to achieve better results.

Analyze performance: Start by reviewing key performance metrics, including open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement metrics. Identify areas that need improvement or have shown a decline in performance.
Segment your lists: Have you segmented your audience correctly? It may be time to review your segmentation rules and confirm if your drip campaign is relevant. Refine your audience segmentation to create more targeted email content. Better segmentation allows you to send personalized messages that are more relevant to recipients.
Review your content: Assess the content of your emails. Ensure it is engaging, provides value to recipients, and aligns with the campaign’s objectives.
Optimize timing: Experiment with the timing and frequency of your emails. Test different send times and days to determine when your audience is most responsive.
Behavioral triggers: Implement behavioral triggers to send emails based on recipient actions or inactions. For example, you can send a follow-up email when a recipient clicks a link or abandons a cart.
Reevaluate the email flow: Consider the sequence’s length, order, and pacing. Ensure it aligns with your objectives and the recipient’s journey. You may need to add or remove emails based on performance.
Optimize your landing pages: If your emails lead to landing pages, ensure those pages are well-optimized for conversions. The messaging and design should be consistent with the email content.

By implementing these strategies and continually optimizing your existing email drip campaigns, you can enhance their performance, drive better results, and maintain a more engaged and satisfied audience.

Send Your Best Email Drip Campaigns Through Campaign Refinery

Campaign Refinery user reviews — The Campaign Refinery homepage

The success of your drip email campaigns depends greatly on your drip email service or marketing automation software — find one that has the features and flexibility you need to align with your dream campaign results.

At Campaign Refinery, our clients enjoy maximum flexibility and control with their drip campaigns, thanks to our powerful email sequencing tools and automation logic.

Using our Branch & Rule Builder, our customers can design drip campaigns that give incredibly personalized sequences based on subscriber data (such as custom fields, tags, and engagement).

Plus, with our Goals feature, our clients can make sure to adapt messages in real time based on whether or not the subscriber has taken the next step in the marketing funnel.

Just the right message, to just the right person, at just the right time. As all great marketing should be.

Our platform also offers features such as

Dynamic audience segmentation,
In-depth analytics,
A rich library filled with email campaign templates for marketing,
Integration with thousands of marketing tools for a nearly limitless martech stack.

By partnering with Campaign Refinery, you can realize how personal, powerful, and profitable your email marketing can be — apply here to become a customer today!

Building an Audience For Your Drip Campaigns

Before you can run great campaigns, you must grow your email list. As the experts on email, we know methods that can attract leads like bears to honey. We’re not exaggerating — you can spike your lead magnet opens by up to 8x.

Lucky for you, we love sharing our knowledge! If you want to see readers clamor to join your subscriber list, sign up for our Lead Magnet Multiplier Course.

And don’t worry — it’s completely free. Just ensure you finish the course in a week if you want to retain lifetime access to the 4 mini-trainings.

Make sure you drop us a line to tell us how you liked our course.

Happy emailing!

FAQ

What are the Top 3 Best Practices for Drip Campaigns?

The top best practices for effective drip campaigns are: segmenting your audience for personalized content, ensuring each email provides genuine value, and carefully optimizing the timing and frequency of your sends.

How to Set Up Automated Drip Campaigns Without Coding Experience?

You can set up automated drip campaigns without coding by using dedicated email marketing platforms, such as Campaign Refinery.

What is Drip Email Marketing?

Drip email marketing is an automated communication strategy where pre-written emails are sent out sequentially to specific individuals. It is based on predetermined triggers or timelines. This method is used to nurture leads, onboard customers, or deliver targeted information gradually.

How to Create an Email Drip Campaign?

To create an email drip campaign, first define your specific goal and the trigger event, then write the series of emails and determine the sending cadence. Finally, use an automatic drip email software to automate the sequence.

What is a Drip Email Tool?

A drip email tool or drip email platform is software enabling marketers to create, automate, manage, and analyze email drip sequences.

How Many Emails in a Drip Campaign?

There’s no fixed number; the ideal quantity depends on the campaign’s purpose, complexity, and audience engagement level. Effective drip campaigns often range from 4 to 11 emails.