What is Drip Marketing?

Drip marketing is a communication strategy that sends (or “drips”) a pre-written set of messages to customers or prospects over time.

Often called lead nurturing, but known by other names such as drip marketing, lifecycle email, autoresponders and email marketing automation, the concept is all the same – a set of pre-written emails are sent out automatically and on a precise schedule. Possibly one email can go out as soon as someone subscribes or inquires, another can go out 2 days later, with another going out a week after, reminding them about the offer. Or perhaps the emails can vary based on specific triggers and actions taken, such as making a purchase or subscribing to receive a special offer. From there they will be placed in separate list and a precise email will be sent out to someone that purchases vs someone that opt’d in to receive their special offer. This is sometimes called, behavioural email automation.

As shown above, drip marketing campaigns are a set of emails that go out based on a specific action that a user takes during a particular time. They help you stay in touch with certain segments (groups of people) based on certain actions and automatically sends a pre-written email to each segment based on what they have selected. Quite simply, drip marketing is about providing the right information at the right time, helping them get as quickly as possible from awareness, to action. For example, a drip campaign can send a person an automated email right after someone inquiries and then two days later another email providing the benefits of your products/services. If the individual does not purchase after one week, you may automate an additional email to include a coupon code that offers them a 20% discount that is only valid for 3 days – designed to increase purchase intent. Or you may have a prospect that has been triggered lingering around the checkout page for a couple of weeks but has not yet processed the payment. A drip campaign could send them an email with 10 reasons why to purchase this product.

The wonderful thing about drip marketing is, all of this automatically happens based on the actions that a user takes, then automatically sections them into segmented lists and sends them the appropriate emails that you defined for that specific action. You’re not actually sending anything! It’s all automated.

Does Drip Marketing Work?

Automation definitely works. Marketers who send automated emails see conversion rates 50% higher than those that do not. Additionally, automated emails can help reach people at the right time and help them move as quickly as possible from search to purchase intent. Automated emails get 119% higher click rates than manual emails. And you can also keep prospects engaged until they’re ready to buy. Nurtured leads make more than 50% larger purchases then not nurtured leads.

When Does Drip Marketing Work?

Drip marketing works in every vertical, with all products and services. It can help you:

• Make a better introduction
• Welcome new members/customers
• Help convert more abandoned shopping carts
• Provide recommendations and upsell opportunities
• Increase renewals and repeat business
• Sell more products and services
• Increase engagement
• Increase purchase intent
• Capture more conversions
• Increase your marketing ROI and reduce your customer acquisition cost