Tips for Mastering Drip Marketing

Did you know…?

• Drip campaign open rates are up to 80% higher, and click-through rates are up to 3x higher than individual email rates.
• Drip campaigns lead to 18 times more revenue than regular emails.
• Businesses that automate drip campaigns see at least a 10% increase in sales in just 6-9 months.

Drip marketing, the strategic method of sending a series of automated messages to leads or customers over time, continues to grow in popularity and efficacy. As businesses prioritize customer retention and nurturing, drip campaigns are an effective way to engage with audiences quickly, without a substantial investment in resources.

See below for an explanation of how drip campaigns work and five ways that your company can leverage them.

Setting it up
A drip marketing strategy sends (or drips) a series of pre-written/designed messages to your customers or prospects over time based on their location in the buying process (sales funnel). Automated drip campaigns are proven effective at helping to keep your brand top-of-mind when purchasing decisions are made by your audience.

1. Onboarding New Subscribers  - As soon as a prospect subscribes to your mailing list, you can start the drip welcome emails. These are friendly introductory messages that you can use to introduce your brand, showcase new or top products, answer common questions, offer tutorials or include discounts to jumpstart their conversion from prospect to customer. 
   These first drip emails in the series are also ideal for thanking customers for joining and familiarizing them with your app or offering ways for them to get started with your company – join a loyalty program, sign up for a webinar or learn about your services.
2. Nurturing Leads - Once you’ve given customers an overview of your company, use drip campaigns to steadily feed them valuable content like case studies, customer reviews, videos, etc. The purpose of these ongoing nurturing drip emails is to guide customers through the sales funnel.   More than likely, these leads are not yet ready to make a purchase, so nurturing drip emails allows you time to slowly build a relationship. Take this time to introduce your company and capabilities, letting them gradually get to know you as you build trust and credibility.
3. Engage/Re-Engage Inactive Leads - As time passes, you will see which of your leads convert and which throttle back their engagement. Their withdrawal may be anything from failing to convert to deleting your unread emails from their inbox. Rather than just accepting this as a cost of doing business, use drip emails to remind them why they joined your mailing list in the first place.  This is an ideal time to offer exclusive content, discounts or special promotions. You may wish to segment your list by those who never engaged, those who browsed and those who shopped but abandoned their carts, sending targeted messaging to each subset.
4. Post-Purchase Follow Up - Customer engagement doesn’t have to end with the first sale. Use drip emails to continue to engage with customers after they buy from you. You may want to send a confirmation email or follow-up message a few days after the purchase is made. This is also a good time to thank customers for their business. Post-purchase emails are your opportunity to continue your conversation and extend your brand.  Your drip emails can ask customers to review the product purchased, suggest similar items, encourage them to join/follow your social platforms, sign up for SMS alerts or offer a repeat sales discount. Take advantage of this ongoing relationship to get them to join your community or to upsell them on other items from your catalog.
5. Educating Your Audience - Educational emails can be sent at any point during your sequence. One of the most valuable features of a customer database is that you can continue to notify customers of new events, product launches or updates, webinars or any other benefits that will maximize the relationship for both of you. For events, use drip emails to offer sneak peeks and promote registration. For products, drip emails can introduce new features, upgrade details, and timelines. Whatever your offering, educational drip emails keep customers engaged and prepped for the next piece of news or helpful content.

Drip Marketing – Keeping your brand and services top of mind  
In a world where attention spans are minimal, drip marketing is a gift to marketers and customers alike. Giving you time to make your case that you are a credible expert in your field or that your products are better than those offered by your competitors, drip campaigns also allow customers time to get to know your company and learn from you before making a purchase decision.