Email marketing remains one of the most powerful tools for building connections, nurturing leads, and driving conversions. But in a crowded inbox, how can your brand stand out and deliver messages that resonate? Enter drip campaigns—a strategic, automated series of emails designed to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.
Unlike generic mass emails, drip campaigns focus on creating personalized, timely interactions that guide recipients through their buyer journey. Whether you’re welcoming new subscribers, reigniting interest in your brand, or encouraging repeat purchases, these campaigns provide a steady and meaningful way to engage your audience.
In this guide, we’ll explore why drip campaigns are an essential part of any email marketing strategy. From the benefits they bring to your business to the best practices that ensure their success, you’ll discover how to make the most of this highly effective approach. Get ready to transform your email marketing into a relationship-building powerhouse!
Drip campaigns are a series of pre-written emails that get sent to users who complete a specific action on your website, like filling out a form to receive a free guide or checklist, or leaving items in their shopping cart. These campaigns typically involve sending 4-to-10 emails containing relevant content to leads who’ve expressed interest in one of your product or service offerings.
The content in these campaigns is usually:
They’re called drip campaigns because they’re meant to be a slow and steady method of communication that won’t overwhelm your customer’s inbox and get flagged by spam filters.
While drip campaigns are automated, they aren’t interchangeable with email automation. Each has a distinct role to play in your email marketing strategy, but how exactly do they differ?
Drip campaigns are a pre-scheduled series of emails sent to recipients over an extended period. They’re designed to guide recipients through a sales funnel or nurture them gradually over time. Drip campaigns are typically triggered by specific actions or timelines. And they’re well suited for long-term lead nurturing, with a structured cadence of messages that educates, engages, and ultimately converts recipients.
Email automation, on the other hand, involves using software to schedule and trigger emails automatically based on certain criteria or recipient actions. It can range from simple tasks like sending welcome emails to more complex workflows involving multiple steps and conditional logic. Email automation is more responsive and personal than drip campaigns, as it’s intended to provide customers with timely, relevant content based on their behavior and preferences.
A successful drip campaign doesn’t just save you time following up with leads, there are so many other benefits. Think of these campaigns as a relationship-building tool. They put you in your audience’s inbox at regular intervals, keeping your brand top-of-mind and engaging them throughout every stage of the buyer’s journey.
Other benefits include:
Incorporating drip campaigns into your email strategy will allow you to engage your audience more effectively and efficiently.
There are a variety of ways to use drip campaigns to support your marketing and engagement objectives. So let’s go over some of the different use cases for drip campaigns, how they’re structured, and what they accomplish.
These are email sequences triggered by a customer completing actions such as registering on your website, signing up for one of your services, or making a first-time purchase.
This sequence might include:
Keep in mind that the click-through rates for welcome emails are more than 7 times higher than for a standard email.
This type of drip campaign is ideal for recapturing the attention of those leads who weren’t quite ready to convert. The campaign is targeted at people who have already filled out a form to get something from you, but didn’t take any additional steps. This could look like someone signing up for a free trial and then never logging in or maybe they registered for a service and then didn’t book a call. Retargeting campaigns are a way to reignite their interest in your offerings.
This sequence might include:
The aim with this drip campaign is to regain the lead’s interest in your brand, which can result in a conversion.
While acquiring new customers is an expensive, up-hill battle, it is much easier to sell to your existing customers. Post-purchase drip emails are a way to upsell customers, either by promoting related products or offering exclusive discounts.
These sequences might include:
You’ve already done the hard part in getting your audience to convert, now it’s time to work on building a lasting relationship.
If you run an ecommerce site, then you’re probably already aware that roughly 70% of ecommerce customers will abandon their shopping cart. That means having an abandoned cart email campaign is essential to your email marketing strategy.
These sequences might include:
Sometimes, all it takes is a gentle reminder to get customers to return to their cart and make their purchase.
Promotional emails are ideal for when you’re rolling out a new product or service, running a sale, or revamping your brand. They’re a way of generating awareness with both new and existing customers.
These sequences might include:
These campaigns will help you generate more awareness surrounding a new product ahead of its launch day.
While this does sound similar to a retargeting campaign, re-engagement emails are all about reconnecting with long-time customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while, or stopped renewing their service subscriptions.
These sequences might include:
The aim with these emails is to remind disengaged customers why they chose your brand and reignite their interest.
Drip campaigns are a versatile way to inform and delight existing and prospective customers. Whether you’re welcoming new subscribers, launching a new product, upselling to your existing customers, or sending out abandoned cart reminders, these automated campaigns will save you a lot of time and resources. Next time you need to get the word out about something, take advantage of all the benefits drip campaigns have to offer.
A drip campaign is a series of pre-written, automated emails sent to recipients based on specific actions they take, such as signing up for a newsletter, abandoning a shopping cart, or making a purchase. These campaigns aim to guide leads through the buyer’s journey, nurture relationships, and drive conversions.
While both rely on automation, drip campaigns are pre-scheduled sequences of emails designed for long-term nurturing and education. Email automation, on the other hand, focuses on immediate responses to specific actions (e.g., a confirmation email after a purchase) and can involve more complex workflows.
A typical drip campaign includes 4 to 10 emails, depending on its purpose. For example, onboarding campaigns may require 4–6 emails, while retargeting campaigns often include 3–5.
Emails in a drip campaign are usually spaced 3–7 days apart. This ensures consistent engagement without overwhelming recipients. The exact timing depends on the campaign’s objectives and the audience’s preferences.