Marketers have been using email newsletters for years to keep subscribers apprised of their companies’ latest news. However, new subscribers only see the latest news and could miss out on equally important “old” news.

Email Drip Campaigns to the Rescue

Also known as automated email campaigns, autoresponders, marketing automation, and lifecycle emails, this brand of email marketing sends pre-written messages—drips—to customers and prospects over a pre-designated time period.

In a nutshell, drip marketing gives people the right information at the right time. For example, when someone subscribes to your company’s blog, a drip campaign could send a welcome email immediately. A few days later, it could send an email showcasing your most-read posts. Or if a potential customer has visited your product page multiple times without purchase, a drip campaign could offer them a promo code for a discount on their purchase within the next 24 hours. They help you stay in touch, build relationships with leads and prospects and turn surfing into sales.

Additionally, these automated messages have a set course and arrival and reach subscribers based on their pre-determined behaviors and status making them seem more personal and engaging. This graphic from marketing automation group Pardot gives an overview:

(See the full infographic here.)

Using this technique in email marketing always has the same end goal: Keep people engaged and engaging with your product. A few areas where drip campaigns can work their magic include: nurturing leads, e-books and e-courses, renewals, confirmations, abandoned shopping carts, and unsubscribes

Basic Email Drip Marketing Steps

But in order to achieve the success that so many others have seen using this unique brand of email marketing, it’s important to follow a few basic steps:

Identify Your Target Audience

Since drip campaigns divide your subscribers and then deliver pertinent information to each niche, it’s vital to define groups and determine triggers. Use characteristics such as visit length and frequency, click rate on certain content, length between sign up and further action and other characteristics to help you identify audience segments. Successful drip campaigns pinpoint a specific behavior so define your target audience and the problem you will solve for them.

Generate Attention Grabbing Messages

Now that you know who you’re trying to reach, what do you want them to know or do or learn? Write clear, engaging copy maintaining a brand-consistent voice. Most importantly: Make sure your message is clear.

Plan It Out

Define the goals of your drip campaign and then figure out the logistics from first contact to end goal. This is perhaps the most time-intensive step as you’ll need to answer a lot of questions:

How many emails will I send? When? In what order?
Do my triggers line up with the message and end goal?
Does the copy in each email flow together?
How will I measure the success of the campaign?

Launch Campaign, Evaluate and Adjust

Always record, analyze, and adapt to new data from your email drip campaigns. What worked last year isn’t guaranteed to work this year, and trying new ideas can boost your performance to the next level.

Want to try email drip marketing but don’t know where to start? Contact your friends at Green Arrow Marketing at 888-248-2134 or info@greenarrowmm.com to learn how we can help!