Wayne Lockwood: 5 Drip Campaigns Every Brand Needs to Have and Why They Matter

There are few things more valuable than automated marketing when it comes to moving customers down your sales funnel. It’s why more than 53% of B2B companies have already implemented a marketing automation platform. The great thing about automation is that it allows you to set it and forget it, saving you time and money. And one of our favorite forms of marketing automation is the drip campaign.

Drip campaigns—an automated set of emails that are sent out based on specific timelines or user actions—are useful because they allow you to target your customers with the messages they need to hear when they need to hear them. This is important because relevant emails drive 18x more revenue than broadcast emails, according to Jupiter Research. The key is the type of drip campaign you use and how you use it.

While some drip campaigns vary by niche, there are some automated email details that every brand needs some form of to be successful.

1. Welcome Campaign

Whenever a lead first subscribes to your mailing list, they should immediately be sent a welcome email. This is the first step to onboarding your future customer and your chance to introduce yourself, talk about what you offer, and demonstrate why you’re superior over your competitors. These emails are generally well received, earning a 58.7% open rate on average—over double the standard email open rate of 14.6%.

To be effective, make sure your first welcome email is sent out quickly and that you don’t just send out a single email. Instead, you should set up a series of three to five emails that focus on educating your new lead about your brand and what they can expect from you.

Types of welcome campaigns:

An email that includes some of your most-shared blog posts.
Offer a new trial-level service or discount just for signing up.
Feature case studies or client testimonials about your services/products.

2. Retargeting Campaign

How do you turn a lead into a customer? Email retargeting is one of the most valuable tools in your arsenal. It works via a browser cookie and allows you to reach out to potential customers based on their actions across the web. According to Moz, email retargeting conversions can be as high as 41%.

You can retarget in a variety of situations, not just when someone abandons their shopping cart. You can send a follow-up email after a customer visits your website without taking action or after a customer reads your blog and leaves a comment. The critical part of successful retargeting is choosing those customer actions that you believe most deserve a follow-up email and then setting up a drip campaign that follows your “if this, then that” rules.

Ideas for retargeting campaigns:

Send a follow-up email to leads who have downloaded a free lead generation item.
Follow up with customers who visited your site or read your blog without taking action.
Ask your customers to provide their email for a free gift or quote and send a follow-up.

3. Abandoned Cart Campaign

In 2017, the average cart abandonment rate was 78.65%. In other words, three out of every four of your shoppers will leave your site without ever making a purchase. This is where a drip campaign can really come in handy, allowing you to re-engage those customers and lead them back to the “purchase” button.

To set up this type of drip campaign, you want to send out an email whenever a user leaves un-purchased items in their cart. The email can be anything from a simple, “We’re sorry you left. Enjoy free shipping on us if you decide to return” to “We saw you left product 1 in your cart. Here’s what people are saying about that product.” You don’t want to lose these leads because clearly they are already engaged, so the best thing you can do is try to draw them back in.

A successful abandoned cart campaign:

Tells your customer what they’re missing by leaving.
Offers an incentive to bring the customer back into the fold.
Provides new information that enhances the product or service they almost purchased in order to finalize the sale.

4. Post-Purchase Campaign

Brand loyalty is vital. The truth is that it’s far easier to get a repeat customer than a new customer. In fact, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% compared to 5-20% for a new customer according to ClickZ. The key is not ignoring your new customer in favor of a potential customer.

By sending a follow-up email after a purchase, you show your customer that you appreciate them and that you are focused on creating brand loyalty. Just make sure that your post-purchase campaign emails provide value based on what the customer purchased and what they showed interest in.

Successful post-purchase campaign ideas:

Invite your customer to join your brand loyalty program offering discounts for repeat shopping. 79% of consumers look for deals in loyalty or reward programs before making a purchase.
Offer a list of “similar” products that other customers have purchased that might be valuable.
Ask for feedback on their purchase or provide tips on how best to use their purchase with links to videos, blogs, or infographics that may be helpful.

5. Unsubscribe Campaign

When people leave your email list, there are still options to follow up with a drip campaign. You aren’t stuck just cursing and moving on. Instead, you can send one last email to attempt to bring the lead back into the fold with a short, “We’re sorry to see you go!” message and a push for the customer to follow you on social media.

The truth is that most people who unsubscribe from your email aren’t doing it because they hate your company or what they offer. They might just be trying to clean up their email or want to interact with you in a different way. Make sure you give them other options, so you don’t lose them.

Types of unsubscribe emails:

Send out a survey asking what you can do better to make them happy.
Offer other opportunities to interact with you by linking to your social media.
Add some humor or personality to demonstrate that your company is more than just emails.

Remember, a drip campaign, is rarely if ever, a single email. Instead, you should look at your drip campaigns as multi-step approaches used to get in front of your leads and customers and stay there.

There are endless strategies for reaching out via email. Pick the campaigns that work best for you and come up with new ideas to bring your leads effectively down the sales funnel.

Are there any must-have drip campaigns that I’ve left off my list? Tell me about it in the comments.

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