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It’s time to stop asking, “what is a drip campaign, anyway?” and start implementing this powerful email marketing strategy today

Marketing is a vast field. There are hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of strategies businesses use to increase sales. The online realm, especially, has continued to morph and change. But one strategy has continued to grow since the beginning: email. With the rise of “permission” and “inbound” marketing, email has found a new vigor as a lead nurturing tool. Conversion rates are the hot tickets now, and the email “drip” strategy is an essential part of the process. What is a drip campaign?

If you have a product in need of an online sales funnel, it’s time to investigate this effective (and low-cost) strategy.

The big question: what is a drip campaign and how does it work?

Drip campaigns are automated email messages. They’re responses to specific actions of prospective or current customers. For example, when someone signs up for a newsletter, an automated “welcome aboard” message will usually follow. This can be a standalone email or the first in a drip campaign.

What is a drip campaign designed to accomplish?

Drip campaigns are designed to move readers to action. Each action leads to another, until finally, that reader is prompted to purchase your product or show his interest (such as signing up for a trial). If your end goal is to garner more sales, drip campaigns are an excellent strategy for nurturing leads along the way.

Every email in a campaign is meant to guide your prospects by hand—welcoming them, introducing your brand, giving recommendations, providing links to relevant content, etc.. You create targeted messages based on the information you’ve gathered from engagement and open rates.

  • Has the prospect opened our emails? How has he engaged?
  • What products has he shown interest in?
  • Why did he open our first and second email, but not the third?
  • What content did he read, what links did he click on?

Drip campaigns will show you how close your prospects are to purchasing. If they’ve engaged with each message in your campaign, and finally landing on your call to action, you now know to send a sales pitch or make a phone call.

These campaigns allow you to set up “micro-moments” within the sales process. The emails are meant to guide your prospect from one moment to the next. If they stop progressing with your messages, then you must come up with new ways to re-engage them.

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client-managerKeeping track of leads is an important aspect of every drip campaign. Want to take your conversions to the next level? Schedule a free demo of our lead management software and turn leads into customers with less work!

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Form and function: what’s a drip campaign supposed to look like?

These campaigns take different forms according to your goals. Let’s say, for the sake of illustration, that you’re a gym owner. Your goal is to set up a drip campaign that will convert web leads who sign up for your newsletter. You’ve noticed that people frequently show interest, but don’t become members. So you set up a campaign to effectively “funnel” them towards a free consultation.

Step 1: Identify the audience 

You have to understand whom you are writing these messages for. You know that your audience is newsletter subscribers. But who are they? What else can you gather about them?

Consider updating your newsletter subscription form to ask for more specific information, such as:

  • Fitness goals.
  • Location (do these subscribers live near the gym?)
  • Interests in classes, personal instruction, or weight training.
  • Are they currently members of different gyms?

Don’t go too crazy with the information form; people will skip over a tedious task. Once you have that information in place, now you can filter these “leads” and create more drip campaigns for similar groups.

Step 2: Plan out your drip strategy 

What is the workflow you want to establish with these targeted readers? How many message should you send before pitching the free consultation? These are a few questions you should answer before crafting emails.

Since it’s your first drip campaign, we recommend a four-step process:

  1. Welcome and say thank you. After they’ve subscribed, have an automatic message hit their email box right away. Address them by their first name and say thank you. Link to popular articles and blog posts you’ve published.
  2. Engage with content. After three days, have another message sent with information about your programs, articles, blog posts, or classes. Give your readers a chance to show you what they are interested in.
  3. Send specific content for their interests. Send a video of a personal training session with bench pressing, deadlifts, and squatting. Or, send an e-book of all the compiled blog posts you’ve written about a particular fitness subject.
  4. Point towards a membership. Finally, for the few that have opened all your previous emails and engaged with your content, send out a simple sales pitch with your membership offer. A free consultation and discounted rate will do.

Step 3: Craft your messages and get started! 

Now you can craft the individual emails for your drip campaign. The beauty of drip emails is that you only have to write them once. From there on, you tweak for better results. Automation will take care of the rest.

Here are a few tips to writing your email messages:

  • Keep it short. Around 150-300 words works.
  • Use simple language and plenty of white space. You want the reader to read in a downward fashion.
  • Provide links to all of your content.
  • Point the reader in one direction. Make it easy for him to take the next step.

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client-managerKeeping track of leads is an important aspect of every drip campaign. Want to take your conversions to the next level? Schedule a free demo of our lead management software and turn leads into customers with less work!

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What’s your opinion? Have you set up a successful drip campaign before? Share your experiences with us!