Complete Guide to Drip Email Campaigns

Before you can take full advantage of drip email campaigns, you must first have an understanding of the basics.

In its simplest form, drip campaigns are automated sets of email messages delivered to contacts, based on specific user actions or timelines.

It’s one of the best ways to stay in touch with current customers and prospects, without the need to stop what you’re doing to write and send a personal message.

By the time you’re done reading our drip email campaign guide, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to get started — and generate serious results.

When to Use a Drip Email Campaign

There is no right or wrong time to use a drip email campaign. A big part of finding success is trial and error. You won’t know what works until you find out what doesn’t.

Wondering when you might want to use a drip campaign? We suggest the following times:

After a prospect submits information for a quote
Upon registering for an event
Upon signing up for a newsletter
After speaking with a prospect on the phone
If your prospect has been unresponsive for an extended period of time

Regardless of why you’ve chosen this email marketing strategy, the word “drip” plays a big role.

This refers to the slow and steady series of messages. It’s like a dripping faucet.

It’s your job to decide how often and for how long to send emails. Again, this is where trial and error is your best friend.

Reasons to Use Drip Email Campaigns

Don’t believe the myth that email marketing is dead. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It’s both alive and well.

If you don’t believe it, here are some statistics related to email marketing. With these in mind, it’s easy to see just how powerful drip campaigns can be.

78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. (HubSpot)
For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42. (Oberlo)
Hundreds of millions of emails are sent and received every day. (Radicati)

These statistics should open your eyes to a whole new way of engaging your audience.

Choosing and Using a Drip Email Campaign

Above, we talked a bit about when to use drip email campaigns. Now, let’s dive into the finer details and look at an example of a campaign based on a date.

Set up a drip email campaign for prospect anniversaries.

For instance, if you sell home insurance, check in with your customers every three months. This is an opportunity to stay in touch, ask questions, provide feedback, and more.

Another example is setting up an email for delivery in the weeks and days leading up to a customer’s renewal date.

Campaigns based on user behavior are just as common — if not more so.

Welcome Email

There’s no better feeling than landing a new customer. Since you want them to feel the same way about your relationship, set up a sequence of emails to welcome them.

This is a good way to show that you care, make yourself available, and answer common questions.

Product Recommendation

Maybe you’re an insurance agent who primarily sells home insurance. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But remember, your audience has other needs. If you have access to other types of insurance leads — such as auto, health, and home — you can use a drip campaign to recommend these products to current customers.

Lead Nurture

Drip email campaigns aren’t just for current customers. They’re also helpful when nurturing leads.

As an insurance agent, your goal is to keep your sales pipeline full. Creating drip email campaigns allows you to:

Maintain an open line of communication
Slowly move leads through your sales funnel
Share important information at strategic times

If you’re going to spend money generating leads, you want to give it your all when the sales process begins. Among other things, this means setting up a drip email campaign.

5 Steps to Setting Up a Drip Email Campaign

With this drip email campaign guide, you should have a better understanding of what drip email campaigns look like and when to use them.

Now, it’s time to set up your first campaign. Here are five simple steps for doing so:

Choose your trigger: When do you want your drip campaign to begin? On a certain date? Based on user behavior? Start with basic triggers — such as a campaign that’s activated after your first call with a lead — that allows you to get your feet wet.
Know your audience: For instance, are you sending emails to a prospect or a current customer? Every audience requires a unique approach.
Create your email messages: Before you load emails into your marketing software, create your messages based on the two points above. Doing this upfront saves you time down the road.
Track your performance: Don’t just assume that your drip email campaign is working. Track your performance through your email marketing provider. What is your click-through rate? What is your conversion rate? As you review your statistics, tweak your campaigns according to your findings.
Go into maintenance mode: Even if you don’t need to rewrite your email messages, you may have to make changes every now and again. A drip campaign isn’t a “set it and forget it” strategy. It takes some maintenance to achieve long-term success.

Start Slow and Grow

If you bite off more than you can chew, it’s easy to become so frustrated with your drip email campaign that you give up.

That’s not a risk you want to take.

Start slow, such as by creating one set of email sequences for a particular date or user behavior. Put the work in to pin down an effective strategy. From there, you can implement your findings into additional sequences.

Soon enough, you’ll have a full-scale drip email campaign that engages your audience of prospects and customers.

Source: https://agedleadstore.com/drip-email-campaign-guide/