Email Drip Campaigns – Stay Top of Mind with These 5 Tips

Converting prospects into customers typically takes multiple contacts with them. But finding the time to connect with each and every prospect numerous times is a daunting task. To help meet this challenge, many marketers find that an automated email “drip” campaign can be a powerful, efficient, and cost-effective tool for reaching out and converting prospects. Here we share 5 tips for getting the most out of your automated drip email campaigns.

What Is a “Drip” Campaign?
A “drip” campaign involves setting up a series of email messages – sent at regularly timed intervals in response to a “trigger.” To implement a drip campaign, you would need autoresponder software-computer programs (typically web-based these days) that automatically send emails based upon business rules that you establish. Your company’s email messages start “dripping” into prospects’ inboxes, for example, after they sign up for your email newsletter or download your white paper. You could set up a calendar to deliver an email once a week or once every 2 weeks. Or you could set up a more elaborate system that segments your prospects, such as sending specific emails only to recipients who click through to specific promotions.

In other words, an effective drip campaign is an automated process that provides valuable information to meet prospects’ needs and interests. But rather than sending each email separately, you can effectively design an automated flow to contact different individuals at different times. In this way, drip campaigns are a great way to help you bring prospects down the sales funnel, while reducing the amount of time spent by the sales team on educating them about your products or services.

Tips for Creating an Effective Drip Campaign
Here are 5 important tips to help you create an effective automated drip email campaign:

1. Set a clear goal. To help ensure a successful drip campaign, begin by setting a clear goal. Some examples of drip campaign goals include:
   • educating prospects about your products/services
   • selling more products/services to current customers
   • positioning yourself as an expert
   • building relationships with prospects/customers.
2. Offer value. To create an effective drip campaign, be sure every email has value and helps build trust. Some examples of useful content to send to prospects and customers include:
   • links to articles, blogs, and Webinars about topics relevant to your market
   • upcoming industry events
   • white papers
   • industry trends and surveys.
3. Focus on relationship building. As you plan your drip campaign calendar, think about ways you can begin to build a relationship with your prospects and/or customers. Sending holiday and birthday greetings, for instance, is a more subtle way to keep your company’s products and services top-of-mind compared to sending only promotional messages.
4. Personalize your email messages. Be sure to personalize your drip email correspondence to include each recipient’s name. Even though your recipients know their names can be inserted automatically, a name helps add a personal touch. In the same way, it helps to send the messages from a person – such as a sales representative or the president of the company – rather than just an organization.
5. Choose the autoresponder service that best fits your needs. There are a lot of online services that offer autoresponder software options. Finding a service that meets all of your needs is important. Some features you should be considering include:
   • reliable deliverability
   • follow-up auto-responding capabilities
   • customer support available 24/7
   • full email analytics for measuring and reporting results.

At FulcrumTech, for example, we’ve done an extensive assessment of Email Service Providers (ESPs) and determined that the email distribution tool Lyris HQ offers outstanding auto-responder options that consistently meet all of our clients’ needs.

Drip campaigns may take more time to plan and set up compared to traditional email campaigns that involve sending the same emails, at the same time, to an entire list. You’ll likely find, however, that the initial investment of time and effort pays off with exceptional results.

Are you interested in learning more about how to implement automated drip email campaigns to build your business? The email-marketing experts at FulcrumTech can help. Contact us or give us a call today at 215-489-9336.