How to Set Up a Drip Campaign and Connect with Customers

Drip Campaigns

A drip email campaign is a series of automated emails you send to a particular audience.

They’re called “drip” because they are slow and steady. And, like how a farmer nurtures saplings with drops of water, each email is meant to nurture a personal relationship with your customer.

What is an email drip campaign?

An email drip campaign involves sending a limited number of emails to your audience based on specific events. These are known as “triggers”, which can be a series of points during the customer pipeline. These triggers can take a variety of forms -- either action taken by the customer, or based on a pre-set date. Some examples include:

• The customer clicks a particular button
• A particular date passing - such as the customer’s birthday
• A customer abandoning products in a cart
• Someone not ordering with you again for a period of time

Let’s get personal: the benefits of drip campaigns

Regular email marketing relies on sending new emails to a list of customers. This is great for updating customers and sharing content, but it doesn’t really let you address each customer in a personal way.

Whether they are brand new or have been around for ages, they’ll get the same content. This kind of email marketing can be effective, especially if you want to create a targeted campaign to boost ticket sales for a particular event. By contrast, a drip campaign can help capture customers who are already lurking on your site, haven’t engaged with your content in a while or who have done something like abandoning their cart right before check out. It’s a way of reaching out to them with a personalised email but through an automated system.

This means you can connect with the right person at the right moment, offering content or advice specific to an action they have taken.

For example, if a new customer signs up, you can send an email in response to that action. If a customer abandons a cart, you can send an email in response to that action.

In other words, it is a way of communicating with each customer based on their unique customer journey. It allows you to speak with the right person at the right time -- automating how you respond to each trigger event.

That means you can map out the customer pipeline, work out key conversion points and create different email events. And the best part? Once you have set it up, the campaign is totally automated.

Examples of how drip campaigns are used

Working out how to design your own drip email campaign depends on what you are trying to achieve. The following use cases show some of the ways drip campaigns are used by companies and what they can help you achieve.

Reach out on important dates

You can use date-based automation to reach out on specific dates that will matter to your audience. This might be:

• When it’s time to reorder: You can send a reorder prompt, especially if you provide the kind of products that run out like make-up, certain foods and cleaning products.
• When their membership is about to expire: If someone’s membership is about to expire, it’s a great time to reach out. Remember to thank them, remind them of the value you provide and even consider throwing in an incentive to sign up again.
• Birthdays (and other important events): You can email on an audience member’s birthday, maybe with a special offer that will not only make them feel appreciated, but be a way of enticing them to treat themselves.

Reach out based on user behaviour

The other form of a trigger is when a user or customer takes an action. This could be making a purchase for the first time, clicking a button or even if they haven’t ordered for a while (a non-action).

• When someone new joins: This is a great time to reach out and make a first impression. This can be used when someone signs up for a newsletter, or after they attended an event (if you have permission to reach out).
• First purchase and onboarding: When someone buys from you for the first time, you can thank them and remind them of some of the ways they might use your product. You can also direct them to any online tutorials or FAQs to ensure they get the best experience from the outset.
• Showing related products: You can send someone recommendations for related products, or a personalised list of products based on their purchase or search history on your site. You can also notify them of restocks, when an item they’ve viewed goes on sale or if they are almost sold out.
• Bringing them back after they bailed: If someone left tickets or a product in their cart, you can send them a nudge to remind them of the product. Perhaps you can offer a discount if they return. You can also use an abandoned cart to send automated emails about related products, so you won’t have to mention the specific product they abandoned.
• Send a “we miss you” email: If someone hasn’t made a purchase in a while, you can send an email saying you miss them or encouraging them with a special offer. There is a risk of this coming off a little pushy, but when handled well can remind people that you exist. And who doesn’t love a discount code?

Steps to setting up your own drip campaign

Map the customer pipeline

Map out the key points when a customer is interacting with your site -- what are the actions they might take? This includes:

• Signing up for an email
• Adding to cart
• Removing from cart
• Abandoning cart
• Clicking through to a product page or event
• Making a purchase

Choose your trigger points

It is important to be selective with trigger points to avoid sending too many emails, coming off as creepy or like you are tracking the customer too closely.

A few thoughtful, well-timed emails are all you need. The trick is finding the most effective points to reach out to. For example, will you email everyone who makes a purchase, or only people who are buying from you for the first time? Will it be better to email someone after they abandoned their cart with a discount, or to send an email in a few weeks with products related to those they left behind?

You can create a flowchart of the journey, identifying the trigger points and the associated drip message that this will lead to. This helps create a thoughtful, customer-centric approach to crafting a great drip campaign.

Create a message for each trigger

Being clear on why you are reaching out to this customer at this point in their journey will help you work out what to include in the email. Are you being apologetic, inquisitive, warm or helpful? Being crystal clear on your desired outcome is crucial to nailing your messaging.

Testing, testing

Keep on top of testing and measure the response to each email. This will help you refine your messaging, and see which are the most valuable trigger points for your customers. Maybe they aren’t as into getting discount codes as they are into getting thoughtful product recommendations. Keep across click rates, conversion rates.

Maintain and update as your offerings evolve

Your offering, branding and aims will shift over time. Keep your drip emails in line with your offering, and ensure they still align with your goals.

Start your next drip campaign using Mailchimp

Picking the right tool to help set up your campaign is crucial. Mailchimp offers a range of free marketing automation tools. Automations include trigger points like abandoned cart, product retargeting, first purchase, follow-ups and more.

Humanitix offers integration with Mailchimp so you can collect helpful e-commerce data for your customers. This includes their order history and whether they are the first time or repeat customers, which means you can send targeted and personalised campaigns to your guests.

See our technical guide to setting up email campaigns for a step-by-step walk-through.

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