This article was originally published by SharpSpring.

A Crash Course in Drip Marketing

Don’t you wish you had a way to send out a whole bunch of emails to consumers to guide them through the sales cycle? And wouldn’t it be even better if those pesky emails were personalized and automated and you never had to worry about manually writing or sending them yourself? Let’s face it, you’re a busy human and you have far more important things to worry about, so I’ll just dive right in.

If you read the title then you probably already know that I’m talking about drip marketing campaigns. Drip marketing yields its name from the concept of a farmer irrigating his or her saplings in a nurturing manner, and that’s exactly the kind of relationship you want to garner with your consumers.

Drip campaigns are great because they allow you to ping potential consumers with emails containing pertinent sales information based on time intervals or user actions on your website. For example, if a user signs up for an account, an automated welcome drip email will be sent out to that user. On the other hand, a long-time user might receive a drip email urging them to upgrade. See the resemblance here between marketing and farming. Yes? No?

And perhaps the best part? With drip marketing you never need to abandon the more important tasks on your plate or waste valuable marketing or sales resources. I think we’ve all been there. I know I have.

Okay, I was wrong, maybe this is actually the best part: It’s all on your terms. You define the settings of when and why each drip email gets sent out. It’s all up to you.

Why SharpSpring?

And now we get to the part where I talk to you about how great SharpSpring is. But really, SharpSpring is great, and I’m going to prove it to you with a few simple reasons: Firstly, we’re different from our competitors -- We may not be as well-known as some of the other guys, but we offer lower prices and our services easily stack up. In fact, the next-cheapest competitor offers rates that are ten times more than what we offer. 

We’ve also got some neat add-ons, like a built-in blog and affordable support that’s as easy as pie to access. Not to mention, we don’t make you sign a long-term contract; it’s month-to-month billing and you can leave anytime you want (but you’ll like us, we promise).

The Benefits

The pros for using drip campaigns are numerous. Relevancy is a big one -- you want your consumers to see the correct information at the correct time, and drip campaigning lets you do just that. It’s all dependent upon where any given consumer is in the sales cycle.

And then there’s lead nurturing, which is important for getting your early consumers sales-ready. It allows you to build relationships with your consumers with relatively little effort, and at a low cost. And of course, like I mentioned, with drip campaigns you get to cut out what is likely the most boring part of your day: Sending out copious numbers of monotonous emails. 

Who Needs Drip Marketing?

You do. I do. We all do. Really just anyone and everyone who’s got a digital presence in 2017. More specifically though, drip marketing can be especially useful to industries that sell directly to consumers, or businesses that sell to other businesses. This can include mortgage companies, insurance companies, event planners, and the list goes on. Big companies, small companies, you name it. If you’re part of a company that wants to keep engaging its consumers, then you need drip marketing in your life.

Types of Drip Campaigns

Drip campaigns are super customizable depending on your wants and needs. For example, educational drips can be used to give consumers any relevant information on your product in order to prepare them for purchase. On the other hand, you’ve also got re-engagement drips, which can be used to try and regain the interest of your consumers who may have shied away from your product. And then there’s the competitive drip, which can captivate your competitor’s audience by offering them the benefits of switching to your product instead. The possibilities are endless, but more on that later.

But Do They Really Work…?

If this is all starting to sound too good to be true, fear not because I’m here to tell you (with evidence) that drip campaigns really do work. According to a fact sheet published by email-marketing suite Emma, automated emails get a whopping 119% higher click rates than broadcast emails. Convinced yet? Okay, let’s say you’re not. Nurtured leads make 47% bigger purchases, indicating that keeping consumers engaged with relevant emails gets them thinking more about actually buying. And lastly, the number one reason that marketers at top companies use automated emails is to generate more revenue.

Bonus fun fact: Sending out a drip email with a simple happy birthday message to your consumers can elevate the conversation rates by 60% when compared with regular emails with the same offer that do not contain a birthday message.  

I could really go on and on here, but I think you’re starting to get the picture.

When to Use Drip Emails

So now you’re probably wondering specifically in which instances you should use a drip campaign. Here are a few examples of drip emails that could help to turn potential consumers into full-on buyers of your product:

Nurturing Leads

Dear [Name of Consumer],

Here at SharpSpring, we noticed that you recently signed up for our newsletter and we’re excited to have you! Here are some more things to check out from us that we think you’re going to love:

[Additional Links Here]

We’re all ears when it comes to your questions and concerns, so don’t hesitate to just ask!

Andrew Dod,
SharpSpring

These types of drip emails will get your leads (or potential consumers) to think more seriously about purchasing your product. 

Welcoming 

Hi [Name of Consumer]!

By signing up for a trial with SharpSpring, you’re on your way to wasting less of your precious time and marketing resources! Click here to get started with the first step. We can’t wait to work with you!

Andrew Dod,
SharpSpring

At the welcoming email stage, the consumer has probably signed up for a trial of your product. They’re still not super familiar with how awesome your product is yet, so at this stage you’ve got to show them by leading them to some of your company’s top content. According to data published by Experian, welcome emails typically see a 58.7% open rate, while regular old emails see just 14.6%. Pretty neat, huh?

Renewals

Dear [Name of Consumer],

We noticed that your subscription to SharpSpring is almost up and we certainly don’t want to lose you! We’ve enjoyed having you around, and we bet you won’t want to lose your benefits as a SharpSpring customer. Click here to renew your subscription. We look forward to your future business!

Andrew Dod,
SharpSpring

Renewal drip emails are great for consumers who may be at the tail-end of their subscription. It gets them thinking about renewing the great benefits they’ve received through your services.

Just Don’t Overdo it!

Like anything else in life, there’s a point where too much can be detrimental to your cause. Too many emails can, of course, annoy consumers, so you’ve got to strike the perfect balance. Using the above examples at strategic times in the sales cycle will keep consumers thinking about you and your product. Also note that consumers are more likely to unsubscribe from your emails or mark them as spam if they don’t understand why they’re getting certain emails, which is why relevancy is so important!

Setting it All up

Now that you’ve all but decided to give drip campaigning a shot, you’ve got to learn how to set it up. The first step is to identify your target audience and niches within each group of consumer. Remember when I mentioned that you get to define the settings of when each type of email is sent out? Well, this is where that happens. For example, one niche group of consumers could include those who sign up for your company’s newsletter, for whom you could send out an automated welcome email. Another example of a demographic could be those who signed up for your company’s services a week ago but haven’t been back since, in which case you could send them an email asking if they need any assistance.

The next step is to formulate your email message. You need something that will grab the consumer’s attention and make them want to stick with your services, so make sure your message is concise, and also loud and clear!

Next you’ll want to figure out your entire campaign for each respective consumer, i.e., what the series of emails will look like from the nurturing lead to the sale, to the renewal afterward. You’ll need to decide how many emails you want to send out to each consumer and make sure that each email lines up appropriately with each course of action.

Now it’s time to start sending out those emails. You’ll need to set up some sort of custom drip software, or you can purchase a product that’ll make that job a lot simpler.

And now that you’ve started sending out your drip emails, you’ll need to regulate and evaluate them to make sure everything’s running smoothly. If you aren’t getting the results that you wanted, you can try revising your copy or educating your consumer so they understand what’s going on a little better.

Ready to Get Started?

Of course you are. I really think you’re going to like the results that come with drip campaigns, and SharpSpring can help you get there. There’s a reason our slogan is Powerful. Affordable. For Everyone. Using drip campaigns with SharpSpring will help you form strong connections with consumers and increase sales. It’s as simple as that.