When To Use A Drip Campaign Vs. Nurture Campaign
The email marketing trend is not dead. Both B2B and B2C marketers rely on email as the best mode for a promotional campaign. They send newsletters, promotional messages, follow-up messages, and other important information via email. However, when you think of email campaigns, you will come across 2 options- drip campaign and nurture campaign. So, which one should you choose to reach your goal? Let us dig deep into the topic- the drip versus nurture campaign.
Drip campaign- Get a brief concept about it
Drip marketing refers to an automated email campaign that lets you deliver personalized and scheduled emails to the chosen contacts. You can continue this campaign over a particular period. Your target should be to achieve higher click-through rates and open rates of your emails. Most commonly, emails marketers running a drip campaign have goals like-
- Increasing brand awareness
- Retaining loyal customers
- Nurturing newly generated leads
Thus, you can set your goal and go ahead with your drip email campaign.
What are the most popular types of email campaigns?
- Welcome email drips– Let your potential customers know about your company by sending emails at regular intervals.
- Top-of-mind email drips- Leads that are not sales-ready should be nurtured over a long period.
- Competitive email drips- You need to show how your products and services are better than that of other brands.
- Re-engagement email drips- You can choose this email campaign to re-engage inactive leads and drive them into the sales funnel.
- Onboarding email drips- Some clients may like to get resources, and you can send onboarding emails to them.
It is to be noted that though email is the commonly chosen medium for drip campaigns, you may also choose text messages and direct mail for this purpose.
So, what is a drip campaign? It is a time-based email sent to potential and regular customers. However, there may be a variation in the level of interest and frequency of delivering emails.
For instance, you have a clothing retail store, and new summer clothes have been added to your collection. How will you schedule your drip campaign in this scenario?
- 1st day- Send out emails to let your target recipients know about the new collections.
- 3rd day- Your email needs to focus on the discount offers available for a particular period
- 6th day- Deliver emails to talk about fashionable clothes for kids, women, and men.
- 9th day- On this day, you can create your email content to show the special fashion wear for young men and women who like to impress their partners.
Thus, every email in this drip campaign is unique, sequenced, and highly considerate. You can warm up your leads and convince them to use your products.
Get a clear concept about the email nurture campaign
Like the drip campaign, the nurture campaign involves sending emails based on the leads’ behavior. You have to deliver your emails timely and guide your leads to go through the purchasing process. The nurture campaign is a behavioral-based marketing program. You need to set the campaign based on behavioral data-
- How frequently have your leads visited your site?
- Which pages have they visited?
- Have your leads registered for any seminars?
Encourage engagement and provide educational value with this email campaign. Your email delivery schedule should be more personalized.
Common types of nurture campaigns
- Emails to new customers
- Post-purchase emails
- Re-engagement emails
- Repeat customer emails
Suppose you have a software company. How will your nurture campaign be?
- Day 0 – Emails to new leads for free trial or eBook
- Day 5– The lead has entered your site the second time. Now, you can send a free webinar link via email.
- After the webinar – After the 3rd visit, the fresh lead becomes a hot lead. Send an automated email for the free demo of your software.
How will you decide on the right type of email campaign?
Your first step is to identify your target audience. You can then set the goal and take the initiative. Ask a few questions to make the best decision.
- What information do you have about your target audience?
- Are the target contacts present in your database? Are they newly generated?
- What is your biggest goal?
- Which technologies are available to run the campaign? (CRM, marketing automation)
Now, as we have mentioned automation, it is to be noted that you can use automated remarketing software, Capture. It lets you integrate CRM and other tools to make your campaign easy. Use this patented software for remarketing purposes.
Make sure that your sales and marketing teams know everything about qualified leads. It is highly important before starting the email marketing campaign.
Figure out how to follow up with your leads
Although email marketing campaigns generate leads and qualify them with the right content, they cannot guarantee conversion. Your sales team’s efficiency can make a difference in the result. Identify the staff who will follow up on your leads. How will they do it? Face-to-face interactions, phone calls, or any other modes. Decide on how your marketers and sales managers will manage the follow-up process.
From the detailed discussion, we can say that a drip campaign can cover a bi-weekly activity for holiday coupons, new product arrivals, and abandoned cart reminders. On the contrary, the nurture campaign is started when your leads have submitted details to get eBooks or attend webinars. Based on these facts, you can choose the right type of email marketing campaign.
Especially younger companies have found the drip campaign advantageous, as it is easy to set up. It involves a minimal investment of resources and fewer analytics. However, a nurture campaign enables you to achieve a long-term goal, and it focuses on relationships.
Can you run a hybrid campaign?
You have learned a lot about – the drip versus nurture campaign. But, you can choose the dual pack and give a punch to your email marketing strategy. Make sure that resources are available to automate both campaigns.
