What is Drip Campaign?
A drip campaign is a pre-planned series of messages sent automatically at set intervals - the name comes from dripping: instead of sending everything at once, the information arrives in measured doses. It is triggered by an event, usually a sign-up, a download or a purchase.
The difference from a classic campaign is the principle - time-based rather than date-based: not everyone gets the email on the same day, but each recipient runs the track from their own starting point - day 1, day 3, day 7, counted from the trigger. That is why a drip campaign runs continuously in the background, with nobody starting it manually.
Drip campaigns are the simplest form of automation and often the best entry point - but also the one that goes blunt fastest. A purely time-based track ignores what the recipient does. The evolution is therefore behaviour-based nurturing that reacts to opens and clicks. As a first step, though, a clean drip campaign still beats any manual follow-up.
Why does Drip Campaign matter?
Welcome sequences - the most common drip campaign - achieve the highest engagement rates of all, because interest is greatest right after sign-up. Once built, the track then works every day without anyone touching it - the best lever for small teams.
Drip Campaign in practice
- 01Onboarding: after registration, three emails arrive on day 1, 3 and 7, guiding step by step to first use.
- 02E-commerce: a cart abandonment triggers a reminder after 1 hour, 24 hours and 3 days.
- 03B2B: after a guide download, a weekly sequence of four emails each goes deeper on one aspect.
