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.
From the journal
- From enquiry to booked meeting: building a lead funnel without frictionB2B buyers spend just 17 per cent of their purchase journey talking to suppliers - and 67 per cent would rather buy without a sales rep at all. Yet most funnels still end with a ten-field form and the line - we will be in touch. Here is where enquiries actually get lost, and how the path from enquiry to booked meeting looks without friction.
- Newsletters in 2026: owned audience over algorithm lotteryOn Instagram you now reach 3.5 per cent of your followers on average, on Facebook considerably less. A newsletter reaches 30 per cent of your list - people who invited you in. Why your own list is the most stable channel in marketing in 2026, and how to build one without becoming a spammer.
- Marketing automation: the first 90 days without chaosAutomation does not fix a broken process - it just runs it faster and in series. Switch on workflows before your data and handovers are clean, and you produce chaos at scale. This roadmap shows what belongs in the first 30, 60 and 90 days so automation creates impact instead of busywork.
