Email drip campaigns are an effective way of building relationships with your customers, increasing their engagement and reducing churn. We’re huge fans of a well-executed drip marketing campaign because they truly have the power of producing excellent business results.
Quickly, for those who might be unclear or unfamiliar, what is a drip campaign? Simply put, it’s a strategic series of emails sent to targeted recipients over a set period of time, all designed in support of a common goal.
Say, for example, that you really like a particular magazine but you’re not yet convinced that you want to be a paid subscriber. Instead you sign up for the free email newsletter. A drip marketing campaign would see that new email signup as the trigger to send a series of “drips” aimed at converting you into a subscription holder. All of these emails would be automated to send on a set schedule: you’d receive Email #1 upon signup, Email #2 a week later and Email #3 a week after that. It’s pretty straight forward.
But like everything, this method has a few naysayers. There are people who think automation is lazy (we say you’re working smarter, not harder), some people think it’s impersonal (nope) and others just think it’s a big ol’ waste of time (not by a long shot). Read on as we tackle the main misconceptions about email drip campaigns and show you just how untrue they are.
1. Drip Campaigns Don’t Really Work
Let’s settle the score on this one right up front. Drip email campaigns do work. First, take into consideration the fact that over 70% of consumers prefer businesses to communicate with them via email. By choosing to reach your consumers through email you’re already giving them what they want.
Now consider the effectiveness of automation. Forrester reports that B2B marketers who implement marketing automation increase their sales pipeline contribution by 10%. Meanwhile B2C marketers using automation have seen conversion rates climb as high as 50%.
Timing is everything when talking about conversion. These email drip campaigns are built in a way that highlights a Call-to-Action when it will have the biggest impact and best odds for success. Companies who automate emails are 133% more likely to reach their customers during crucial decision-making junctures.
2. OK, But Drip Campaigns Wouldn’t Work for My Business
While email automation was at one point a tactic that only made sense for enterprise-level businesses, this is no longer the case. Drip marketing is now scalable for variety of budgets, needs and scopes.
Business users across the board have noted a 451% increase in lead generation as a result of targeted and personalized emails. Oh yeah, did we mention that using personalization in drip marketing campaigns is like pouring gasoline on an already impressive fire? Personalized emails drive 6X higher transaction rates and 41% higher unique click rates.
3. No One Opens Automated Emails
If people didn’t open drip campaigns, automation platforms would cease to be in business. While it’s true that most inboxes are pretty busy places, there are a few proven ways to ensure your emails stand out from the pack. Tactics like adding a personalized subject line, for example, increases the unique open rate by 29% and adding a video to emails increases CTR by 28%.
The reality is that there are 11X more brands using automated marketing today than there were in early 2011. Automation is not a dirty word, so let’s move away from the idea that it can’t be an effective component of a marketing plan.
In fact, automated emails get 119% higher click rates than broadcast emails. When you couple automation with personalization, transaction rates double compared to non-personalized trigger emails.
4. Automated Emails Are Impersonal
Who says they have to be? There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be integrating personalized elements into your drip campaign beyond subject lines. Relevant email drip campaigns produce 18X more revenue than generic, mass-mailing ones. That’s because you’re targeting recipients based on data that ensures they’re at the best place within the sales cycle to receive your message.
Within your email itself, personalized visual elements can grab attention, effectively impart your brand’s unique voice and drive genuine connection. Personalized Video, specifically, can create an opportunity for data-driven, visually-rich communication and allows you to easily refresh your campaigns as you collect more customer information or adjust your positioning. Plus, Personalized Video has been shown to drive up to a 33% engagement rate with customers.
5. Ugh, But Drip Campaigns Sound Like So Much Work to Set Up
Think about it this way. You’re already collecting data on your customers and leads, right? And (I hope) you plan on having some form of communication with these people, whether it’s part of a drip campaign or not. So why not put that data to work and segment your customers and leads so that they’re receiving the most relevant messaging possible?
78% of marketers say segmentation is the one automation feature they can’t live without. Surely it’s for good reason. And that reason is because informed communication efforts are effective communication efforts. You’re wasting time if you’re doing anything less.
6. Email Leaves Very Little Room for Creativity
If you’ve read anything above, you already know this isn’t true. Let your words dazzle, let your visuals inspire. The creativity of your drip marketing campaign is only limited by your own imagination.
Using Personalized Video allows you to combine an emotionally-charged storytelling experience with native personalization. This means the personalized elements of your video will look like they were individually implemented for each and every viewer. And that’s because they were — each and every video is rendered in real-time to uphold the highest level of cinematic quality. No cheap, “paste-on” visuals here.
If you found this useful and you’d like to learn how to take advantage of the latest trends in a fast-paced and ever-evolving marketing landscape, we invite you to download a copy of our “How to stay ahead of the game in the marketing industry” guide for CMOs
