Email is a channel that often provides more flexibility, personalization, and customization than other avenues such as social media and search engine marketing. Email marketing can:
- Help your brand get its message across.
- Allow you to stay in close touch with prospects.
- Keep your products at the forefront of your audience’s consideration set.
Email marketing, when used correctly, has the potential to become a revenue-generating machine… and it’s extremely inexpensive! One such way to utilize this lucrative revenue driver is through what’s called a drip campaign.
What Is a Drip Campaign?
A drip campaign is a communication strategy that sends customized messages to recipients over time. So, for example, if someone signs up to receive more information on your product, you can stay in touch with them over the course of the next few days, weeks, and months by sending emails that provide them with the information you think they need to make a purchase decision. The idea is that after building enough trust and rapport with your “drip” recipients, they’ll ultimately convert into purchasers.
These emails, or “drips,” can consist of anything from educational content to exclusive promotions. The main value-add behind this marketing channel is automation. It relies on a consistent schedule to stay top-of-mind with your audience members – creating a mechanism that allows businesses to regularly and effectively communicate with a large volume of prospects at the push of a button.
Below, we’ve listed a few uses of email drip campaigns, and how they can benefit your business:
1. Increase Brand Awareness
The first benefit to email drip campaigns is their ability to increase brand awareness. Brand awareness is defined as the extent to which customers are able to recall or recognize a brand under different conditions. In other words, if someone sees one of your ads or products a month from now, will it look familiar to them?
Brand awareness is a crucial first step to the marketing funnel, the absence of which makes it exponentially harder to make a sale. After all, who would buy a product from a company they don’t know and trust? Without brand awareness, there is no:
- Product Education
- Consideration Set
- Brand Loyalty
The beauty of email drip campaigns is that unlike some other digital marketing channels, you have complete control of exactly what content your audience members receive depending on what stage in the purchase process they are, when they receive that content, and how often. Email drip campaigns are a fantastic way to create ongoing touchpoints with potential customers who otherwise may have only seen your brand once and faded away. Once they see your emails in their inbox several times, they are much more likely to remember and recognize your brand and what it stands for.
2. Re-engage With Past Customers
Tired of those one-and-done sales? Looking for a way to squeeze a little more value out of your previous customers? Then an email drip campaign may be in your future. One of the most prized possessions in a marketer’s toolbox is personal contact information. This data is very difficult to get, and should be utilized to its full potential. One piece of data your business should capitalize on is the email address that you capture from each customer.
Treat this email like gold – and use it to invest in your business by re-engaging with past customers. For example, let’s say you sold a product to someone a year ago, and never talked to them again. Realistically, there’s a small chance that they’ll be repeat customers, but it’s more likely that it was a one-time purchase. Now imagine a world where you stayed in touch with that customer, providing them with customized deals and promotions based on their buying behavior. That’s exactly what the Targets, Amazons, and Walmarts of the world are doing. They’re creating reasons to come back – whether it be Prime Day promotions, exclusive sales, or other means of enticing previous customers.
3. Nurture Warm Leads
Another major benefit to email drip campaigns is their ability to nurture warm leads. More often than not, you may have people interested in your product or service, but not quite ready to buy. Without providing extra touchpoints for them to get to know your brand, you’re likely to lose out on a future sales opportunity. However, if you’re able to get their email address and keep them in the loop, they very well may make a purchase down the road. It’s all about starting a dialogue and keeping your brand in front of them as they make their way through the buying process.
In fact, these individuals might even be waiting on additional information from your business before they decide to convert. Helpful facts like:
- How your product is better than its competitors
- Customer reviews
- Upcoming sales
- What your brand stands for
At the end of the day, it’s normal for your audience to want to do a little bit of research before making a purchase, especially if it’s at a higher price point. Utilizing a drip campaign is an extremely effective way to make sure they choose your brand over a competitor’s.
Get Your Digital Marketing Strategy Back On Track
Email drip campaigns can make a huge difference for your business’s bottom line and can be implemented on a low budget. If, after reading this article, you’d like to reap some of the benefits that we’ve listed above, we’re here to help. At Right Left Agency, we’ve made it our mission to provide small and scaling businesses with quality digital marketing services.
If you’re interested in executing any of the ideas we highlighted above, let us know and we would be happy to talk about your digital marketing strategy.
