Email drip campaigns can provide a huge boost to your retention marketing strategies but are surprisingly ignored by many brands. When email inboxes are overflowing, and attention spans dwindling, the right emails sent at the right time can turn lukewarm leads into loyal customers.
In this post, we’ll clarify exactly what email drip campaigns are, why they’re crucial, how to build campaigns that actually work, and share some concrete examples to inspire your strategy.
What exactly is an email drip campaign?
Drip campaigns are email sequences that run in the background based on user certain actions, behaviors, or time intervals. Whether you're building a Mailchimp drip campaign or using another tool, the idea is the same: each message is a stepping stone, guiding your subscribers toward a clear goal.
Drip campaigns are not mass email blasts—they are intentional and deliberate. They methodically educate, nurture, and convert your audience into action. Drip campaigns are particularly effective for:
Lead Nurturing: Steering prospects to making a purchase
Customer Onboarding: Helping new customers understand the value of your product or service quickly
Sales Conversion: Converting fence-sitters into completed purchases
Win-Back Campaigns: Reviving uninterested users.
What types of email drip campaigns exist?
Welcome Series
Give new subscribers a memorable first impression:
- Start with a warm welcome and quick intro—let them know who you are
- Share what your brand’s all about, what kind of emails they’ll get, and why they should care
- Highlight a handful of your most popular products or services
- Throw in some social proof—think reviews, customer stories, pics, etc.
Onboarding Emails
Great for SaaS or service-based brands:
- Share a few quick tips to help people set up their account
- Walk them through how things work (a simple guide or short video helps)
- Link out to any support docs or FAQs they might need
- Make it easy for them to take that next step—be clear and to the point
Abandoned Cart Emails
Abandoned cart emails are a simple but effective way to recover missed revenue.
- Start by reminding customers what they left behind
- Create a sense of urgency (e.g. low stock, limited time)
- Consider offering an incentive like free shipping or a small discount to encourage them to complete the purchase
Lead Nurturing Emails
Lead nurturing emails are especially useful for B2B or longer sales cycles.
- Focus on delivering helpful, educational content that speaks to real challenges
- Share case studies or customer stories that show real results
- Highlight product features, but tie them to actual benefits
- Include a soft CTA—like scheduling a demo or starting a conversation—without being pushy
Re-Engagement Emails
Bring inactive subscribers back to engagement:
- Friendly reminders of previous interactions
- Updates on new offerings
- Special incentives or discounts
- Options to manage preferences and frequency
Building a Strong Drip Campaign 101
Set Clear Objectives
Clearly outline what success looks like, whether it's user onboarding, customer re-engagement, or boosting sales. Your objectives will shape every aspect of your campaign.
Segment Your Audience
Don’t send everyone the same emails. Instead, segment subscribers based on their behaviors, demographics, or past interactions. Targeted content is more impactful.
Craft Engaging Content
Each email should:
- Provide genuine value—be it insights, exclusive deals, or helpful information
- Feel personalized, addressing recipients by name and referencing their actions
- Include clear, compelling calls to action
Time Emails Strategically
Use historical data to determine the best sending times. Balance frequency to remain memorable without overwhelming your audience.
Test, Refine, and Improve
Continuously experiment with subject lines, content styles, visuals, and timing. Even small tweaks can significantly boost your campaign’s effectiveness.
Real-life winning email drip campaign examples
Welcome Series: Glossier
Glossier keeps it short and sweet with a three-part welcome flow. The first email is a friendly intro to the brand, followed by a look at some of their bestsellers. Then they wrap it up with a small discount and a few customer reviews to build trust.
It’s simple but effective—new subscribers get what the brand’s about right away and are more likely to make that first purchase.
Abandoned Cart: Allbirds
Allbirds handles cart abandonment in a really thoughtful way. They send a reminder that includes the exact product you left behind paired with a quick nudge about their sustainability values—which feels on-brand, not sales. Sometimes, they’ll throw in free shipping or a small discount to bring you back.
It’s simple, effective, and reinforces why people like the brand in the first place.
Lead Nurturing: HubSpot
HubSpot does this cool thing where they send you an email course each week—like real, useful inbound marketing tips and stuff you’d actually wanna download and use. It’s not pushy or annoying, just honestly helpful. They sneak in little mentions of their own products here and there, but in a chill way that doesn’t bug you.
Basically, it just makes you trust them over time, and then when you need something they sell, you’re already thinking of them first.
Re-Engagement: Grammarly
Grammarly does a great job re-engaging people who've fallen off. They send these cool personalized stats (like "you wrote more words than 80% of users!"), toss in some practical writing tips you might actually use, and then gently remind you to hop back into their platform.
Basically, it works because it doesn't feel pushy—it feels genuinely useful.
Stimulate's best practices for drip campaigns that work
- Go deeper than just a “What's up [first name]?” Try personalizing your email campaigns based on what people actually care about and do.
- Try dynamic content so different groups get stuff that's super relevant to them.
- Keep CTAs simple, clear, and easy to act on.
- Double-check everything looks good on mobile (no tiny buttons or weird formatting).
- Avoid spammy stuff like too many exclamation points (!!!) or clickbaity subject lines.
- Don't forget to check up on your results and tweak as you go—let the data show you what's working.
Final Thoughts
Email drip campaigns are kind of a game changer. They keep things moving—building relationships, driving sales, and growing your business—without you having to constantly be in the weeds. It's like having someone working behind the scenes while you're doing literally anything else.
Whether you’re helping newbies get started, waking up inactive subscribers, or just giving your sales a nice boost, drip emails are a super easy way to step up your retention marketing.
Ready to harness drip email marketing effectively? Stimulate Agency can help you create impactful drip campaigns designed to drive results.
