What's the difference between a drip and a nurture email campaign?

While they sound similar, drip and nurture email campaigns are very different. Before deciding between the two, you should understand their differences so you choose the right campaign for your marketing goals.

Drip campaigns

A drip campaign is a sequence of automated emails that you send on schedule to a targeted list of contacts. Even though they’re automated, you can personalize them by inserting auto-filled data, like the contact’s name, company, and industry. Drip campaigns are great for retaining customers, increasing company awareness, and developing new leads.

Here’s an example of a simple drip campaign:

1. A prospect fills out a form on your website requesting more information about your company.
2. You immediately send the prospect the first drip email with information about your company.
3. You follow up two days later.
4. You follow up again two days later. 

To create a successful drip campaign, you need to first understand your company’s needs. Do you need more customers? Do you need to increase engagement? Do you need more website traffic? Decide this, and then begin building and revising your contact list and messaging.

Nurture campaigns

While drip campaigns focus on determining a prospect’s needs, nurture campaigns focus on developing a relationship with the prospect by sending them targeted information about the specific services they need or that interest them. The prospect’s action – for example, downloading an e-book from your company website – triggers the first email of the campaign. By knowing what the prospect’s specific needs are, you can continue to nurture that relationship with a more personalized email campaign.

Making the decision between a drip and a nurture campaign depends on your company’s needs and goals. Since they’re very different, we recommend incorporating both into your company’s strategy, if the resources (time, talent, budget) are available.

Email marketing is an important strategy that’s proven to increase customer retention, leads, and generate revenue. Axia Public Relations offers Inbound℠, which is lead-converting content marketing to help implement or improve your email marketing campaigns.

Becca McClure is a passionate public relations professional and works on various client public relations campaigns and projects. Clients love her infectious positive attitude and her strong work ethic. Becca joined the Axia Public Relations team in February 2016. Learn more about Becca McClure.

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