Are Drip Campaigns Spam classified? 🙄

(6 Tips for a successful Drip campaign)

Drip Campaigns are especially popular among fast-scaling companies that want to go beyond the standard ways of growing due to smaller budgets, smaller team,s and the need to reach faster month-over-month growth. In this article, I will outline ways how to make your drip campaign successful and what to watch for to not be perceived as a spammer.

 

We have all been there: “Hey $Fname, Have found your LinkedIn profile and thought it was (awesome|interesting|great). Let’s connect!

 

We also know what happens some hour or so later once we have accepted the request.

 

 

The same happens with cold emails that are not targeted and do not have any value or are too generic. Remember, it is important to stand out from the other 99% of emails that end up in a person’s inbox. Therefore, you should ensure to not use exactly the same tactics as all the other 99%. Here is an example of what usual emails look like:

 

Hey $Fname,

My name is #CommonEnglishFirstname. I am representing XZY and we are doing (list PLENTY of services), we work around the globe and operate 25 hours a day. Want to buy?

PS: Fastest Delivery, Cheapest Price, Best Delivery

 

It starts with $Fname and uses the same level of personalization as all the others (barely anything). This is then followed by an intro on who he is and what company he works at #WhoCares. The same pitch about the product, quality price usually comes in #Boring. Usually, this kind of email is then followed up on, with “Hey, did you get my email” and lastly “Can I get an update”? Would I reply to these kinds of emails: hell no! Would I consider these as spammy – yes for sure!

So how can we do this differently🤨?

Here are some suggestions for a successful drip campaign and how you can make them stand out!

 

• Don’t make them linear, there are different paths to reach your goal 🏁
• Don’t just use one channel! You can combine LinkedIn, Email, Calls, Whatsapp, SMS, Twitter, and so on 📢
• Use personalization (and I don’t mean $fname)😎
• Use of Images, Gifs, Emojis, Videos 👀
• Combine your Emails with dedicated landing pages
• Apply one different CTA for each email 🎤

I will outline various options one by one, so let’s get started.

 

Don’t make them linear ➡

Some apps provide a single line flow for an email sequence consisting of 4 to 6 emails over a period of time (e.g. 20 days). These start with the first email, have a pause of 2 days as an example for the second email and then are sent periodically during a period of time. Usually, after the fourth email recipients are not amused anymore.

 

 

The issue here is that different things can happen: Somebody can click on a link, or an email can be forwarded, an email can be opened or not opened. Based on all these activities it might make sense to use if clauses in your sequence depending on the events that occur.

 

Below is an example of what if/else options can look like. Use relevant pauses, in your emails based on actions:

 

I.e. somebody clicks on a whitepaper download email which does not mean to boost out the next sequence right away but rather wait 3 days to ask him about the white paper he downloaded 3 days ago.

 

 

Use multiple channels for outreach 📢

Consider the case where somebody reaches out to you via the same medium over and over again (e.g. phone call or email) at some stage you are done and will consider this spam. There are too many salespeople that focus only on a single medium: LinkedIn Chrome extension, that auto-connects, auto-messages, and auto-follows-up. I guess we have all been there and it shows zero levels of engagement, personalization and will barely lead to results.

 

Now a person will try to reach out to you via email, 2 days later he visits your LinkedIn Profile, follows you on Twitter, likes some of your LinkedIn updates, and then drops you a message for a call. Here you have somebody that seems to have been doing his research. A potential lead is way more likely to engage with you this way.

 

Use personalization (and I don’t mean $fname)😎

I already talked about ways to personalize messages using the available variables in my blog post about the personalization of email campaigns.

 

Use for Personalization can be the location of the company (it might be always rainy(ing) there?), the industry, company size ranges, founding dates (traditional vs. startups), referring to a recent article, and so on.

 

Use of Images, Gifs, Emojis, Videos 👀

How many emails did you get with way too much text and a boring subject line? In order to stand out from all the noise that surrounds us, it is essential to be different. The use of images, gifs, emojis, and videos can be a game-changer!

You might think this is childish or not professional, but there are great ways to communicate beyond plain “professional” text, as at the end of the day all communication is human-to-human.

 

At the end of the day, all communication is H2H: Human-to-Human

 

Think beyond standard images, but elements relevant to your lead:  Include a screenshot of their website, a person’s picture, or company logo as part of a mock-up. E.g. combine your own company logo with theirs and talk about what a great match these two might be.

A screenshot of your website with some suggestions about how a website can be improved can be a great eye-catcher and make you stand out from all the other emails coming. Emojis can be great to ease up the super-professional and serious part and makes your approach more human and more relatable, but you should make sure🔨 you😉 don’t ❌overuse them 💥.

 

Combine your Emails with dedicated landing pages

One of the essential goals of the email is that the target lead takes action and gets pushed to your website or replies. Once a person is on your website you can track activities, provide lead scores, or start a chat interaction, but how do you prevent a person from bouncing off from your dedicated landing page right away 🤔? You guessed it: personalization.

We will get back to landing pages at a later stage so please stay tuned.

 

Apply one different CTA for each email 🎤

Call-to-action are these little buttons on the website that cry for attention: “Sign up”, “Download me now”. They are great at getting the reader to do specific actions. Important in your sequences are the following three rules:

 

• Only have a single CTA in the message you send out 👍
• Don’t have the same CTA in a row 🎎
• Trigger a different emotion with each CTA 🎇

 

Let us go through these three steps one by one.

Firstly: A single CTA in each message you send out? Why?
When you select two CTA, a user has to select and will likely select nothing (so no traffic!). A/B testing has proven that the best CTR is reached by really using just a single CTA in a message.

The second and third rule are somewhat linked: There is not a single CTA which works for each target lead but rather they respond to different emotions.

Imagine now that you receive the same CTA twice: #FOMO with get the discount offer.  This might lead to target leads getting annoyed and stop reading the messages or completely getting removed from the sequence. Possible emotions you can refer to:

 

• #FOMO -> last chance to get it
• #FOMO -> the same we have done for 3 other companies just like yours
• Education -> Download the Whitepaper
• 450 successful salespeople have signed-up –> Is your lead a successful salesperson as well?
• Are you not the right person, maybe refer us to somebody else?

Finally, be aware to implement them whilst maintaining email compliance with regulations such as GDPR. Here is a great article that provides valuable tips on how to do that.

 

These are just some suggestions on how to make your drip campaign more successful, I am sure there is more!
Here is another, more extensive article on how to get started with a drip campaign.