Every email you send should nurture your audience. If you’re not nurturing, you’re just asking for a direct sale. Think of nurturing as gently guiding someone through your sales funnel. At the top of the funnel, people don’t know about your brand or solution. Your ads bring them in, and then your emails help them become aware of your brand and understand how you can solve their problems.
Your emails nurture prospects into qualified leads, then into buyers, and finally into repeat customers who might even recommend your business to others. The only time you’re not nurturing is when you directly ask for a sale. For example, if you’re a poet announcing your new book to your email list, that’s a direct sales email. But even then, the copy will still try to persuade and nurture a bit.
What is a Drip Campaign?
A drip campaign is a specific type of email sequence. It has a beginning and an end, with emails spaced out over time at specific intervals. You might send one email today, skip tomorrow, send another the day after, and so on. If someone doesn’t respond, you can space the emails further apart, maybe sending the next one a month or six months later.
This spacing protects your email deliverability. If you bombard people with daily emails and they don’t open them, your emails might get marked as spam. Dripping emails out over time lets you stay in touch without being annoying.
Common Uses for Drip Campaigns
Common uses for drip campaigns include welcome emails for software companies, where you guide new users through getting started. Real estate agents use them too, combining cold calls with follow-up emails to create multiple touchpoints with potential clients. You might also use drip campaigns for win-back sequences (trying to re-engage people who haven’t interacted with you in 90 days), mini email courses, or abandoned cart reminders.
The Three Types of Emails
There are really only three main types of emails you’ll send. First are drip sequences. Second are transactional emails, which are triggered by specific actions. These include payment confirmations, failed payment notices, subscription renewal reminders, and post-purchase upsells. They’re called transactional because they relate to transactions and are triggered by things that happen outside the inbox.
The third type is broadcast emails. These include regular newsletters that go out weekly or monthly to your entire list. Unlike drip campaigns, newsletters don’t have an end date – they continue as long as someone stays subscribed. Broadcast emails also include one-off announcements like product launches, software updates, or Black Friday sales.
Newsletters Still Nurture
Even newsletters nurture your audience by building familiarity and trust. When you consistently share valuable information, you establish yourself as an authority. This makes people more likely to engage with you when you do have something to sell.
Every email serves a purpose in your overall marketing strategy. Whether it’s part of a drip campaign, a transactional message, or a broadcast, each email should move your reader closer to taking action. The key is understanding which type of email to use for each situation and making sure you’re always providing value, not just asking for sales.
