Email marketing campaigns earn an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. But you could get an even higher ROI if you use drip email marketing instead of single-send campaigns.
Research shows that open rates for drip campaigns are about 80% higher than stand-alone emails. So if you want to maximize your email marketing performance, you should be using drip.
Read on for excellent real-world examples of email drip marketing campaigns, which you can use as email templates for your campaigns.
Examples of email drip marketing perfection
Airbnb’s Recommendations
Airbnb does a really good job at drip marketing for individuals who have visited the site to view a property without renting. They send out an email that shows a picture of the property and a message asking the viewer to take another look.
Then, Airbnb will send a follow-up email highlighting a few similar popular properties in the same area. The message says something to the effect of “if the first property isn’t what you wanted, these could be a better fit.”
This is an example of the power of relevance in drip marketing campaigns. These emails are highly personalized and of direct interest to the receiver. It’s an email marketing template that your brand could also use to significant effect.
Netflix’s Unsubscriber Email Campaign
Netflix experiences a constant churn of subscribers canceling their subscriptions. So they designed a powerful drip template to win some of these canceling subscribers back.
The email template series starts with a simple call-to-action, asking the user to consider resubscribing and providing an easy link they can click to immediately do so.
Netflix will periodically send more emails to the user. These emails highlight the new shows the company released and some of the existing content the user might be interested in based on their viewing history.
This email series is effective because it’s extremely targeted. It’s a lesson that your company could benefit from while designing its drip campaigns.
Patagonia’s Weather-Based Drip Content
Patagonia does a great job of using weather-based marketing in its drip campaigns. The company has an automatic email tool, which sends out messages whenever the weather drops below a certain threshold figure in a user’s area.
These emails feature ads highlighting the gear people need to keep themselves warm in the cold weather they’re experiencing. It’s an example of how important timing can be in determining the effectiveness of your drip marketing campaigns.
Zulily’s Sense of Urgency
Between 60 and 80% of online shopping carts are abandoned. One way to reduce the income lost is to target users with abandoned carts with drip marketing campaigns. Zulily does this very well.
The company sends out a series of automated emails to users who have items on sale in abandoned carts. The first email in the series reminds the user of the item they thought of purchasing and highlights how long the deal is valid.
The following email is sent on the last day that the deal is active. It’s designed to create a sense of urgency by reminding them that this is the last chance they have to take advantage of the deal they were interested in.
Dollar Shave Club’s Cross-Selling
Drip email campaigns can also be an effective tool for cross-selling. Dollar Shave Club has a drip campaign that does this well.
The company regularly sends out product recommendations to existing customers. It even does this in the person’s order tracking email.
For example, when someone receives an email confirmation that their razor blades are on the way, Dollar Shave Club will also use the opportunity to highlight add-on products like shaving cream.
The key here is to use existing purchases to highlight items that complete the order. There’s a good chance your company would benefit from doing the same.
Grammarly’s Reminder
People will often download the software they want but end up not using it because they simply forget. When that happens, you want to send reminder drip emails that encourage them to actually use the software.
Grammarly excels at this sort of thing.
The company sends out regular ‘tips of the week’ that highlight common grammatical errors and solutions. These emails end with a call-to-action reminder that users could be missing grammar errors like these if they’re forgoing Grammarly.
Spotify’s Onboarding
Drip templates can also be a great way to onboard new users. Spotify does an excellent job of this.
The music streaming service sends out a series of emails to new users highlighting their product and its differentiating features. Say a user listens to a particular genre on Spotify. The company might send an email showing a pre-built playlist of that same genre with a link the user can click to listen to.
It’s an example of how drip campaigns can be a great channel to highlight the benefits of your product and encourage people to interact with it more frequently.
Tips for using email marketing templates effectively
Now that we’ve examined some of the best real-world email templates for drip campaigns let’s look at some general tips for getting more out of whichever email marketing templates you decide to use. Here are four tips to keep in mind.
Know when to use email templates
Email marketing templates are an effective way to find new customers for your company and increase the value of your marketing strategy. But they aren’t always the best way to reach out to a potential buyer.
Sometimes, email templates can be stale and lacking in personalization if you have a high-value prospect you want to work on converting. In that case, crafting a personalized drip campaign could be a better move than using a standard template.
Personalization is still king
Even if you decide to primarily use drip templates, it’s still important to personalize them so each one is specifically designed for every prospect.
Research confirms this: Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.
Part of your personalization process can also be choosing which types of emails you send to your prospects. For example, if a customer hasn’t signed up for your product yet, sending them an onboarding email wouldn’t make sense. But it would be a good idea to set them up with a drip campaign highlighting the unique benefits of your product.
Keep it short and sweet
Most of the people on your list will receive dozens of emails from companies throughout the day. They’ll ignore most of these because they simply don’t have time to go through all of them.
So if you want to make sure the information you send out is consumed, keep it short and sweet. You can direct people in the email to find further information. But it’s not typically a good idea to send over long-form content in a drip campaign.
Use A/B testing and other performance measurement tactics
Drip campaigns are an iterative process. Your first design will probably not be optimal for your company to use drip email marketing. Instead, you’re going to need to assess how different types of drip emails perform and then adjust your strategy based on that information. A/B testing is one of the most effective ways to refine your drip marketing approach so you can test and iterate.
LeadLander can help you create a more effective drip template
To create drip email campaigns that are effective, you need to have a keen understanding of who your customers are and what they care about. That’s where LeadLander’s website visitor tracking software can help.
Our software gives you a wealth of data showing:
- Who your customers are
- How they get to your website
- And what type of content do they interact with
You can use this data to craft email templates that are precisely targeted to address the goals and concerns of each segment of your audience.
Sign up for a risk-free 14-day trial of LeadLander today.
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