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Drip vs. Nurture Campaigns: Which Works Better For Your Marketing Strategies?

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Drip vs Nurture Campaigns
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Drip campaigns and nurture campaigns are the key components of automated email marketing. In the modern business landscape, digital marketers strive to cut through the noise and deliver value to their audience. To do so effectively, they must master and harness these two types of campaigns.

While there’s often debate about drip campaigns versus nurture campaigns in the digital marketing domain, learning how to use them can help you stay ahead of the curve. Understanding the differences between the two campaigns is essential to achieve your business goals. Each has its distinct features and strategies to guide prospects through the sales funnel.

What Is A Drip Campaign?


Drip campaigns serve as the backbone of automated email marketing. They deliver a series of personalized emails to prospects over a period. Drip campaigns schedule personalized emails for automated delivery,  providing a streamlined approach to leading prospects through the sales funnel.  
When a prospect enters your sales funnel, a series of emails are sent to them, gradually influencing their purchase decisions. These email campaigns typically have much higher open rates compared to cold emails.

Airbnb’s Onboarding Drips

From this example of Airbnb’s drip campaigns, let’s understand how drip campaigns work. When new users sign up for Airbnb, they receive strategically designed drip campaigns.  These emails introduce them to the platform’s features with personalized welcome messages and tips on optimizing their listing. Thus, Airbnb’s drip campaigns lay the groundwork for a seamless user experience.

Types of Drip Campaigns

Different types of drip campaigns work for different marketing goals and businesses. You need to figure out what type of drips work for you. If you need help with how to begin, Sootra Consulting can get you started and show you results. 

Before that, let’s show you the different types of drip campaigns you can use:

  1. Top-of-Mind Drips: Top-of-mind drips involve sending regular touchpoints, such as emails, newsletters, or updates, to leads at scheduled intervals. These touchpoints often include valuable content related to industry trends, product updates, or helpful resources. 

For example, a software company might send bi-weekly updates on industry trends and product features to keep their prospects engaged.

  1. Welcome Drips: These emails may include a warm welcome message with an introduction to the brand and its story and an overview of the products or services offered. Subsequent emails in the series may showcase different aspects of the brand, like its unique selling points, customer testimonials, or exclusive offers.

    For instance, a fashion retailer might send a series of emails showcasing their latest collections and offering exclusive discounts to new subscribers.
  2. Re-Engagement Drips: Re-engagement drips typically involve sending personalized emails or messages to inactive leads or lapsed customers. These messages aim to encourage customer re-engagement. These messages may include special promotions, discounts, or incentives.

For instance, a subscription-based service can offer special promotions to lapsed customers to entice them back into the fold.

How To Create A Drip Campaign?

Creating a drip campaign begins with segmenting your contact list based on demographics or behavior. The next step is to develop personalized content relevant to each segment to ensure your emails are relevant and engaging. Leverage marketing automation tools to schedule and deliver emails at the right time, with the right message for maximum impact.

Identify Goals and Objectives

  • Define clear objectives aligned with your marketing strategy.
  • Plan practical short-term goals that deliver quick results based on real-world scenarios
  • Goals include increasing brand awareness, nurturing leads, or driving conversions.

Segment Your Contact List

  • Divide your contact list into subgroups based on demographics or behavior.
  • Segmentation allows for customized messaging and offers to specific audience segments.

Create Personalized Content

  • Develop compelling content tailored to the needs and interests of each segment.
  • Hyper-personalize your messages based on segmentation criteria.
  • Focus on delivering value and building trust with subscribers to keep them engaged.
  • Customized messages increase relevance and engagement. They lead to better campaign performance

Filter Your Contact List

  • Filter your contact list based on the chances of conversion for leads.
  • Allocate your resources based on the priority of your leads.
  • Optimize for time and cost savings.

Leverage Marketing Automation Tools

  • Utilize marketing automation tools to schedule and deliver emails at the right time.
  • Eliminate mundane tasks that consume time to enhance team productivity.
  • Automation ensures timely delivery of personalized messages for maximum impact.

Test and Optimize

  • Continuously monitor campaign performance using metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
  • Conduct A/B testing to experiment with different elements and optimize for better results.
  • Analyze data to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments accordingly.

What Is An Email Nurture Campaign?

Nurture campaigns take personalization to the next level, delivering timely, targeted information based on a lead’s behavior. These campaigns get triggered by specific actions, events, or changes in a lead’s position in the sales funnel. They enable you to deliver highly relevant content at the right moment in the buyer’s journey.


For instance, when a potential lead starts browsing offers and the price of your product, nurture campaigns promptly send emails with personalized recommendations or special discounts. These emails aim to influence the prospect to make a purchase instantly.

Spotify’s Personalized Recommendations

Spotify’s nurture campaigns are examples of the positive results that personalized communication can yield when done right. By analyzing user listening history and preferences, Spotify delivers curated playlists and music recommendations tailored to each user’s taste, driving engagement and loyalty.

Nurture Campaign Examples:

There are different types of email nurture campaigns. Some of the prominent ones are as follows:

  1. New Customer Campaigns: These campaigns typically involve sending automated emails to new customers shortly after their first purchase or sign-up. The emails may include welcome messages, tutorials, tips, and resources to help customers get started with the brand’s offerings. 

For example, a SaaS company might offer tutorials and tips on getting started with their software.

  1. Post-Purchase Campaigns: These campaigns typically consist of follow-up emails sent to customers shortly after they have completed a purchase. The emails may include thank-you messages, requests for feedback or reviews, and recommendations for related products or services based on their purchase history.

For example, a retail brand might send emails with product recommendations or exclusive offers based on past purchases.

  1. Repeat Customer Campaigns: These campaigns typically involve sending targeted emails or offers to customers who have made multiple purchases or demonstrated loyalty to the brand. The emails may include special discounts, promotions, or rewards as a token of appreciation for their continued patronage.

For instance, a coffee subscription service might offer a loyalty program with discounts or freebies for frequent buyers.

How To Create A Nurture Campaign?

Building a nurture campaign begins with understanding your target audience and mapping their journey through the sales cycle. You can start the process by segmenting your contact list based on prospects’ behavior and preferences. Then you can focus on developing personalized content and calls-to-actions to guide leads through each stage of the journey.

Create An Ideal Customer Personal

  • Identify your ideal customer personas and segment your contact list accordingly. 
  • Use behavioral data to personalize your messaging and offers to ensure it’s effective and relevant.
  • Plan innovative approaches for future campaigns.

Map Out A Customer Lifecycle

  • Understand the stages of the customer’s journey. 
  • Develop content to address the needs and pain points of leads at each stage. 
  • Use automation to deliver targeted messages and offers based on lead behavior and preferences.

Select A Channel

  • Choose the preferred format and channel to deliver your content, whether it’s email, social media, or retargeting ads.
  • Analyze the impact of your content on different channels.
  • Test different approaches to find the most effective way to reach and engage your audience.

Drip vs. Nurture Campaigns: Which One Works For You?

Choosing the right campaign for your business can have a significant impact on your ROI. Here’s an overview of both types of campaigns to help you better understand the nuances.

Drip Campaigns

  1. Improved Engagement and Conversions

Drip campaigns are highly effective at driving engagement and conversions by delivering targeted messages at strategic intervals.

  1. Efficient Resource Utilization

Drip campaigns require minimal resources to set up and manage, making them a cost-effective option for businesses with limited budgets.

  1. Focused Messaging

Drip campaigns deliver focused messaging tailored to specific stages of the buyer’s journey, increasing relevance and effectiveness.

  1. Measurable Results

Drip campaigns provide clear, measurable results, allowing businesses to track ROI and optimize campaigns for better performance.

  1. Short-Term Impact

While drip campaigns can generate quick wins, their impact may diminish over time, requiring ongoing optimization to maintain effectiveness.

Nurture Campaigns

  1. Long-Term Relationship Building

Nurture campaigns excel at building long-term relationships with leads and customers, fostering loyalty and trust over time.

  1. Personalized Experiences

Nurture campaigns deliver personalized experiences tailored to the individual needs and preferences of prospects. It can enhance engagement and satisfaction.

  1. Resource-Intensive

Nurture campaigns require more resources to develop and execute due to their focus on delivering personalized and dynamic content.

  1. Cumulative Impact

Nurture campaigns have a cumulative impact on business ROI with the potential to generate significant returns over the long term as relationships deepen and conversions increase.

  1. Strategic Considerations

Choosing the right approach depends on strategic considerations such as objectives, target audience, and timeline. Nurture campaigns are better suited for businesses focused on long-term growth and relationship-building.

Summing It Up

Both drip and nurture campaigns have usability. Understanding how each works and using them effectively can help you create powerful marketing campaigns. Make the maximum use of these campaigns to drive engagement, nurture leads, and ultimately, drive business growth.

Share Your Views

We’d love to know your take on drip vs nurture campaigns! Share your insights in the comments below! If you would like to know more about email campaigns, Reach out to us at support@sootraconsulting.com. Let us help you make the most of your email campaigns. Visit our page Sootra Consulting

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