Believe it or not, I experienced one of the better drip email marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen after going to get the oil changed on my car. At the time I was driving fairly often for work, so regular oil changes were not out of the ordinary, but this was the first time I had ever had my car serviced at this particular national company. While making my payment I willingly provided my email, assuming they would send me a coupon of some sort in a couple months when I was due back.

By the time I checked my email I already had my first message from them, thanking me for my visit and offering me a discount service on my second vehicle if I had one. A few weeks later I received an informational email outlining the merits of changing your oil every 3,000 miles. A week or two later, I received another informational piece about their synthetic oil blends and how they can help extend the number of miles you travel between services. Maybe one week after that, I simply received a note reminding me that they “haven’t seen me in a while” and outlining the various locations near my home where their shops were located.

When I finally got around to changing my oil again, you can bet I went back to them; they kept their name in the forefront of my mind, and their constant contact gave me the impression that they wanted my service and were genuinely trying to look out for me and my vehicle.

Drip marketing campaigns like this are a cost-effective, low-maintenance way to keep in contact with your client list and keep your services in the front of their mind. Below are some tips for how to make an effective drip campaign that will generate leads and sales for you.

Vary your content to maximize customer engagement

With drip marketing campaigns, most of the labor happens on the front end. That is to say, you will produce all of the emails (that will be released to your customers over time) before you launch the campaign. It’s critical to ensure that your message is not generic or repetitive. Consider my example about oil changes– their campaign covered everything from an invitation back, to blogs and informational pieces, to a personalized follow-up email. Similarly, you want to make sure every email that goes out to your customer has enough substance and value for them to want to engage with it.

Drip campaign emails should contain clear calls to action

The beauty of a drip marketing campaign is that it is a hands-off way to keep your brand in your customer’s mind. However, regular contact is wasted if it’s not perfectly clear why you are regularly touching base with them. Once again, think of my earlier example– although the content was varied, it was certainly never unclear that their objective was for me to come back for another oil change. Making sure to specify the purpose for your email will help prompt more clients to action, thus making your campaign more effective.

The best drip campaigns consider client behavior

Thanks to the amount of traceable data available through your digital marketing strategy, it is easier to identify who is engaging with your brand, who is window-shopping, and who is unresponsive. It’s important to structure your drip campaign to be driven by client behavior. Obviously a client who is extremely engaged should be getting emails structured to encourage them to continue such as notifications, requests etc. On the other hand, your less engaged clients should be receiving more informational, educational, offer-laden emails to try to bring them closer to your brand.