What Not To Do In Drip Campaigns

By Shreesha Ramdas - Chief Operating Officer, LeadFormix

I recently read on About.com an article by Laura Lake that the concept of Drip Marketing was developed in response to the ‘Law of 29’ in which many marketers believe that an average ‘prospect’ will not turn into a client until they’ve viewed a marketing message at least 29 times.

While the above explanation may sound exaggerated, there is no denying that drip marketing campaigns are a great way to keep in touch and stay on the mind of your future prospects and sales leads, even when they are not sales ready.
With higher penetration of marketing automation platforms in the B2B space, drip marketing campaigns have become a common lead nurturing activity. Now, planning and executing a drip marketing campaign only requires setting up some triggers on your marketing automation platform.

It is no wonder that today Drip Marketing Campaigns are the new nirvana for every B2B Marketer – as these are believed to rain leads as soon as one starts the lead nurturing programs.

Glenn Fallavollita author of the DRIP Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You, found after researching sales, marketing and buying process of 1,000+ salespeople, businesses, sales leaders and decision makers respectively, that :

1. 50% of all salespeople stopped calling or sending information (for at least 9 to 12 months or altogether) to a prospect or referral source after their first unsuccessful attempt in moving the sales process forward. A number that skyrockets to 99% after their third unsuccessful attempt at getting the sales process started or moved to the next level.
2. 95% of all salespeople are unable to predict the actual close date of a sale with any type of accuracy; therefore, how can they realistically predict a moment in time when their least interested prospects will be ready to take the next step in the buying process?
3. 75% of all first time appointments or events with a prospective buyer happen after a salesperson’s fourth initial telephone call.
4. In a medium- to high-value sale, it takes 15 to 30 conventional “drips” (telephone conversations, face-to-face meetings, voicemail messages, personal e-mails, letters, etc.) before a cold prospect becomes sales ready.
   In view of this data, it is understandable why drip marketing campaigns have developed a cult following in very little time. Every marketer, lead generation and lead management expert swears by their effectiveness and the convenience of executing them.
   You will hear plenty on how best to execute your drip marketing campaigns, the success stories, etc.
   It does not matter if you are a newbie or a seasoned professional, it is always good to remember the little things that can ruin your efforts.

Below, are a list of 10 things to avoid for every excited marketer embarking on a new drip marketing journey on a newly acquired marketing automation platform. Afterall, tools are as good as processes defined and decisions made by the people behind it.

• Don’t keep dripping the prospects who are sales ready
• Don’t overlap the lists for different drip marketing tracks
• Don’t over-drip a prospect to annoy him/her- don’t give a chance to hit unsubscribe
• Don’t make the drip marketing template ‘salesy’ in content
• Don’t drip a contact who is not even remotely interested- don’t give a chance to hit spam
• Don’t repeat messages/themes in drip campaigns
• Don’t repeat HTML rich emails
• Don’t make it impersonal- as drip campaign is a series of emails, it is easy to get lost
• Don’t make a list too long – segment your list and have multiple drip marketing tracks
• Don’t just send a ‘Thank You’ email in drip campaign- attach interesting content to engage further