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How drip marketing can boost your non-dues revenue efforts

As a marketing professional, one of my favorite things to do is create and execute drip marketing email campaigns. 

What is a drip marketing campaign, you may ask? Essentially, a drip marketing campaign is an email automation (one or more emails) featuring pre-written messages that are sent — or “dripped” — to prospects over time. 

Whether you realize it or not, you probably receive messages from drip marketing campaigns every day. Like those pesky cart abandonment messages you receive after you decide not to buy something online. Or the “Getting Started” welcome emails you’re sent after you sign up for a new program. 

So how can drip marketing boost my non-dues revenue?

At Profitable Association Inc., we use several types of drip marketing campaigns to reach out to prospects and/or members to boost the non-dues revenue efforts of our clients. 

Below are some examples of our current drip marketing campaigns: 

New Member Welcome Series

Want an easy way to showcase your non-dues revenue efforts to your new members? Why not create a campaign series just for them!

For several years now, we’ve used a drip campaign to send a two-part email automation to new members for one of our clients. The first email includes a welcome letter from PAI President Pat Wilson, plus a brief summary of the non-dues revenue efforts offered by the association. If the member opens that email within 3 business days, they’ll receive a second email providing them with additional information about those efforts.

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Onboarding Email Series

PAI also helps with the sales efforts for a commercial product offered by one of its association clients. Among the multitude of automations created for this effort is a 3-part onboarding email series for new subscribers. 

We have the emails set on a cadence of 1 hour after purchase, then 3 days for the 2nd email, then 3 more days for the final email. Each email contains helpful resources for using the product, such as a downloadable User Guide and links to “How To” YouTube videos. 

Prospect Sales Calls & Demos

Time is money these days, which is why we also set up a drip campaign for the aforementioned client selling a commercial product to handle sales call and demo requests. 

If a potential customer is interested in talking with us about the product, they’ll fill out a form on the client’s website. From there, they’ll be sent an email that includes a link to our Calendly page so they can schedule a time for the demo or sales call that best fits their schedule. If they don’t open that email within 5 business days, they’ll receive a followup email with the same link. 

 

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Helpful tips when using drip marketing

The beauty of drip marketing is that once the setup is complete, the automations can largely run on their own. 

So how can I make the most of my drip marketing campaigns?

(1) Use integrations and APIs to connect all your data sources — Drip campaigns are most effective when data is automatically fed into the system. To maximize this, we recommend using your email provider’s data capture forms or outside apps that easily integrate with your system. Utilizing an API or Zapier/Webhooks to connect your CRM will also make your life 💯 easier. 

(2) The more, the better — Even if it’s an automation for a single email, we recommend airing on the side of caution and setting up more email automations than less. This way, you can maximize your potential reach and also learn more about your members or prospective customers based on their opens/clicks. 

(3) Monitor opens and clicks for future followup — By using an email marketing program to send your messages, you can track whether or not someone has opened your message, or dumped it in their junk folder. Checking your email reports on a regular basis will allow you to find prospects that you might want to follow up with via phone or personal email. 

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