First, what is a drip campaign?<\/span><\/h2>\nA drip email campaign is any automated series of emails sent to your email list<\/strong> either on a set schedule<\/strong> or triggered on the behavior<\/strong> of the people on your list.<\/p>\nIn GMass terminology, we refer to a “drip campaign” as a series of emails sent to your list on a set schedule that continues through to the last email, even if someone replies or clicks along the way. (The emails would stop, however, if they unsubscribe<\/a>.)<\/p>\nThat’s in contrast to an auto follow-up sequence<\/a>, which is a series of emails sent to someone on a set schedule until<\/em> they take an action, like reply or click.<\/p>\nA drip campaign<\/strong> is used for communicating information in a steady stream to your customers and prospects to train or educate them<\/strong>. It sends to your entire contact list on a set schedule<\/strong>, and it doesn’t break the flow<\/strong> until each contact has received each email in the sequence. Drip campaigns are common for\u00a0welcome series<\/strong> and\u00a0onboarding<\/strong> email sequences.<\/p>\nAn auto follow-up campaign<\/strong>, which is common for a cold email campaign<\/a>, is used to persuade the members of your list to take some action<\/strong>, like replying, or clicking a link. These campaigns do stop after the recipient has taken some action, like replying.<\/p>\nStep 1: Compose your email series<\/span><\/h2>\nI’ll assume you’ve already got GMass installed<\/a> for this. If not, hit up our quickstart guide<\/a> to get started ASAP (it just takes a few minutes and you won’t even need to pull out your credit card).<\/p>\nWrite the first email in the series<\/h3>\n
Open a regular compose window in Gmail and type in the first message in your drip series<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"Initial](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-initialemail-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCompose the rest of the emails in the series<\/h3>\n
Now click into the GMass settings<\/a> for the campaign (click the arrow next to the red GMass button).<\/p>\nGo to the Auto Follow-up section<\/strong>. Yes, even though this is a drip series and earlier I laid out the difference between a drip series and what we call an “auto follow-up” series, we’ll still use the same mechanism to set them up.<\/p>\nCheck the box for\u00a0Stage 1<\/strong>. Make sure the “If” dropdown is set to\u00a0Everyone<\/strong> \u2014 that’s how we make this a drip series. We send it to everyone regardless of any actions they may take. And finally, set the delay between your initial email and this email<\/strong>. You can also set the time to send.
\n![\"Drip](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-stage1-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIf you want the email to be plain text, you can type it in the text box<\/strong> and skip all the instructions on rich text emails below.<\/p>\nIf you want the email to be rich text, select the radio button for\u00a0Send rich-text email<\/strong>. You can either send it in a new thread (with a new subject line) or in the same thread (without a new subject line).<\/p>\nThen click the\u00a0+<\/strong> button. That will bring up a Gmail compose window where you can type your auto follow-up. Type in your message (give it a subject line as well) and click the GMass button when you’re done to save the template<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"Writing](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-followuptemplate-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNow back in the\u00a0Auto Follow-up<\/strong> settings for your initial campaign, hit the refresh icon<\/strong> next to the template dropdown in the Stage 1 area. And choose the template you created from the list<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"Choose](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-choosetemplate-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou should\u00a0now repeat this process for every email in the drip series<\/strong>.<\/p>\nWith GMass, you can use unlimited drip series stages<\/a>, so make your sequence as long as you need.<\/p>\nOne thing to note: The number of days between drip emails always refers to the number of days from the initial campaign.<\/strong> So as you can see in the screenshot above, I have the first drip follow-up going out 2 days after the initial email and the second drip email going out 5 days after the initial email. (NOT five days after the prior drip.)<\/p>\nStep 2: Determine who will receive the drip series<\/span><\/h2>\nIs this drip series a one-time thing, or are you planning to send it regularly to new subscribers or other contacts?<\/p>\n
Either way, your best bet is to connect to a Google Sheet<\/a><\/strong> with your initial group (or entire group) of recipients. Make the first row of your Google Sheet your column headers; you’ll be able to use those for mail merge.<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-googlesheet-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou can now connect that Google Sheet to your GMass drip campaign.<\/p>\n
Click into the\u00a0To<\/strong> field of your email and click the GMass icon.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-connectgmass-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThen choose to add recipients\u00a0From a Google Sheet<\/strong> and pick your Sheet in the dropdown box.<\/p>\n![\"Connect](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-sheetdialogue-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIf you’re only sending this drip campaign to the group currently on the Google Sheet, that’s all you’ll need to do. If you want this to be a recurring campaign, there’s another step…<\/p>\n
Setting this up as a recurring campaign<\/h3>\n
If you want your drip series to go out to new subscribers, customers, or others in the future, you’ll need to use GMass’s recurring campaigns<\/a> feature.<\/p>\nRe-open the GMass settings for the campaign.<\/p>\n
Then, in the\u00a0Schedule<\/strong> section, check the box for Repeat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"Recur](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-recursettings-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat I’ve done here is I’ve set this up to repeat daily<\/strong>. Once a day, GMass will check your Google Sheet to see if there are any new contacts. If so, it will begin them on your drip sequence. You can change this to repeat hourly, weekly, monthly, or any variation therein (e.g., every 4 days).<\/p>\nIf you’re interested in automatically adding contacts to your sheet, you can check out GMass\/Google Sheets’s Zapier integration<\/a> to add new contacts from virtually any source.<\/p>\nYou can also check out this technique<\/strong> for getting subscribers from a form on your site into a Google Sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\nStep 3: Test the campaign<\/span><\/h2>\nYou can tweak any other settings for your campaign<\/strong> now.<\/p>\nAnd once everything is set, you can send yourself a test of the entire sequence<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\nAt the top of the settings box, click the arrow next to the\u00a0Send Test<\/strong> button. Then check the box to Send all stages<\/strong>. Now click the\u00a0Send Test<\/strong> button to send yourself the series.<\/p>\n![\"Test](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-sendallstages-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou’ll get every email in the drip sequence in your inbox right away (the test will ignore the “days between” you’ve chosen). You can make sure everything looks right from there.<\/p>\n
In GMass terminology, we refer to a “drip campaign” as a series of emails sent to your list on a set schedule that continues through to the last email, even if someone replies or clicks along the way. (The emails would stop, however, if they unsubscribe<\/a>.)<\/p>\n That’s in contrast to an auto follow-up sequence<\/a>, which is a series of emails sent to someone on a set schedule until<\/em> they take an action, like reply or click.<\/p>\n A drip campaign<\/strong> is used for communicating information in a steady stream to your customers and prospects to train or educate them<\/strong>. It sends to your entire contact list on a set schedule<\/strong>, and it doesn’t break the flow<\/strong> until each contact has received each email in the sequence. Drip campaigns are common for\u00a0welcome series<\/strong> and\u00a0onboarding<\/strong> email sequences.<\/p>\n An auto follow-up campaign<\/strong>, which is common for a cold email campaign<\/a>, is used to persuade the members of your list to take some action<\/strong>, like replying, or clicking a link. These campaigns do stop after the recipient has taken some action, like replying.<\/p>\n I’ll assume you’ve already got GMass installed<\/a> for this. If not, hit up our quickstart guide<\/a> to get started ASAP (it just takes a few minutes and you won’t even need to pull out your credit card).<\/p>\n Open a regular compose window in Gmail and type in the first message in your drip series<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Now click into the GMass settings<\/a> for the campaign (click the arrow next to the red GMass button).<\/p>\n Go to the Auto Follow-up section<\/strong>. Yes, even though this is a drip series and earlier I laid out the difference between a drip series and what we call an “auto follow-up” series, we’ll still use the same mechanism to set them up.<\/p>\n Check the box for\u00a0Stage 1<\/strong>. Make sure the “If” dropdown is set to\u00a0Everyone<\/strong> \u2014 that’s how we make this a drip series. We send it to everyone regardless of any actions they may take. And finally, set the delay between your initial email and this email<\/strong>. You can also set the time to send. If you want the email to be plain text, you can type it in the text box<\/strong> and skip all the instructions on rich text emails below.<\/p>\n If you want the email to be rich text, select the radio button for\u00a0Send rich-text email<\/strong>. You can either send it in a new thread (with a new subject line) or in the same thread (without a new subject line).<\/p>\n Then click the\u00a0+<\/strong> button. That will bring up a Gmail compose window where you can type your auto follow-up. Type in your message (give it a subject line as well) and click the GMass button when you’re done to save the template<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Now back in the\u00a0Auto Follow-up<\/strong> settings for your initial campaign, hit the refresh icon<\/strong> next to the template dropdown in the Stage 1 area. And choose the template you created from the list<\/strong>.<\/p>\n You should\u00a0now repeat this process for every email in the drip series<\/strong>.<\/p>\n With GMass, you can use unlimited drip series stages<\/a>, so make your sequence as long as you need.<\/p>\n One thing to note: The number of days between drip emails always refers to the number of days from the initial campaign.<\/strong> So as you can see in the screenshot above, I have the first drip follow-up going out 2 days after the initial email and the second drip email going out 5 days after the initial email. (NOT five days after the prior drip.)<\/p>\n Is this drip series a one-time thing, or are you planning to send it regularly to new subscribers or other contacts?<\/p>\n Either way, your best bet is to connect to a Google Sheet<\/a><\/strong> with your initial group (or entire group) of recipients. Make the first row of your Google Sheet your column headers; you’ll be able to use those for mail merge.<\/p>\n You can now connect that Google Sheet to your GMass drip campaign.<\/p>\n Click into the\u00a0To<\/strong> field of your email and click the GMass icon.<\/p>\n Then choose to add recipients\u00a0From a Google Sheet<\/strong> and pick your Sheet in the dropdown box.<\/p>\n If you’re only sending this drip campaign to the group currently on the Google Sheet, that’s all you’ll need to do. If you want this to be a recurring campaign, there’s another step…<\/p>\n If you want your drip series to go out to new subscribers, customers, or others in the future, you’ll need to use GMass’s recurring campaigns<\/a> feature.<\/p>\n Re-open the GMass settings for the campaign.<\/p>\n Then, in the\u00a0Schedule<\/strong> section, check the box for Repeat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n What I’ve done here is I’ve set this up to repeat daily<\/strong>. Once a day, GMass will check your Google Sheet to see if there are any new contacts. If so, it will begin them on your drip sequence. You can change this to repeat hourly, weekly, monthly, or any variation therein (e.g., every 4 days).<\/p>\n If you’re interested in automatically adding contacts to your sheet, you can check out GMass\/Google Sheets’s Zapier integration<\/a> to add new contacts from virtually any source.<\/p>\n You can also check out this technique<\/strong> for getting subscribers from a form on your site into a Google Sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can tweak any other settings for your campaign<\/strong> now.<\/p>\n And once everything is set, you can send yourself a test of the entire sequence<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n At the top of the settings box, click the arrow next to the\u00a0Send Test<\/strong> button. Then check the box to Send all stages<\/strong>. Now click the\u00a0Send Test<\/strong> button to send yourself the series.<\/p>\n You’ll get every email in the drip sequence in your inbox right away (the test will ignore the “days between” you’ve chosen). You can make sure everything looks right from there.<\/p>\nStep 1: Compose your email series<\/span><\/h2>\n
Write the first email in the series<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCompose the rest of the emails in the series<\/h3>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nStep 2: Determine who will receive the drip series<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSetting this up as a recurring campaign<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nStep 3: Test the campaign<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Drip](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/drip-new-testininbox-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n