How to Launch an Email Drip Campaign

Note: this is preliminary documentation for an upcoming feature. Check back often for updates on the release and additions to this article.

Feathr's Email Drip Campaign is a powerful marketing tool, allowing you to compose a series of emails over time to a group of recipients, automatically triggered by activity, person field change, or date. An email drip ensures that, with a single launched campaign, your targeted recipients receive multiple emails in a series that you design and strategize. This can lead to improved engagement with your emails and improved efficiency in your marketing. Read on to learn how to launch a Drip Campaign.

Quick Start Guide:

1. Log in to Feathr.
2. Navigate to your Marketing Menu and click + Create and choose Drip.
3. Assign the campaign a Project and give it a name.
4. For the first step, select a trigger type, define the trigger, choose a send schedule, and select a template.
5. Repeat this process for each step you would like in the drip campaign.
6. Define your exclusions (optional).
7. Choose or create a campaign goal (optional).
8. Review the details and publish your campaign.

Builder

The first step of an email drip campaign is to use Feathr's builder to plan out the emails in the drip. Laying out emails in the builder requires you, for each email, to:

• Name the step.
• Select a trigger type.
• Define the trigger behavior.
• Select a send schedule and cadence.
• Attach a template.

Trigger Type

Activity happened triggers define an audience member through the interactions a person performs with your web pages or sent emails. There are many activity triggers to choose from, but some common activity triggers are a specific URL visit or whether an audience member donated to your organization. To learn out more about accurately tracking donations, visit our article about conversion tracking here.

Field changed triggers define an audience member through a change that occurs on the Person Attribute data of a person in Feathr. These can include native Feathr fields and custom fields you've created. When attribute data points are updated on a person record in Feathr, that change can trigger the email to be sent to that audience member.

Date Triggered events define an audience member by referencing the data from a chosen Date field on a person record. These can include native Feathr fields and custom fields you've created. For example, you can set up a trigger to fire when 90 days have passed from their "Last Donation Date," so the audience member can receive a timely donation ask.

Trigger

Defining the behavior you would like to use to trigger your email to send uses Feathr's filtering tools. Selecting a trigger type (documented above) limits the filtering options to just those that apply to your selection. Trigger types cannot be combined within a single email, but they can be combined within a series of emails in a Drip campaign. 

Use the filtering tools in the Trigger step to identify the trigger activity you would like to use to send the first email in the drip. You can add more than one trigger, and be aware of the and/or logic dropdown at the top of the trigger step.

Send Schedule

Like with an Auto send campaign, in this step you choose when the email gets sent once it is triggered. You can choose to send it immediately upon the trigger activity happening, or delay it by a set time period.

You may also set the cadence of your triggered send by selecting if the email should only send to someone upon their first trigger activity, or every time they perform the activity.

Template

Once you've chosen the triggers and the send schedule, you will attach your email template to the Drip email. We recommend creating your email templates prior to building your Drip campaign. Learn about designing email templates here. 

Adding Steps

Once you have set up the first email in the drip, you can add more emails by clicking Add step at the bottom. Emails beyond the first in the drip have slightly different options.

Additional Emails in the Drip

Once you've added a step, you'll have to set up that email as well. 

Emails beyond the first in a Drip campaign have a simplified targeting option. The step targeting allows you to choose to send that email to:

• Everyone who was sent the previous email.
• Only those who opened the previous email.
• Only those who did not open the previous email.

The targeting for additional emails in the drip also allows you to choose a delay time, like you did with the first email. 

Then you can attach your email template, choose a subject and add merge tags (optional), and continue these steps until you've reached your desired number of emails.

Exclusions, Goals, and Details

Once you have built out your desired number of emails in the drip, and the triggering and timing of each, the remaining steps (exclusions, goals, and details) are identical to Feathr's Auto Send campaign type. For detailed instructions on these steps, read this article.

Reporting

With a Drip Campaign, you have all the same sophisticated reporting as every other Feathr email campaign, with the added bonus of cumulative reporting for all emails in the drip, plus individual reporting for each individual email in the drip.

To view your report, click the campaign name once it is published. You will automatically be taken to the cumulative report for all emails in the drip. Use the top navigation row on the report to select and view reports for each individual email in the drip.