Drip Campaign vs Mass Emails: What Email Strategy Is Right for Your Brand?

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to nurture customers and drive engagement—but not all emails are created equal. Some emails are carefully timed and personalized, while others are sent to a broad audience with no customization.

Understanding the difference between drip campaigns and mass email is key to ensuring your emails reach the right audience at the right moment.

A series of automated emails, or drip campaigns, can be scheduled or triggered by various user actions, such as creating an account, making a purchase, or signing up for a subscription. “Drip” refers to the often steady pace at which these emails are spaced out and sent. Drip campaigns are often personalized based on user actions, preferences, and behavior.

In comparison, a mass email is generally a one-time event, sent to a large group of people. It delivers the same message to everyone on the list, at the same time, in the same way.

Why it’s important to choose the right type of email

As email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective and impactful ways for businesses to communicate with their audience, it continues to be an important part of any marketing and customer engagement plan. With 4.37 billion email users worldwide in 2023, that number continues to rise and is hard to ignore. A dedicated customer engagement strategy that includes email can help a brand reach and retain their customers. It’s important to understand different kinds of emails to know what can help you achieve your business goals.

This guide breaks down these two marketing approaches, helping you decide when to use each one to maximize engagement, conversions, and brand trust.

What is an email marketing drip campaign?

An email marketing drip campaign is a series of automated emails sent over a set period of time based on user actions or behaviors. You can decide how many emails to send, when to send them, and how much to personalize them.

The messages are sent out in a pre-determined way, or “dripped”, guiding the user on narrative or journey. Typically, they are matched to a specific point on the customer journey, reaching people with education, content, or entertainment when it’s relevant to them.

For example, a new customer signs up and receives a welcome email, followed by an onboarding sequence over a few days. This welcome email introduces your brand and its ethos, while the subsequent onboarding series helps a user get to know your products, features, or app.

Drip campaign examples

Drip campaigns work best when engagement and personalized timing matter. Here are key scenarios where they outperform traditional mass emails:

• Welcome Series: Nurture new subscribers with a sequence introducing your brand.
• Abandoned Cart: Encourage users to finish completing a purchase.
• Onboarding Sequences: Help new users get started with step-by-step guidance.
• Promotional: For example, a series of promotion emails with targeting loyal customers with tailored product recommendations leading up to a big annual sale
• Lead Nurturing: Provide valuable content over time to turn leads into customers.
• Upsell/Cross-sell: Send personalized product recommendations based on a customer’s purchase history.
• Re-engagement Campaigns: Win back inactive subscribers by offering personalized incentives.
• Post-Purchase Follow-Ups: Send thank-you emails or review requests.

Pro Tip: Drip campaigns shine when your goal is to build relationships over time rather than drive one-off sales.

Key benefits of an email marketing drip campaign

Keeping customers engaged and coming back for more is key to long-term business success. Email drip marketing plays an important role in retention strategies, driving sustainable growth and bringing genuine value to customers.

Brands have the potential to drive sessions per user by 69%, compared to sending campaigns via other channels (but not email), and by 15.43X, compared to sending no outreach at all. And since research shows that it costs 6-7X more to acquire new customers than to get existing customers to make purchases, an effective email campaign can significantly boost profitability while strengthening customer relationships.

Drip campaigns excel at nurturing relationships over time, but what if you need to reach a large audience with a single message? That’s where mass email campaigns come in.

What is a mass email campaign?

A mass email campaign is where you send a one-time email to a large number of recipients to notify them about something of importance. For example, a retailer sending a Black Friday sales announcement to all of their subscribers or to tell everyone about the release of a new product.

A mass email is often also referred to as a bulk email or an email blast and it does not take into account the preferences or interests of the group of people it is being sent to.

Pros of mass email campaigns

• Fast: Send a single message to thousands of people instantly.

Cons of mass email campaigns

• Lower engagement: One-size-fits-all messages often get ignored.
• Higher spam risk: Generic emails can trigger spam filters, lowering deliverability rates.
• Minimal personalization: Lacks tailored messaging, making it less effective for nurturing leads.
• Can feel intrusive: Without user-driven triggers, mass emails may come across as unwanted.

Key benefits of a mass email campaign

While it’s understandable that a business might favor a mass email for speed and ease, it’s not what our experts here at Braze recommend. Users want to be treated as individuals. Be honest, what do you do when you get an email that begins with “hey reader” or something similarly impersonal?

If it’s managed to avoid your spam filter, you probably hit the delete button pretty quickly, or at the very least have some suspicion about the sender and content. We’ve all come to expect a degree of personalization and with the right platform, brands can send tailored emails that speak to people on a 1:1 level and are easy to set up and deploy.

Key differences between drip campaigns and mass emails

There are some key differences that make drip campaigns and mass email campaigns easily distinguishable from one another.

When to use drip campaigns vs. mass emails

Drip campaigns are generally better for occasions where personalization can help to make the email super relevant for the receiver. Knowing when to use a drip campaign rather than a mass email and vice versa means you can increase the impact of each email you send. Here are some examples of events or actions where a drip or mass email is better suited.

Drip campaigns

• Onboarding sequences
• Abandoned cart recovery emails
• Product recommendations based on past purchases
• Re-engagement campaigns for inactive users
• Placing orders
• In-person events at a physical store
• Signing up for a webinar
• Downloading a report or white paper
• Contacting customer service
• Lapsed customers
• Birthdays and anniversaries
• Subscription renewal
• Unsubscribes

Mass emails

• While we recommend personalized and targeted emails in most cases, mass emails can be great for situations like addressing a mistake or providing an update on Terms and Services change.

How to set up an effective drip campaign

1. Define Your Goal: Are you nurturing leads? Onboarding customers? Recovering abandoned carts?
2. Choose Your Trigger Event: Decide what action starts the campaign (e.g., sign-up, purchase, inactivity).
3. Segment Your Audience: Break down your list based on behavior, demographics, or engagement level.
4. Plan Your Email Sequence: Outline how many emails to send, their content, and timing.
5. Write Engaging Content: Each email should provide value, have a clear CTA, and align with the user journey.
6. Automate and Schedule: Use an email marketing platform to trigger emails at the right intervals.
7. Monitor and Optimize: Track open rates, CTRs, and conversions to refine your campaign over time.

Pro Tip: A/B test different subject lines and send times to maximize engagement.

Best practices for email drip campaigns

A drip campaign works best when brands utilize the data they have available and create an email strategy that can be measured.

1. Define and segment your audience

Target different users based on behavior, demographics, or past interactions. Drip campaigns use conditions to help specify the people the email will be sent to. These conditions should be reviewed regularly to avoid conflicts that might cause a customer to feel overwhelmed by too many emails or contradictory messaging. For example, if your welcome series is sent out at the same time as a birthday promotion the recipient might feel bombarded and be less likely to engage.

2. Create engaging messages that speak to your audience on a 1:1 level

Personalization increases open rates. Think about what is particularly relevant to them at this moment when you create the content for these emails. What are you trying to achieve and what help can you offer? Does your customer need to know what your shipping costs are? Did they abandon a cart because something was too expensive? Do they need more social proof before they commit to a purchase? The more accurately you can address their needs, the more successful the campaign will be.

3. Automate and optimize timing

Send emails based on when users are most active to increase response rates. Decide the number of emails you want to send and schedule them at the most appropriate times.

4. Use dynamic content

Tailor messages to user preferences and past purchases. This doesn’t just make things relevant but helps to build trust too. We all know how incredibly frustrating it is to get a discount code for something you’ve just bought or see it on sale when you’ve just paid full price. This kind of confusion can erode trust and leave your customers irritated. Dynamic content allows you to avoid these pitfalls.

5. Track and adjust

Drip campaigns can yield great results, but don’t forget to track and measure engagement and conversion rates and adjust to help maximize performance.

Metrics such as click through rates, unsubscribes, bounces, conversions, and return on investment (ROI) are essential for measuring the success of a campaign.

How drip campaigns improve the customer experience

Drip campaigns help to nurture relationships through personalized touchpoints, which means you can increase engagement with every communication.

Drip campaigns also help resolve common customer issues by supplying proactive emails like shipping updates and FAQs. This can help alleviate bottlenecks and make things easier for your customer services team.

In the long-term using data-driven insights can help to increase customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty.

Avoiding common mistakes in drip email campaigns

When sending multiple emails with drip campaigns, avoid overwhelming subscribers with too many. They may feel bombarded and become irritated, leading to lack of engagement. Also be aware of over-personalization, which can feel a bit creepy if it goes too far. For example, you might want to say “we noticed you looking at this product”, but not, “we saw you were looking at this product last Saturday at 2pm”.

Additionally, you don’t want to wait too long to see that follow up. For example, if someone makes a change online to their account, waiting three days to send an email saying “we noticed you made a change” could trigger worry.

FAQS

Does drip marketing work?

Yes, drip marketing definitely works and can be incredibly effective when using an engagement platform like Braze. It allows you to build trust and familiarity with your customers over a period of time. Personalized messages that are tailored and targeted to your audience builds confidence that you can serve them well.

When should you employ a drip marketing campaign?

A drip marketing campaign should be used when you need to nurture the relationship with sections of your audience in different ways at different stages of their journey. While there are lots of different triggers, events or actions that can spark a drip email campaign, such as subscribing to a newsletter or signing up for a webinar, it can be used whenever there is an opportunity to speak more directly to a smaller group of people within your email list.

How to plan a drip marketing campaign

To plan a drip marketing campaign, follow these steps:

1. Identify Your Audience

Determine who you want to reach based on demographics, behavior, or interests.

2. Set Clear Goals

Define what you want to achieve, such as increased engagement, conversions, or retention.

3. Select a Trigger Action

Choose the user behavior that will initiate the email sequence, like signing up or making a purchase.

4. Segment Your List

Group your audience into targeted segments for more relevant messaging.

5. Create Personalized Emails

Craft a sequence of tailored emails with compelling content and clear calls to action.

6. Schedule Delivery

Plan when and how often emails should be sent for optimal engagement.

7. Automate the Workflow

Use email marketing tools to streamline the process and deliver messages when they are likely to be read.

8. Track and Optimize

Monitor campaign performance and make necessary adjustments to improve results.

Does the difference in email campaigns really matter?

Yes, the difference in email campaigns matters. Customizing content for specific audience segments based on their needs and interests boosts engagement and conversions, making targeted campaigns and email blasts both effective in their own ways. Using the wrong approach can mean lost engagement and lower conversion rates. Choosing the right strategy aligns with customer behavior and business goals and helps you make the most of every interaction with your customers.

Final thoughts

Drip campaigns serve an important role in growth marketing, where driving and sustaining long-term growth is key. Drip campaigns focus on personalized, automated communication that nurtures leads, improves customer retention, and enhances engagement over time. By tailoring messages based on user actions and behaviors, businesses can build stronger relationships and increase conversions.

Mass email campaigns are a more immediate way to reach a large audience at once, but they don’t often serve people well on a 1:1 level, or meet business goals.

Developing an effective email strategy depends on your marketing goals, audience segmentation, and available resources. By understanding the differences and implementing best practices, businesses can maximize their email marketing impact, improve conversion rates, and enhance customer experience. The key is to align the strategy with the needs of your audience so that each email delivers value at the right moment.

Want to boost customer engagement and conversions? Start using targeted, automated drip campaigns to nurture your audience at scale. Get started with Braze today and see the impact firsthand.

Forward-Looking Statements

This blog post contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding the performance of and expected benefits from Braze and its products. These forward-looking statements are based on the current assumptions, expectations and beliefs of Braze, and are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Further information on potential factors that could affect Braze results are included in the Braze Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2024, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on December 10, 2024, and the other public filings of Braze with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this blog post represent the views of Braze only as of the date of this blog post, and Braze assumes no obligation, and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.