Answer: What trigger and drip campaigns have in common is that they both enable email marketers to send highly-relevant messages automatically based on behaviors or exchanges that their subscribers initiate with their company. Both are high-touch, low-resource methods for building momentum around a message and a brand, and both have been proven to result in higher email response rates. What differentiates them is when and how each should be used.

Trigger campaigns are comprised of real-time email messages that are automatically generated based on a significant change in a subscriber’s behavior or profile. The email messages are highly relevant to the recipients because they are based on something that the subscribers do - an exchange or an event in time that "triggers" the email.

There are three types of triggers:

• Transactional triggers are based on a transaction with a specific email subscriber; for example, a confirmation email after a purchase is made or after items have shipped, or as a result of the subscriber registering for a conference or Webinar.
• Activity-based triggers result from things like clicks on an email link or visits to a specific Web page. Triggers can also be set up to re-engage email subscribers in response to a period of inactivity or a change in buying patterns.
• Event-based triggers are email messages like birthday greetings, offers made on the anniversary of a first purchase, or alerts that go out when an item is now in stock or available in your size.

The primary benefit of email trigger campaigns is timeliness - the ability to reach your email subscribers at a time that is most relevant to them, not one that is most convenient for you. Triggers complement existing email marketing campaigns and increase cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Nurture/drip campaigns send (or "drip") email marketing messages to subscribers on a scheduled basis (daily, weekly, monthly) to help maintain contact and keep your company top of mind with leads who have requested your content but haven't yet made the critical buying decision. Drip campaigns are often the extension of a welcome program because email that subscribers receive in the first month after opting in is often the most important in setting the tone of the future relationship.

Drip campaigns reflect a prospect’s place in the purchase cycle with email content designed to answer questions, provide thought leadership and product information, and move the prospect closer to a purchase. They are ideal for marketing high-value products that have a long sell cycle.

Building brand awareness and trust are the primary benefits of email drip campaigns. They increase your interactions with your prospects and fix your company name and message in their minds as they progress through the research period. At the same time, effective drip campaigns - those that are targeted and highly relevant - help email marketers reduce spam complaints and increase email deliverability rates.

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