Drip campaign email examples by industry
Fashion and apparel
Warby Parker
We kept them for you
Warby Parker
Is your prescription still good?
Beauty
Sephora
Hey Insider. You’re in.
Sephora
You left something, Insider
Home and furniture
Wayfair
Psst! Kinsley 3-piece sectional is still in your cart
Education
Duolingo
Maya, your 46 day streak has until midnight 🔦
Make one for your brand
Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any AI with the Nitrosend MCP connected, and put your own website in place of [your website]. Which assistants work?
Using Nitrosend, design and build a drip campaign email for my brand, in the style of the concept emails on https://nitrosend.com/email-examples/drip-campaign My brand's website is [your website]. Read it for my logo, colours, fonts, products and tone of voice. If Nitrosend is not connected yet, read https://nitrosend.com/SKILL.md and follow it to connect the Nitrosend MCP server (https://api.nitrosend.com/mcp), then ask me to sign in or create a free account at app.nitrosend.com. On Claude.ai use claude.ai/directory/nitrosend; in ChatGPT, install the Nitrosend app. Then write and design the email in Nitrosend and send me a test.
What a drip campaign is
A drip campaign is a short series of automated emails sent to one person over days or weeks, started by something they did: signing up, leaving a cart, or going quiet. Each email is written knowing what the last one said.
We found 92 real drip sequences from 89 brands in two ordinary inboxes: two or more welcome, onboarding, abandoned cart or win-back emails from one brand within 30 days, 202 emails in all. This page shows 14 of them in full, 40 emails, in the order they arrived.1
Browse all 40 drip emails
Every email from the sequences below, in order. Filter by the kind of sequence, or open any email to see it full length with its subject line, where it sits in the sequence, and a prompt that rebuilds it in your own brand.
EpicPxls
Welcome to EpicPxls
EpicPxls
Here is a gift as a welcome to EpicPxls family.
EpicPxls
20% discount for joining the family 😻👍✌🙏
Mapbox
Welcome to Mapbox!
Mapbox
Mapbox Onboarding: Add data
Mapbox
Mapbox Onboarding: Build interactions
Mapbox
Mapbox Onboarding: Get creative with map design
Feedly
👋 Welcome to Feedly
Feedly
A quick hello
Feedly
Add the right sources to your Feedly
Teachable
Here’s how to create your first course
Teachable
Publish your first lecture
CodeSandbox
Get the most out of CodeSandbox
CodeSandbox
Set up your project in minutes
Adreno Freediving
Your gear is still waiting!
Adreno Freediving
It looks like you left something behind...
Adreno Freediving
Need any help choosing your Freediving gear?
Wholesome Bowl
Att: Noodle lover, Don’t let dinner become takeaway again.
Wholesome Bowl
Just checking in
Wholesome Bowl
Att: Noodle lover, Take 15% off your saved cart
theory11
You’re just a few clicks away 🤩
theory11
Don’t miss out!
Brilliant
[NAME], can you decode the secret message?
Brilliant
[NAME], how do computers count?
Welcome and onboarding drip examples
Welcome and onboarding sequences
real sequences from two inboxes, day counted from the first email| Brand | Email 1 | Email 2 | Email 3 | Email 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EpicPxls | Day 0: "Welcome to EpicPxls" | Day 0: "Here is a gift as a welcome to EpicPxls family." | Day 3: "20% discount for joining the family 😻👍✌🙏" | |
| Mapbox | Day 0: "Welcome to Mapbox!" | Day 2: "Mapbox Onboarding: Add data" | Day 3: "Mapbox Onboarding: Build interactions" | Day 4: "Mapbox Onboarding: Get creative with map design" |
| Feedly | Day 0: "👋 Welcome to Feedly" | Day 0: "A quick hello" | Day 2: "Add the right sources to your Feedly" | |
| Teachable | Day 0: "Here’s how to create your first course" | Day 2: "Publish your first lecture" | ||
| CodeSandbox | Day 0: "Get the most out of CodeSandbox" | Day 5: "Set up your project in minutes" |
Welcome drips move fast. In 24 of the 42 welcome sequences we found, the second email arrived within a day of the first. The first email says hello and the next ones each ask for one action.
Mapbox: one step per email
Mapbox sent "Welcome to Mapbox!", then three onboarding emails on days 2, 3 and 4, each named for a single task: add data, build interactions, get creative with map design. Every email shows the same progress tracker, so the reader can see how far through they are.
Feedly and Teachable: hello, then the first job
Feedly sent "Welcome to Feedly", then "A quick hello" from a person, then on day 2 "Add the right sources to your Feedly", the one setup step the product needs. Teachable skipped the welcome and went straight to the job: "Here's how to create your first course", then two days later "Publish your first lecture".
EpicPxls: the welcome offer, held back
EpicPxls welcomed the reader, sent a gift the same day, and kept the 20% discount for day 3. Discounts are rare in welcome drips: only 4 of the 42 welcome sequences mention one in a subject line.
Abandoned cart drip examples
Abandoned cart sequences
real sequences from two inboxes, day counted from the first email| Brand | Email 1 | Email 2 | Email 3 | Email 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adreno Freediving | Day 0: "Your gear is still waiting!" | Day 0: "It looks like you left something behind..." | Day 1: "Need any help choosing your Freediving gear?" | |
| Wholesome Bowl | Day 0: "Att: Noodle lover, Don’t let dinner become takeaway again." | Day 0: "Just checking in" | Day 2: "Att: Noodle lover, Take 15% off your saved cart" | |
| theory11 | Day 0: "You’re just a few clicks away 🤩" | Day 1: "Don’t miss out!" |
Cart drips are the shortest. In 9 of the 11 abandoned cart sequences we found, the second email came within 24 hours, and none of the 11 offered a discount in the first email's subject line.
Adreno Freediving: help before discount
Adreno Freediving sent "Your gear is still waiting!" and "It looks like you left something behind...", then the next day "Need any help choosing your Freediving gear?". The third email offers advice, not a lower price.
That order is the one SmartrMail recommended to its ecommerce customers in a 2017 webinar with Neto: up to three emails, at about 1 hour, 4 hours and 24 hours, because conversions drop away after the first day. Open the first one as a conversation, asking if something went wrong at checkout, and keep any discount for the second or third. Shipping cost is the most common reason people leave, so free shipping is the offer to try first.
Wholesome Bowl: the discount comes last
Wholesome Bowl followed the same pattern: a reminder, then "Just checking in" a day later, and only on the third email, "Take 15% off your saved cart". More of these are in our abandoned cart email examples.
Win-back drip examples
Win-back sequences
real sequences from two inboxes, day counted from the first email| Brand | Email 1 | Email 2 | Email 3 | Email 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brilliant | Day 0: "[NAME], can you decode the secret message?" | Day 13: "[NAME], how do computers count?" | Day 20: "[NAME], how many ways can you make a soccer ball?" | |
| PicMonkey | Day 0: "Save 20% When You Come Back To PicMonkey" | Day 1: "Since You’ve Been Gone…" | Day 6: "Here’s the Truth: We Miss You!" | |
| Adazing | Day 0: "Pssss it's been a while [NAME]" | Day 2: "[NAME] did you get my last email?" | Day 4: "[NAME] Please Read This" | |
| Naked Wines Australia | Day 0: "Award-winning Customer Service & 9 Exclusive Aussie Wines for $39.99 + FREE Delivery!" | Day 3: "Don’t leave these treats behind [NAME]! 9 Exclusive Aussie Wines + Delivery included for [AMOUNT]" | Day 29: "Hey [NAME], last chance to grab 9 unique wines by small Aussie Winemakers for [AMOUNT] + delivery included!" | |
| Duolingo | Day 0: "Welcome back! Check out your personalized learning plan" | Day 5: "⏰ [NAME], got 3 minutes?" | Day 16: "Hi [NAME], come join Duo for a quick Italian lesson!" | |
| Codedamn | Day 0: "It's been a week ⌛" | Day 8: "Start practicing coding on Codedamn" | Day 23: "It's been a full month ⏰" |
Win-back drips are slow. The median gap between the first and second email was 5 days, against under a day for carts, and 11 of the 39 win-back sequences we found ran to three emails or more.
PicMonkey: offer, reminder, honesty
PicMonkey led with the offer, "Save 20% When You Come Back To PicMonkey", followed with "Since You've Been Gone…" showing new features, and closed on day 6 with "Here's the Truth: We Miss You!".
Brilliant and Duolingo: a reason to come back, not a discount
Brilliant never mentioned a price. Each email was a puzzle: "can you decode the secret message?", then "how do computers count?" two weeks later, and another a week after that. Duolingo asked "got 3 minutes?" on day 5 and offered a quick lesson on day 16. Codedamn counted the time out loud: "It's been a week", then "It's been a full month". More are in our re-engagement email examples.
How long a drip campaign should be
Timing of the 92 drip sequences we found
gap from the first email to the second, and how many ran to three or more| Sequence | Sequences | Median gap, email 1 to 2 | Second email within a day | Three emails or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome and onboarding | 42 | 18 hours | 24 of 42 | 3 of 42 |
| Abandoned cart | 11 | 23 hours | 9 of 11 | 3 of 11 |
| Win-back | 39 | 5 days | 3 of 39 | 11 of 39 |
Match the gap to how long the reader's intent lasts. A cart goes cold in a day, so cart drips send two or three emails inside 24 to 72 hours. A new signup is keen for the first week, so welcome drips send every day or two. Someone who has drifted away needs space, so win-back emails are days or weeks apart.
Two or three emails is enough for most drips. Stop the sequence the moment the person does what you asked, buys, finishes setup or comes back, and keep each one to a single ask. If the list is old, check where your emails are landing before you switch a win-back on.
Next to this one
Each drip above is built from single emails in our library: welcome emails, abandoned cart emails and re-engagement emails. The whole collection is in the Nitrosend email example library.
Questions about drip campaigns
A drip campaign is a short series of automated emails sent to one person over time, started by something they did, such as signing up, leaving a cart or going quiet. We found 92 real drip sequences in two inboxes, most of them two or three emails long.
Two or three emails, spaced to match how long the reader stays interested. The abandoned cart drips we found sent their second email after a median of 23 hours, welcome drips after 18 hours, and win-back drips after 5 days.
Pick one trigger, such as a signup or an abandoned cart, write three emails that each ask for one thing, set the delay between them, and stop the series when the person acts. Mapbox's onboarding drip sent one task per email over four days.
Adreno Freediving's abandoned cart drip: two reminders, then a day later "Need any help choosing your Freediving gear?", which offers advice instead of a discount. None of the 11 cart drips we found led with a discount in the first subject line.
The emails under each industry are concept emails designed using the Nitrosend MCP. Sephora, Warby Parker, Wayfair and Duolingo are not Nitrosend customers and did not send or endorse them.