By the editorial team
Drip Campaign Examples: How to Build Them in Drip and What It Costs
Six drip campaign examples you can build in Drip, with plan prices by list size from the Drip pricing page, the main alternatives, and a setup checklist.
For most small online stores and SaaS teams that want to build drip campaigns with segments and multi-step workflows, Drip is the best starting point in this comparison. Its smallest band covers up to 2,500 people at $39 a month on monthly billing, and that band includes unlimited email sends, dynamic segments, onsite campaigns and up to 50 workflows. Drip has no ongoing free plan, but it offers a 14-day trial with no credit card required, so you can build your first campaign before you pay.
This guide covers six drip campaign patterns you can build in Drip, what Drip costs at realistic list sizes, and the cases where another tool fits better. Each example names the trigger, the steps, the exit rule and the one metric to read first. The examples are build patterns you can adapt. They are not descriptions of how any named company runs its email program.
The page is written for people who are about to build, so it ends with a setup checklist and a set of common questions.
How a drip campaign is built
A drip campaign is a series of messages that starts when a person meets a condition and stops when that person reaches a goal or leaves the flow. Four decisions define it, and most broken campaigns skip at least one of them:
- Entry trigger: the event that puts someone into the flow, such as a signup, a trial start, a cart created, or a payment failure.
- Wait logic: the delay between steps, and whether a step waits for an action or simply waits for time to pass.
- Exit rule: the event that removes someone from the flow, such as a purchase, an upgrade, a reply, or an unsubscribe.
- Goal metric: the one outcome the flow is meant to change, measured over a fixed review window.
The exit rule matters most. A person who has already bought should not keep receiving an abandoned cart reminder, and a trial user who upgraded should not get a trial-ending message. If the exit rule is missing, the flow keeps sending after it has stopped being relevant, and the subscriber learns to ignore the sender.
Six drip campaign examples to build in Drip
The examples below use simple timing as a starting point. Adjust the gaps to match your product, your send frequency and the decisions your customers make.
1. Welcome series for a newsletter
Trigger: a form submission that includes a topic choice. Steps: a confirmation on day 0 that states how often you will email; a short archive email with your three most useful posts on day 2; and a question on day 5 asking which topic they want more of, with one link per topic. Clicking a topic link adds a tag, and the tag decides which broadcasts that person receives later. Exit: the flow ends after the topic question, and the person moves into the regular segmented broadcast. Unsubscribing also ends it. Metric: the share of new subscribers who click at least once in the first 14 days.
2. Trial-to-paid sequence for a SaaS app
Trigger: trial start. The flow branches on activation, meaning whether the user has completed the one setup step that defines first value in your product. Steps: a setup guide on day 0; for users who have not completed setup, a single email on day 1 that points only at that step; for activated users, a feature email on day 3 that builds on what they already did; a pricing email on day 10; and a final message on the last day of the trial that explains what happens to their data and settings. Exit: an upgrade to a paid plan removes the person from the flow immediately, and so does a cancellation. Metric: trial-to-paid conversion, compared with a holdout group that receives no sequence wherever your volume allows a holdout.
3. Abandoned cart for an online store
Trigger: a cart is created with an email address and no order follows within a set window, such as 60 minutes. Steps: one reminder that shows the items in the cart; one email on day 1 that answers the common questions about shipping and returns; and an optional final message with an offer only if your margins allow it. Exit: any completed order by that person ends the flow, not only an order containing the same items. Metric: recovered orders, counted net of refunds and unsubscribes, since a discount that brings back a refund does not help.
4. Win-back for dormant subscribers
Trigger: no click in a window that matches your normal sending, often 90 days for a weekly newsletter. Steps: a check-in email that asks whether they still want to hear from you; a preference page where they can choose topics or a lower frequency; and a last email that shows your best recent content. Exit: a click or a preference change ends the flow and returns them to normal segments. If they do nothing after the final message, suppress them from regular sends so they stop affecting your delivery metrics. Metric: returning clicks. Opens are a weaker signal, so do not use them alone to decide the flow worked.
5. Post-purchase onboarding
Trigger: the first order. Steps: a confirmation with setup or use tips on day 0; a how-to email for the product on day 3; a request for feedback after a delay that gives the customer time to use the item, often around day 14; and an accessory suggestion only after the first product is in use, not before. Exit: a second order moves the person into a repeat-buyer segment, and a return or refund request moves them to your support flow. Metric: repeat purchase rate and support contacts per order, read together. A campaign that lowers support contacts while raising repeat orders is working; one that raises repeat orders while support contacts climb needs review.
6. Failed payment recovery
Trigger: a payment-failed event from your billing system. Steps: a notice on day 0 with a link to update the payment method; a reminder on day 3; and a final notice on day 7 that states plainly what happens to access if the payment is not updated. Exit: a successful payment or a cancellation ends the flow. The payment state belongs in billing; the email flow should read the event and not try to decide whether a payment succeeded. Stripe sends payment events that you can route to an email flow, either through a native connection if one fits your setup or through a connector such as Zapier. Metric: recovered payments, and subscriptions canceled per failed payment. Track both, because a recovery rate that rises while cancellations also rise is not a clear win.
What Drip costs at realistic list sizes
Drip prices its plans by list band and email volume. The table below uses the monthly prices from the Drip pricing page for the band each list size falls into. All prices are in USD and billed monthly, as listed on the pricing page.
| List size (people) | Drip band that applies | Monthly price, monthly billing | Full year (12 × monthly) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000 | 1 to 2,500 people | $39 | $468 |
| 5,000 | 4,501 to 5,000 people | $89 | $1,068 |
| 10,000 | 9,001 to 10,000 people | $154 | $1,848 |
| 20,000 | 17,501 to 20,000 people | $289 | $3,468 |
| 25,000 | 22,501 to 25,000 people | $369 | $4,428 |
| 30,000 | 27,501 to 30,000 people | $449 | $5,388 |
The full-year column is simple multiplication, not a discount. The pricing page lists monthly prices for these bands, so a year on monthly billing is 12 times the monthly figure. A 5,000-person list at $89 a month therefore comes to $1,068 a year (12 × $89).
Three details affect the cost of Drip beyond the band price. First, Drip has no ongoing free plan; the trial is 14 days and needs no credit card. Second, some higher bands list a send allowance rather than unlimited sends. The 45,001 to 50,000 band, for example, lists 600,000 email sends. If you mail often to a large list, read the band's send allowance before you choose it. Third, the features listed for the lowest band do not include a support tier, so if you need priority help during a launch, check the support level for the band you are considering.
Drip compared with the main alternatives
Drip is not the only tool that can run these six flows. The comparison table below lists the tools most often considered next to it, with the starting price on each pricing page and the limitation that matters most for drip campaigns. Stripe, Zapier, Make and Segment are included because they often sit next to an email tool, not because they replace one.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price (plan, billing) | Key limitation for drip campaigns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drip | Stores and SaaS teams running segmented workflows | $39 a month, 1 to 2,500 people, monthly billing | No ongoing free plan; cost rises by band |
| Kit | Creators who mostly send broadcasts | Free up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33 a month, billed annually | Sequences and Visual Automations start on the Creator plan |
| HubSpot Marketing Hub | Teams that want the drip tied to a CRM and sales handoff | Starter $7 a month, per the pricing page | Large jump in price to Professional at $800 a month |
| Zapier | Connecting forms and apps to an email tool | Free for 100 tasks a month; Professional $19.99 a month | Not an email sender; each action step uses tasks |
| Make | Visual multi-step connections between tools | Free for 1,000 credits a month; Core $9 a month, billed annually, for 10k credits | Scenarios run at most every 15 minutes on the free plan |
| Stripe | Payment events that start recovery flows | Per-transaction pricing; no monthly platform fee on standard payments | Does not send or manage email campaigns |
| Segment (Twilio Segment) | Teams merging customer data from many sources | Pricing on request | Built for data pipelines, which is more than a single email list needs |
Drip: what it does well and where it falls short
Drip suits the six patterns above because it combines segments and workflows in one place. The lower bands include dynamic segments, onsite campaigns and up to 50 workflows, which is enough room for a welcome series, a trial flow, an abandoned cart flow, a win-back and a post-purchase sequence running side by side. Unlimited email sends in the lower bands also means a flow that sends several messages a week does not change the price.
Where it falls short: there is no ongoing free plan, so a small list that only needs one welcome series pays from the first month after the trial. Cost also rises by band, and the send allowance in some higher bands means you should read the limit before assuming unlimited sends. For a list of 2,000 people, the $39 monthly band is the cheapest way to test whether drip flows improve your numbers. Pricing: monthly prices by band are on the Drip pricing page.
Kit: the strongest free plan for broadcasts, not for sequences
Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers and includes unlimited landing pages, forms and email broadcasts, plus tagging and segmentation. If your email program is mostly one-to-many newsletters with a few tags, that is a good fit, and you can add sequences later.
The limitation for this topic is direct: Visual Automations and sequences start on the Creator plan. Creator is $33 a month billed annually, which is $396 a year (12 × $33). The free plan therefore cannot run any of the six flows on this page as automated sequences. Kit offers a 14-day free trial on paid plans with no credit card required. Pricing and the subscriber bands for paid plans are on the Kit pricing page.
HubSpot Marketing Hub: a good fit when the drip must sit beside a CRM
HubSpot Marketing Hub is worth considering when the drip has to follow a contact through a sales process: a lead from a form, a deal, a sales handoff and then a post-sale flow. HubSpot lists free Marketing Hub tools, and the Starter plan is listed at $7 a month. The Professional plan is listed at $800 a month and Enterprise at $3,600 a month, as shown on the HubSpot Marketing Hub pricing page.
Where it falls short: if you only need the six flows on this page and no sales pipeline, the jump from Starter to Professional is large, and most of what you would pay for is not needed. Choose it when the CRM is the reason you are buying, not for the email flows alone.
Zapier: connecting events to your email tool
Zapier is useful when a trigger lives in a tool that does not connect directly to your email platform. A form on a separate site, a booking tool, or a billing event can create or update a contact, which then enters a flow. The free plan covers 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps. The Professional plan is listed at $19.99 a month and adds multi-step Zaps, webhooks and AI fields, according to the Zapier pricing page.
Where it falls short: Zapier is not an email sender, and every successful action step uses a task. A high-volume trigger such as every page view or every cart will use the free quota quickly, so count the tasks for your busiest trigger before you build.
Make: visual scenarios with tighter free limits
Make suits teams that want a visual map of several steps across several tools. The free plan gives 1,000 credits a month with no time limit, but it allows only two active scenarios, scenarios that run at most every 15 minutes, a 5-minute maximum execution time and seven days of execution log storage. The Core plan is listed at $9 a month billed annually, or $10.59 a month billed monthly, for 10k credits a month. Details are on the Make pricing page.
Where it falls short: the 15-minute interval makes it a poor choice for time-sensitive flows such as abandoned cart reminders, where the first message should arrive within the hour. For those, use an event-driven connection in your email tool when one exists.
Stripe: the source of payment events, not the email sender
Stripe is where the failed payment flow starts. It sends the events that tell you a payment failed, a subscription changed or a trial ended. Stripe's standard payments pricing is per transaction and has no monthly platform fee, and there is no permanent free plan, according to the Stripe pricing page. You still need a separate email tool to send the messages. The clean setup is to keep the payment status in Stripe and let the email flow read the event.
Segment: for teams merging data before they send
Segment is designed to collect customer data from many sources, clean it into one profile and send it to the tools that need it. That is useful when a drip campaign depends on data from a product database, a support tool and a store at the same time. Pricing is on request, and the page describes a free trial for its Connections plans without listing limits. For a single email list with one or two triggers, Segment is more infrastructure than you need. Details are on the Segment pricing page.
Which tool to choose
The decision usually depends on two things: where the trigger data lives, and how many people are on the list. The table below matches common needs to a suggested starting point and the reason behind it.
| If you need | Start with | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Segmented workflows for a store or SaaS list up to 2,500 people | Drip, $39 a month, monthly billing | Unlimited email sends and up to 50 workflows in the lowest band |
| A free plan for a newsletter that mostly sends broadcasts | Kit free plan | Free up to 10,000 subscribers, with tagging and segmentation, but no sequences |
| Automated sequences on a free-plan budget | Kit Creator or a Drip trial | Kit's sequences start on Creator; Drip's paid band starts at $39 a month |
| Drip flows tied to a sales pipeline | HubSpot Marketing Hub | The CRM and sales handoff are the reason to buy, and the flows sit inside them |
| A form or booking tool that does not connect to your email platform | Zapier | It creates or updates the contact that starts the flow, within the task quota |
| Recovery of failed payments | Stripe for events, plus your email tool for messages | Payment state belongs in billing; the email flow reads it |
| One customer profile built from many data sources | Segment, on request pricing | Built to merge data before it reaches the tools that send |
Setup checklist before you launch any flow
Build the flow in a test mode or with test contacts before you enable it for the full list. The checklist below covers the steps that most often go wrong. Work through each row for every flow you build.
| Step | What to set up | Check before launch |
|---|---|---|
| Entry and consent | The trigger event and the permission basis for each entry source | Each source records permission, and a test contact enters the flow once |
| Suppression | Purchasers, open support threads, unsubscribes and people in competing flows | A test contact who is already in another flow does not receive duplicate sends |
| Exit rule | The goal event that removes a person from the flow | A test contact who converts on day 1 leaves the flow and stops receiving messages |
| Wait logic and time zone | Delays between steps and the time zone used for sends | The schedule for one test contact matches the timing you designed |
| Measurement | One primary outcome and a fixed review window | The outcome event is tracked and appears in reporting before launch |
| Branch coverage | Each branch, such as activated and not activated users | Each branch has been reached at least once with a test contact |
Common mistakes when building drip campaigns
- No exit rule. A flow that keeps sending after the goal is met teaches people to ignore you. Define the exit before you write the first email.
- Counting opens as success. Clicks, replies, returns and purchases are the outcomes that show whether the flow changed behavior.
- One flow for every person. A new subscriber, a trial user and a lapsed customer need different messages. Split the entry by intent before adding steps.
- Ignoring the cost of the trigger. A flow triggered by every page view can burn through task quotas on Zapier or credits on Make before you notice.
- Choosing a band by the best case. Pick the band for the list you have now and the growth you can see in the next few months, then move up when the list grows.
How to choose quickly
Start with the trigger and the list size. If your trigger lives inside a product or store that Drip can receive directly, and your list is up to 2,500 people, begin with the $39 monthly band and build the three flows that matter most: welcome, abandoned cart or trial, and win-back. Measure one outcome per flow for four to six weeks before you add more. If the trigger lives in a separate tool, add Zapier for the connection and count the tasks first. If the flows must sit inside a sales pipeline, evaluate HubSpot Marketing Hub on the CRM features, not on the email flows alone.
Frequently asked questions
Does Drip have a free plan?
Drip does not list an ongoing free plan. It offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, according to the Drip pricing page. Plan the first campaign inside the trial so you know whether the flow works before you commit to a band.
How much does Drip cost for a list of 5,000 people?
For 4,501 to 5,000 people, the Drip pricing page lists $89 a month on monthly billing. Over a full year that is $1,068 (12 × $89). Check the band that matches your exact list size before you subscribe, because each band has its own price.
Can I run drip campaigns on Kit's free plan?
Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers and includes unlimited broadcasts, forms, tagging and segmentation. Visual Automations and email sequences start on the Creator plan, which is $33 a month billed annually. If you need the flows described on this page, the free plan alone will not run them.
Do I need Zapier to build a drip campaign?
No. Zapier is only needed when the trigger event lives in a tool that does not connect directly to your email platform. If your signup form, store or product sends events to your email tool already, you can build the flows without it.
How do I know whether a drip campaign is working?
Pick one primary outcome for each flow, such as trial-to-paid conversion, recovered orders or returning clicks, and a fixed review window. Compare the flow against a holdout group that receives no sequence wherever your volume allows. Read clicks and conversions rather than opens, and check unsubscribes and complaints alongside the outcome so you do not optimize for the wrong result.
Should failed payment emails come from my billing tool or my email tool?
Keep the payment state in your billing system, because that is where the truth about the payment lives. Use your email tool to send the messages, reading the failed payment and successful payment events from billing. Splitting these roles avoids sending a reminder to someone whose payment has already gone through.
What if my list is bigger than the table in this guide?
Drip's bands go well beyond the rows shown here, and the pricing page lists each band with its own price and, for some bands, its own send allowance. Use the band that matches your list, read the send limit if you mail often, and plan for the next band before your list reaches the top of your current one.