WhatsApp Drip Campaigns & Automated Follow-ups
A welcome message today, a nudge in two days, an offer in five — drip campaigns that run per contact and stop the moment someone replies.
A drip campaign is a series of messages that go out automatically over time after a contact enrols — a welcome now, a tip in two days, an offer in five. Where a recurring broadcast sends the same message on a calendar, a drip sends different messages on a per-contact timeline.
Anatomy of a drip campaign
A drip campaign is an ordered list of steps. Each step has:
- An approved template to send (personalized independently — see variables). Steps can use media-header templates too — attach an image (JPG/PNG), video (MP4) or PDF to any step.
- A delay before it sends, measured from the previous step — in minutes, hours or days.
So a classic onboarding drip might be: Step 1 immediately, Step 2 after 2 days, Step 3 after 3 more days.
Who gets enrolled
You pick the audience with the same picker as a broadcast — by tag, a saved or new segment (including the date filters), a CSV list, or by re-targeting a past broadcast. Then choose how enrolment works:
- Static enrolment — everyone matching right now is enrolled when you activate the drip campaign.
- Dynamic enrolment — the drip campaign keeps watching, and new contacts who start matching are enrolled automatically. Ideal for "every new lead gets this welcome flow."
Stop-on-reply
The most human touch: if a contact replies at any point, the drip campaign stops for them. Nobody keeps getting automated nudges after they've started a real conversation — that would feel robotic and risk your quality rating.
Built to run at scale, safely
- Steps respect your daily messaging cap — if a step would push you over the number's limit, it defers to the next day rather than failing.
- Transient send errors are retried with backoff on the same step, so a momentary hiccup doesn't drop a contact out of the flow.
How to build one
- From Broadcasts, open Drip campaigns and click New drip campaign. Give it a name and choose who to enrol — a tag or a segment.
- Add your first step: pick an approved template and set when it sends (e.g. straight away).
- Add more steps, each with its own template and a wait before it — measured from the step before, in minutes, hours or days.
- Keep stop when the customer replies switched on, so nobody gets chased after they respond.
- Switch on keep enrolling new matches if you want future contacts to flow in automatically.
- Activate it — enrolled contacts start on step 1, and each following step sends after its wait.
When to reach for a drip
- Welcome / onboarding — greet new subscribers and introduce your best products.
- Lead nurture — warm up enquiries that didn't convert immediately.
- Post-purchase — care tips, review requests, replenishment reminders.
- Win-back — re-engage customers who've gone quiet.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a drip campaign and a recurring broadcast?
A recurring broadcast sends the same message on a calendar schedule (e.g. every Monday) to a re-resolved audience. A drip campaign sends a series of different messages on a per-contact timeline that starts when each contact enrols. Use recurring for newsletters; use drip for onboarding and nurture.
Does a drip campaign keep messaging someone after they reply?
No. Stop-on-reply halts the drip campaign for any contact who replies, so people who start a real conversation aren't hit with further automated steps.
Can new customers join a drip campaign automatically?
Yes, with dynamic enrolment. The drip campaign keeps watching for contacts who newly match its audience and enrols them automatically — perfect for an always-on welcome flow.