About six months ago I began collecting the email addresses of folks who downloaded my app, VirtualHostX. This was entirely opt-in. I simply placed a MailChimp signup form on my download page. I promised users who join a three email course introducing them to a few of the major VirtualHostX features and a 10% off coupon for when they purchased. My goal wasn’t to collect their email addresses and, later, market to them. I simply wanted a way to automatically communicate with users new to the software and make sure they got off on the right foot.
Setting this up in MailChimp was surprisingly simple. They’ve got a whole section on email automation. Kudos to them.
A couple weeks ago, however, I ran across a new marketing product called Drip. It’s founded by the author of a book I really enjoyed about solo entrepreneurship. Drip promises to handle email automation similar to MailChimp but with better goal tracking and higher conversion rates.
I was intrigued.
After going back and forth for a week, I ripped out my old MailChimp form and installed Drip’s pop-up box last night. MailChimp has served me great, but I’m ready to go beyond simply sending emails and towards measuring the actual effectiveness of them. I’m hoping Drip’s goals and conversion tracking will give me those insights.
All of this is influenced by a realization I had earlier this year. VirtualHostX has reached a mature, stable state. There are plenty of more features I can add – my todo list is overflowing – but I’m wondering if I’m starting to see diminishing returns with regards to how many more sales I make compared to how many new features I build. I’m wondering if I could see a bigger difference in sales simply by upping my marketing game. I hope to find out that answer, to a small degree, with Drip.
Anyway, I plan on writing a full review of Drip and what success it does or doesn’t bring me in a few months once I’ve had time to see its effects on my mailing list. But for now, I just wanted to offer my sincere amazement at what a well-executed service it is. As far as I know, Drip is one of the small players in the industry. And I honestly wasn’t expecting much fit and finish. But I’m seriously impressed so far. Their entire onboarding process was stellar. And the workflow that led me through setting up a campaign, building my email course, and getting their JavaScript and tracking installed on my website was phenomenal. They’ve done a really, really great job.