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A drip sequence is an automated series of messages — emails, SMS, or both — sent to contacts at predetermined intervals over days or weeks. Rather than sending all your follow-up content at once, drip sequences space out communications so that each message arrives at the right moment in the buyer’s journey, keeping your brand top of mind without overwhelming the recipient.

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How drip sequences work in HoopAI

Drip sequences are built using the standard workflow builder. The core structure is simple: a trigger that enrolls contacts, followed by alternating Send Message and Wait actions that space out the messages. The Wait actions control the pacing — how long between each touchpoint. A basic five-email drip sequence looks like this:
  1. Trigger (e.g., form submitted)
  2. Send email 1 — welcome / introduction
  3. Wait 1 day
  4. Send email 2 — value content
  5. Wait 2 days
  6. Send email 3 — case study or social proof
  7. Wait 2 days
  8. Send email 4 — objection handling
  9. Wait 3 days
  10. Send email 5 — call to action
The same pattern works with SMS messages, or you can combine both channels within a single sequence.

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Choosing your drip interval

The right pacing depends on your sales cycle length and the nature of your offer:
Sequence typeRecommended pacing
Short-cycle (e.g., event registration)Every 1–2 days for 5–7 days
Standard lead nurtureEvery 2–3 days for 2–3 weeks
Long-cycle B2B nurtureEvery 3–7 days over 30–60 days
Re-engagement (inactive contacts)Weekly for 4–6 weeks
Post-purchase onboardingEvery 2–3 days for the first 2 weeks
Start with slightly longer intervals rather than shorter ones. It is easier to increase frequency if engagement is high than to recover from contacts who unsubscribed because they felt spammed.

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Using the Drip action for batch delivery

When you need to release contacts through a sequence gradually — for example, when adding a large list of contacts to a workflow at once — use the Drip action. This controls the rate at which contacts progress through the workflow, processing them in batches rather than all at once. Configuration options:
  • Batch size — how many contacts move to the next step at one time (1 to 10,000)
  • Drip interval — how often the next batch is released (1–60 minutes, 1–24 hours, or 1–7 days)
For example, setting a batch size of 50 with a 1-hour interval means 50 contacts advance to the next step every hour. This is useful for protecting your email sender reputation when warming up a new sending domain, or for managing capacity on a sales team that needs to handle inbound leads at a sustainable rate. The Drip action is inserted as a step within the workflow. Contacts that enter the workflow accumulate at the Drip step and are released at the configured rate.

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Adding personalization

A well-designed drip sequence does not send the same message to every contact. Use custom fields and dynamic variables to personalize each message:
  • Address the contact by first name: {{contact.first_name}}
  • Reference their industry, location, or product interest stored in custom fields
  • Include their assigned sales rep’s name and phone number using user merge fields
Personalization improves open and reply rates, especially in longer sequences where contacts may start to tune out generic messages.

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Incorporating conditional branches

Not every contact should receive every message in the sequence. Add If/Else conditions at key points to branch the drip based on behavior:
  • If the contact opened the last email → send a more detailed follow-up
  • If the contact clicked a link → move them to a different workflow (e.g., a sales call booking sequence)
  • If the contact has a specific tag → skip a step that is not relevant to them
This turns a simple linear drip into an adaptive sequence that responds to each contact’s engagement.

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Using goal events to exit the sequence early

One of the most important additions to any drip sequence is a Goal Event that exits contacts as soon as they convert. Without this, a contact who books a call on day two will continue to receive nurture emails on days three, four, and five — which feels out of place and may even undermine confidence. Set a Goal Event at the beginning of the sequence with the type “Appointment confirmed” or “Form submitted” or whichever action constitutes conversion. When that event fires, the contact is moved to the goal step and exits the nurture workflow, freeing them to enter a post-conversion sequence instead.

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Structuring a multi-channel drip

Combining email and SMS in a single sequence creates more touchpoints without dramatically increasing volume at any single channel. A simple multi-channel pattern:
  1. Day 0 — Send welcome email
  2. Day 1 — Send introductory SMS (short, conversational)
  3. Day 3 — Send value-focused email
  4. Day 5 — Send SMS with a question or prompt to reply
  5. Day 7 — Send email with a case study or testimonial
  6. Day 10 — Send SMS with a direct call to action
  7. Day 14 — Send final email (“Last chance” or breakup message)
Keep SMS messages shorter and more conversational than emails. SMS works best for quick check-ins, reminders, and direct questions rather than long-form content.

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Monitoring drip sequence performance

Use the Workflow Statistics view to check email open and click rates at each step of the sequence. Look for significant drop-offs — a step with a notably lower open rate than the previous step may indicate a subject line problem, a send-time issue, or that the content is not relevant enough. Monitor unsubscribe rates per step as well. A high unsubscribe rate at a particular email may signal that the message is too aggressive, too frequent, or off-topic relative to what the contact expected.
Re-engagement drip sequences (sent to contacts who have not opened or clicked in 60–90 days) should be shorter — four to six messages — and should explicitly acknowledge the passage of time. Giving contacts an easy way to update their preferences or unsubscribe at the start of a re-engagement sequence reduces complaints and keeps your list clean.

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FAQs

Yes. In the Enrollment History tab, locate the contact and use the manual advance or hold options. For a workflow-level pause, you can temporarily disable the workflow (which pauses all active contacts) or use a Wait For Event step as a conditional gate.
Contacts always start from the beginning of a workflow when enrolled. To start contacts at a specific step, structure separate workflows for each entry point, or use If/Else conditions early in the sequence to skip irrelevant steps based on contact data.
Disable the Allow Re-entry setting on the workflow. With re-entry off, each contact can only enter the sequence once. For sequences where re-entry makes sense (such as annual renewal reminders), leave re-entry enabled and add a tag-based filter to the trigger to control timing.
An SMS campaign sends a single message to a list of contacts at a scheduled time. A drip sequence workflow is an ongoing automation that enrolls contacts individually (or in batches) and sends a series of messages over time, with each contact moving through the sequence at their own pace based on when they enrolled.
Last modified on March 5, 2026