Drip marketing automation that uses the whole channel mix, not just email.
Marketing drip is more than email. A credible program weaves email, SMS via Strkr Messaging, in-app messages, and direct-mail triggers into one orchestration with explicit segment logic, attribution to pipeline, and the open API for product-event triggers. The eight capabilities below are what separates a drip program from a drip tool.
What a drip marketing program should actually orchestrate.
Drip marketing stopped being an email-only discipline years ago. The honest program weaves four channels (email, SMS, in-app, direct mail triggers) into one orchestration with the segmentation, attribution, and consent handling that each channel requires. The eight capabilities below are the ones that distinguish a drip program from a drip tool.
Email leg
The anchor channel, done right.
Email is still the anchor channel for most drip programs. Strkr's email engine ships the deliverability engineering (sender identity, DMARC alignment, warmup, suppression lists, bounce handling, reply detection, native unsubscribe) that most tools skip. The engine is the foundation; the multi-channel work builds on top.
SMS leg
Short, timely, through Strkr Messaging.
SMS reaches recipients who have opted into text communication, with 90-plus percent open rates and 60-second response windows. Strkr Messaging handles the carrier passthrough, number provisioning, STOP keyword compliance, and consent record. Drip steps can be SMS, email, or both, triggered by the same segment logic.
In-app leg
A message in the product the user is in.
For teams running a product-led motion, drip can trigger in-app messages when a user opens the app. The message appears as a prompt, a banner, or a modal depending on the type. The pattern reaches users who open the product but not the email, which is a surprisingly large cohort in modern SaaS.
Direct mail trigger
A physical touch, through a partner.
For high-value cohorts, drip can trigger a direct mail send through a connected fulfillment partner. A branded notebook to a stalled enterprise prospect, a thank-you card after a signed deal, a book to a short-list executive. The partner handles the physical fulfillment; Strkr handles the trigger logic and the attribution.
Segmentation
Who gets the drip, by behavior and attribute.
Segments combine attribute conditions (industry, revenue tier, country) with behavior conditions (opened a page, booked a demo, downloaded a report). The segment logic is explicit and testable: a user can preview which contacts a segment resolves to before launching the drip against the segment.
Attribution
Pipeline sourced, by drip, by channel.
Every drip tracks attribution back to pipeline: which drip touched which contact, which touch preceded the deal creation, which closed-won revenue is attributable to the drip. The attribution flows into the standard Strkr marketing dashboard rather than a separate attribution tool. The pattern makes drip programs defensible to the CFO at budget review.
Consent per channel
Email consent, SMS consent, each tracked.
Consent is tracked per channel because the regulations are per channel. A recipient opted into email is not automatically opted into SMS. The consent record stores the time, method, and scope per channel, which honors CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL, and TCPA requirements. Opt-outs honor per channel so a text STOP does not block the email, and an email unsubscribe does not block the text.
Event-driven triggers
Product events kick off the drip.
For teams running a product-led growth motion, drips can trigger from product events via the open API: user signed up, user hit a feature limit, user failed to activate after seven days. The trigger carries the full event context into the drip, which personalizes the first message far beyond “Hi {{first_name}}.”
Suppression intelligence
Smart stops across channels.
The suppression engine is tenant-wide: a contact who opts out of email and SMS still receives in-app messages if they open the product; a contact who complains stops receiving everything. The pattern is more nuanced than “add to a global suppression list” and respects the recipient's per-channel preferences.
Program design patterns
Six drip programs that earn their keep.
Drip programs sprawl when every manager invents their own. The six patterns below are the ones Strkr customers run most often, each with the audience, the trigger, the channel mix, and the measurement.
Welcome series
The onboarding drip for a new signup.
A welcome series fires on signup and runs three to five touches over two weeks. The first touch is an email that sets expectations. The second is an in-app message that drives a feature click. The third is an email check-in. The fourth is an SMS for users who opted in. The measurement is activation rate at day 14.
Reengagement
A drip for users who went cold.
Reengagement fires on 30 days of no activity. The series is two to three light touches with an explicit “you can opt out” footer. The channel is email for marketing-opted-in contacts, with an SMS escalation for high-value stalled accounts (consent permitting). The measurement is reactivation at day 60 and clean-list hygiene after.
Content nurture
A long-cycle education drip.
Content nurture runs over three to six months with a monthly touch cadence. Each touch surfaces a long-form asset (whitepaper, case study, product demo video). The audience is marketing-qualified leads not yet opened to sales. The measurement is marketing-to-sales handoff rate.
Pre-renewal
The 90-day runway drip.
Pre-renewal fires 90 days before contract expiration. The drip runs five touches: product-usage recap, success-story share, renewal-term preview, pricing summary, and a direct-mail trigger for the top-tier accounts. The audience is the account signer and the executive sponsor. The measurement is renewal rate and gross retention.
Expansion
A drip that surfaces an upsell.
Expansion fires when product usage crosses a feature threshold (hit the user cap, opened an enterprise-tier feature, logged a complex integration). The drip surfaces the expansion motion with case studies, pricing, and a direct connect to the CSM. The measurement is expansion ARR per quarter.
Event follow-up
A drip after a conference or webinar.
Event follow-up fires the day after a conference or webinar. The drip runs three touches: recap, specific asset tied to the event theme, direct meeting-booking link. The audience is the event attendee list enriched with firmographic data. The measurement is pipeline sourced per event.
Trial-to-paid
A drip through the trial window.
Trial-to-paid runs through the trial window with touches aligned to usage milestones. Day one is a welcome email. Day three is an in-app nudge for first-value features. Day seven is an email check-in. Day 12 is an SMS for users approaching the trial end who have opted into SMS. The measurement is trial-to-paid conversion.
Lost-deal re-engagement
A long-cycle drip for closed-lost.
Closed-lost deals rarely stay lost forever. A re-engagement drip runs over six to twelve months with quarterly touches that surface new features, new case studies in the lost-deal segment, and (for the top-tier losses) a direct-mail or executive-outreach trigger. The measurement is re-engagement conversion over the trailing year.
Advocacy
A drip that activates happy customers.
Advocacy fires for customers who hit a happiness threshold (high NPS, feature adoption, renewal). The drip surfaces specific advocacy asks: case study participation, G2 review, referral intro, speaking engagement. The audience is the subset of customers most likely to say yes. The measurement is advocacy conversion and the resulting referral revenue.
The channel-specific compliance surface
Each channel has its own regulatory contract.
Multi-channel drip means multi-channel compliance. The honest posture is that each channel has distinct regulatory requirements that must be respected independently.
Email: CAN-SPAM
US sender rules, in the footer.
The US CAN-SPAM Act requires identifiable From, non-deceptive Subject, visible unsubscribe, physical mailing address in the footer, and prompt honor of opt-outs. Strkr includes all five on every email send by default.
Email: GDPR
EU consent, lawful basis.
For EU recipients, email requires a lawful basis (consent for B2C, legitimate interest or consent for B2B). The consent record stores the time, method, and scope. Opt-outs honor on first request. The record is exportable in Data Protection Officer format.
SMS: TCPA
US text rules, explicit consent.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires explicit prior consent for commercial SMS. Strkr Messaging tracks the consent event per recipient and refuses sends to US numbers without on-file consent. The STOP keyword automatically opts the recipient out.
SMS: GDPR
EU text consent, same framework.
For EU recipients, SMS operates under the same lawful-basis framework as email. The consent record is per-channel because EU regulators treat SMS and email as separate consent surfaces, which Strkr honors by tracking the two consent events independently.
In-app: product context
In-app sits inside product consent.
In-app messages generally run under the product's terms-of-service rather than a separate marketing consent, because the user is already signed into the product. Strkr's pattern is to let the admin configure the opt-out surface in the product so users can disable in-app marketing while keeping transactional product messages.
Direct mail: country-specific
Physical mail, local rules apply.
Direct mail triggers run through connected fulfillment partners who handle the country-specific postal and privacy rules. For EU mail, the partner respects local GDPR variants on direct marketing. For US mail, the partner respects state-specific do-not-mail registries. Strkr's role is the trigger logic and the attribution; the partner handles the physical fulfillment.
How Strkr compares to multi-channel specialists
When native wins, and when a specialist earns their line.
Specialists in multi-channel drip (Braze, Iterable, Customer.io, Marketo) each solve the problem deeply. The honest buyer math is whether to pay the specialist on top of the CRM or run the native engine at the seat price.
Braze
Enterprise, event-rich, expensive.
Braze is a mature enterprise multi-channel platform with deep event handling and strong analytics. The commitment is six figures annually with a multi-quarter implementation. For enterprise B2C with high event volume, Braze earns its line. For B2B teams under 500 reps, Strkr's native pattern consolidates spend substantially.
Iterable
Growth-stage, flexible, mid-tier.
Iterable is a strong growth-stage multi-channel platform with flexible template design and good event handling. The commitment is mid-six figures annually. For teams running a dedicated marketing stack separate from the CRM, Iterable fits. Strkr's pattern collapses the stack into the CRM for teams that prefer one tool.
Marketo
Legacy B2B marketing automation.
Marketo is a legacy B2B marketing automation platform with strong form, landing-page, and nurture capability. The commitment is six figures annually. For enterprise B2B teams with existing Marketo investments, migration is painful; running Strkr alongside for the sales-touch leg is often the pragmatic path.
Customer.io
Event-driven, developer-friendly.
Customer.io is a strong event-driven messaging platform popular with product-led teams. For heavy event volume and developer-driven integration, Customer.io earns its line. Strkr's open API supports similar event-driven triggers for teams that need both the CRM-native pattern and event-driven messaging.
HubSpot Marketing Hub
Mid-market, native but tier-gated.
HubSpot Marketing Hub ships credible multi-channel drip in its Professional and Enterprise tiers. The gap is the tier gate: full capability lives above the Starter tier, which prices substantially higher. Strkr's drip engine ships on every paid tier at the seat price.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Enterprise, Data Cloud dependent.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a mature enterprise platform. The honest cost footnote is the increasing Data Cloud dependency for complex multi-channel orchestration, which is a six-figure license plus a multi-quarter implementation. For teams under 500 reps, Strkr's native pattern consolidates spend substantially.
The pricing and attribution contract
What the drip program costs, and how success is measured.
Drip programs justify themselves to the CFO when the attribution math is explicit. The pricing and attribution posture below is designed for defensibility.
Seat-priced
The engine included on every tier.
The drip marketing engine ships on every paid Strkr tier. There is no “Marketing Edition” or “Automation Pack” upsell. The seat price includes the template editor, the step builder, the sequence runner, the segmentation engine, and the attribution surface. Channel usage flows through the respective lines (email volume, Strkr Messaging per-SMS, direct-mail partner).
Channel pass-through
Email volume, SMS, direct mail priced transparently.
Email volume uses the fair-use ceiling on the seat tier with overages at a documented per-thousand rate. SMS uses Strkr Messaging's per-message rate (published on the pricing page). Direct mail uses the connected fulfillment partner's per-piece rate. No Strkr markup on the pass-through channels, which is the opposite of some competitors.
No per-contact fee
Scale the list without a surcharge.
There is no per-contact pricing. A tenant with 10,000 contacts costs the same as one with 100,000. The design encourages list growth rather than discouraging it. Specialists that price per contact create a strong incentive to prune aggressively, which is the opposite of what good marketing requires.
Attribution to pipeline
Every touch, traced to deal.
Every drip touch logs against the recipient contact. When the contact becomes a deal, the drip-touch history is part of the deal attribution. First-touch, last-touch, and multi-touch attribution models are all supported, with the model configurable per tenant. The pattern lets marketing defend the budget line with specific closed-won numbers.
Open API
Trigger drips from product events.
Every drip surface is in the public API. Product teams can trigger drips from events (sign-up, feature adoption, usage milestone) with documented API calls. The pattern is important for product-led growth motions. API calls are not metered, so a product-led team running 100,000 event triggers per month costs the same as one running 1,000.
Open pricing
The number on the public page.
The seat price, the fair-use ceilings, and the channel pass-through rates are on the public pricing page. There is no “contact sales” opaque pricing for the drip marketing feature set. No bespoke pricing by company size, no willingness-to-pay bidding.
Drip marketing across email, SMS, in-app, and direct mail, inside the CRM.
Multi-channel orchestration, segment logic, per-channel consent tracking, attribution to pipeline, and the open API for product-event triggers ship with Strkr on every paid tier. Email volume included via fair-use ceilings; Strkr Messaging SMS and direct-mail partner priced per use with no Strkr markup. Start a trial and launch your first multi-channel drip before the end of the week.
How is drip marketing automation different from drip email?
Drip email is single-channel: email only, with the engineering focus on deliverability. Drip marketing automation is multi-channel: email, SMS via Strkr Messaging, in-app messages, and direct-mail triggers through a connected fulfillment partner, orchestrated by the same segment logic and attributed back to pipeline. The multi-channel lens matters because recipients differ by preference: an executive who checks SMS at 10 PM but ignores email, a mid-manager who reads newsletters but skips SMS, a user who misses email entirely but opens the product daily. A single-channel program misses most of them.
How does consent work across channels?
Consent is tracked per channel because the regulations are per channel. A recipient opted into email is not automatically opted into SMS. The consent record stores the time, method, and scope per channel to honor CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL, and TCPA requirements. Opt-outs honor per channel: a text STOP does not block the email, and an email unsubscribe does not block the text. The pattern is more nuanced than “add to a global suppression list” and respects the recipient's per-channel preferences.
Can product events trigger a drip through the API?
Yes. Every drip surface is exposed through the public API. Product teams can trigger drips from events (sign-up, feature adoption, usage milestone, trial milestone) with documented API calls. The trigger carries the full event context into the drip, which personalizes the first message far beyond “Hi {{first_name}}.” API calls are not metered, so a product-led team running 100,000 event triggers per month costs the same as one running 1,000.
How does Strkr attribute closed-won revenue to drip?
Every drip touch logs against the recipient contact. When the contact becomes a deal, the drip-touch history is part of the deal attribution. First-touch, last-touch, and multi-touch attribution models are all supported, with the model configurable per tenant. The attribution surface renders on the standard Strkr marketing dashboard: campaign spend, drip touches, pipeline sourced, closed-won revenue. Marketing can defend the budget line with specific closed-won numbers rather than reconstructed-by-hand pivot tables.
Does Strkr integrate with direct-mail fulfillment partners?
Yes. Direct-mail triggers run through connected fulfillment partners who handle the physical fulfillment. For high-value cohorts, drip can trigger a branded notebook to a stalled enterprise prospect, a thank-you card after a signed deal, or a book to a short-list executive. The partner handles the country-specific postal and privacy rules; Strkr handles the trigger logic and the attribution.
Is Strkr's drip marketing automation HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR compliant?
Strkr is HIPAA compliant with a BAA available on request, GDPR compliant with Standard Contractual Clauses on file and an EU-hosted path for EU tenants, and actively pursuing SOC 2 Type II with report completion targeted through 2026-Q4. The drip engine, segment logic, consent tracking, attribution surface, and open API are all in scope. Audit log retention is configurable per tenant to match regulatory requirements.
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