Admissions glossary
What is a drip campaign in higher ed?
A drip campaign sends prospective students a timed series of messages that changes with their application, from first inquiry through admission and deposit.
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Drip campaign: definition and example
A drip campaign is a sequence of messages released on a schedule, each written for a particular point in a student's decision. For a graduate program, a sequence might open with a note from the program director, follow with a spotlight on professors' research, share funding and assistantship information, invite the student to a virtual open house and close with the application deadline for the fall term.
The sequence should react to the application. When an inquiry submits an application, move them out of the recruitment sequence and into one about required documents and decision timing. Once they are admitted, switch again to housing, orientation and deposit reminders. Exit rules like these keep an admitted student from receiving a message that urges them to apply.
Match each message to the channel that carries it best. Email suits detail, such as a scholarship guide or a program handbook; SMS and WhatsApp carry short reminders, such as a transcript deadline or an interview slot; a counselor call fits the week before the deposit deadline. Keep sends within sensible hours, pause sequences during campus closures, and check deadlines, program names and contacts against the academic calendar before each cycle.
How is a drip campaign different from workflow automation? A drip is defined by what the student receives: a planned series of messages with a rhythm and a story. Workflow automation is the wider machinery that can run a drip but also assigns counselors, changes stages, creates tasks and updates fields the student never sees. Many offices build their drips inside workflows; others send each step as a scheduled campaign to a segment.
How long should a drip run? Long enough to reach the next decision point and no longer. An undergraduate sequence for high school juniors can span months, while one for a rolling-admission certificate might cover a few weeks.
How higheredcrm.ai helps
In higheredcrm.ai you can build a drip in the visual workflow builder, with wait, delay-until and condition steps that send email, SMS and WhatsApp messages and branch on application stage. You can also run scheduled or recurring campaigns to segments, with A/B variants for email and SMS and send windows that use the campaign's time zone; sends outside the window are held until it opens.
See campaigns