Drips Are Not Sequences
Sequences fire immediately. Drips add time. That one difference changes everything about how you follow up with leads who aren't ready yet.
Research shows that 80% of motivated sellers need 5+ follow-ups before they commit to selling. Most investors quit after the first attempt. Drip campaigns bridge that gap automatically.
Your DataSift account ships with 26 pre-built sequences. Zero pre-built drip campaigns. That is by design. Drips are personal. Your market, your tone, your cadence. This page gives you the templates to build them right.
| Element | Sequences | Drip Campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | Immediate on trigger | Configurable delays (min/hr/days) |
| Best for | New lead outreach, notifications | Long-term nurture, re-engagement |
| Actions | SMS, Email, Task (instant) | SMS, Email, Task (delayed) |
| Pre-built | 26 in default account | None. You build your own. |
| How they connect | Sequences trigger drips | Drips run on the timeline |
Do
Use drips for leads you have already tried reaching. Ghosted leads, not-interested leads, aged data. The drip keeps working while your team handles live prospects.
Don't
Replace manual follow-up with drips on hot leads. A warm lead calls back because a human called first. Drips support your callers. They never replace them.
Personalization matters even in automation. Make it feel human. Merge fields are the minimum. Read your drip texts out loud. If they sound like a robot wrote them, rewrite.
Anatomy of a Drip Campaign
Four building blocks. Every drip campaign uses these same four elements.
Step Types: SMS, Email, Task
SMS requires a carrier integration (smrtPhone, Twilio, or Plivo). Best for urgent, time-sensitive touches. Cost is roughly $0.01 per message.
Email works via Gmail integration. Available on all plans. Best for longer nurture and informational follow-ups. Use drip emails for cold outreach at scale instead of sequence emails.
Task creates a follow-up task assigned based on the preset's due date, not the drip delay. Pairs a human touchpoint with the automated messages.
Delays: The Timing Engine
Every step after the first gets a configurable delay. Set by minutes (0-59 for response chains), hours (1-23 for same-day follow-up), or days (1-365 for long-tail nurture).
All SMS and email actions send between 8 AM and 9 PM based on your account timezone. Messages scheduled outside that window hold until 8 AM the next day.
Carrier Selection
SMS drips require smrtPhone, Twilio, or Plivo integration. Kixie, Smarter Contact, and Launch Control are not compatible.
You must comply with A2P 10DLC regulations. Large-volume sends affect connectivity and spam rates.
If your smrtPhone numbers don't appear in the drip builder, open any record and click the refresh phone icon in the 1:1 communication section.
Merge Fields: Make It Personal
Available merge fields include {First Name}, {Last Name}, {Property Address}, {Agent Name}, and {Company}.
Records missing a merge field value will show a blank space. A text reading "Hi , this is about" with missing fields looks worse than no text at all.
Building Your First Drip Campaign
Six steps from zero to running. The entire setup takes under five minutes once you know what the drip should do.
Open Drip Campaigns
Click Drip Campaigns in the left sidebar of your DataSift account.
The Drip Campaigns section lives in the left sidebar navigation.
Add New Campaign
Click Add New Campaign. Name it something descriptive. "Dead Lead Revival 90-Day" beats "Drip 1."
Name your campaign something descriptive. Include the cadence so you can identify it at a glance.
Drag and Drop Steps
Drag SMS, Email, or Task steps into the campaign builder. Each step appears in order.
The drag-and-drop builder. Add steps and configure delays between them.
Set Delays Between Steps
Configure the time between each step using minutes, hours, or days. The first step fires immediately on enrollment.
Delays can be set in minutes, hours, or days. The dropdown appears between each step.
Select Carrier and Phone Number
For SMS steps, select your smrtPhone, Twilio, or Plivo number. If numbers don't appear, refresh them from any record's 1:1 communication section.
Select which smrtPhone number to send from. Each SMS step can use a different number.
Write Your Messages and Save
Write your SMS or email copy using merge fields. Save the campaign. It is now ready for enrollment.
Type @[variable_name] to insert merge fields. Keep SMS under 150 characters for best delivery.
The Three Campaign Types
Every drip campaign you build falls into one of three categories. Each has a different trigger, cadence, and tone.
1. Ghosted Lead Recovery
Tried calling. No answer. Exhausted attempts.
2. Not-Interested Re-engagement
They answered. They said no. Circumstances change.
3. Dead Lead Revival
90+ days inactive. Written off. One more shot.
Ghosted Lead Recovery
These are leads with correct phone numbers who never picked up. You tried 3 attempts (niche) or 6-8 attempts (bulk). Now the drip maintains contact without burning caller time.
Not-Interested Re-engagement
These leads answered and explicitly said no. That is valuable. They fit your criteria. They just were not ready. 20-30% of all platform deals come from leads who initially said "not interested."
Dead Lead Revival
Leads marked Dead have been inactive for 90+ days. Most operators delete them. That is burning money. A 90-day revival drip paired with a task preset gives them one structured second chance.
Six Drip Campaigns You Can Build Today
Complete, copy-paste-ready campaigns with SMS copy, delay timing, and sequence wiring. Start with Templates 1 and 2.
Use case: Lead marked Dead after exhausted attempts. 180-day re-engagement cycle.
Use case: Lead dispositioned not-interested, non-distressed property. 180-day quarterly cycle.
Use case: Probate lead who said not interested. 45-day cadence matches probate settlement timelines.
Use case: Pre-foreclosure or foreclosure lead who said not interested. Compressed 15-day cadence because auction timelines move fast.
Use case: Lead qualified as warm (1 pillar of motivation) but not ready. 90-day nurture with mixed channels.
Body: Brief, personal check-in. Reference the prior conversation. No hard sell.
Use case: Brand new lead enters the system. Supplements manual calling with automated texts.
Start with Dead Lead Revival and Not-Interested Quarterly. Those two alone recapture leads you're currently losing. Build the rest after those are running. Don't build six drips on day one.
The Delay Ladder
Three rungs. Each delay unit serves a different purpose. Mixing them without intention creates confusing cadences.
Rung 1: Minutes
Immediate response chains within a single outreach attempt. First SMS at 0 minutes, follow-up email at 30 minutes. A quick one-two punch before the lead forgets.
Best for: Speed-to-Lead supplement drips, same-session follow-ups
Watch out: More than 3 messages within an hour feels aggressive. Keep minute-based chains to 2 steps max.
Rung 2: Hours
Same-day persistence. A morning SMS and an afternoon email if no response. Stays top-of-mind without crossing into "too much" territory.
Best for: New lead initial contact windows, same-day follow-up pairs
Watch out: Remember the 8 AM to 9 PM send window. A 6-hour delay set at 5 PM holds until 8 AM the next day.
Rung 3: Days and Weeks
The long game. 15, 30, 45, 90-day intervals. This is where most drip campaigns live. Patient persistence over months. The lead's circumstances change. Your drip is there when they do.
Best for: Not-interested re-engagement, dead lead revival, warm lead nurture
Cadence guide: Foreclosure = 15 days. Probate = 45 days. General = 90 days. Dead leads = 90 days.
Integration Setup
SMS drips need a carrier. Email drips need Gmail. Get these connected before you build your first campaign.
smrtPhone is the most common carrier for DataSift drip campaigns. Connect under Settings, then your phone numbers appear in the drip builder.
If numbers don't appear, open any record and click the refresh phone icon in the 1:1 communication section.
Settings → Integrations → smrtPhone. Paste your API key and validate to connect.
Click the refresh icon to sync your smrtPhone numbers with the drip builder.
Twilio and Plivo are alternative carriers. Both work identically in the drip builder.
Not compatible: Kixie, Smarter Contact, and Launch Control cannot send drip campaign SMS.
Email drips work via Gmail integration. Available on all plans. No carrier purchase needed. Same 8 AM to 9 PM send window as SMS.
Use email for longer nurture sequences. Use SMS for urgent touches. The combination works better than either alone.
Settings → Integrations → Gmail. Click "Connect with Google" and authorize access.
Do
Set your account timezone under Settings before creating drips. Wrong timezone means texts at the wrong time.
Don't
Ignore A2P 10DLC registration. Non-compliance tanks deliverability and risks number suspension.
Enrollment and Automation
Two ways to get records into a drip. Manual for one-time batches. Automatic for hands-off systems.
Manual: Filter, Select, Send
From the Records page, filter your list. Select the records. Go to Send to and choose Drip Campaigns. Select the campaign. Done.
Works well for one-time batches. Example: 500 aged leads from 6+ months ago into your Dead Lead Revival drip.
Filter records, select them, then use Send to and Drip Campaigns to enroll.
Automatic: Attach to a Sequence
Create a sequence with a status or disposition trigger. Add "Drip Campaign" as an action. Every lead that hits that trigger enters the drip automatically. Zero manual work.
Your default account already has sequences for Lead Management, Acquisitions, and Transactions. Open any sequence, click "Make Changes," add a Drip Campaign action.
Inside a sequence, add a Drip Campaign action. The drip fires when the trigger conditions are met.
A complete sequence: status changes to Cold Lead, which triggers the AQ-Cold Follow Up drip campaign.
The Mara Garcia workflow: Call a lead. Disposition as "not interested." A sequence fires. The sequence adds the lead to a quarterly drip. Fully hands-off after the initial call.
Monitoring and Debugging
Click View Details on any campaign to see its health. Four status categories tell you what is happening.
Active
Currently processing. Waiting for their next delay.
Completed
Finished all steps in the campaign.
Failed
Missing primary phone or email. Data quality issue.
Removed
Manually pulled from the campaign.
The campaign list shows all your drips with key metrics. Click View Details to drill into individual records.
View Details shows every record in the campaign with their current step, plus the full campaign action timeline.
Common Issues
SMS drips require smrtPhone, Twilio, or Plivo. Kixie, Smarter Contact, and Launch Control are not compatible with drips. Check Settings to verify your integration.
Open any property record. Click the refresh phone icon in the 1:1 communication section. This syncs your carrier numbers with the drip builder.
All drip messages send between 8 AM and 9 PM based on your account timezone. Check Settings then Profile to verify. Messages outside the window hold until 8 AM.
Failed drips almost always mean missing contact data. SMS needs a primary phone number. Email needs a primary email. Review failed records weekly and update contact info.
Click Create Folder to organize campaigns. Suggested folders: "Not Interested," "Dead Leads," "Nurture," "New Leads." Deleting a folder gives you the option to delete just the folder or the drips inside. Deleted drips cannot be recovered.
Removing records from a drip: You can remove a record from inside the campaign's View Details page, or directly from the record's property page.
From View Details, click the three dots next to any record to remove it from the campaign.
You can also remove a record from a drip directly from the record's property page.
Check your Failed drips weekly. Every failed drip is a lead with bad contact data. That's not just a drip problem. That's a data quality problem. Fix the record, not just the drip.
Blueprint Drip Strategies
Which drips to build first depends on your blueprint. Start with the campaigns that match your current deal flow.
Blueprint A: Lean and Focused
You are doing everything yourself. Build one drip: Dead Lead Revival (Template 1). It costs 5 minutes to set up and runs for 180 days. Add Not-Interested Quarterly (Template 2) once you have 50+ not-interested dispositions.
Priority order: Template 1, then Template 2. Skip 3-6 until you have a team.
Blueprint B: Automation-First
Capital but limited time. Drips are your leverage. Build Templates 1, 2, and 5 (Dead Revival, Not-Interested, Warm Nurture). Wire all three to sequences. Your Lead Manager handles live calls while drips handle the long tail.
Priority order: Templates 1, 2, 5. Add Template 6 once your Lead Manager is hired.
Blueprint C: Niche Cadences
Your leads are probate, foreclosure, or tax sale. Cadence matters more for you than any other blueprint. Build Templates 3 and 4 first (Probate 45-day, Foreclosure 15-day). Add Template 1 as your safety net.
Priority order: Templates 3 or 4 (your niche), then Template 1. Add Template 5 once pipeline is flowing.
Blueprint D: Full Stack
Team and volume for all six templates. Build them all, organized in folders. Your Data Manager maintains the drip library. Review failed drips weekly as part of data hygiene.
Priority order: All 6 templates. Folders: "Dead Leads," "Not Interested," "Nurture," "New Leads."
Drip Campaign Vocabulary
Click any card to see the definition.
Drip Campaign
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Drip Campaign
Automated sequence of SMS, email, and task actions with configurable time delays. Designed for long-term lead nurture and re-engagement.
Merge Field
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Merge Field
Dynamic placeholder like {First Name} or {Property Address} that auto-populates with record data when the message sends.
Delay Node
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Delay Node
The time gap between drip steps. Set in minutes, hours, or days. Controls how long the system waits before firing the next action.
A2P 10DLC
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A2P 10DLC
Application-to-Person messaging on 10-digit long codes. Carrier regulation requiring registration before sending business SMS.
Send Window
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Send Window
All drip SMS and emails send between 8 AM and 9 PM based on account timezone. Messages outside this window hold until 8 AM.
Carrier Integration
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Carrier Integration
Phone system connected to DataSift for SMS drips. Only smrtPhone, Twilio, and Plivo are compatible.
Enrollment
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Enrollment
Adding records to a drip campaign. Manual: filter, Send to, Drip Campaigns. Automatic: attach drip as a sequence action.
Campaign Folder
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Campaign Folder
Organizational container for grouping drips. Create folders like "Not Interested," "Dead Leads," "Nurture."
Failed Drip
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Failed Drip
A drip action that could not execute. Almost always missing a primary phone (SMS) or email. A data quality signal, not a system error.
Task Preset (in Drips)
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Task Preset (in Drips)
Pre-configured task template used as a drip step. Assigns based on the preset's due date, not the drip delay. Pairs human follow-up with automation.
Test Your Understanding
Eight questions on drip campaign strategy and setup.
Q1: What is the primary difference between a Sequence action and a Drip Campaign?
Q2: Which SMS carriers are compatible with DataSift drip campaigns?
Q3: In the Delay Ladder, which delay unit is best for long-tail lead nurture?
Q4: What is the correct re-contact cadence for a not-interested probate lead?
Q5: Why should drip campaigns be paired with manual task presets?
Q6: What does a "Failed" status mean in drip campaign monitoring?
Q7: How do records get automatically enrolled in a drip campaign?
Q8: What percentage of platform deals come from not-interested follow-up campaigns?
Your Score: 0/8
Continue Learning
Drip campaigns connect to every other part of your CRM. Explore the companion pages and resources below.
Lead Management (Part 1)
4 Pillars, STABM, pipeline, and where drips fit
CRM Events (Part 2)
Task presets, appointments, and events drips create
CRM Sequences (Part 3)
TCA model, triggers, and how sequences activate drips
CRM Tasks (Part 4)
Task presets and the manual follow-up drips pair with
Drip Campaign SOP
Step-by-step setup guide for automated drip sequences
DataSift Help: Drip Campaigns
Official help article with screenshots and FAQ
Deal Flow Tech Stack SOP
Full tech stack spreadsheet with tool pricing