# Drip campaign: emails sent on a schedule after a signup

A drip campaign is a series of emails sent automatically on set delays after someone joins or acts. How drips work, where they misfire, and how Mimeo runs them.

**Definition:** A drip campaign is a series of emails sent automatically on set delays after someone joins or takes an action, such as a five-day course that sends one lesson a day.

## How it works

Something starts the drip: a signup, a purchase, a trial beginning. From then on, each email waits a set time after the one before:

1. Day 0: lesson one, straight away.
2. Day 1: lesson two.
3. Day 3: lesson three.
4. Day 5: the offer.

Each person's clock starts when they enter, so at any moment different people are at different steps. Common drips are onboarding, email courses and post-purchase tips.

Three choices shape a drip: the delays, what stops it early (a purchase, an unsubscribe), and whether someone can go through it twice.

## Why it matters

- **It does the steady work for you.** A course or onboarding series runs for every new person without anyone pressing send.
- **Timing makes it relevant.** Lesson two arrives while lesson one is still fresh.
- **It can misfire.** Without checks, a person who already bought still gets the pitch, or a promotion lands between two lessons.

## How Mimeo handles it

Mimeo calls this a [sequence](https://mimeohq.com/docs/usage/sequences): a fixed series of emails, each with a delay measured from the step before. A flow decides who starts it. Starting writes the person's whole plan into the queue up front, so you can see what they'll get and when. Each sequence picks a repeat-run mode: resend all, once per email, or single run ever.

Turning a sequence off holds everyone's scheduled emails, and turning it back on releases them on their original times. Edits apply to future runs, so people already partway through keep the plan they were given. Finishing fires a `sequence_completed` event that other flows can start on.

[Guards](https://mimeohq.com/docs/usage/guards#two-guards-worth-copying) handle the misfires. A Skip & continue guard on the `pitch` label drops the offer for people who already bought. A Pause & wait guard gives people a mute button, and they pick up where they left off with the cadence intact. See [Mimeo terms](https://mimeohq.com/docs/glossary#working-in-mimeo) for sequences in Mimeo's own words.

## Sources

1. [Sequences](https://mimeohq.com/docs/usage/sequences), checked 2026-11-10
2. [Guards](https://mimeohq.com/docs/usage/guards), checked 2026-11-04
3. [Flows](https://mimeohq.com/docs/usage/flows), checked 2026-11-10

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This is the Markdown copy of https://mimeohq.com/glossary/drip-campaign.