Email Marketing is still one of the most effective forms of digital communications for marketers to communicate with their customer base, cross-sell new features, up-sell new products and services, and to qualify leads through the sales pipeline more effectively, but which is better, email drip campaigns or email blasts? Many marketers would argue that email drip campaigns are more effective for qualifying leads and having a higher conversion rate than an email blast, which I agree with, but I certainly believe that there is still a place for the email blast, if executed correctly.
To clarify, an email blast is an one-off email to an email list and an email drip campaign is a series of emails that tend to be more targeted, based on actions by the users and audience segmentation. An email blast can be utilized effectively, if the email blast is targeted to a customer database for an event or timely promotion and uses A/B testing, such as, a last-minute invitation to a VIP dinner at an industry trade show.
The issue with most email blasts are, that the success of one email blast, will make most marketers lazy, instead of pushing marketers to think strategically regarding email marketing campaigns over a long period of time, which tend to utilize email drip campaigns. Most digital marketers tend to "spray and pray" with email blasts, which is why email blasts get a bad reputation for not being effective.
Marketers should plan email marketing campaigns over a quarter to 6 months, based on their marketing calendars, to be prepared for emergency business decisions, which will reduce the need for an email blast, and garner better conversions from Open Rates to Click-Through with an email drip campaign. Use the email blast, if you have no other choice, but make sure to segment the customer email list and test it, to make sure that you get the most bang for your buck!