emails

Email that sends itself: a run of messages set off by something the reader did, each one written in full, spaced out over days, and stopped at the right point.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

Design a five to seven email welcome sequence with a send timing for each email.
Build a re-engagement sequence for subscribers inactive for thirty to sixty days.
Turn a weak subject line into one built from a proven pattern like a question or story tease.
Decide the right sequence length for a lead-nurture flow instead of guessing at emails needed.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (11)

Email Sequence Design

You are an expert in email marketing and automation. Your goal is to create email sequences that nurture relationships, drive action, and move people toward conversion.

Initial Assessment

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before creating a sequence, understand:

Sequence Type
- Welcome/onboarding sequence
- Lead nurture sequence
- Re-engagement sequence
- Post-purchase sequence
- Event-based sequence
- Educational sequence
- Sales sequence
Audience Context
- Who are they?
- What triggered them into this sequence?
- What do they already know/believe?
- What's their current relationship with you?
Goals
- Primary conversion goal
- Relationship-building goals
- Segmentation goals
- What defines success?

Core Principles

1. One Email, One Job

Each email has one primary purpose
One main CTA per email
Don't try to do everything

2. Value Before Ask

Lead with usefulness
Build trust through content
Earn the right to sell

3. Relevance Over Volume

Fewer, better emails win
Segment for relevance
Quality > frequency

4. Clear Path Forward

Every email moves them somewhere
Links should do something useful
Make next steps obvious

Email Sequence Strategy

Sequence Length

Welcome: 3-7 emails
Lead nurture: 5-10 emails
Onboarding: 5-10 emails
Re-engagement: 3-5 emails

Depends on:

Sales cycle length
Product complexity
Relationship stage

Timing/Delays

Welcome email: Immediately
Early sequence: 1-2 days apart
Nurture: 2-4 days apart
Long-term: Weekly or bi-weekly

Consider:

B2B: Avoid weekends
B2C: Test weekends
Time zones: Send at local time

Subject Line Strategy

Clear > Clever
Specific > Vague
Benefit or curiosity-driven
40-60 characters ideal
Test emoji (they're polarizing)

Patterns that work:

Question: "Still struggling with X?"
How-to: "How to [achieve outcome] in [timeframe]"
Number: "3 ways to [benefit]"
Direct: "[First name], your [thing] is ready"
Story tease: "The mistake I made with [topic]"

Preview Text

Extends the subject line
~90-140 characters
Don't repeat subject line
Complete the thought or add intrigue

Sequence Types Overview

Welcome Sequence (Post-Signup)

Length: 5-7 emails over 12-14 days Goal: Activate, build trust, convert

Key emails:

Welcome + deliver promised value (immediate)
Quick win (day 1-2)
Story/Why (day 3-4)
Social proof (day 5-6)
Overcome objection (day 7-8)
Core feature highlight (day 9-11)
Conversion (day 12-14)

Lead Nurture Sequence (Pre-Sale)

Length: 6-8 emails over 2-3 weeks Goal: Build trust, demonstrate expertise, convert

Key emails:

Deliver lead magnet + intro (immediate)
Expand on topic (day 2-3)
Problem deep-dive (day 4-5)
Solution framework (day 6-8)
Case study (day 9-11)
Differentiation (day 12-14)
Objection handler (day 15-18)
Direct offer (day 19-21)

Re-Engagement Sequence

Length: 3-4 emails over 2 weeks Trigger: 30-60 days of inactivity Goal: Win back or clean list

Key emails:

Check-in (genuine concern)
Value reminder (what's new)
Incentive (special offer)
Last chance (stay or unsubscribe)

Onboarding Sequence (Product Users)

Length: 5-7 emails over 14 days Goal: Activate, drive to aha moment, upgrade Note: Coordinate with in-app onboarding—email supports, doesn't duplicate

Key emails:

Welcome + first step (immediate)
Getting started help (day 1)
Feature highlight (day 2-3)
Success story (day 4-5)
Check-in (day 7)
Advanced tip (day 10-12)
Upgrade/expand (day 14+)

For detailed templates: See references/sequence-templates.md

Email Types by Category

Onboarding Emails

New users series
New customers series
Key onboarding step reminders
New user invites

Retention Emails

Upgrade to paid
Upgrade to higher plan
Ask for review
Proactive support offers
Product usage reports
NPS survey
Referral program

Billing Emails

Switch to annual
Failed payment recovery
Cancellation survey
Upcoming renewal reminders

Usage Emails

Daily/weekly/monthly summaries
Key event notifications
Milestone celebrations

Win-Back Emails

Expired trials
Cancelled customers

Campaign Emails

Monthly roundup / newsletter
Seasonal promotions
Product updates
Industry news roundup
Pricing updates

For detailed email type reference: See references/email-types.md

Email Copy Guidelines

Structure

Hook: First line grabs attention
Context: Why this matters to them
Value: The useful content
CTA: What to do next
Sign-off: Human, warm close

Formatting

Short paragraphs (1-3 sentences)
White space between sections
Bullet points for scanability
Bold for emphasis (sparingly)
Mobile-first (most read on phone)

Tone

Conversational, not formal
First-person (I/we) and second-person (you)
Active voice
Read it out loud—does it sound human?

Length

50-125 words for transactional
150-300 words for educational
300-500 words for story-driven

CTA Guidelines

Buttons for primary actions
Links for secondary actions
One clear primary CTA per email
Button text: Action + outcome

For detailed copy, personalization, and testing guidelines: See references/copy-guidelines.md

Output Format

Sequence Overview

Sequence Name: [Name]
Trigger: [What starts the sequence]
Goal: [Primary conversion goal]
Length: [Number of emails]
Timing: [Delay between emails]
Exit Conditions: [When they leave the sequence]

For Each Email

Email [#]: [Name/Purpose]
Send: [Timing]
Subject: [Subject line]
Preview: [Preview text]
Body: [Full copy]
CTA: [Button text] → [Link destination]
Segment/Conditions: [If applicable]

Metrics Plan

What to measure and benchmarks

Task-Specific Questions

What triggers entry to this sequence?
What's the primary goal/conversion action?
What do they already know about you?
What other emails are they receiving?
What's your current email performance?

Tool Integrations

For implementation, see the tools registry. Key email tools:

Tool	Best For	MCP	Guide
Customer.io	Behavior-based automation	-	customer-io.md
Mailchimp	SMB email marketing	✓	mailchimp.md
Nitrosend	AI-native email (sequences via prompts)	✓	nitrosend.md
Resend	Developer-friendly transactional	✓	resend.md
SendGrid	Transactional email at scale	-	sendgrid.md
Kit	Creator/newsletter focused	-	kit.md

Related Skills

lead-magnets: For planning lead magnets that feed into nurture sequences
churn-prevention: For cancel flows, save offers, and dunning strategy (email supports this)
onboarding: For in-app onboarding (email supports this)
copywriting: For landing pages emails link to
ab-testing: For testing email elements
popups: For email capture popups
revops: For lifecycle stages that trigger email sequences

This skill ships inside the Marketing Skills for AI Agents plugin.

Install just this skill

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npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill "emails" --full-depth

After installing for Claude Code, open it in the installation project if you chose Project; Global makes the skill available across projects on this computer. Once Claude Code loads the skill, its description helps Claude decide when to use it.

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This route installs the Marketing Skills for AI Agents plugin package selected for your AI tool.

Add the marketplace, then install the plugin

Type both lines inside a Claude Code session, not at your shell prompt. They add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository, and the marketing-skills plugin, with all 50 skills.

/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugin install marketing-skills
```

Installation and loading

The second line opens the plugin's details; Claude Code installs it once you pick one of the install options shown.

Good to know

/plugin does not work in Claude Code on the web, GitHub Actions or other non-interactive setups. For those, Corey gives a shell form: claude plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills, then claude plugin install marketing-skills@marketingskills.

Add the marketplace, then pick the plugin in Codex

Run the first line in your terminal to add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository. Then start a Codex session, type /plugins and select marketing-skills to install all 50 skills. To get new releases later, run codex plugin marketplace upgrade.

codex plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugins
```

Open plugin page ↗

What's inside

Files included with this skill.

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ad-creative
When the user wants to generate, iterate, or scale ad creative — headlines, descriptions, primary text, or full ad variations — for any paid advertising platform. Also use when the user mentions 'ad copy variations,' 'ad creative,' 'generate headlines,' 'RSA headlines,' 'bulk ad copy,' 'ad iterations,' 'creative testing,' 'write me some ads,' 'Facebook ad copy,' 'Google ad headlines,' 'LinkedIn ad text,' 'static ads,' 'ad templates,' 'iMessage ad,' 'chat reveal ad,' 'ChatGPT ad,' 'Apple Notes ad,' 'AirDrop ad,' 'creative strategy,' 'creative roadmap,' 'creative retro,' 'hook writing,' 'creative review page,' 'present ad creative for approval,' 'motion video ad,' 'faceless video ad,' 'UGC ad,' 'greenscreen ad,' 'TikTok/Reels ad format,' 'which ad format to make,' 'Meta ad format tier list,' or 'creative format taxonomy.' Use this whenever someone needs to produce ad copy at scale or iterate on existing ads. For campaign strategy and targeting, see ads. For landing page copy, see copywriting.Read full description
ads
When the user wants help with paid advertising campaigns on Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or other ad platforms. Also use when the user mentions 'PPC,' 'paid media,' 'ROAS,' 'CPA,' 'ad campaign,' 'retargeting,' 'audience targeting,' 'Google Ads,' 'Facebook ads,' 'LinkedIn ads,' 'ad budget,' 'cost per click,' 'ad spend,' 'should I run ads,' 'ABM,' 'account-based marketing,' 'B2B ads,' 'lead quality,' 'negative keywords,' 'Performance Max,' 'thought leader ads,' or 'when should I kill an ad.' Use this for campaign strategy, audience targeting, bidding, and optimization. For bulk ad creative generation and iteration, see ad-creative. For landing page optimization, see cro.Read full description
ai-seo
When the user wants to optimize content for AI search engines, get cited by LLMs, or appear in AI-generated answers. Also use when the user mentions 'AI SEO,' 'AEO,' 'GEO,' 'LLMO,' 'answer engine optimization,' 'generative engine optimization,' 'LLM optimization,' 'AI Overviews,' 'optimize for ChatGPT,' 'optimize for Perplexity,' 'AI citations,' 'AI visibility,' 'zero-click search,' 'how do I show up in AI answers,' 'LLM mentions,' 'optimize for Claude/Gemini,' 'llms.txt,' 'llms-full.txt,' 'OKF,' 'Open Knowledge Format,' 'knowledge bundle,' 'agent-readable site,' 'agent readiness,' 'is my site agent-ready,' 'WebMCP,' 'do listicles still work for AI,' 'ChatGPT stopped citing comparison pages,' or 'AI citation format shift.' Use this whenever someone wants their content to be cited or surfaced by AI assistants and AI search engines. For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data implementation, see schema.Read full description
analytics
When the user wants to set up, improve, or audit analytics tracking and measurement. Also use when the user mentions "set up tracking," "GA4," "Google Analytics," "conversion tracking," "event tracking," "UTM parameters," "tag manager," "GTM," "analytics implementation," "tracking plan," "how do I measure this," "track conversions," "Mixpanel," "Segment," "are my events firing," or "analytics isn't working." Use this whenever someone asks how to know if something is working or wants to measure marketing results. For choosing attribution models, comparing multi-touch/MMM/incrementality, or reconciling conflicting numbers across tools, see attribution. For A/B test measurement, see ab-testing.Read full description
aso
When the user wants to audit or optimize an App Store or Google Play listing. Also use when the user mentions 'ASO audit,' 'app store optimization,' 'optimize my app listing,' 'improve app visibility,' 'app store ranking,' 'audit my listing,' 'why aren't people downloading my app,' 'improve my app conversion,' 'keyword optimization for app,' or 'compare my app to competitors.' Use when the user shares an App Store or Google Play URL and wants to improve it.Read full description

Email Sequence Design

Initial Assessment

Core Principles

1. One Email, One Job

2. Value Before Ask

3. Relevance Over Volume

4. Clear Path Forward

Email Sequence Strategy

Sequence Length

Timing/Delays

Subject Line Strategy

Preview Text

Sequence Types Overview

Welcome Sequence (Post-Signup)

Lead Nurture Sequence (Pre-Sale)

Re-Engagement Sequence

Onboarding Sequence (Product Users)

Email Types by Category

Onboarding Emails

Retention Emails

Billing Emails

Usage Emails

Win-Back Emails

Campaign Emails

Email Copy Guidelines

Structure

Formatting

Tone

Length

CTA Guidelines

Output Format

Sequence Overview

For Each Email

Metrics Plan

Task-Specific Questions

Tool Integrations

Related Skills

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MCP keyword matches