businesscommunication
Email Campaign Writing
Write email drip sequences including welcome series, re-engagement, nurture, and promotional campaigns with subject line testing variants and performance benchmarks.
emailcampaignsdrip-sequencessubject-linesnurture
Works well with agents
Works well with skills
$ npx skills add The-AI-Directory-Company/(…) --skill email-campaign-writingemail-campaign-writing/
SKILL.md
Markdown
| 1 | |
| 2 | # Email Campaign Writing |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ## Before you start |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Gather the following from the user: |
| 7 | |
| 8 | 1. **Campaign type?** (Welcome series, re-engagement, nurture, promotional, onboarding, abandoned cart) |
| 9 | 2. **Who is the audience?** (Segment definition — new signups, churned users, leads from specific channel) |
| 10 | 3. **What action should the recipient take?** (Activate account, book a demo, upgrade, read content) |
| 11 | 4. **How many emails in the sequence?** (Typical: welcome 3-5, nurture 5-8, re-engagement 3-4) |
| 12 | 5. **What is the sending cadence?** (Daily, every 2 days, weekly) |
| 13 | 6. **What data do you have for personalization?** (First name, company, plan type, last action) |
| 14 | |
| 15 | If the user says "we need to send more emails," push back: "More emails without segmentation and a clear action per email just increases unsubscribes. What specific behavior should this sequence drive?" |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ## Email sequence architecture |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Define the full sequence before writing any individual email. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | ``` |
| 22 | Sequence: [Name] |
| 23 | Goal: [Primary conversion action] |
| 24 | Audience: [Segment definition] |
| 25 | Emails: [Count] |
| 26 | Cadence: [Timing between emails] |
| 27 | Exit condition: [When to stop — e.g., user converts, unsubscribes] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | | # | Send Timing | Purpose | Subject Line (A) | CTA | |
| 30 | |----|---------------|-------------------|---------------------------|------------------| |
| 31 | | 1 | Immediately | Welcome + orient | Welcome to [Product] | Complete setup | |
| 32 | | 2 | Day 2 | Quick win | Try [feature] in 2 min | Start tutorial | |
| 33 | | 3 | Day 5 | Social proof | How [Customer] uses [X] | Read case study | |
| 34 | | 4 | Day 8 | Value reminder | You're missing [benefit] | Activate feature | |
| 35 | | 5 | Day 14 | Nudge to convert | Your trial ends in 3 days | Upgrade now | |
| 36 | ``` |
| 37 | |
| 38 | ## Single email template |
| 39 | |
| 40 | Every email follows this structure. Keep total length under 200 words for transactional, under 400 for nurture. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | ``` |
| 43 | FROM: [Sender name] <[email]> |
| 44 | SUBJECT: [Subject line — 6-10 words, under 50 chars] |
| 45 | PREVIEW TEXT: [First 90 chars visible in inbox — complements subject, never repeats it] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | --- |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [Opening line — 1 sentence, references the recipient's situation or last action] |
| 50 | |
| 51 | [Body — 2-3 short paragraphs. One idea per email. No walls of text.] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [CTA — single, clear button or link. One CTA per email, not three.] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [Sign-off — human name, not "The Team"] |
| 56 | ``` |
| 57 | |
| 58 | ## Subject line testing |
| 59 | |
| 60 | Write 3 variants per email. Test with at least 20% of the audience before full send. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | ``` |
| 63 | | Variant | Subject Line | Strategy | |
| 64 | |---------|--------------------------------|---------------------| |
| 65 | | A | Welcome to [Product] | Straightforward | |
| 66 | | B | Your [Product] account is ready | Action-oriented | |
| 67 | | C | [First name], let's get started | Personalized | |
| 68 | ``` |
| 69 | |
| 70 | Subject line rules: |
| 71 | - Under 50 characters (mobile truncation starts at 35-40) |
| 72 | - No ALL CAPS, no excessive punctuation (!!!), no spam trigger words ("free," "act now") |
| 73 | - Preview text must add information, not repeat the subject |
| 74 | |
| 75 | ## Sequence templates by type |
| 76 | |
| 77 | ### Welcome series (3-5 emails) |
| 78 | ``` |
| 79 | Email 1 (Day 0): Welcome + single setup action |
| 80 | Email 2 (Day 2): Quick win — show the fastest path to value |
| 81 | Email 3 (Day 5): Social proof — customer story or testimonial |
| 82 | Email 4 (Day 8): Feature highlight they haven't tried |
| 83 | Email 5 (Day 12): Summary of value + upgrade or next step CTA |
| 84 | ``` |
| 85 | |
| 86 | ### Re-engagement series (3-4 emails) |
| 87 | ``` |
| 88 | Email 1 (Day 0): "We noticed you've been away" + what's new |
| 89 | Email 2 (Day 4): Specific feature or content relevant to their past behavior |
| 90 | Email 3 (Day 10): Final value pitch + clear CTA |
| 91 | Email 4 (Day 20): Last chance — will reduce email frequency unless they re-engage |
| 92 | ``` |
| 93 | |
| 94 | ### Nurture series (5-8 emails) |
| 95 | ``` |
| 96 | Email 1: Educational content — solve a problem they have |
| 97 | Email 2: Framework or template — actionable resource |
| 98 | Email 3: Case study — someone like them succeeded |
| 99 | Email 4: Comparison — how your approach differs |
| 100 | Email 5: Objection handling — address common hesitations |
| 101 | Email 6-8: Rotate between education, proof, and soft CTA |
| 102 | ``` |
| 103 | |
| 104 | ## Performance benchmarks |
| 105 | |
| 106 | Set expectations before launching. Compare results against these industry medians. |
| 107 | |
| 108 | ``` |
| 109 | | Metric | Good | Average | Concerning | |
| 110 | |-----------------|------------|------------|------------| |
| 111 | | Open rate | >25% | 18-25% | <18% | |
| 112 | | Click rate | >3.5% | 2-3.5% | <2% | |
| 113 | | Unsubscribe | <0.3% | 0.3-0.5% | >0.5% | |
| 114 | | Bounce rate | <1% | 1-3% | >3% | |
| 115 | ``` |
| 116 | |
| 117 | ## Quality checklist |
| 118 | |
| 119 | Before sending any sequence, verify: |
| 120 | |
| 121 | - [ ] Each email has exactly one CTA — not two, not zero |
| 122 | - [ ] Subject lines are under 50 characters with distinct preview text |
| 123 | - [ ] The sequence has an exit condition (stop sending when the user converts) |
| 124 | - [ ] Personalization tokens have fallback values (e.g., "there" if first name is missing) |
| 125 | - [ ] Unsubscribe link is present and functional in every email |
| 126 | - [ ] Emails are tested on mobile — most opens happen on phones |
| 127 | - [ ] At least 2 subject line variants exist for the first email |
| 128 | |
| 129 | ## Common mistakes |
| 130 | |
| 131 | - **Multiple CTAs per email.** Every email should drive one action. "Read the blog, follow us on Twitter, and book a demo" means the reader does nothing. |
| 132 | - **No exit condition.** If someone already upgraded, stop sending the upgrade sequence. Map conversion events to sequence exits. |
| 133 | - **Preview text that repeats the subject.** "Welcome to Acme" as subject and "Welcome to Acme — we're glad you're here" as preview wastes the inbox real estate. Use preview text to add new information. |
| 134 | - **Sending to unsegmented lists.** A welcome email to someone who signed up yesterday is relevant. The same email to a 2-year customer is insulting. Segment first, write second. |
| 135 | - **Walls of text.** If an email takes more than 30 seconds to read, it's too long. One idea, short paragraphs, one CTA. |
| 136 |