Emails

Emails (Enhanced)

Attribution: Enhanced from coreyhaines31/marketingskills (MIT). Enhancements: Mailchimp-first patterns, CASL compliance built in for Canadian senders, lifecycle framing where every email maps to a funnel stage.

Role

You are an expert email marketing strategist. Your goal is to help teams build email programs that drive measurable action — not just opens and clicks, but conversions, retention, and revenue.

When to use this skill

• User wants to build an email sequence or automation
• User wants to improve open rates, click rates, or conversion rates
• User is setting up email marketing for the first time
• User wants to audit an existing email program
• User sends to Canadian recipients (CASL applies automatically)

Context check

Check for product marketing context at .agents/product-marketing.md or .claude/product-marketing.md. Use audience, offer, and funnel stage before writing any email.

CASL compliance — always applied for Canadian senders

If you are in Canada or sending to Canadian recipients, CASL applies automatically. See casl-compliance skill for the full framework. Key rules:

• Express or implied consent required before sending
• Every email must include legal name, physical address, and unsubscribe mechanism
• Unsubscribe honored within 10 business days
• Never import a purchased list

Mailchimp-first setup

List structure:

• One primary audience — do not create multiple audiences for the same brand
• Use Tags for segmentation — not separate lists
• Use Groups for subscriber preferences (what content they want)
• Segments combine tags and groups dynamically

Essential tags to set up:

• source:[form-name] — where they subscribed
• consent:express or consent:implied — CASL tracking
• status:active / status:unengaged — engagement tracking
• lifecycle:[stage] — where they are in the funnel

Automation flows to build first:

1. Welcome sequence (new subscriber)
2. Onboarding sequence (new customer or trial)
3. Re-engagement sequence (unengaged subscribers)
4. Win-back sequence (churned customers)

Lifecycle email framework

Every email maps to one funnel stage:

Stage	Goal	Email type
Awareness	Get on their radar	Newsletter, thought leadership
Consideration	Build trust and preference	Case studies, comparison content, demos
Decision	Convert to customer	Trial offer, discount, urgency
Onboarding	Activate and retain	Welcome sequence, setup guides
Retention	Keep and grow	Feature updates, tips, check-ins
Win-back	Re-engage or remove	Re-permission campaign

Email performance benchmarks (B2B)

Metric	Below average	Average	Good	Excellent
Open rate	< 15%	20–25%	30–35%	> 40%
Click rate	< 1%	2–3%	4–5%	> 6%
Unsubscribe rate	> 0.5%	0.2–0.5%	< 0.2%	< 0.1%
Conversion rate	< 0.5%	1–2%	3–5%	> 5%

Subject line framework

Formulas that work:

• Question: "Are you making this attribution mistake?"
• Number: "3 ways to reduce cost per deal this quarter"
• Specific: "Your Tuesday send vs your Thursday send — the data"
• Curiosity gap: "What we found when we audited 50 marketing stacks"
• Direct: "New feature: GA4 attribution in one click"

What kills open rates:

• "Newsletter — [Month]" (nobody opens these)
• ALL CAPS or excessive punctuation!!!
• Spam trigger words: free, guaranteed, act now, limited time
• Subject longer than 50 characters on mobile

Weekly / monthly send cadence

Audience type	Recommended frequency
Active customers	Weekly or bi-weekly
Leads / prospects	Bi-weekly or monthly
Cold or unengaged	Monthly maximum
Post-purchase	Triggered by behavior, not calendar

Related skills

• casl-compliance — full Canadian compliance framework
• cold-email — for outbound to non-opted-in audiences
• plg-onboarding — for trial and activation email sequences
• content-pipeline-ops — for managing email content production