market-emails

Market Emails — Sequence Writer

Produce full, send-ready email sequences. Every email has a purpose, every sequence has a goal, every send has a metric target.

Sequence Types

Type	Goal	Length	Cadence
Welcome	Activate new signups	5–7 emails	Day 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, (10, 14)
Nurture	Convert warm leads to buyers	6–8 emails	Every 2–3 days
Launch	Drive sales for a new product	5–7 emails	14 days: tease → reveal → proof → urgency → cart close
Cold outreach	Start B2B conversations	4–6 touches	Day 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, 30
Cart abandon	Recover lost revenue	3 emails	1h, 24h, 72h
Re-engagement	Wake inactive subscribers	3–4 emails	Every 3–4 days
Onboarding	Drive product activation	5–6 emails	Triggered on signup + milestones

Benchmarks (2024+)

Metric	B2B	B2C	E-com
Open rate	25–35%	20–30%	18–25%
Click rate	2–5%	2–4%	2–5%
Reply rate (cold)	3–10%	—	—
Unsubscribe	<0.5%	<0.5%	<0.5%
Cart recovery	—	—	10–25%

Subject line failure = open rate < benchmark. CTA failure = click rate < benchmark. Offer failure = conversion below expected.

Subject Line Formulas

Formula	Pattern	Example
Curiosity	Tease without revealing	"The reporting mistake we all made"
Specificity	Number + outcome	"How Jamie cut reports from 8h to 20min"
Personal	First name + context	"{{first_name}}, a quick question"
Contrarian	Challenge common belief	"Stop A/B testing your headlines"
Question	Prompt self-reflection	"Is your funnel actually a funnel?"
Urgency	Real deadline	"Last day for the 2025 rate"
Social proof	Show outcome	"5,000 teams use this now"
Fear of missing out	What others know	"What growth teams are doing in Q2"
Pattern interrupt	Unexpected framing	"Ignore this if you're already ranking"
Plain text-style	No marketing gloss	"quick question about acme"

Always ship 3 subject line variants per email so the client can A/B test.

Pre-flight

1. Load BRAND-VOICE.md if present; match tone.
2. Confirm the goal, audience, and product/offer.
3. Confirm cadence and sending platform (affects formatting — Mailchimp vs SendGrid vs HubSpot all render differently).
4. Ask for a "from" name and reply-to — it matters more than people think.

Email Anatomy

Every email includes:

• From name (real human preferred over "Acme Team")
• Subject line (3 variants)
• Preview text (40–90 chars, complements subject)
• Body (plain-text-friendly when possible)
• Primary CTA (1 per email; secondary only in nurture/launch)
• PS (often the second most-read line in the email)

Body structures

Position	Function
Opening line	Hook — curiosity, relevance, story start. Never "Hi {{name}}, I hope this email finds you well."
Setup	Context — why this matters to them, what they'll get
Payoff	The actual value — insight, offer, story, proof
CTA	Clear next step, value-driven, linked once or twice max
Signature	Real name, human
PS	Restate value, add urgency, or surface a secondary offer

Compliance (do not skip)

• CAN-SPAM (US): physical address, unsubscribe link, truthful headers, honor unsubs in 10 days
• GDPR (EU): explicit consent, unsubscribe, data purpose disclosed
• CASL (Canada): express consent for cold outreach; implied consent only in narrow cases
• Cold outreach specifically: include why you're reaching out, who you are, and an easy opt-out

Every sequence output must include a compliance note stating which regions it's cleared for.

Output Format

## [Sequence Type] Email Sequence — [Brand]

**Goal:** [activation / conversion / recovery / etc]
**Audience:** [describe]
**Cadence:** [days between sends]
**Expected metrics:** [open / click / convert targets]
**Compliance:** [CAN-SPAM / GDPR / CASL cleared]

---

### Email 1: [Purpose] — Send: [Day X]
**From:** [Name]
**Subject A:** "[subject]"
**Subject B:** "[subject]"
**Subject C:** "[subject]"
**Preview:** "[40–90 char preview text]"

[Full body]

[Sign-off]
[Name]

PS: [PS line]

**Why this email:** [1-sentence rationale]

---

### Email 2: ...

Cold Outreach (special case)

Cold emails need extra care. Use this structure for every touch:

• Touch 1 (Day 0): Personal observation + specific problem + light CTA ("worth a quick chat?")
• Touch 2 (Day 3): Value drop — share an insight or resource, no ask
• Touch 3 (Day 7): Social proof — similar company outcome
• Touch 4 (Day 14): Direct ask with clear offer
• Touch 5 (Day 21): Breakup — "should I close the loop?"
• Touch 6 (Day 30, optional): New hook, different angle

Never send a 500-word first email. Cold outreach above 120 words dies.

Quality Bar

• Read every email aloud. If it sounds like a template, rewrite.
• Personalization tokens are not personalization. A real observation is.
• Never promise a discount you can't deliver. Never fake scarcity.
• If the user can't point to a real outcome or proof, the sequence will fail no matter how good the copy is — say so.