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Skill · Email sequences

Email sequences.

Sequences are triggered flows; broadcasts are one-off sends.

Plan and write email campaigns, from multi-message sequences triggered by events to one-off broadcasts. Most programs run a handful of standard patterns, each with its own goals and pitfalls: welcome and onboarding, lifecycle and activation, retention, re-engagement and win-back, transactional, and broadcast.

Every email, whatever its type, shares five components: subject line, preview text, opening, body, and CTA. The skill targets behavior over time, one message per email, and one primary CTA.

Audience: marketers and lifecycle owners writing onboarding drips, lifecycle campaigns, newsletters, transactional copy, and launch broadcasts.

View the skill on GitHubBrowse the full catalog

The framework

Six sequence types, each with its own goal.

Most email programs run these patterns. Each has a distinct goal, structure, and common failure.

  1. 01Welcome and onboarding: triggered by signup, aimed at first value. A typical 5-email arc over 14 days; the failure is front-loading product features before the user reaches value.
  2. 02Lifecycle and activation: time- or behavior-triggered, moving users from signup to engaged. Trigger on behavior rather than on time alone.
  3. 03Retention and engagement: ongoing newsletters, product updates, and tips. Cadence that earns the read, not cadence that fills the calendar.
  4. 04Re-engagement and win-back: triggered by inactivity, a 3-email arc ending in a list-cleaning email. Honor the unsubscribe; aggressive win-back damages deliverability.
  5. 05Transactional: receipts, resets, confirmations. The highest open rates of any type; use sparingly for marketing nudges or trust erodes.
  6. 06Broadcast: one-off announcements and launches. Single clear message, specific audience, CTA in the first screen-height, mobile-optimized.

The five components

Five components in every email.

Regardless of sequence type, every email is built from the same five parts, each with its own job.

  1. 01

    Subject line

    The deciding factor for the open. Specific, curious, direct, or personal; 30 to 50 characters before mobile truncates.

  2. 02

    Preview text

    The subject's wingman at 50 to 90 characters. Add what the subject could not fit; do not waste it on 'view in browser'.

  3. 03

    Opening

    The first body line, where the reader decides to continue. Reference the trigger or get to the point; skip the throat-clearing.

  4. 04

    Body

    One core message per email, short paragraphs, lists where content is enumerable, length matched to type, formatted mobile-first.

  5. 05

    CTA

    One primary action, an action verb plus a specific outcome, above the fold and repeated at the end of longer emails.

Reference files

Two references that go alongside the SKILL.md.

  • references/subject-line-patterns.md

    Subject line patterns with examples for each sequence type.

  • references/sequence-templates.md

    Skeleton templates for the six sequence types, ready to adapt.

Browse all reference files on GitHub

Bridges to other skills

What the inbox depends on.

Email is one channel with its own structure. These cover the neighboring formats, the voice, the measurement, and the deliverability floor.

  • Long-form writing

    content-and-copy

    Articles and web copy are its territory. Reach for email-sequences when the writing lands in an inbox rather than on a page.

  • Where the click lands

    landing-page-copy

    The CTA often points at a landing page. That skill writes the page; this one writes the email that drives the click.

  • The voice

    brand-voice

    Defines how the brand sounds, which the emails then carry. Define it there first if it is not already set.

  • Measurement setup

    analytics-strategy

    Setting up the tracking behind email (opens, clicks, downstream conversion) is an analytics-strategy job, not a copy one.

  • Reaching the inbox

    email-deliverability

    Sender reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and list hygiene decide whether any of this arrives. Great copy in the spam folder converts nobody.

Open source under MIT

Read the SKILL.md on GitHub.

The skill source lives in the rampstackco/claude-skills repository alongside dozens of other skills covering the full lifecycle of brand and product work. This page is a structured overview; the SKILL.md is the source. MIT licensed.

View SKILL.mdBrowse the full catalog

Frequently asked questions.

What sequence types does this cover?
Six. Welcome and onboarding (triggered by signup, aimed at first value), lifecycle and activation (moving users from signup to engaged), retention and engagement (newsletters, updates, tips), re-engagement and win-back (pulling lapsed users back), transactional (receipts, resets, confirmations), and broadcast (one-off announcements and launches). Each has its own goal, structure, and common pitfall.
How long should a welcome sequence be?
A typical arc is five emails over 14 days: an immediate welcome that confirms they are in and names the next action, a first-value step on day 1 or 2, education on day 4 or 5, social proof relevant to their segment on day 8, and an outcome reminder with a soft commercial cue on day 14. The common failure is front-loading product features. Users do not care about features yet; they care about getting to value, so the early emails help them reach a quick win.
How long should the subject line be?
30 to 50 characters, because mobile clients truncate anything longer. Make it specific, curious, direct, or personal, and use urgency sparingly. Avoid all caps, excessive punctuation, clickbait that does not deliver (it crashes the trust the program is building), and generic subjects like 'Newsletter #23'. Treat the preview text as the subject's wingman at 50 to 90 characters, adding what the subject could not fit rather than wasting it on 'view this email in browser'.
How many CTAs should an email have?
One primary CTA. Multiple CTAs split attention. Make it an action verb plus a specific outcome ('See your dashboard' rather than 'Click here'), style it as a button or a clear link rather than burying it in prose, place it above the fold, and repeat it at the end of longer emails with a plain-text link as a fallback for users who block buttons.
Should sequences trigger on time or behavior?
On behavior wherever possible. A user who has already completed three onboarding steps does not need a day-3 email telling them to get started, and sending it wastes the touch. Trigger on milestones (first project, first invite, first export) or on the absence of a milestone after N days, with each email targeting a specific next step. Time-only sequences read as out of sync with what the recipient has actually done.
Why does deliverability matter even with great copy?
Because sender reputation, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and list hygiene decide whether the email reaches the inbox at all. Skip them and emails go to spam regardless of how good the content is. Aggressive win-back to dormant users damages deliverability, so a clean list of engaged subscribers beats a large list of inactive ones, and a win-back sequence should end by letting unengaged subscribers go. The email-deliverability skill covers the sender-reputation side in depth.