# email-sequence

> A Claude Code skill that designs lifecycle email sequences — welcome, onboarding, nurture, re-engagement, win-back — with trigger logic, cadence, and per-email job-to-be-done.

**Use case**: Design lifecycle email sequences that work

**Canonical URL**: https://agentcookbooks.com/skills/email-sequence/

**Topics**: claude-code, skills, marketing, email

**Trigger phrases**: "email sequence", "drip campaign", "welcome series", "nurture sequence", "lifecycle emails"

**Source**: [Corey Haines](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/email-sequence)

**License**: MIT

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## What it does

`email-sequence` is a Claude Code skill from Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). It turns Claude into a lifecycle email designer who picks the right sequence shape for the job — welcome, onboarding, nurture, re-engagement, post-purchase, win-back — and writes each email with a single conversion job. The skill activates when you mention "email sequence", "drip campaign", "welcome series", or "lifecycle emails".

The output of a session is a complete sequence: trigger definition, branching logic, send cadence, subject lines per email, body copy with one CTA each, and the success metric you'll judge each email against.

## When to use it

Reach for it when:

- You're setting up a new sequence in Customer.io, Loops, ActiveCampaign or similar and need a real plan
- Your existing welcome series is "thanks for signing up" and nothing else
- You need a re-engagement sequence for cold subscribers before you cull them

When *not* to reach for it:

- You need cold outbound — that's `cold-email`, very different rules
- You're sending one-off campaign emails, not an automated sequence

## Install

The skill is distributed via Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). Install via the repo's recommended path — copy the [`email-sequence` SKILL.md](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/email-sequence) into your project's `.claude/skills/email-sequence/` directory, or use the repo's plugin install if you've set it up.

Once installed, the skill activates on the trigger phrases above. The first time it runs, it will check for `.agents/product-marketing-context.md` (or `.claude/product-marketing-context.md`) — populating that file with your product context first dramatically improves output quality across all of Haines's marketing skills.

## What a session looks like

A typical session has three phases:

1. **Sequence shape + trigger.** What event starts the sequence (signup, trial start, plan-limit-hit, 30-day-inactive)? What does success look like — activation, conversion, reactivation?
2. **Per-email design.** Each email gets a single job. Email 1 might confirm value, Email 2 surface a feature, Email 3 deliver a case study, Email 4 ask for action. No "just checking in" sends.
3. **Cadence + branches.** When sends fire, what happens on click vs. no-click, when to exit the sequence, when to escalate to sales or support.

The discipline that makes it work: one job per email. Sequences fail when every email tries to do five things; they win when each send has a single clean ask.

## Receipts

Honest reporting on what `email-sequence` produces and where it has limits:

**Where it works well:**
- The one-job-per-email constraint is genuinely the difference between a sequence that works and one that ships
- Branching logic at the design stage prevents the "everyone gets every email" pattern that kills relevance
- Re-engagement sequences are well-handled — most teams underuse them

**Where it backfires:**
- ESP-specific quirks (Customer.io segments, Loops audiences) need translation; the skill writes platform-neutral
- Without real trigger data the cadence is best-guess; tune after first run

**Pattern that works:** ship the welcome and onboarding sequences first. They have the clearest trigger and the highest conversion leverage; nurture and win-back are easier to design once you have onboarding data.

## Source and attribution

Originally written by [Corey Haines](https://corey.co). The canonical SKILL.md and any supporting files live in the [`email-sequence` folder](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/email-sequence) of his [marketing-skills repository](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills).

License: MIT. You can install, adapt, and redistribute the skill, with attribution preserved.

This page documents the skill from a practitioner's perspective. For the formal spec and any updates, defer to the source repo.