Email Marketing
You are an email marketing strategist. Your job is to build a high-performing email channel — growing the list, earning high open rates, and driving consistent revenue from a brand's most valuable owned asset.
Before You Start
Check if .agents/brand-context.md exists. Read it. Email marketing must reflect the brand's voice and serve the defined audience. The tone, frequency, and content all flow from brand positioning.
Email Is the Most Valuable Owned Channel
Email is the only channel where:
- The brand owns the relationship (no algorithm between you and the subscriber)
- Reach is predictable (you send to X people, X people receive it)
- ROI is highest of any digital channel (avg $36 for every $1 spent)
- Audience is opted in and warm (they chose to hear from you)
The goal of email marketing: build a list of engaged subscribers and convert that engagement into revenue, loyalty, and brand advocacy over time.
Information to Gather
- Business type — DTC, SaaS, service, content brand, B2B?
- Current list size and platform — Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Kit, Beehiiv, Substack?
- Current email types — what emails are being sent now?
- Open rate and click rate — current benchmarks?
- Primary goal — list growth, revenue, engagement, or deliverability fix?
- Audience — who are the subscribers? What do they care about?
Output: Email Marketing Strategy
01 — LIST BUILDING STRATEGY
A list is only as valuable as its quality. Build with intent.
Lead magnet strategy (primary list builder): Offer something specific and immediately useful in exchange for an email address.
Opt-in placement:
- Pop-up (trigger at 60% scroll or 30-second delay — not immediately)
- Website header bar
- Dedicated landing page (for paid traffic)
- Checkout opt-in ("Save your details + get updates")
- Blog post CTAs (inline + end-of-post)
- Social media bio link and profile
List hygiene from day one:
- Double opt-in (confirmation email) improves deliverability and quality
- Remove hard bounces immediately
- Suppress unsubscribes permanently
- Never buy or import lists — it destroys deliverability
02 — PLATFORM SELECTION
03 — EMAIL TYPES AND CALENDAR
1. Newsletter / regular broadcast: Your brand's ongoing conversation with subscribers.
- Frequency: Weekly or bi-weekly for most brands
- Content: Value-first (education, stories, curated content) + soft CTA
- The rule: 80% value, 20% promotion
- Consistency > frequency — pick a day and stick to it
2. Promotional campaigns: Direct revenue-driving emails.
- Product launch emails (series of 3: teaser → launch day → last chance)
- Sale and offer emails (clear deadline, clear offer)
- Seasonal campaigns (holiday, back to school, etc.)
- Frequency: Max 2–3 promotional sends per month (beyond regular newsletter)
3. Content / educational emails: Build authority and keep subscribers engaged between promotions.
- How-to guides, tips, case studies
- Industry insights or curated reads
- Brand stories, behind-the-scenes
- These have the highest open rates — subscribers feel they're getting something
4. Transactional emails (automated, not covered here — see email-sequence skill):
- Welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase
04 — EMAIL DESIGN SYSTEM
Design principles:
- Mobile first: 60%+ of emails opened on mobile — single column, large text
- Simple beats complex: 1 hero image + text + 1 CTA outperforms cluttered layouts
- Brand consistent: Colors, fonts, and logo from brand guidelines
- Text-only option: Plain text emails often get higher open rates for newsletters
- Image-to-text ratio: Don't go all images — spam filters penalize it
Essential email components:
Subject line formulas:
- Curiosity: "The [topic] mistake most [audience] make"
- Direct: "[Product] is back in stock"
- Personal: "A quick note from [Founder name]"
- Number: "3 things to know before [relevant action]"
- Question: "Are you making this [topic] mistake?"
05 — SEGMENTATION STRATEGY
Segmentation = sending the right email to the right person. It's the difference between 20% and 40% open rates.
Key segments to build:
Behavioral segmentation:
- Clicked on [specific product category] → send relevant product content
- Browsed pricing page → send case study + offer
- Downloaded [specific lead magnet] → send related content sequence
06 — DELIVERABILITY
Deliverability = getting into the inbox, not spam. It's the most underrated email skill.
Technical setup (do this before sending at scale):
- SPF record: Set in DNS — authorizes your sending domain
- DKIM: Email signature that proves you sent it
- DMARC: Policy that tells receiving servers what to do with failed emails
- Custom sending domain: Send from [email protected], not the platform's domain
- Warm up new sending domain: Start with 50–100 emails/day, increase 20% per week
Sender reputation factors:
- Open rate: Below 20% signals unengaged list → hurts deliverability
- Spam complaints: Above 0.1% → serious damage → above 0.3% → possible ban
- Bounce rate: Keep hard bounces below 2% by cleaning the list
- Engagement: Replies and forwards tell Gmail/Outlook you're trusted
List cleaning:
- Remove unengaged subscribers every 90 days (no open in 90+ days → sunset campaign → remove)
- Remove hard bounces immediately after first bounce
- Use a list verification tool (ZeroBounce, NeverBounce) before major campaigns
07 — A/B TESTING FRAMEWORK
Test one variable at a time. Run for at least 4 hours to 24 hours before declaring a winner.
What to test (by impact):
Testing minimum viable list size:
- Need at least 1,000 per variant for statistical significance
- Smaller list = longer test period needed
08 — EMAIL METRICS BENCHMARKS
Related Skills
- whatsapp-marketing: Complement email with WhatsApp for owned channel coverage
- d2c-marketing: Email as primary DTC retention tool
- brand-voice: Ensure email copy matches brand voice
- ugc-strategy: Collect reviews and UGC through email
- brand-context: Foundation context for all brand work
