Email Nurture

Create email nurture sequences that move prospects from content engagement to demo request, and from demo to closed deal. Focused on marketing automation sequences — not transactional or onboarding emails.

For full process, sequence templates, and email writing formulas → the premium reference.

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Doctrine inherited (Step 7 — 0626 rollout)

Output complies with:

• output-tenets.md — the seven tenets
• output-simplicity.md — length caps, three-layer source placement, robot-tells ban
• marketing-psychology.md — 8 anchored heuristics (Rule of 7, loss aversion, JTBD)
• Step 6 calibration: see [[feedback_execution_doctrine_refinements_step6]]

Refinements applied to this skill:

Code	Refinement	How it lands in email-nurture
R1	Source placement (three layers)	Emails are end-customer-facing. No sources block in body. Internal QA cites live in working draft only; stripped before scheduling.
R3	Product-update tone	Any product/feature mention in nurture frames as "[Product] now does X" not "we're thrilled to announce." Even feature-launch nurture sequences.
R5	Blog as voice anchor	For content-follow-up sequences with an anchor blog/whitepaper, the email opener mirrors the blog's opening line verbatim. Channel-voice drift is the biggest tell of multi-author sequences.
R6	CTA hierarchy	Nurture targets prospects already in pipeline (warm-base). Product-action CTA primary (book a demo, start trial, open feature). Blog as fallback for not-ready-yet prospects. Never sign-up as primary (they're already signed up).
R9	Action-oriented section names	"How to upgrade" beats "Upgrade options." "Why [Product]" beats "About us." Verb-led across every email's subject + sections.

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Claude Code Triggers

Invoke this skill when user says:

• "Email nurture sequence"
• "Post-download emails"
• "Demo follow-up emails"
• "Lead nurture sequence"
• "Content follow-up emails"
• "MQL nurture"
• "Email drip campaign"
• "Nurture sequence for [content]"
• "Follow-up sequence"
• "Re-engagement emails"

Do NOT invoke when:

• User wants onboarding emails → Use lifecycle-marketing skill
• User wants transactional emails → Different format
• User wants cold outreach → Use outreach-emails skill
• User wants one-off email → Write directly

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Input Requirements

Required

Input	Description	Source
Trigger event	What action starts the sequence	User specifies
Sequence goal	Desired outcome (demo, trial, meeting)	User specifies
Audience context	Who these people are	User or ICP research

Optional (improve quality)

Input	How it helps
Product messaging	Ensures alignment with positioning
Content asset	Specific asset they downloaded
Demo notes	Context from their demo
Persona details	Role, pain points, objections
Previous sequence performance	What's worked before
Send tool	Platform-specific constraints

If trigger event, goal, or email count are missing, ask before generating.

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Core decisions

Sequence cadence selector

Trigger	Default emails	Spacing	Why
Post-content download	5	Day 0, 2, 5, 8, 14	Strike while interested
Post-demo	5	Day 0, 2, 4, 7, 14	Maintain demo momentum
Re-engagement	4	Day 0, 7, 21, 45	Longer gaps, fresh angles

Value escalation ladder

Email	Commitment level	Subject pattern type
1	Low	Reference trigger directly
2	Low-medium	Curiosity gap
3	Medium	Social proof
4	Medium-high	Direct ask
5	High	Final value + urgency or break-up

Constraints

• Subject lines: under 50 characters
• One CTA per email (no exceptions)
• Personalization tokens require fallbacks ({{first_name|there}})

For full sequence templates, subject patterns, and copy frameworks → the premium reference.

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Anti-Hallucination Guardrails

1. No invented case studies. Only reference real customers if provided.
2. No false urgency. Don't claim deadlines that don't exist.
3. Mark placeholders. Use [COMPANY NAME] for unconfirmed references.
4. Realistic metrics. Don't promise specific outcomes unless verified.
5. Platform-aware. Note if formatting needs adjustment for specific ESP (HubSpot, Marketo, Customer.io).

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MCP Data Integration

Level: 2 — PM Execution (inherits upstream, no unique pulls)

Inherits from: product-messaging, lifecycle-marketing

Pulls fresh: NONE — messaging library provides all needed copy inputs.

Fallback (no MCP):

• Use product-messaging output directly
• If product-messaging hasn't run, trigger it first

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Integration with Other Skills

Skill	Relationship	Usage
outreach-emails	Related	Cold outreach vs. nurture
lifecycle-marketing	Related	Onboarding vs. pre-sale nurture
case-study	Provides input	Case studies for social proof emails
product-messaging	Provides input	Messaging for email copy

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Final ship gate

Run /premortem --output before ship. See /premortem skill for the 5 execution domains (will-it-resonate / will-it-convert / will-it-stay-on-brand / will-stakeholder-push-back / will-it-degrade-over-time) and output template.

Trivial-case escape: ## Premortem\nNo failure modes — trivial change satisfies the contract for genuinely trivial outputs.

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Persuasion & stickiness pass

Output complies with persuasion-and-stickiness.md — Cialdini's 7 persuasion levers + Heath's SUCCESs. Deploy the 1-2 Cialdini levers that fit the reader's barrier (never all seven; every lever must be TRUE), run the SUCCESs diagnostic (Simple / Unexpected / Concrete / Credible / Emotional / Stories) over the near-final draft, then the rule's pre-ship gate.

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