Cold Email & Outreach

Design, optimize, and scale cold email outreach with high deliverability and compliance.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/cold-email-outreach ~/.claude/skills/

Deliverability Fundamentals

Authentication (Required)

Domain Warming

New domains or IPs need gradual volume ramp:

Dedicated sending domain: Use a subdomain (outreach.company.com) to protect your primary domain reputation.

Health Benchmarks

Sequence Design

Optimal Sequence Structure

Email 1 (Day 0)  — Value-first introduction
Email 2 (Day 3)  — Follow-up with new angle
Email 3 (Day 7)  — Social proof / case study
Email 4 (Day 14) — Breakup email (last attempt)

Timing

• Best send days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
• Best send times: 8-10am recipient timezone
• Avoid: Monday morning, Friday afternoon, weekends
• Follow-up spacing: 3-5 days between emails (never daily)

Subject Line Formulas

Rules: Under 50 characters. No ALL CAPS. No spam triggers (free, guarantee, act now). Personalized > generic.

Email Body Framework

Line 1: Personalized opener (research-based, NOT "I hope this finds you well")
Line 2-3: Pain point or observation specific to them
Line 4-5: How you solve it (one sentence, with social proof)
Line 6: Low-friction CTA (question, not demand)

Length: 50-125 words. 3-5 sentences max. Mobile-readable.

Personalization Tiers

Compliance

CAN-SPAM (US)

• Clear sender identity (real name and company)
• Accurate subject line (not misleading)
• Physical mailing address in footer
• Unsubscribe mechanism (honor within 10 days)
• Mark as advertisement if applicable

GDPR (EU/UK)

• Legitimate interest basis for B2B cold email (document it)
• Clear identity and purpose in first email
• Easy opt-out mechanism
• Do not email personal email addresses without consent
• Data retention policy for prospect data

Best Practices

• Always include unsubscribe link
• Respect opt-outs immediately (automated)
• Never buy email lists
• Verify emails before sending (reduce bounces)
• Keep records of consent and opt-outs

Anti-Patterns

1. Mass blasting — sending same email to 1000+ at once kills deliverability
2. No personalization — "Dear Sir/Madam" or obviously templated
3. Feature dumping — listing product features instead of addressing pain
4. Aggressive follow-ups — daily follow-ups = spam reports
5. No unsubscribe — illegal under CAN-SPAM and GDPR
6. Misleading subjects — "Re:" or "Fwd:" on first contact
7. Too many links/images — triggers spam filters
8. No domain warming — sending 500 emails day 1 from new domain

Integration with Other Skills

• copywriting-frameworks — Apply PAS, BAB, QUEST to cold email copy
• icp-research — Define ideal customer profile before building prospect lists
• email-composer — General email writing (cold-email-outreach is specifically for outbound sequences)
• klaviyo-analyst — For marketing automation email (different from cold outreach)

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Supporting file: EXAMPLES.md

Cold Email & Outreach — Examples

Example 1: Design Outreach Sequence

Prompt

Design a 4-email cold outreach sequence for our CRO agency targeting VP Marketing at e-commerce companies doing $5M-50M revenue. Goal: book a 15-minute audit call.

What the skill does

1. Defines ICP targeting criteria and personalization tier (templated with company-specific hooks)
2. Writes 4-email sequence: value-first intro (Day 0), case study follow-up (Day 3), social proof (Day 7), breakup (Day 14)
3. Generates 3 subject line variants per email
4. Includes compliance footer and unsubscribe link
5. Sets send timing: Tuesday/Wednesday 9am recipient timezone

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Example 2: Diagnose Low Performance

Prompt

Our cold outreach has 12% open rate and 0.5% reply rate. What is wrong?

What the skill does

1. Diagnoses open rate issue: checks subject lines, sender reputation, send timing, list quality
2. Diagnoses reply rate: reviews email length (finds 280 words — too long), CTA (finds "schedule a demo" — too high friction), personalization (finds zero personalization)
3. Prescribes fixes: shorten to 75 words, add one personalized line, change CTA to low-friction question, verify email list, check SPF/DKIM/DMARC

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Example 3: Compliance Review

Prompt

Review our outreach campaign for GDPR and CAN-SPAM compliance before we launch in the US and UK.

What the skill does

1. Checks CAN-SPAM: sender identity present, subject lines accurate, physical address in footer, unsubscribe mechanism working
2. Checks GDPR: legitimate interest documented, clear sender identity, opt-out mechanism, no personal email addresses, data retention policy
3. Flags 2 issues: missing physical address, no documented legitimate interest basis for UK prospects
4. Provides remediation steps for each issue

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Supporting file: REFERENCE.md

Cold Email Outreach Reference

Reference data, benchmarks, and platform-specific details for the Cold Email Outreach skill.