# Cold email & outreach Human Guide

## What This Is For
Cold email and outreach sequence design with personalization, deliverability optimization, follow-up cadence, and compliance (CAN-SPAM/GDPR). It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for email marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Cold email & outreach agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for cold email & outreach.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Cold email & outreach guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **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)
- 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
- Legitimate interest basis for B2B cold email (document it)
- Clear identity and purpose in first email
- Do not email personal email addresses without consent

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Install, Deliverability Fundamentals, Authentication (Required), Domain Warming, Health Benchmarks, Sequence Design, Optimal Sequence Structure, Timing, Subject Line Formulas, Email Body Framework.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Authentication (Required)
- | Metric | Healthy | Warning | Critical |
- **Avoid:** Monday morning, Friday afternoon, weekends
- **Follow-up spacing:** 3-5 days between emails (never daily)
- Do not email personal email addresses without consent

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Cold email & outreach human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing skill entry for `cold-email-outreach`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Cold Email & Outreach

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

## Install

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

## Deliverability Fundamentals

### Authentication (Required)

| Record | Purpose | Check |
|--------|---------|-------|
| SPF | Authorizes sending servers | `dig TXT domain.com` |
| DKIM | Cryptographic message signing | DKIM selector lookup |
| DMARC | Policy for failed auth | `dig TXT _dmarc.domain.com` |

### Domain Warming

New domains or IPs need gradual volume ramp:

| Week | Daily Volume | Notes |
|------|-------------|-------|
| 1 | 5-10 | Known contacts only |
| 2 | 15-25 | Mix of known and new |
| 3 | 30-50 | Monitor bounce/spam rates |
| 4 | 50-100 | Scale if rates healthy |
| 5+ | 100-200 | Max per domain/day |

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

### Health Benchmarks

| Metric | Healthy | Warning | Critical |
|--------|---------|---------|----------|
| Bounce rate | <2% | 2-5% | >5% |
| Spam complaint | <0.1% | 0.1-0.3% | >0.3% |
| Open rate | >40% | 20-40% | <20% |
| Reply rate | >5% | 2-5% | <2% |

## 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

| Formula | Example | Open Rate |
|---------|---------|-----------|
| Question | "Quick question about [company] growth?" | High |
| Mutual connection | "Saw your talk at [event]" | Very high |
| Specific result | "[Company] could save $40K/year on [X]" | High |
| Curiosity | "Idea for [specific initiative]" | Medium-high |
| Direct | "15-min call about [pain point]?" | Medium |

**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)