/email-plan

name: email-plan
description: Generate comprehensive email marketing strategy with 90-day implementation roadmap. Analyzes business type (local-business, saas, ecommerce, creator, agency) to deliver industry-specific segmentation plans, automation sequences, content calendars, KPI targets, platform recommendations, and week-by-week rollout schedule. Use when building email program from scratch or restructuring existing strategy.
user-invocable: false
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Write
  - Grep
  - Glob

Email Plan -- Email Marketing Strategy Generator

Overview

This sub-skill generates a complete email marketing strategy tailored to your business type, including:

• Email platform recommendations
• Domain authentication checklist
• List building strategy
• Segmentation plan
• Automation sequence priorities
• Content calendar template
• KPI targets and benchmarks
• 90-day implementation roadmap

Usage

Invoked by `/email plan` from the main email skill.

Workflow

1. Detect Business Type

First, check if `email-profile.md` exists and contains business type. If not, analyze context signals:

**Business Type Detection:**

• **Local Business**: Physical location, appointments, service area, reviews, foot traffic
• **SaaS**: Software product, trials, subscriptions, feature usage, onboarding
• **E-commerce**: Product catalog, shopping cart, inventory, shipping, order fulfillment
• **Creator/Newsletter**: Content creation, audience building, paid subscriptions, courses
• **Agency**: Client services, proposals, case studies, retainers, project-based

If unclear, ask: "What type of business is this strategy for? (local-business, saas, ecommerce, creator, agency)"

2. Load Industry Template

Based on business type, load the appropriate template from:

• `assets/local-business.md`
• `assets/saas.md`
• `assets/ecommerce.md`
• `assets/creator.md`
• `assets/agency.md`
• `assets/generic.md` (fallback)

3. Generate Strategy

Create a comprehensive strategy document with these sections:

Strategy Sections

Executive Summary

2-3 sentence overview of the strategy, highlighting:

• Business type and primary email marketing goal
• Key strategic focus areas
• Expected timeline to see results

1. Email Program Foundation

**Platform Recommendation:**

Based on business size, budget, and needs:

| Business Size | Recommended Platform | Monthly Cost | Best For | |---------------|---------------------|--------------|----------| | Solo/startup (<1K subscribers) | Kit.com or MailerLite | $0-29 | Creators, solopreneurs | | Small (1-5 staff, 1K-10K) | Mailchimp or MailerLite | $13-45 | Local businesses, agencies | | Medium (5-50 staff, 10K-50K) | ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo | $49-150 | SaaS, ecommerce | | Large (50+ staff, 50K+) | HubSpot or Salesforce | $800+ | Enterprise SaaS, large ecommerce |

**Industry-Specific Platforms:**

• **E-commerce**: Klaviyo (product recommendations, revenue attribution)
• **SaaS**: Customer.io or Intercom (behavioral triggers, in-app messaging)
• **Creators**: Kit.com/ConvertKit or Beehiiv (monetization tools, referral programs)
• **Agencies**: HubSpot (CRM integration, sales pipeline)

**Domain Authentication Checklist:**

Before sending any emails, verify these DNS records are configured:

• [ ] **SPF Record**: Authorizes sending servers
• [ ] **DKIM Record**: Cryptographic email signature
• [ ] **DMARC Record**: Enforcement policy for SPF/DKIM failures
• [ ] **Custom Sending Domain**: Use mail.yourdomain.com instead of platform domain
• [ ] **Verification**: Run `/email audit <domain>` to confirm setup

**List Building Strategy:**

3-5 methods specific to business type (from industry template):

Example for local business: 1. QR code on receipts → signup landing page 2. Sign-up prompt at checkout (iPad/tablet) 3. WiFi login portal → email capture 4. Google Business Profile → newsletter CTA 5. In-store signage with incentive (10% off next visit)

Example for SaaS: 1. Free trial signup (automatic list add) 2. Content marketing lead magnets (guides, templates) 3. Webinar registrations 4. Product updates blog → email subscription 5. Referral program

**Consent and Compliance:**

• **US**: CAN-SPAM compliant (physical address, unsubscribe link)
• **EU/UK**: GDPR compliant (explicit opt-in, data processing agreement)
• **Canada**: CASL compliant (express consent, unsubscribe)
• **Australia**: Spam Act compliant (consent, identify, unsubscribe)

Load compliance requirements from `../../references/compliance.md` based on region.

2. Segmentation Plan

Define 3-5 core segments with:

• **Segment Name**
• **Criteria** (behavioral, demographic, engagement)
• **Estimated Size** (% of list)
• **Email Frequency** (emails per week/month)
• **Content Type** (educational, promotional, transactional)

**Example Segmentation Table:**

| Segment | Criteria | Est. Size | Frequency | Content Type | |---------|----------|-----------|-----------|--------------| | New Customers | First 30 days after signup | 15% | 3/week | Onboarding, educational | | Repeat Customers | 2+ purchases | 25% | 2/week | Loyalty, cross-sell | | VIP | Top 20% by spend | 20% | 2/week | Exclusive offers, early access | | At-risk | 60-90 days no activity | 20% | 1/week | Win-back, incentives | | Lapsed | 90+ days no activity | 20% | 1/month | Re-engagement, surveys |

Load industry-specific segments from template.

3. Automation Sequence Priorities

Rank automation sequences to build, based on business type and impact.

**Format:**

| Priority | Sequence Name | Trigger | # Emails | Purpose | |----------|---------------|---------|----------|---------| | 1 | Welcome Series | List signup | 3-5 | Introduce brand, set expectations | | 2 | [Industry-specific] | [Trigger] | [Count] | [Goal] | | 3 | [Industry-specific] | [Trigger] | [Count] | [Goal] |

**Industry-Specific Priorities:**

**Local Business:** 1. Welcome Series → introduce business, set expectations 2. Review Request → post-visit revi