/suede-emails

name: suede-emails
description: "Suede AI lifecycle email design for welcome, onboarding, nurture, re-engagement, post-purchase, and trigger-based sequences, with entry criteria, cadence, message roles, exact copy, deliverability checks against current Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft sender rules, and a measurement plan. Use when the user needs a multi-email flow: drip campaigns, welcome series, win-back flows, or trigger-based automations. NOT FOR: cold prospecting (use suede-cold-email), SMS in the same lifecycle program (use suede-sms), in-product activation flows (use suede-onboarding), or lifecycle-stage operations beyond email (use suede-revops)."
metadata:
  version: 2.1.0

Suede AI Lifecycle Email Systems

Design lifecycle email as a consent-aware system of triggers, message roles, pacing, and measurable next actions. Create sequences that move a known audience toward value without inventing intent, exhausting the list, or confusing lifecycle messaging with cold outreach.

Initial Assessment

**Check for product marketing context first:** If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before creating a sequence, understand:

1. **Sequence Type**

• Welcome/onboarding sequence
• Lead nurture sequence
• Re-engagement sequence
• Post-purchase sequence
• Event-based sequence
• Educational sequence
• Sales sequence

2. **Audience Context**

• Who are they?
• What triggered them into this sequence?
• What do they already know/believe?
• What's their current relationship with you?
• What other emails are they already receiving?
• What's the current email performance to beat?

3. **Goals**

• Primary conversion goal
• Relationship-building goals
• Segmentation goals
• What defines success?

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Core Principle

One email, one job: a single purpose and a single primary CTA per email. Everything downstream, sequence length, roles, copy, follows from that.

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Email Sequence Strategy

Sequence lengths are set per type in Sequence Types Overview below; use those numbers, not a generic range. Adjust for sales-cycle length, product complexity, and relationship stage.

Timing/Delays

• Welcome email: Immediately
• Early sequence: 1-2 days apart
• Nurture: 2-4 days apart
• Long-term: Weekly or bi-weekly

Consider:

• B2B: Avoid weekends
• B2C: Test weekends
• Time zones: Send at local time

Subject Line Strategy

• Clear > Clever
• Specific > Vague
• Benefit or curiosity-driven
• 40-60 characters, front-loading the words that matter for mobile truncation
• Test emoji (they're polarizing)
• Judge subject tests on clicks or conversions, not opens: Apple Mail Privacy

Protection preloads images and inflates open rates

**Patterns that work:**

• Question: "Still struggling with X?"
• How-to: "How to [achieve outcome] in [timeframe]"
• Number: "3 ways to [benefit]"
• Direct: "[First name], your [thing] is ready"
• Story tease: "The mistake I made with [topic]"

Preview Text

• Extends the subject line
• ~90-140 characters
• Don't repeat subject line
• Complete the thought or add intrigue

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Sequence Types Overview

Welcome Sequence (Post-Signup)

**Length**: 5-7 emails over 12-14 days **Goal**: Activate, build trust, convert

Key emails: 1. Welcome + deliver promised value (immediate) 2. Quick win (day 1-2) 3. Story/Why (day 3-4) 4. Social proof (day 5-6) 5. Overcome objection (day 7-8) 6. Core feature highlight (day 9-11) 7. Conversion (day 12-14)

Lead Nurture Sequence (Pre-Sale)

**Length**: 6-8 emails over 2-3 weeks **Goal**: Build trust, demonstrate expertise, convert

Key emails: 1. Deliver lead magnet + intro (immediate) 2. Expand on topic (day 2-3) 3. Problem deep-dive (day 4-5) 4. Solution framework (day 6-8) 5. Case study (day 9-11) 6. Differentiation (day 12-14) 7. Objection handler (day 15-18) 8. Direct offer (day 19-21)

Re-Engagement Sequence

**Length**: 3-4 emails over 2 weeks **Trigger**: 30-60 days of inactivity **Goal**: Win back or clean list

Key emails: 1. Check-in (genuine concern) 2. Value reminder (what's new) 3. Incentive (special offer) 4. Last chance (stay or unsubscribe)

Onboarding Sequence (Product Users)

**Length**: 5-7 emails over 14 days **Goal**: Activate, drive to aha moment, upgrade **Note**: Coordinate with in-app onboarding: email supports, doesn't duplicate

Key emails: 1. Welcome + first step (immediate) 2. Getting started help (day 1) 3. Feature highlight (day 2-3) 4. Success story (day 4-5) 5. Check-in (day 7) 6. Advanced tip (day 10-12) 7. Upgrade/expand (day 14+)

**For detailed templates**: See [references/sequence-templates.md](references/sequence-templates.md)

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Email Types by Category

Six categories: Onboarding · Retention · Billing · Usage · Win-Back · Campaigns.

Read [references/email-types.md](references/email-types.md) when you need to pick or design an individual email type: it carries the trigger, timing, role, and copy pattern for each one, plus an email audit checklist.

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Email Copy Guidelines

Structure

1. **Hook**: First line grabs attention 2. **Context**: Why this matters to them 3. **Value**: The useful content 4. **CTA**: What to do next 5. **Sign-off**: Human, warm close

Formatting

• Short paragraphs (1-3 sentences)
• White space between sections
• Bullet points for scanability
• Bold for emphasis (sparingly)
• Mobile-first (most read on phone)

Tone

• Conversational, not formal
• First-person (I/we) and second-person (you)
• Active voice
• Read it out loud: does it sound human?

**Never ship these strings.** They are the lifecycle-email defaults a model reaches for unprompted, and every one of them is a slot where a specific sentence should be:

• "We're thrilled to have you aboard!" / "We're