SKILL.md
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Type
Purpose
Use
EDM
Direct marketing; conversion-focused
Promotions, campaigns, announcements; bulk sends
Newsletter
Ongoing value; relationship
Industry insights, curated articles; regular cadence
Combine both: EDM for push; Newsletter for nurture. Cover different stages and goals.
Five Content Types
Type
Use
Onboarding
Welcome + first-use guidance; 5-7 day sequence; behavior-triggered; drive "Aha!" moment
Campaign
Promotions, limited-time; conversion or participation
Announcement
Product launch, major update; one-time important notice
Features update
New features, improvements; help users adopt
Blog/Newsletter
Curated articles, industry insights; sustained touch
User Best Practices
Practice
Guideline
Personalization
Segment by behavior, source, stage; boosts open/click
Timing
New users: dense; existing: controlled pace; behavior-triggered > calendar-only
Welcome series
Send soon after signup; 5-7 emails over days; guide first key action
Unsubscribe
One-click required (Gmail/Yahoo); honor within 48h; clear entry
Complaint rate
Keep below 0.3%; list hygiene critical
Content Best Practices
Practice
Guideline
Subject
One clear topic per email; avoid pure promo
Value first
Useful info before promotion
CTA
Single primary CTA; clear next step
Mobile
50%+ read on mobile; responsive layout, tappable links
Deliverability & Domain Config
Subdomain: Use subdomain (e.g. mail.example.com) for marketing; keep transactional (support@, etc.) on main domain. Isolate risk.
SPF, DKIM, DMARC
Protocol
Purpose
SPF
Authorizes mail servers for domain
DKIM
Cryptographic signature; verifies sender
DMARC
Policy for unauthenticated mail; start p=none, then quarantine, then reject over 60-90 days
Order: SPF first, then DKIM, then DMARC. Gmail/Yahoo require all three for bulk senders (5,000+/day) since Feb 2024.
Advanced: TLS-RPT, MTA-STS, BIMI (brand logo). Postmaster Tools: Monitor deliverability, spam rate, auth status.
Delivery Strategy: Articles + SEO Synergy
Article Type
Use
Retention
Deep content for existing users; improve retention
ToFu
Top of funnel; awareness (trends, concepts, problem framing)
MoFu
Middle of funnel; consideration (comparisons, reviews, best practices)
Dual value: (1) Better email engagement (open, click, stickiness); (2) Drive traffic to article pages from non-search channel; signals to Google that users value content; supports SEO.
Measurement: GA4 email source traffic to article pages; GSC rank/click changes.
Planning Framework
- Content mix: Allocate onboarding, campaign, announcement, features, newsletter
- Select articles: Pick retention, ToFu, MoFu from blog; prioritize SEO target pages
- Cadence: Stable frequency (weekly/biweekly/monthly); avoid over-sending
- Monitor: Open rate, click rate; GA4 email contribution to article traffic; GSC
Frequency
Guideline
Note
Baseline
1 high-value email/week for most brands
Peak times
Tue-Thu, 8-11am or 2-4pm (recipient timezone)
Segmentation
New vs loyal need different cadence
Quality
Relevant, behavior-triggered > calendar volume
Data: ~36% send 1-3/month; ~30% weekly; daily risks high unsubscribe.
Output Format
- Content mix (five types)
- EDM vs Newsletter balance
- Deliverability (subdomain, SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
- Article delivery (Retention, ToFu, MoFu, SEO targets)
- Cadence and frequency
- KPI (open, click, GA4 email traffic, GSC)
Related Skills
- content-marketing: Content types, formats; email as channel in repurposing matrix
- newsletter-signup-generator: Signup form design
- traffic-analysis: Email source attribution, UTM
- analytics-tracking: Email click tracking
- content-strategy: Article selection for email delivery
- integrated-marketing: Email as owned media channel