AGENT SKILLBY THATREBECCARAE
Cold email & outreach
AT A GLANCE
Cold email & outreach is an email skill for AI agents. Cold email and outreach sequence design with personalization, deliverability optimization, follow-up cadence, and compliance (CAN-SPAM/GDPR). The thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing repository on GitHub, maintained by thatrebeccarae, has 118 stars and the MIT license. To add it, run npx skills add thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing --skill cold-email-outreach
- SOURCE REPOSITORY
- thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing (opens GitHub in a new tab)
- REPO STARS
- SOURCE REPOSITORY
- LICENSE
- MIT
- SKILL.MD SIZE
- 6.7 KB189 LINES
QUICK ANSWER
- WHAT IT IS01
- Cold email and outreach sequence design with personalization, deliverability optimization, follow-up cadence, and compliance (CAN-SPAM/GDPR). The value is a focused slice of email marketing judgment, useful when several similar skills cover the same ground.
- INPUTS02
- Context for email marketing: your goals, audience, constraints, and any source material the skill asks for.
- OUTPUT03
- A ready-to-use result for email marketing: the analysis, copy, or recommendations the agent produces.
INSTALL
One command adds this skill from its source repository.
npx skills add thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing --skill cold-email-outreachREAD THE SKILL.MD BELOW BEFORE YOU RUN IT. SKILLS INSTRUCT YOUR AGENT.
SKILL.MD
The full file, as published in the source repository. Copy it, download it or open it on GitHub.
ON THIS PAGE · 14
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)#
| 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)Length: 50-125 words. 3-5 sentences max. Mobile-readable.
Personalization Tiers#
| Tier | Effort | When | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researched | High (5+ min/email) | Top 50 accounts | Reference specific blog post, recent funding, or LinkedIn activity |
| Templated | Medium (1 min) | Mid-tier prospects | Company name, industry pain point, role-specific angle |
| Dynamic | Low (automated) | Scale outreach | First name, company name, industry via merge fields |
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#
- Mass blasting — sending same email to 1000+ at once kills deliverability
- No personalization — "Dear Sir/Madam" or obviously templated
- Feature dumping — listing product features instead of addressing pain
- Aggressive follow-ups — daily follow-ups = spam reports
- No unsubscribe — illegal under CAN-SPAM and GDPR
- Misleading subjects — "Re:" or "Fwd:" on first contact
- Too many links/images — triggers spam filters
- 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)
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#
- Defines ICP targeting criteria and personalization tier (templated with company-specific hooks)
- Writes 4-email sequence: value-first intro (Day 0), case study follow-up (Day 3), social proof (Day 7), breakup (Day 14)
- Generates 3 subject line variants per email
- Includes compliance footer and unsubscribe link
- Sets send timing: Tuesday/Wednesday 9am recipient timezone
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#
- Diagnoses open rate issue: checks subject lines, sender reputation, send timing, list quality
- Diagnoses reply rate: reviews email length (finds 280 words — too long), CTA (finds "schedule a demo" — too high friction), personalization (finds zero personalization)
- Prescribes fixes: shorten to 75 words, add one personalized line, change CTA to low-friction question, verify email list, check SPF/DKIM/DMARC
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#
- Checks CAN-SPAM: sender identity present, subject lines accurate, physical address in footer, unsubscribe mechanism working
- Checks GDPR: legitimate interest documented, clear sender identity, opt-out mechanism, no personal email addresses, data retention policy
- Flags 2 issues: missing physical address, no documented legitimate interest basis for UK prospects
- Provides remediation steps for each issue
Supporting file: REFERENCE.md#
Cold Email Outreach Reference#
Reference data, benchmarks, and platform-specific details for the Cold Email Outreach skill.
<!-- TODO: Add platform API schemas, benchmark data, and domain-specific reference tables -->FAQ
07 QUESTIONS
01What is the Cold email & outreach agent skill?
Cold email and outreach sequence design with personalization, deliverability optimization, follow-up cadence, and compliance (CAN-SPAM/GDPR). It is listed under email and go-to-market in the 100xLab agent skills directory.
02How do I install Cold email & outreach in Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex?
Run npx skills add thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing --skill cold-email-outreach in the project where you want it, then ask your agent for the skill by name. The --skill flag installs only Cold email & outreach, not every skill in the repository.
03What does the Cold email & outreach SKILL.md cover?
The SKILL.md includes sections on Install, Deliverability Fundamentals, Authentication (Required), Domain Warming, Health Benchmarks and Sequence Design. Read the full text on this page or in plain markdown at /resources/agent-skills/thatrebeccarae-claude-marketing--cold-email-outreach--1p9m5x6/raw.
04Which agents can use Cold email & outreach?
Cold email & outreach installs with the cross-agent skills installer (npx skills add), which sets it up for agents such as Claude Code, Cursor and Codex. Each agent loads the SKILL.md when you ask for the skill by name.
05What license is Cold email & outreach under?
The thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing repository declares the MIT license. Read the license file in the repository before you copy or redistribute the skill.
06Is Cold email & outreach free to use?
Reading, copying and installing Cold email & outreach costs nothing: it is published in a public GitHub repository under the MIT license. Reuse and redistribution follow that license.
07Where is the source of Cold email & outreach?
Cold email & outreach comes from https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing, which has 118 GitHub stars. The SKILL.md is at https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing/blob/HEAD/skills/cold-email-outreach/SKILL.md. The author is thatrebeccarae.
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ATTRIBUTION
Cold email & outreach was written by its original authors and is published in thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing (opens GitHub in a new tab) under the MIT license. All rights stay with the original authors.
100xLab did not write, maintain or endorse this skill. This page lists it for discovery. Repo stars belong to the source repository, not to the skill. Review any skill before you install it.