# Cold Email Strategy

A free Claude Code skill that builds your cold email strategy before you write a single line of copy, who to target, why they'd respond, and exactly how the sequence should run.

## What it does

Cold Email Strategy is a skill that makes Claude build the architecture behind a cold outbound sequence before any email gets written. It defines one coherent audience (segment, persona, problem, offer, trigger, proof, exclusions), writes a one-sentence reason that buyer would actually care right now, maps every touch in the sequence to a distinct purpose and a branch (what happens on a reply, an objection, a bounce, an out-of-office, a referral, an unsubscribe), sets sending capacity and domain-health rules, and designs one real experiment with a decision rule instead of vague "test stuff" advice.

It designs the sequence, it doesn't gather the evidence your outreach depends on. If the strategy calls for checking what a prospect's website or an AI assistant says about their category, that's a real trigger the skill will name, but you (or another tool) still have to go check it. The email copy itself is written by a separate copywriting skill, this one builds the plan it follows.

## Who it is for

Any business owner, freelancer, or marketer about to run cold outbound who is tempted to jump straight into writing emails. This replaces the work of a strategist sitting down with you first and forcing you to answer who exactly you're contacting, why they'd care now, what happens after each touch, and when to stop, before a single sentence of copy gets written.

## What it is and what it runs in

- **It's a skill.** Think of it as a playbook Claude follows. There's no app to download.
- **It runs in Claude Code.** It also works in Codex, Cursor and other tools that support skills.
- **It's free.** No API keys, no signups, no paid accounts.

## Before you start

- **Claude Code installed** (or another agentic tool that supports skills).
- **git installed.** On a Mac, if it's missing, your computer offers a one-click install the first time Step 1 runs.

## Install

Open Claude Code (or your agentic tool) and run these two steps.

### Step 1: Download the skills library

```
git clone https://github.com/LeadMagic/gtm-skills.git
```

### Step 2: Copy Cold Email Strategy into Claude Code

```
mkdir -p .claude/skills
cp -r gtm-skills/skills/outbound/cold-email-strategy .claude/skills/cold-email-strategy
```

## Run it

Give Claude your audience and offer, for example:

```
Build a cold email strategy. I run a two-person agency selling
AI visibility audits and a monthly monitoring retainer to
Shopify store owners doing meaningful revenue in the US.
```

You get back something like:

```
Segment: US, non-enterprise Shopify stores with active
paid-marketing spend. Excludes dropship/private-label and
wholesale.

Contact thesis: rising paid-acquisition costs, plus
product-research questions shifting to AI assistants where
this brand doesn't show up.

Touch map: 5 touches over 15 days (email, LinkedIn connect,
email, email, email), each with one purpose and a branch for
reply, no reply, or objection.

Experiment: one opening line vs. another, with a stated sample
size and a decision rule for which one to keep.
```

## Troubleshooting

**Claude doesn't seem to use the skill.** Make sure you opened Claude Code in the same folder you ran the install steps in. You can also call it directly by typing `/cold-email-strategy`.

**The strategy calls for evidence you don't have yet.** That's expected, the skill designs what evidence to gather, it doesn't gather it. Go check manually or use your own research tool, then plug the answer back in.

**You're not sure how many touches or what cadence to use.** The skill deliberately avoids handing you a fixed universal number, it wants you to set timing from your own market, signal, and sending capacity. If you genuinely have no starting point, tell it that and ask it to propose a first-draft cadence you can adjust.

## Credit

Built by LeadMagic (https://github.com/LeadMagic/gtm-skills), MIT license, 53 stars. Free and open source.