Cold outreach ·Creator ·Friendly
Get a yes-in-principle. The logistics are the next email.
Write a plain-text cold email to [WHO THEY ARE] proposing [WHAT YOU PROPOSE]. We have never spoken. Words only — no HTML, no layout notes.
Rules:
- 100 to 140 words. Four short paragraphs at most.
- Open with [THE SPECIFIC THING] — a real detail from their work, in one sentence. Generic praise reads as a mail merge and is worse than no opener.
- Put [WHAT THEY GET] before what I get. A collaboration email that leads with my side is a favour request wearing a partnership costume.
- State the proposal in one clear sentence. No decks, no attachments, no phases.
- Ask only for a yes in principle. The dates and the logistics belong in the next email, and asking for them now makes the reply expensive.
- Do not describe our audience with adjectives. If a size or a figure matters, leave [XX] and I will fill it in.
- Never invent a number, statistic, subscriber count or engagement rate. Where a figure belongs and I have not supplied it, leave [XX].
- No exclamation marks. No emoji. Sentence case.
Write a subject line under 45 characters that names the proposal rather than opening with a compliment. Return subject, body, sign-off.
Event ·Creator ·Friendly
Get the RSVP from people who will actually turn up.
Write a plain-text invitation to [THE EVENT], happening [WHERE AND WHEN]. Words only — no HTML, no layout notes.
The reader is deciding whether to give up an evening and a journey. Write for that decision.
Rules:
- 110 to 160 words.
- Say what actually happens there in the first two sentences. Not the theme, not the vibe — what people will be doing in the room.
- Include the end time as well as the start. Someone weighing up childcare or a train needs both, and leaving the end time out costs more RSVPs than any other omission.
- Name [WHO IT SUITS] in one sentence, and be willing to exclude. A room of people who came because it sounded vaguely relevant is worse than a smaller room.
- Cover [THE PRACTICALITIES] in one short paragraph. Cost, numbers, whether there is food, whether to bring anything.
- One ask, written as an ordinary sentence with the link inside it.
- Do not describe the atmosphere. Do not promise networking.
- Never invent a number, statistic, capacity or attendee count beyond what I have supplied.
- No exclamation marks. No emoji. Sentence case.
Write a subject line under 45 characters naming the event and the city or the date. Return subject, preheader, body, sign-off.
Newsletter ·Creator ·Friendly
Give the reader one idea they keep, whether or not they click anything.
Write a plain-text weekly roundup newsletter from [SENDER] on [THE THEME], using [THE PICKS]. Words only — no HTML, no layout notes, no horizontal rules.
The reader should get something out of this even if they click nothing.
Rules:
- 250 to 350 words.
- Open with [THE ARGUMENT] — what I actually think about the theme — in two or three sentences. Do not open with "this week I have been reading". The opinion is the issue; the links are evidence for it.
- Give each pick one or two sentences saying why it is here and what it changed. Never write a description of what the piece is about. The reader can get that from the title.
- Order the picks so they build the argument, strongest last.
- Links go inline, inside the sentence, on the words that describe the thing. Do not write bare URLs and do not write "read more here".
- Close in one line. No summary, no housekeeping, no promotion of my own work.
- Never invent a number, statistic, subscriber count or claim about how something performed. Where a figure belongs and I have not supplied it, leave [XX].
- No exclamation marks. No emoji. Sentence case.
Write a subject line under 45 characters that names the argument rather than the format. Never "Issue [XX]" and never "Weekly roundup". Return subject, preheader, body, sign-off.
Product launch ·Creator ·Friendly
Get them onto the list. The sale is a later email.
Write a plain-text email opening the waitlist for [THE THING]. Words only — no HTML, no layout notes.
The single action this email drives: joining the list.
Rules:
- 90 to 130 words.
- Say what [THE THING] is in the first two sentences, concretely. A waitlist for something the reader cannot picture collects addresses and nothing else.
- Name [WHO IT IS FOR] in one sentence, and be willing to exclude people. A waitlist that suits everyone suits nobody, and the ones who opt out now would have refunded later.
- State [WHAT JOINING MEANS] explicitly — whether it costs anything, commits them to anything, or just puts them first. This is the sentence that decides the sign-up rate.
- Give [WHEN]. A month is enough. Do not promise a date I have not given you.
- One ask, written as an ordinary sentence with the link inside it.
- Do not hype. No "something big", no "I have been working on something". Say what it is.
- Never invent a number, statistic, price, seat count or waitlist size. Where a figure belongs and I have not supplied it, leave [XX].
- No exclamation marks. No emoji. Sentence case.
Write a subject line under 45 characters naming the thing rather than teasing it. Return subject, preheader, body, sign-off.
Promotional ·Creator ·Urgent
Convert the people who already decided and did not get round to it.
Write the final plain-text reminder that [THE OFFER] closes at [THE DEADLINE]. Words only — no HTML, no layout notes.
Everyone receiving this has already had the full pitch. This email is a deadline, not an argument.
Rules:
- 50 to 80 words. This is the shortest email in the sequence and it should look short on a phone.
- Open with the deadline. First six words.
- Do not re-pitch. No new benefit, no new testimonial, no "in case you missed it" recap of the offer's features. Restate the offer in one clause only so they know which thing this is.
- Say [WHAT HAPPENS AFTER] in one sentence. A deadline with no consequence is not a deadline, and readers who have seen you bluff once will wait next time.
- One ask, written as an ordinary sentence with the link inside it. Nothing else clickable.
- Do not apologise for emailing again and do not say "last email, promise".
- Never invent a number, statistic, seat count or sales figure. Where a figure belongs and I have not supplied it, leave [XX].
- No exclamation marks. No emoji. Sentence case.
Write a subject line of five words or fewer built around the deadline. Return subject, preheader, body, sign-off.
Welcome ·Creator ·Friendly
Get the file into their hands, then set up the next email.
Write a plain-text delivery email from [SENDER] to someone who just downloaded [THE RESOURCE]. Words only — no HTML, no layout notes.
The single action this email drives: opening the resource.
Rules:
- 90 to 130 words.
- Put the download link in the first two lines. Everything else in this email is optional to the reader and the link is not.
- Then give away [THE ONE TIP] in the body — the most useful thing inside the resource, stated plainly. A delivery email that withholds its own contents is a receipt, and receipts do not earn a second open.
- Say what the next email will be about and roughly when: [WHAT COMES NEXT]. One sentence.
- Do not pitch anything. Do not mention a product, a course or a call. They have known you for ninety seconds.
- Sign off as a person.
- Never invent a number, statistic, download count or result. Where a figure belongs and I have not supplied it, leave [XX].
- No exclamation marks. No emoji. Sentence case.
Write a subject line under 40 characters that names the resource so it is findable in a search six weeks from now. Return subject, preheader, body, sign-off.