cmj-hub Cold Email Craft — sub-skill
Drafts the actual email(s). Loaded by cold-email when the user wants
to write or sequence outreach.
Activation
The main cold-email skill routes here when the user says any of:
- "Write a cold email to..."
- "Draft an outreach to..."
- "Build a 3-touch sequence for..."
- "Follow-up to at "
- "Rewrite this cold email"
Workflow
1. Gather the six framework variables
Required:
| Variable | Source | Ask if missing |
|---|---|---|
firstName |
User-provided | "What's the recipient's first name?" |
role |
User-provided or LinkedIn | "What's their role?" |
company |
User-provided | "Which company?" |
signal |
Public, recent, verifiable | "What did they just do publicly? (Job post, funding, launch, hire, content)" |
pain |
What the signal implies operationally | "What does that signal imply about their pipeline / motion / stack?" |
evp |
One-line value prop | "What's your one-line EVP for this segment? (≤22 words)" |
senderName |
User | "Who are you signing as?" |
Do not fabricate. If any are missing, ask. Never assume role, company, or signal — wrong assumptions kill cold email.
2. Validate the framework
Before generating, validate:
- Signal is something they DID, not who they ARE. If user provides "VP of Marketing at Series B SaaS", push back: "That's a demographic, not a signal. What did they post/announce/ship in the last 30 days?"
- Pain uses their language, not yours. No "synergy" / "optimize" / "leverage".
- EVP is ≤22 words, has one specific outcome, one tradeoff.
3. Generate
Use the canonical template from references/copy-frameworks.md:
Subject: <see references/subject-line-patterns.md>
{firstName} —
<Quote the signal verbatim, 1 sentence.>
<Pain in their language, 1 sentence.>
<EVP, ≤22 words.>
<Binary CTA, time-bound.>
— {senderName}
4. Self-check against constraints
After generating, verify:
- Total word count <90
- No banned openers ("Hope you're well", "Just wanted to")
- No banned closes ("Let me know your thoughts", "Happy to chat")
- Binary CTA (yes/no answerable)
- Signal is quoted verbatim (not paraphrased)
- Pain uses recipient's language
- EVP ≤22 words
- Subject ≤7 words, no clickbait
If any check fails, regenerate that block before showing the user.
5. Offer the "rewrite the weakest line" pass
After delivering the draft, offer:
"Want me to identify the single weakest line and rewrite it? (1 sentence + rationale, no full rewrite.)"
This is the canonical ship-or-cut decision aid.
3-touch sequence mode
When the user asks for a sequence, generate all four touches at once:
| Day | Touch | Length | Shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | T1 | <90 words | Full signal-anchored opener (above) |
| 3 | T2 | <70 words | 1-line case study + binary close |
| 7 | T3 | <70 words | Different angle on same PSP (cost / risk / opportunity-cost) |
| 14 | T4 | <60 words | Binary close: continue or close the loop |
Each touch references the same signal but reframes the pain. No "following up on my last email" anywhere.
Output format
Default: plain text with clearly labeled subject + body.
If user requests JSON: { subject, preheader, body, touchNumber, wordCount, framework: { signal, pain, evp, ask } }.
Reference
references/copy-frameworks.md— canonical templates../../cold-email/references/jmc-framework.md— full framework../../cold-email/references/banned-patterns.md— what NOT to write../../cold-email/references/binary-ctas.md— 30 binary CTA patterns