Write Email Campaigns with Claude
Draft subject lines, preview text, and email body copy for any campaign. From nurture sequences to product launches.
The situation
The email campaign needs to go out next week and you have a campaign brief but no copy.
After this guide you'll have a full campaign draft including subject lines, body copy, and CTAs ready to drop into your ESP.
What you walk away with
Subject lines that get tested, not agonised over
Email body copy in your brand voice from a brief
A full multi-email sequence from one session
The difference one prompt makes
Don't
write a marketing email about our new feature
Do this
Write a promotional email announcing our new AI-powered reporting feature. Audience: existing customers who are on our Pro plan and regularly use our analytics dashboard. Goal: get them to try the new feature within 7 days. Key message: they can now generate board-ready reports in one click instead of spending 2 hours in Excel. Structure: subject line + preview text (5 options each), opening that references their current pain, 3-bullet feature benefit section, single CTA button text and surrounding sentence, sign-off. Tone: warm and enthusiastic but not over-the-top. 300 words max for the body.
Audience segment, their current behaviour, the goal, the key message, the structure, and the CTA. That is a campaign brief Claude can actually work with.
Write the campaign brief first
Before asking Claude to write anything, answer four questions: Who is receiving this email (not "our customers" but "Pro plan customers who use analytics weekly")? What is the offer or message? What action do you want them to take? What is the one value proposition that matters to this audience right now? These four answers are your brief. Claude writes from the brief, not from telepathy.
Always ask for 5 subject line options
Never use the first subject line. Ask for 5 options with different approaches: one curiosity-driven, one direct benefit, one that references a specific pain point, one with a number, one that calls out the audience directly. Pick the best one based on your list's history, not just what sounds good. Test two if your platform supports it.
Ask for the full sequence, not just one email
A campaign is rarely one email. Ask Claude to write the sequence at once: email 1 (announce), email 2 (value reminder for non-openers, 3 days later), email 3 (last chance or social proof, 5 days later). Briefing all three together keeps the narrative consistent and saves you from three separate sessions.
A/B test the opening line
Ask Claude to write two versions of the first two sentences of the email body using different approaches. One that opens with the pain point, one that opens with the outcome. Your open rate gets determined by the subject line. Your click-through rate gets determined by the first 20 words. This one step improves the click-through rate more than any other edit.
What's next?
Write ad copy with ClaudeNew guides, when they ship
One email, roughly weekly. CLAUDE.md templates, workflows I actually use, and the cut-for-length stuff that does not make the public guides. One-click unsubscribe.
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