Purpose
Produce ready-to-send partner email copy that respects two brands and speaks to a professional partner audience — handling the split-incentive problem where the message must serve both the sending organization and the partner's relationship with their own customers. Delivers a full campaign kit, not a single draft.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write a co-branded email to send through a channel partner's list
- Create a partner-directed email recruiting or activating resellers, affiliates, or agencies
- Build a re-engagement email for dormant partners or their lapsed end-customers
- Draft a promotional or product-launch email for a B2B2C partner campaign
- Generate subject line and CTA variants for a partner email test
- Adapt existing brand email copy to fit a partner's tone and audience
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Campaign goal: Acquisition / re-engagement / promotional / launch / recruitment
- Audience: Are we emailing the partner directly, or the partner's end-customers on their behalf?
- Sending brand: Who the email comes from, and the product/offer being promoted
- Partner context: The partner's business, their relationship to the audience, and how much co-branding is expected
- The offer or action: What the reader gets and what they should do
- Tone constraints: Any brand voice rules from either party, plus formal/casual/bold preference
- Send format: Single email or a sequence (and how many in the sequence)
If audience or send format is missing, default to a single email directed at the partner's end-customers and note the assumption.
Instructions
Step 1: Confirm the Message Frame
Establish who is speaking to whom before writing a word:
- Partner-directed (brand → partner): The reader is a business decision-maker evaluating a program, incentive, or enablement resource. Lead with partner value — margin, ease, differentiation, support.
- Co-branded end-customer (brand + partner → end-customer): The reader trusts the partner already. The partner's voice carries credibility; the sending brand rides that trust. Never let the sending brand overshadow the partner relationship.
- On-behalf-of (brand ghost-writing for partner): The email must read as if the partner wrote it. Suppress sending-brand voice almost entirely; the partner is the visible sender.
Name the frame explicitly at the top of the output so the buyer knows the strategic choice.
Step 2: Map the Goal to a Copy Structure
Match the campaign goal to a proven email skeleton:
- Acquisition: Problem the reader has → why now → the offer → single low-friction CTA → trust signal
- Re-engagement: Acknowledge the gap → what's changed / what they missed → one compelling reason to return → easy re-entry CTA
- Promotional: Lead with the offer and its deadline → benefit stack → proof → urgency-backed CTA
- Launch: Tease the new thing → what it solves → who it's for → early-access or availability CTA
- Recruitment (partner-directed): The opportunity → the numbers (margin, deal size, support) → how easy it is to start → CTA to a call or portal
Step 3: Write the Subject Line and Preview Text Variants
Produce 5 subject lines across distinct angles:
- Direct-benefit
- Curiosity gap
- Partner-relationship / co-brand ("From [partner], with [brand]" style)
- Urgency or deadline (only if real urgency exists)
- Personalization / segment-specific
For each, write matched preview text (35–90 characters) that extends the subject rather than repeating it. Flag any subject line over 50 characters for mobile truncation risk.
Step 4: Write the Full Body Copy
Deliver the complete email following the Step 2 structure. Requirements:
- Open with a first line that earns the second — no "I hope this email finds you well"
- One core idea per email; resist stacking multiple asks
- Concrete language over abstraction; name the actual product, offer, or outcome
- Body length: 90–180 words for end-customer emails, 120–220 for partner-directed emails
- Handle co-branding placement in prose (e.g., "[partner] and [brand] are teaming up to…") without dropping unfilled bracket placeholders into the final copy — use the real names provided
- Close with a single primary CTA; suppress competing links
Step 5: Generate CTA Variants
Provide 3 CTA button/link options for the primary action, ranging from soft (low-commitment) to direct (high-intent), each 2–5 words. Note which one fits the campaign goal best and why.
Step 6: Build the Co-Brand Voice Guide
A short reference so future emails stay consistent:
- Voice split: How much each brand should show up (e.g., "70% partner, 30% brand")
- Words to use / avoid: 3–5 each, drawn from both brands' constraints
- Non-negotiables: Legal, compliance, or relationship rules (e.g., partner logo lockup, opt-out language)
Step 7: Sequence Handling (if applicable)
If a sequence was requested, produce each email with a distinct job: email 1 introduces, email 2 adds proof or handles the top objection, email 3 creates urgency or offers a final nudge. Vary the subject line angle per send so the sequence doesn't feel repetitive in the inbox.
Output Format
- Structure: Message frame statement → subject line & preview text table → full body copy → CTA variants → co-brand voice guide → sequence emails (if requested)
- Length: 700–1,100 words for a single email kit; scale with sequence length
- Format: Subject lines and preview text in a table; body copy as send-ready prose; CTA and voice guide as labeled lists
- Sections: Frame → Subject/Preview → Body → CTAs → Voice Guide → (Sequence)
- Tone: Partner marketing specialist — commercially aware, relationship-conscious, and copy that reads like a real send, not a template
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] The message frame is named explicitly (partner-directed, co-branded, or on-behalf-of)
- [ ] Exactly 5 subject lines with 5 matched preview texts, each on a distinct angle
- [ ] No unfilled bracket placeholders appear in any send-ready copy — real brand and partner names are used
- [ ] Body copy follows the structure mapped to the stated campaign goal
- [ ] Exactly 3 CTA variants spanning soft to direct, with a recommendation
- [ ] Co-brand voice split assigns a specific ratio, not a vague "balance both brands"
Notes
- The most common partner-email failure is the sending brand talking over the partner — when in doubt, give the partner more voice, since their relationship with the reader is the asset
- Real urgency only: if there's no genuine deadline, drop the urgency subject line rather than manufacture scarcity that erodes partner trust
- For on-behalf-of sends, ask whether the partner will review before sending — if yes, keep claims conservative and easy for them to sign off on
How to use this skill
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Installing in Claude Code:
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Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills