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name: enhance-lifecycle-email description: > Lifecycle email from product events: activation nudges, trial expiry by activated vs stalled, limit-reached upgrades, win-back, with exits and consent. Use when "onboarding emails", "drip sequence", or "win-back email". Templates → design-email. license: MIT

enhance-lifecycle-email — Emails that arrive because something happened

Degree of freedom: MIXED. Sequence content and cadence [HIGH freedom]; trigger-before-timer rule, exit conditions, consent, idempotent sends, and event names [LOW freedom — run exactly].

Apply-now. Behavior-triggered sends are the primary path; timers are the fallback for users who produce no signal. Every email is gated on a product event, exits the moment the user does the thing, and reports its own open/click/conversion. Templates come from design-email; inbox placement from enhance-email-deliverability.

This skill vs neighbors

Skill	Owns
enhance-lifecycle-email (this)	Which email fires on which event, exits, cadence, measurement
design-email	Template design and copy craft for each message
enhance-email-deliverability	SPF/DKIM/DMARC, bounces, list hygiene
enhance-onboarding	The in-app path the emails point back to
data-pipeline	Idempotent scheduling / cron correctness for sends
plan-privacy-compliance	Consent basis and retention for marketing mail

Do not fire for "design the welcome email" alone → design-email.

How to reason

1. Signal — which product event (or its absence for N hours) says this user needs this email?
2. Exit — which event ends the sequence because the goal was reached?
3. Track — activated vs stalled users get different messages at the same calendar point
4. Cadence — spacing follows the product's time-to-value, not a default day-0/3/7
5. Measure — each send has delivered / opened / clicked / converted events tied to the trigger

Worked example

Signal: signup_completed with no activated after 24 h → "the one thing to try" email with a deep link to the sample-data path. Exit: activated fires → the activation track stops; the habit track starts. Track: trial day 11 — activated users get "here is what you built and what happens to it"; stalled users get "let us set it up with you" — no discount for an empty account. Cadence: TTV median for this product is ~2 h, so the fallback nudge is at 24 h, not day 3. Measure: email_sent { sequence, step, trigger } … email_converted { goal }; activation nudge → 14% of stalled users activate within 48 h.

Self-critique before reporting

• Trigger first — every email names its product-event trigger; timers appear only as "no signal after N h" fallbacks
• Exits present — every sequence lists the event that stops it
• Two tracks at expiry — activated and stalled users receive different messages
• Consent and unsubscribe — transactional vs marketing classification stated; one-click unsubscribe on marketing; suppression list respected
• Idempotent — a retried job cannot send twice (data-pipeline pattern)
• Right owner — template craft → design-email; deliverability → enhance-email-deliverability

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Sequences [HIGH freedom — choose; each row optional]

Sequence	Trigger	Exit	Notes
Welcome	signup_completed	—	one email; the single next action, not a feature tour
Activation nudge	no activated within TTV × 3 (fallback ≈ 24 h)	activated	deep link to the shortest path; users without the core action in 48 h are the highest churn risk
Setup stall	setup_started without setup_completed for 24 h	setup_completed	name the exact step left
Habit	activated	habit_reached	day-3 / day-7 value reminders keyed to what they created
Trial expiry	trial_ends_at − 3d, −1d, 0, +3d	checkout_completed	split by activated: activated → what you built and what happens to it, price, one CTA; stalled → help to value, no discount
Limit reached	limit_reached { resource }	checkout_completed	what unlocks, price, one-click; mirrors the in-app prompt
Win-back	no session for 30 d (activated users only)	any session	one email, then stop; new-feature framing
Dunning	payment_failed	payment_succeeded	day 0 / 3 / 7; transactional

Behavior-triggered sequences report roughly 3× the click-through and markedly higher conversion than calendar drips (vendor-reported; treat as a reason to test, not a board number). Late-trial emails matter: most trial conversions happen in the second half — do not stop the sequence on day 7.

Procedure

1. Map events [LOW freedom]

Confirm the product emits signup_completed, setup_completed, activated, habit_reached, limit_reached, trial_ends_at, checkout_completed, payment_failed (or their equivalents). Missing ones → enhance-onboarding / audit-analytics first; an email on an unmeasured trigger is a timer in disguise.

2. Design the tracks [HIGH freedom]

Pick sequences from the table; write trigger, exit, audience, message goal, and CTA for each step. Cadence from the measured TTV. Hand the copy brief to design-email.

3. Wire [LOW freedom — rules]

• Provider: the one already in the repo (Resend, Postmark, SES, Customer.io, Loops); no second ESP.
• Each send keyed by (user_id, sequence, step) — idempotent; retries cannot double-send.
• Classification per email: transactional (dunning, expiry-day facts) vs marketing (nudges, win-back); marketing carries one-click unsubscribe and honors the suppression list; consent basis recorded (plan-privacy-compliance if unclear).
• Exits evaluated at send time, not enqueue time.
• Quiet hours and per-user daily cap (≤ 1 marketing email per day).

4. Events [LOW freedom — names]

email_sent { sequence, step, trigger }
email_delivered · email_opened · email_clicked { link }
email_converted { sequence, goal_event }
email_unsubscribed { sequence }

5. Verify

• Test user: trigger → email within the window; performing the exit event stops the next step (observe no send)
• Retry the job: exactly one send per (user, sequence, step)
• Unsubscribe → no further marketing mail; transactional still delivered
• Report: sequences, triggers, exits, first-week email_converted by sequence (or unmeasured with date)

Guardrails

• No timers as the default. A calendar drip is the fallback for silence.
• No discount for an empty account. Stalled users get help, not a coupon.
• Consent and classification stated per email. Marketing without an unsubscribe does not ship.
• One ESP. Do not add a second provider to get a feature.

Chains with

• enhance-onboarding → the events and the in-app path every email links to.
• design-email → templates and copy.
• enhance-email-deliverability → before the first sequence goes live.
• data-pipeline → idempotent scheduling.
• iterate-gtm-weekly → reads email_converted by sequence.