Installation
$npx skills add ericosiu/ai-marketing-skills --skill outbound-engineSummary
This skill enables an agent to design, audit, and iteratively score cold outbound email sequences using a recursive expert panel approach (targeting 90/100) until copy quality targets are met. Invoke when building or optimizing cold email campaigns, designing sales sequences for a specific platform (Instantly), or analyzing outbound campaign performance against ICP targeting.
SKILL.MD
Preamble (runs on skill start)
# Version check (silent if up to date)
python3 telemetry/version_check.py 2>/dev/null || true
# Telemetry opt-in (first run only, then remembers your choice)
python3 telemetry/telemetry_init.py 2>/dev/null || true
Privacy: This skill logs usage locally to
~/.ai-marketing-skills/analytics/. Remote telemetry is opt-in only. No code, file paths, or repo content is ever collected. Seetelemetry/README.md.
Cold Outbound Optimizer
Startup: Determine Mode
Ask the user:
- Do you have an existing Instantly account with campaigns to audit, or are you starting from scratch?
- Do you have an Instantly API key? (Required for audit mode.)
If API key provided → run scripts/instantly-audit.py to pull campaigns, account inventory, and warmup scores before proceeding.
Phase 1: Discovery & Audit
1A — Infrastructure Check (if API key available)
Run python3 scripts/instantly-audit.py --api-key <KEY> and report:
- Active campaigns (name, status, reply rate, open rate)
- Sending accounts (count, warmup score, daily limit)
- Domain inventory
- Warmup gaps: any account with score <80 or <14 days warmup → flag as NOT ready
1B — Performance Data
- Pull campaign analytics from Instantly
- Ask: "Do you have a spreadsheet with historical outbound data?" If yes, request link.
1C — ICP Definition
If no ICP defined, collect:
- Titles: Who are you targeting? (e.g., VP Marketing, Head of Growth)
- Industries: Which verticals?
- Company size: Employee count or revenue range?
- Revenue floor: Minimum ARR/revenue to qualify?
- Anti-ICP: Who to explicitly exclude?
Use references/icp-template.md as the collection template.
1D — Business Context
Collect:
- What do you sell? (One sentence, no jargon)
- What's the primary offer? (Free trial, audit, demo, consultation)
- Real URLs to reference (pricing page, case studies, relevant content)
- Any proof points? (Client results, stats, social proof)
1E — Expert Panel Config
Default: 10 experts (see references/expert-panel.md).
Ask: "Any industry-specific experts to add, or panelists to swap?" Confirm roster before scoring.
Phase 2: Expert Panel Recursive Scoring
Target: 90/100. Non-negotiable. Iterate until reached.
Round Structure
Each round produces:
- Score table — all 10 panelists, individual score (0-100), one-line rationale
- Aggregate score — average of all 10
- Top weaknesses — ranked list of what's holding the copy back
- Changes made — specific edits addressing each weakness
- Updated copy — full revised sequence after changes
Scoring Criteria (per panelist's lens — see references/expert-panel.md)
- Subject line curiosity / open rate potential
- First sentence pattern interrupt
- Body clarity and brevity
- CTA softness and specificity
- Sequence flow and follow-up logic
- Deliverability risk signals (spam words, link density)
- Personalization believability
Rules
- Scores must be brutally honest. No padding to 90 without earning it.
- If round score < 90: identify top 3 weaknesses, revise copy, run next round.
- If round score ≥ 90: finalize copy and proceed to deliverables.
- Show every round in the final doc — the iteration trail is part of the value.
Phase 3: Deliverables
Strategy Doc
Create a document (Google Doc, Notion, or markdown) with:
- Pre-Analysis / Brutal Truth — what the existing campaigns are doing wrong (or baseline if starting from scratch)
- ICP Summary — confirmed targeting parameters
- Infrastructure Status — account inventory, warmup readiness, capacity math
- Scoring Rounds — full panel vote tables for every round
- Final Email Copy — all steps for all campaigns, Instantly-ready format
- Implementation Plan — step-by-step setup instructions
- Capacity Math — accounts × daily send rate = pipeline projections
- Weekly Metrics Targets — open rate, reply rate, positive reply rate, meetings booked
- STOP List — what to kill immediately
- START List — what to launch first
Format Rules for Final Copy
Follow all rules in references/instantly-rules.md and references/copy-rules.md.
Human Review Gate
Do NOT push anything to Instantly automatically. The doc is for human review. Get explicit approval before any API writes.
Iteration
After review, collect feedback and re-run scoring on revised copy if needed.
Capacity Math Formula
Accounts ready (score ≥80, ≥14 days warmup) × 30 emails/day = conservative daily volume
Accounts ready × 50 emails/day = aggressive daily volume
Daily volume × 22 working days = monthly send capacity
Monthly sends × expected reply rate = expected replies
Expected replies × qualification rate = pipeline opportunities
Weekly Metrics Targets (Baselines)
| Metric | Good | Great |
|---|---|---|
| Open rate | 40%+ | 60%+ |
| Reply rate | 3%+ | 7%+ |
| Positive reply rate | 1%+ | 3%+ |
| Meeting rate | 0.5%+ | 1.5%+ |
Adjust targets based on niche and offer. Cold traffic to a free audit converts differently than a paid trial.
Add-On Recommendations (mention but don't build)
- LinkedIn automation: HeyReach or similar for multi-channel sequences. Separate workflow.
- Lead enrichment: Clay or Apollo for personalization data before upload.
- Lead pipeline: Use
scripts/lead-pipeline.pyfor Apollo → LeadMagic → Instantly automation.
Reference Files
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
references/instantly-rules.md | Variable syntax, sequence structure, deliverability rules |
references/expert-panel.md | Default 10-expert roster with scoring lenses |
references/copy-rules.md | Email copy rules (first sentence, CTA, stats framing) |
references/icp-template.md | ICP data collection template |
scripts/instantly-audit.py | Pulls campaigns, accounts, warmup scores via Instantly v2 API |
scripts/lead-pipeline.py | End-to-end lead sourcing pipeline |
scripts/competitive-monitor.py | Competitor tracking and intelligence |
scripts/cross-signal-detector.py | Multi-source signal detection |
scripts/cold-outbound-sender.py | Send approved outbound emails |