Email Drip Builder

---
name: Email Drip Builder
description: Designs automated onboarding and activation drip sequences with behavior-gated sends, exit triggers on conversion, and per-email jobs and timing. Use when someone asks "build an onboarding email sequence", "design a drip campaign for new signups", "why isn't our onboarding flow activating users", or is extending an existing drip series. Do NOT use for recurring content newsletters - use email-newsletter-pro; for recovering abandoned checkouts use abandoned-cart-sequence; for re-engaging dormant users use win-back-campaign; for cold outreach to prospects use outreach-sequence-designer or cold-email-craft.
---

# Email Drip Builder

A drip sequence is a contract with the user: they gave their attention, and the sequence returns it with value at the right moment. Sequences that read like mail merges get unsubscribes; sequences timed to behavior build habits. The costly mistake this skill prevents is the fixed-timer drip that keeps selling activation to users who already activated - the fastest way to teach a new user that these emails can be ignored.

## Inputs to collect

1. **The activation milestone** - the one action that means the user is activated (first invoice sent, first project shared). This is the exit trigger for the entire sequence. If undefined, define it first - a drip without an exit condition is a leak, not a funnel. Pull it from lifecycle-journey-map if that map exists.
2. **The intermediate milestones** - 2-4 steps between signup and activation, each trackable as an event.
3. **Current activation rate and where users stall** - determines which email gets the most work.
4. **Independently useful assets** - tips, benchmarks, shortcuts, case studies each email can deliver.
5. **Sending constraints** - ESP capabilities for event-based triggers vs. timers; if only timers exist, flag the sequence as degraded and say which rules cannot be enforced.

## Operating procedure

1. **Define the exit triggers before writing any email.** Primary: the user completes the activation milestone → leave the sequence immediately and move to the engagement track. Secondary: conversion to paid, unsubscribe, or hard bounce → leave immediately. Sending onboarding to activated or converted users erodes trust and skews every metric downstream.
2. **Anchor Email 1 on the first value moment.** It sends immediately on signup and has one job: the fastest path to core value. No feature tour, no company history. One action, one link. Subject states the outcome, not the product name.
3. **Gate Emails 2+ on behavior gaps, not timers.** Each email fires only if the user has *not* done the target action; if they did it, skip forward to the next milestone's email. Fixed-timer sequences waste sends on the already-activated.
4. **Give every email an independent payload.** Each must deliver something useful on its own - a tip, a benchmark, a shortcut, a case study - so a user who unsubscribes after Email 3 still got value. This lowers unsubscribe pressure and builds sender trust.
5. **Write subjects as promises, not headlines.** The body must pay off the subject exactly. Bait-and-switch subjects boost opens and tank clicks. The best subjects are specific and slightly incomplete - the body finishes the thought.
6. **Cap the sequence at 8 emails.** If a user has not activated after eight, a ninth will not fix it. Route them to a dormant segment and hand them to win-back-campaign. Endless drips create unsubscribe pressure across the whole list.