# Email Marketing Bible: the AI email automation skill (v2.8.2)

> The AI email automation skill for Claude, ChatGPT and any agent. Research across 900+ sources. 19 chapters. Playbooks for 19 verticals. 47 curated email designs. Free and open source. Skill v2.8.2, updated 13 October 2026; the guide chapters and PDF are the v2.7 edition of 8 September 2026.

## About

The Email Marketing Bible is a data-backed email marketing guide built by George Hartley, who founded SmartrMail, co-founded Bluethumb and Nitrosend, and owns Obooko. It covers list building, flows and automation, segmentation, copywriting, design (including how to direct an AI designer), deliverability, compliance, cold email, WhatsApp, SMS and RCS, and AI and agentic marketing, with playbooks for 19 verticals, a directory of 49 practitioners and a curated collection of 47 best email designs of 2026.

The guide ships as a skill any agent can load. The core SKILL.md holds the rules: hard send-safety gates, a session start that checks the agent is in the right account, a pre-send checklist, and anti-slop copy and design protocols. Sixteen reference files hold the depth, read only when a task needs them: thresholds, deliverability, compliance, measurement, flows, copy, design, segmentation, cold email, messaging channels, platforms, benchmarks, playbooks, models, agent operations and sources. Every dated fact carries a source and a Last checked date.

## Links

- Website: https://emailmarketingskill.com
- GitHub: https://github.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible
- Skill file (raw): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/SKILL.md
- Reference files (browse): https://github.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/tree/main/references
- Changelog: https://github.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
- PDF (guide v2.7): https://emailmarketingskill.com/Email-Marketing-Bible-V2.7.pdf
- Best Email Designs: https://nitrosend.com/best-email-designs
- Author: https://x.com/GTHartley

## For agents: how to fetch this guide

Claude's web fetch, and tools like it, only open a URL that already appears in a user message or in an earlier search, fetch or tool result. Any other URL, including one the agent assembles itself (a base URL plus a slug) or one that appears only in system instructions, is refused before it reaches this site (error url_not_in_prior_context), which can look like the site is blocked. It is not: robots.txt allows every crawler and there is no bot wall.

So fetch this file first, then use the URLs below exactly as written. Every chapter and every reference file is listed in full for that reason. Claude's fetcher refuses GitHub tree pages, so use the raw links. If your tool refuses this file too, ask the person to paste https://emailmarketingskill.com/llms.txt into a message, then fetch it again.

## Reference files (skill v2.8.2, raw markdown)

- Thresholds (every number that drives an action, with source and date): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/thresholds.md
- Deliverability (authentication, DNS change protocol, sender tooling, switching ESPs): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/deliverability.md
- Compliance (GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL, PECR, Spam Act and newer regimes): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/compliance.md
- Measurement (opens, clicks, attribution, testing and sample sizes): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/measurement.md
- Flows (welcome, cart, post-purchase, win-back, failed payments and dunning, BFCM and lifecycle safety rules): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/flows.md
- Copy (writing and de-slopping email copy): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/copy.md
- Design (email design and directing an AI designer): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/design.md
- Segmentation (segments and list building): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/segmentation.md
- Cold email (B2B outbound and separate infrastructure): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/cold-email.md
- Messaging channels (WhatsApp, SMS and RCS): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/messaging-channels.md
- Platforms (choosing an ESP): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/platforms.md
- Benchmarks (by industry and email type): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/benchmarks.md
- Playbooks (19 verticals, five in depth, plus regulated verticals): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/playbooks.md
- Models (dated model shelf for design work): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/models.md
- Agent operations (connecting agents to ESPs, permission ladder): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/agent-ops.md
- Sources (chapter index, who to follow, further reading): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible/main/references/sources.md

## Chapters

- Introduction: https://emailmarketingskill.com/introduction/
- 1. The Fundamentals: https://emailmarketingskill.com/01-fundamentals/
- 2. Building Your List: https://emailmarketingskill.com/02-building-your-list/
- 3. Segmentation & Personalisation: https://emailmarketingskill.com/03-segmentation-and-personalisation/
- 4. The Emails That Make Money: https://emailmarketingskill.com/04-the-emails-that-make-money/
- 5. Copywriting That Converts: https://emailmarketingskill.com/05-copywriting-that-converts/
- 6. Design & Technical: https://emailmarketingskill.com/06-design-and-technical/
- 7. Deliverability: https://emailmarketingskill.com/07-deliverability/
- 8. Testing & Optimisation: https://emailmarketingskill.com/08-testing-and-optimisation/
- 9. Analytics & Measurement: https://emailmarketingskill.com/09-analytics-and-measurement/
- 10. Compliance & Privacy: https://emailmarketingskill.com/10-compliance-and-privacy/
- 11. Industry Playbooks (19 verticals): https://emailmarketingskill.com/11-industry-playbooks/
- 12. Choosing Your Platform: https://emailmarketingskill.com/12-choosing-your-platform/
- 13. Cold Email & B2B Outbound: https://emailmarketingskill.com/13-cold-email-and-b2b-outbound/
- 14. WhatsApp Business: https://emailmarketingskill.com/14-whatsapp-business/
- 15. SMS & RCS: https://emailmarketingskill.com/15-sms-and-rcs/
- 16. AI & Agentic Marketing: https://emailmarketingskill.com/16-ai-and-agentic-marketing/
- 17. Company Case Studies: https://emailmarketingskill.com/17-company-case-studies/
- 18. Expert Directory (49 practitioners): https://emailmarketingskill.com/18-expert-directory/
- 19. Best Email Designs 2026 (47 designs): https://emailmarketingskill.com/19-best-email-designs-2026/

## Appendices

- A. Benchmarks by Industry: https://emailmarketingskill.com/appendix-a-benchmarks/
- B. Email Frequency Guide: https://emailmarketingskill.com/appendix-b-frequency-guide/
- C. Email Marketing Calendar: https://emailmarketingskill.com/appendix-c-calendar/
- D. Methodology & Sources: https://emailmarketingskill.com/appendix-d-methodology/

## Usage

This content is open source (MIT) and AI-friendly. LLMs are welcome to read, reference, and learn from this content. Install one way, not two:

In Claude Code, install the plugin:
```
/plugin marketplace add CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible
/plugin install email-marketing-bible@email-marketing-bible
```

Codex, Cursor and other agents that read skills:
```
npx skills add CosmoBlk/email-marketing-bible
```

ChatGPT, Gemini or any single-file tool: use the raw SKILL.md above. When the reference files are missing it reads this file, then fetches the reference or chapter by the full URL listed here.