Email Copy Optimizer

Polish any email draft by applying 10 proven copywriting rules — from someone who writes for 7, 8, and 9-figure founders and has written/edited 1,000+ emails.

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How to Use This Skill

When triggered, ask the user for:

To optimize your email, I need:

1. Your email draft — Paste the full email
2. Type of email — Newsletter, sales, nurture, launch, etc.
3. Goal — What action should readers take?
4. Target audience — Who's reading this?

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The 10 Rules

Rule 1: Write at Least 10 Subject Line Variations

Your email doesn't matter if nobody opens it. Always brainstorm 10+ subject line variations using different psychological angles. Keep all subject lines under 42 characters (the cutoff for most mobile screens).

Action: Generate 10 subject line variations for the user's email.

Rule 2: Write the Intro Like a LinkedIn Hook

Skip the long greetings. Capture attention immediately. The first 1-2 lines should make someone want to keep reading — just like a social media hook.

Bad: "Hey there! Hope you're having a great week. I've been thinking a lot lately about..." Good: "I make a living writing emails for 7, 8, and 9 figure founders. Here are 10 tips..."

Action: Identify if the intro is weak and rewrite it as a hook.

Rule 3: Speak Directly to the Reader

The best emails feel like a 1:1 conversation. Look for instances of speaking to a crowd and fix them.

Checks:

• Replace "Hey everyone" → "Hey" or "Hey [name]"
• Aim for 80%+ second person ("you") vs. first person ("I") or third person ("they")

Action: Flag any crowd-speak and rewrite to direct address.

Rule 4: Edit for Mobile

Most readers are on mobile. Blocky paragraphs that look fine on desktop feel overwhelming on a phone.

Rule: Break any paragraph with 2-3 sentences into 1-sentence paragraphs with line breaks.

Action: Identify blocky paragraphs and suggest mobile-friendly formatting.

Rule 5: Do Copywork on the Greats

(Educational tip — no direct action on their draft, but worth mentioning if relevant.)

Rule 6: Read It Aloud

Flag any sections that would sound clunky when read aloud — awkward phrasing, sentences that don't flow, or sections that feel boring.

Action: Identify clunky sections and suggest smoother alternatives.

Rule 7: Use Sub-Heads for Skimmability

Most readers skim, not read. Sub-heads give signposts.

Rules of thumb:

• Listicles: each item gets its own sub-head
• Non-listicles: aim for 3-5 sub-heads minimum
• Find key sentences that drive a point home and turn them into sub-heads

Action: Suggest where to add sub-heads if the email is missing them.

Rule 8: Always Include a PS

The PS is one of the most-read sections of any email. Prime real estate.

3 uses:

• Value newsletters with no body CTA → soft, contextual CTA in PS
• Sales emails → address a common objection in PS
• Sales emails → reinforce urgency or deadline in PS

Action: Write a PS if missing, or improve the existing one.

Rule 9: Make CTAs Contextual

CTAs should feel natural where they're placed, not bolted on.

Two levers:

• Placement — Most relevant section of the email for this CTA
• Phrasing — Framed in a way that feels congruent with the surrounding copy

Action: Evaluate CTA placement and phrasing; suggest improvements.

Rule 10: Turn Blocky Paragraphs into Bulleted Lists

Bullets make information feel 10x easier to consume.

Rules:

• Only 1-2 bulleted lists per email section
• Always include 1-2 intro sentences before a bulleted list
• Keep bullets short when possible

Action: Identify paragraphs that would work better as bullets.

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Output Format

Optimization Report

Overall Assessment: [1-2 sentence summary of the email's strengths and weaknesses]

Subject Lines (10 variations):

1. [variation]
2. [variation] (10 total)

Rule-by-Rule Feedback:

Rule [X]: [Rule Name]

• Current: [What the email does now]
• Issue: [What's wrong or could be better]
• Fix: [Specific rewrite or suggestion]

(Only include rules where improvement is needed — skip rules the email already nails)

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Optimized Email

[Full rewritten email with all improvements applied]

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Quality Criteria

The optimization must:

• Be specific — Not "make it better" but "change X to Y because Z"
• Preserve the author's voice — Improve, don't rewrite from scratch
• Prioritize high-impact changes — Subject line and intro first, formatting second
• Include the full optimized email — Not just feedback, but the finished product
• Generate 10 real subject line options — Different angles, all under 42 characters

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What good looks like

A great optimization is specific — never "make it better" but "change X to Y because Z" — and it preserves the author's voice, improving the draft rather than rewriting it from scratch. It prioritizes the high-impact changes first: subject line and intro before formatting. It always includes 10 real subject line options using different psychological angles, all under 42 characters. And it delivers the full optimized email as a finished product, not just a list of feedback — with rule-by-rule notes only where improvement is actually needed.