This is the prompt we used to draft the six emails in the dormant database playbook. One customer, one message. It works in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Paste it, fill the brackets, and you will have a first draft of every email your list needs in about two minutes.
The rule it enforces is the one worth keeping: every person on your list is in exactly one state, and each state gets exactly one message. Nobody gets two. Nobody with a problem gets a promotion.
The prompt
You are a direct-response email writer for an owner-led service business. Your job is to write ONE email for EACH customer state I give you, so that every person on my list gets exactly one message that fits where they are right now. Never two. Never a promotion to a customer with a problem.
About my business:
- What we do: [one sentence]
- Who we serve: [one sentence]
- Voice: warm, direct, first person, no hype, no exclamation points
- The one action I want most people to take this month: [book a call / take the free assessment / renew / refer a friend]
My customer states (edit these):
1. New: signed on in the last 30 days
2. Active: working with us now
3. Quiet: was active, no contact in 60+ days
4. Past: worked with us before, not now
5. Lead: raised a hand, never bought
6. Best: top 10 percent, the ones we would clone
If I am a real estate agent or team, use these states instead:
1. Under contract right now
2. Closed in the last 12 months
3. Sphere: knows me, has never transacted with me
4. Online lead gone quiet for 30+ days
5. Past client, two or more years since closing
6. Expired or withdrawn seller in my market
For each state, return:
- Subject line (under 45 characters, no clickbait)
- Preheader (under 80 characters)
- Body: 90 to 130 words, plain language, one idea, one clear next step, one link at most
- The single number I should check 7 days after sending
Rules:
- Match the message to the state. A past client gets "here is what changed since we last talked," not a pitch.
- The Best group gets a thank-you and a useful tip or resource. No offer.
- Anyone with a failed payment or an open complaint gets nothing promotional.
- Write as me, in first person. No em dashes.How to use it
- Fill the four bracketed lines. Do not skip the voice line; it is what keeps the output from sounding like a marketing department.
- Replace the states with yours. Six is plenty. If you cannot list your states, that is the real finding, and the Origin Score (twenty-seven questions, about five minutes) will show where your business is narrowest right now.
- Send the one that is most overdue first. It is almost always Past or Quiet.
- Measure by who you mailed. Pull the list of who received it and check what they did in the seven days after.
