Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation

Script location. If your host does not set ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}, the scripts are in this plugin's scripts/ folder, next to skills/.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this module when the user's request involves any of the following:

• Workflow Design: Building, mapping, or optimizing automated marketing workflows and sequences
• Lead Scoring: Creating or refining lead scoring models, defining MQL/SQL thresholds, or troubleshooting scoring accuracy
• Nurture Sequences: Designing email nurture campaigns, drip sequences, or lifecycle-stage-based communication flows
• Drip Campaigns: Time-based or behavior-based automated email series for onboarding, education, or conversion
• Behavioral Triggers: Setting up event-based automation triggers (page visits, form fills, email engagement, product usage)
• Lifecycle Marketing: Mapping and automating communication across subscriber, lead, MQL, SQL, customer, and advocate stages
• Marketing Operations: Data hygiene, process optimization, tech stack management, deliverability, and compliance automation
• Platform Strategy: Selecting, configuring, or migrating between marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Marketo, Pardot)
• Integration Patterns: Connecting MAP to CRM, CDP, analytics, ad platforms, or custom data sources
• Reporting & Attribution: Measuring automation performance, sequence attribution, and lifecycle velocity
• Cross-Channel Orchestration: Coordinating automated touchpoints across email, SMS, push notifications, in-app messaging, and retargeting

Trigger phrases: "automation workflow," "lead scoring," "nurture sequence," "drip campaign," "behavioral trigger," "lifecycle stage," "marketing ops," "HubSpot," "ActiveCampaign," "Klaviyo," "Marketo," "Mailchimp," "Pardot," "marketing automation," "lead nurture," "welcome series," "abandoned cart," "re-engagement," "win-back," "onboarding sequence," "scoring model," "MQL," "SQL," "lead handoff," "automation platform," "MAP," "marketing operations," "data hygiene," "deliverability," "consent management," "preference center"

Brand Context (Auto-Applied)

Before producing any marketing output from this module:

1. Check session context — The active brand summary was output at session start. Use the brand name, industry, voice settings, channels, goals, compliance, and competitors shown there.
2. If you need the full profile, read: ~/.claude-marketing/brands/{slug}/profile.json
3. Apply brand voice — Formality, energy, humor, authority levels must shape all content tone and word choices
4. Check compliance — Auto-apply rules for brand's target_markets and industry using skills/context-engine/compliance-rules.md
5. Reference industry benchmarks — Consult skills/context-engine/industry-profiles.md for the brand's industry
6. Use platform specs — Reference skills/context-engine/platform-specs.md for character limits and format requirements
7. Check campaign history — Run python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/campaign-tracker.py" --brand {slug} --action list-campaigns before planning new work
8. If no brand exists, say: "No brand profile found. Use /digital-marketing-pro:brand-setup to create one, or I can proceed with general best practices."
9. Check brand guidelines — If ~/.claude-marketing/brands/{slug}/guidelines/_manifest.json exists, load and enforce: restrictions.md for banned words, restricted claims, and mandatory disclaimers; channel-styles.md for channel-specific tone overrides (may differ from base voice); messaging.md for approved key messages, taglines, and positioning language; voice-and-tone.md for detailed voice rules beyond the 4 numeric scores. If producing content for a specific channel, channel style rules take precedence over base voice settings.

Do not ask the user for information that already exists in their brand profile.

Required Context

Before executing automation work, gather:

1. Business Model: B2B SaaS, B2B services, B2C e-commerce, B2C subscription, D2C, local business, etc.
2. Sales Motion: Product-led, sales-led, hybrid, or self-serve (determines automation complexity)
3. Current Platform: Which MAP is in use? CRM? CDP? (or is this a greenfield selection)
4. Lifecycle Stages: Are stages defined? What criteria determine each stage transition?
5. Lead Volume: Monthly inbound leads, website traffic, list size (determines scoring model complexity)
6. Sales Team Structure: SDRs, AEs, self-serve — who receives handoffs and at what threshold?
7. Content Library: What content assets exist for nurture (blog posts, case studies, webinars, whitepapers)?
8. Current Automations: What workflows already exist? Are they performing?
9. Integration Stack: CRM, analytics, ad platforms, webinar tools, chat, billing — what connects to what?
10. Compliance Requirements: GDPR, CCPA, CAN-SPAM, CASL — what regions and regulations apply?

For quick requests (e.g., "build me a welcome sequence"), infer reasonable defaults from the business model and deliver immediately. For strategic automation architecture, gather full context.

Capabilities

• Workflow Design & Architecture: End-to-end automation workflow mapping, trigger design, branching logic, wait steps, goal conditions, and exit criteria for any marketing scenario
• Lead Scoring Models: Explicit scoring (demographic/firmographic fit), implicit scoring (behavioral engagement), negative scoring (disqualifiers), score decay, and threshold calibration for MQL/SQL handoff
• Nurture Sequence Design: Stage-specific nurture campaigns with content mapping, cadence optimization, personalization layers, and progressive profiling strategies
• Drip Campaign Engineering: Time-based and behavior-based drip architectures for welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase follow-up, onboarding, re-engagement, and win-back
• Behavioral Trigger Systems: Event-based automation using page views, email engagement, form submissions, product usage events, purchase history, and custom events
• Lifecycle Stage Management: Stage definitions, transition criteria, automated stage progression, stage-based content strategy, and lifecycle velocity tracking
• Cross-Channel Orchestration: Coordinating email, SMS, push notifications, in-app messaging, direct mail triggers, and retargeting audiences within unified workflows
• Marketing Operations: Data hygiene automation (deduplication, normalization, enrichment), process optimization, campaign request workflows, QA checklists, and approval gates
• Deliverability Management: Sender reputation monitoring, authentication setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), IP warm-up planning, list hygiene automation, and inbox placement optimization
• Compliance Automation: Consent management workflows, preference center design, suppression list management, GDPR/CCPA automated data handling, and unsubscribe processing
• Platform Strategy: MAP selection criteria, feature comparison across HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Marketo, and Pardot — migration planning and implementation roadmaps
• Integration Architecture: CRM sync patterns, bi-directional data flows, webhook design, API integration strategy, and data transformation logic between systems
• Reporting & Attribution: Automation performance dashboards, sequence-level attribution, lifecycle velocity metrics, engagement scoring analysis, and ROI measurement for automation programs

Process

Primary Workflow: Automation Strategy & Build

1. Lifecycle Stage Definition

   • Map the full lifecycle from anonymous visitor through advocate
   • Define explicit criteria for each stage transition (scoring threshold, action trigger, or time-based)
   • Identify which stages are marketing-owned vs. sales-owned
   • Establish SLAs for stage transitions (e.g., MQL-to-SQL response time)

2. Lead Scoring Model Design

   • Build explicit scoring based on demographic/firmographic fit
   • Layer implicit scoring from behavioral engagement signals
   • Add negative scoring for disqualifiers and inactivity decay
   • Set MQL and SQL thresholds with the sales team
   • Define the handoff process and feedback loop for scoring accuracy

3. Workflow Architecture

   • Map all required automation workflows (welcome, nurture, scoring, handoff, re-engagement, etc.)
   • For each workflow, define: trigger, entry criteria, steps, branching logic, wait times, exit conditions, and success metric
   • Design cross-channel coordination rules (when to email vs. SMS vs. push)
   • Build suppression and frequency capping logic to prevent over-communication

4. Nurture Sequence Design

   • Map content to each lifecycle stage and persona
   • Design cadence and timing based on business model (B2B vs. B2C) and industry benchmarks
   • Layer personalization: name, company, industry, behavior-based content blocks, stage-appropriate messaging
   • Define exit triggers (converted, unsubscribed, disqualified, moved to different sequence)
   • Plan A/B tests within sequences (subject lines, send times, content variants)

5. Implementation & Testing

   • Build workflows in the MAP with proper naming conventions
   • Test every branch path with sample contacts before activation
   • Verify integrations fire correctly (CRM sync, scoring updates, handoff notifications)
   • Confirm suppression rules prevent conflicts between active workflows
   • Set up monitoring alerts for error rates and unexpected drops in flow completion

6. Optimization & Reporting

   • Define KPIs per workflow (completion rate, conversion rate, time-to-convert, engagement rate)
   • Build reporting dashboard for automation program performance
   • Establish review cadence (weekly for active campaigns, monthly for scoring model accuracy)
   • Document learnings and feed back into workflow refinement

Secondary Workflow: Automation Audit & Optimization

1. Pull inventory of all active workflows, their trigger conditions, and current performance
2. Identify zombie workflows (active but no contacts entering), underperformers (low completion or conversion), and conflicts (overlapping triggers or suppression gaps)
3. Audit lead scoring accuracy by comparing score-to-conversion correlation
4. Review data hygiene (duplicate rates, field completeness, decay)
5. Assess deliverability health (bounce rates, spam complaints, authentication status)
6. Prioritize fixes by revenue impact and implementation effort

Reference Files

• automation-workflows.md — Workflow design patterns, trigger types, branching logic, cross-channel orchestration, testing methodology, and common anti-patterns
• lead-scoring.md — Explicit and implicit scoring models, point value frameworks, threshold calibration, decay rates, and scoring models by business type
• nurture-sequences.md — Lifecycle-stage nurture design, sequence templates, cadence optimization, personalization layers, and content mapping frameworks
• marketing-ops.md — Data hygiene automation, tech stack management, deliverability, compliance automation, team workflows, and platform comparison matrix