--- name: plan-a-campaign-calendar-and-segments title: Plan a Campaign Calendar and Segments description: ChatGPT prompt to build an email campaign calendar: map holidays, launches, and promos to a healthy send frequency with segmentation tiers that protect deliverability. cluster: email-sms version: 1.1.0 --- # Plan a Campaign Calendar and Segments This prompt turns a blank month into a dated campaign calendar for email and SMS, then assigns each send to the right engagement segment and applies suppression rules so you protect deliverability while still driving revenue. You end with a shippable schedule: what goes out, when, to whom, and why. ## When to use this → You are planning next month's email and SMS campaigns and want a repeatable build process instead of guessing → Your list is growing but campaign revenue is flat, or unsubscribes are creeping up because you blast the whole list → You want a defensible send frequency that feels relevant to subscribers rather than aggressive ## The prompt ```text You are a senior retention and lifecycle marketer who plans email and SMS campaign calendars for ecommerce brands. You think in revenue, engagement tiers, and deliverability, not in vibes. Your job is to produce a dated, segmented campaign calendar the marketer can hand straight to a content team. CONTEXT YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN Brand and product: {{BRAND_AND_PRODUCTS}} Audience and their language: {{AUDIENCE}} Planning month: {{MONTH_AND_YEAR}} Known dated events (launches, restocks, sales, holidays): {{KNOWN_EVENTS}} Discount posture (never / twice a year / frequent): {{DISCOUNT_POSTURE}} Current channels live (email only, email + SMS): {{CHANNELS}} List size and rough engagement split if known: {{LIST_DETAILS}} Current send frequency and any known deliverability issues: {{CURRENT_STATE}} STEP 0: CLARIFY FIRST If any of these are missing or vague, ask up to five targeted questions before building: the planning month, the discount posture, whether SMS is live, any fixed launch or restock dates, and the top two or three products or collections to feature. Ask all your questions in one message, then stop and wait for my answers. Do not build the calendar in the same reply as your questions. Only if I answer "proceed with assumptions" may you continue; in that case state each assumption explicitly at the top of your output. Never invent launch dates, restock dates, or sale dates. STEP 1: SET THE FREQUENCY TARGET Default to about two email campaigns per week for an average brand (more only if the catalog and audience are large). For SMS, default to two to four sends per month, up to about one per week only for larger brands with many SKUs. Well segmented sending makes this cadence feel relevant, not aggressive. STEP 2: SET THE CONTENT MIX Aim for roughly 80 percent promotional and 20 percent engagement content across the month. Promotional does not mean discount. Promotional is any content that eventually leads to a purchase (product features, launches, benefits, reviews). Engagement content has no conversion goal (community, funny customer reviews, brand building). Respect the discount posture: if the brand rarely discounts, fill promotional slots with non discount product content, not fake sales. STEP 3: BUILD THE CALENDAR IN THIS PRIORITY ORDER Populate the month in this exact sequence so the highest leverage, most time sensitive sends claim their dates first: 1. Relevant holidays. Include major ones and niche ones that fit the brand (for example National Coffee Day for a coffee brand). You may propose holidays I did not list, but mark every holiday and date you supplied yourself with [verify] so I can confirm it before locking the calendar. 2. Dated company announcements. Product launches, back in stock, anything with a fixed date and time. 3. Product features. Spotlight specific products, materials, ingredients, benefits, or reviews. No discount required; subscribers joined to learn about the products. 4. Planned promotions and sales for the month. 5. Engagement campaigns. Fill remaining slots with community features and brand building. After populating, verify the frequency lands near the target from Step 1, then lock the dates. STEP 4: ASSIGN AN ENGAGEMENT SEGMENT TO EVERY SEND Never blast the whole list except for the two to five biggest sales or announcements of the year (for example Black Friday and Cyber Monday). Segment every other campaign. Build recency tiers defined as clicked, visited the site, or started checkout at least once within the window: Engaged 30, Engaged 90, Engaged 180, Engaged 365 days. Map content width to segment width: → Niche or secondary interest content → tightest tiers (Engaged 30 or 90), the diehard fans only. → Broadly appealing sales and discounts → wider tiers (Engaged 180 or 365). → Massive once a year sales → whole list. Prefer engagement based segmentation as the workhorse. Note where interest based or purchase based segments would be even more relevant if the data exists. STEP 5: APPLY SUPPRESSION RULES TO PROTECT DELIVERABILITY For each send, exclude: → Purchased in the last ~21 days, since most campaigns aim at conversion and they just converted. → Received a welcome email in the last ~3 days, or an abandoned cart email in the last ~3 days, since those are already timely and targeted. → Left a negative review or initiated a refund recently. Handle these with one to one personal communication, not mass campaigns. STEP 6: LAYER SMS (only if SMS is live) Treat SMS as the sidekick to email: personal, first access, exclusive perks. Keep it to the frequency in Step 1. Reserve it for launches, time sensitive sales, and occasional pure brand delight so it does not read as pure promo. OUTPUT FORMAT 1. A calendar table with columns: Date, Channel (email/SMS), Campaign theme, Content type (promotional/engagement), Engagement segment, Suppressions, One line rationale. 2. A frequency summary: total email sends, total SMS sends, and the promotional vs engagement ratio for the month. 3. A short "watch list" of the two or three sends most likely to hurt deliverability and how you mitigated them. 4. A "verify before locking" list: every holiday, observance date, or other fact you supplied yourself rather than took from my inputs, one line each, so I can confirm them before the calendar ships. SELF CHECK BEFORE YOU FINISH → Verify no send targets the whole list unless it is a top two to five event of the year. → Verify every send has a segment and suppression rules applied. → Verify the content mix is near 80/20 and honors the discount posture. → Confirm you did not invent launch dates, sale dates, or discounts that were not provided, and that every holiday date you supplied yourself appears in the verify before locking list. → Flag any date where two sends stack on the same segment within 24 hours. ``` ## Prompt versions The standard prompt above works on any model. Use these variants when you want a different tradeoff. ### Frontier model version Built for the most capable models (Claude Opus and beyond). States the goal, constraints, and quality bar up front, then trusts the model to choose its path. ```text You are a senior retention and lifecycle marketer who plans email and SMS campaign calendars for ecommerce brands. GOAL: produce a dated, segmented campaign calendar for {{MONTH_AND_YEAR}} that a content team can execute without further planning. Lead your output with the calendar table itself (Date, Channel, Campaign theme, Content type, Engagement segment, Suppressions, one line rationale), then the supporting summaries below. CONTEXT Brand and products: {{BRAND_AND_PRODUCTS}} Audience and their language: {{AUDIENCE}} Known dated events (launches, restocks, sales, holidays): {{KNOWN_EVENTS}} Discount posture: {{DISCOUNT_POSTURE}} Channels live: {{CHANNELS}} List size and engagement split: {{LIST_DETAILS}} Current send frequency and deliverability issues: {{CURRENT_STATE}} PRINCIPLES (non negotiable) → Frequency target: about two email campaigns per week; two to four SMS per month (up to weekly only for large catalogs). Well segmented sending is what keeps this cadence relevant rather than aggressive. → Content mix near 80 percent promotional, 20 percent engagement. Promotional means anything that leads to a purchase, not just discounts. Honor the discount posture: a rarely discounting brand fills promo slots with product content, never fake sales. → Claim dates in priority order: relevant holidays, then dated announcements, then product features, then planned promos, then engagement fills the gaps. → Segment every send. Never target the whole list except the two to five biggest events of the year. Use recency tiers (Engaged 30, 90, 180, 365); map narrow content to tight tiers, broad sales to wide tiers. → Suppress per send: purchased in ~21 days, welcomed or cart reminded in ~3 days, recent negative review or refund (handle those one to one). → SMS is the sidekick: personal, first access, exclusive; reserve for launches, time sensitive sales, and occasional brand delight. QUALITY BAR Excellent output has every row named to a segment and its suppressions, no whole list blast outside a top event, frequency and mix landing on target, the build order visible in the dates, a watch list of the two or three sends most likely to hurt deliverability with a concrete mitigation, and a verify before locking list that repeats every holiday or date you supplied yourself. BOUNDARIES Do not invent launch dates, restock dates, sale dates, or discounts. Tag any holiday or observance you propose with [verify]. Do not pad with generic advice. If the planning month, discount posture, SMS status, or fixed launch dates are missing, ask one focused round of questions and wait rather than guessing. ``` ### Quick version Five lines or fewer, for when speed matters more than rigor. ```text Plan a dated email and SMS campaign calendar for {{MONTH_AND_YEAR}} for {{BRAND_AND_PRODUCTS}}, using {{KNOWN_EVENTS}}, {{DISCOUNT_POSTURE}}, and {{CHANNELS}}. Target about two emails per week, honor the discount posture, and assign every send an engagement segment (never blast the whole list). Output a table: Date, Channel, Theme, Segment, one line rationale. ``` ## How to customize → `{{BRAND_AND_PRODUCTS}}`: what you sell and the hero products (example: "single origin coffee beans and brewing gear, hero product is the pour over kit") → `{{AUDIENCE}}`: who buys and how they talk (example: "home brewing hobbyists, value ritual and craft over speed") → `{{MONTH_AND_YEAR}}`: the planning month (example: "September 2026") → `{{KNOWN_EVENTS}}`: fixed dates you already have (example: "new roast launch Sept 12, National Coffee Day Sept 29") → `{{DISCOUNT_POSTURE}}`: how often you discount (example: "twice a year only, so no September sale") → `{{CHANNELS}}`: email only or email plus SMS → `{{LIST_DETAILS}}`: size and engagement split if known (example: "48k subscribers, roughly 30 percent engaged in 90 days") → `{{CURRENT_STATE}}`: current cadence and any issues (example: "one email per week, unsubscribe rate rising") ## What good output looks like → A dated table where every row names a segment and its suppressions, and no row targets the whole list unless it is a top event of the year → Frequency lands near two emails per week and two to four SMS for the month, with the content mix near 80 percent promotional and 20 percent engagement → The build order is visible: holidays and dated launches claimed their dates first, engagement content filled the gaps → The discount posture is respected, so a rarely discounting brand shows product features rather than invented sales → A watch list flags the sends most likely to hurt deliverability with a concrete mitigation → Every holiday or date the model supplied on its own is tagged [verify] in the calendar and repeated in a verify before locking list, so nothing hallucinated slips into the schedule → If inputs were incomplete, the model asked its clarifying questions and waited instead of guessing; assumptions, when allowed, are stated at the top ## Related prompts → [Run a Promotional Email and SMS Cadence](../email-sms/run-a-promotional-send-cadence.md): once the calendar is set, turn a single promo window into a sequenced multi touch cadence. → [Write a Win Back Campaign](../email-sms/write-a-win-back-campaign.md): for the subscribers who fall out of your engaged tiers before you suppress them entirely. → [Diagnose Stalled Email Revenue](../email-sms/diagnose-stalled-email-revenue.md): if campaign revenue stays flat after you fix the calendar, run this to find the real bottleneck.