{"id":"mkt2-pre-send-email-checklist","audience":"freelancers","category":"writing-emails","track":"marketing","technique":"format","level":"beginner","title":"Turn last send's mistakes into a six-line pre-send checklist","free":false,"task":"You send newsletters for several small clients and keep making the same mistakes. Write a prompt that turns the post-mortem into a pre-send checklist: exactly 6 lines, each starting with \"- [ ]\", each a check phrased as an action under 12 words, covering only mistakes that actually happened. Plain text, no intro or sign-off.","materialLabel":"Post-mortem notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"POST-MORTEM - Garnet & Co newsletter, sent Nov 3\n\nWhat went wrong:\n1. The subject line said \"Fall menu\" but the email was about the holiday menu.\n2. The \"Reserve a table\" button linked to last year's booking page.\n3. The preview text showed \"View in browser\" instead of a summary.\n4. We sent to the whole list including 214 people who unsubscribed last week (suppression list not applied).\n5. A client name was spelled \"Garnett\" in the footer.\n6. The send time was set to 3 a.m. because the time zone was wrong.\n\nWhat went right: images loaded fast, mobile layout looked good, the offer code worked.\n\nThings the client wished for (not mistakes): a bigger logo, more photos, a longer email.\nNext send: Nov 17.","rules":[{"type":"maxBullets","max":6},{"type":"maxWords","max":80}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Adding generic best practices","why":"The AI pads the list with checks that never happened.","fix":"Say: \"Cover only mistakes that actually happened in the post-mortem.\"","checks":["r1","r2"]},{"title":"Wrong checkbox format","why":"The AI uses plain bullets or numbers.","fix":"Show the format: \"- [ ] Check the subject matches the content\".","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Long checks","why":"Items run to full sentences.","fix":"Say: \"Each under 10 words, phrased as an action.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Too many bullets","why":"AI turns everything into long bullet lists.","fix":"State the bullet cap exactly.","checks":["maxBullets"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting and often runs past a word limit.","fix":"Cap each part (for example \"each line under 15 words\") so the total lands well under the limit.","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Gives the checkbox format","patterns":["- \\[ \\]","\\[ \\]","checkbox"]},{"label":"Sets the count","patterns":["6 lines","six lines","exactly 6","exactly six"]},{"label":"Limits to real mistakes","patterns":["only .*mistakes","actually happened","post-mortem"]},{"label":"Phrases as actions","patterns":["action","under 10 words","10 words"]},{"label":"Asks for no extras","patterns":["no intro","plain text","no sign-off"]}],"hint":"The notes mix mistakes, wins and wishes. Tell the AI to build the list only from what went wrong, in the exact checkbox format.","mission":"Build a pre-send checklist from last send's real mistakes.","musts":["Exactly 6 checkbox lines","Only mistakes that happened","Checks under 12 words"],"rubricLabels":["Six lines start with - [ ] and each is a check of 11 words or fewer","The checks cover the six mistakes that happened (subject match, button link, preview text, suppression list, spelling, send time)","No line covers the client's wishes (bigger logo, more photos, longer email) or the things that went right"]}