> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.salesfinity.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cold email frameworks for your sequences

> Fifteen email frameworks built for teams that call, each with a template you can paste into a sequence step.

export const Status = ({kind = "early-access", children}) => {
  const labels = {
    "early-access": "Early access",
    "coming-soon": "Coming soon",
    beta: "Beta"
  };
  const key = labels[kind] ? kind : "early-access";
  return <span className={`sf-status sf-status-${key}`}>{children || labels[key]}</span>;
};

A template is a set of words. A framework is the shape of an email: what each sentence is there to
do. Templates wear out, because every prospect has already seen them. A framework keeps working,
because each rep fills it with something true about the person they are writing to.

These fifteen are built for the way Salesfinity teams sell. The call is the play, and email
supports it. So every framework here has one job in a sequence: earn the next call, follow one up,
or close the loop.

<Status kind="early-access" /> The Sequencer is in early access, on Enterprise, Enterprise+ and
Admin seats for teams in the early access program.

## The fifteen frameworks

| Framework | Its job | Where it goes |
| - | - | - |
| [The Trigger](/sequencer/frameworks-first-touch#the-trigger) | Open with something that just changed at their company | First email |
| [The One Problem](/sequencer/frameworks-first-touch#the-one-problem) | Name one problem people in their role have, and ask if it is theirs | First email |
| [The Lookalike](/sequencer/frameworks-first-touch#the-lookalike) | Show them a company like theirs that fixed it | First email |
| [The Short Question](/sequencer/frameworks-first-touch#the-short-question) | Two sentences and a question | First email, or a restart |
| [The Switch](/sequencer/frameworks-first-touch#the-switch) | Ask an account that uses a competitor whether it is still doing the job | First email, for rip and replace |
| [The Heads-Up](/sequencer/frameworks-around-the-call#the-heads-up) | Tell them you are about to call, and why | The day before a call |
| [The Double Tap](/sequencer/frameworks-around-the-call#the-double-tap) | Follow a missed call while your name is still on their phone | Right after a call step |
| [The Recap](/sequencer/frameworks-around-the-call#the-recap) | Put what you agreed on a call in writing | After a conversation |
| [The Right Person](/sequencer/frameworks-around-the-call#the-right-person) | Ask who owns the problem | After "not my area", or silence |
| [The Not Now](/sequencer/frameworks-around-the-call#the-not-now) | Come back on the date they gave you | After "call me next quarter" |
| [The Nudge](/sequencer/frameworks-follow-ups#the-nudge) | Bring your last email back to the top, with one new thing | Second or third email |
| [The New Angle](/sequencer/frameworks-follow-ups#the-new-angle) | Try a different problem instead of repeating the first | Mid-sequence |
| [The Clean Exit](/sequencer/frameworks-follow-ups#the-clean-exit) | End the sequence politely and leave the door open | Last email |
| [The No-Show Rescue](/sequencer/frameworks-follow-ups#the-no-show-rescue) | Rebook a missed meeting without the guilt trip | After a no-show |
| [The Second Look](/sequencer/frameworks-follow-ups#the-second-look) | Reopen an old conversation with what has changed | Closed-lost and old leads |

To see them chained into full sequences with call steps, go to
[Cold email playbooks](/sequencer/email-playbooks).

## Six rules every framework follows

1. **One email, one job.** Each email does one thing and ends with one question.
2. **Their world first.** Open with something about them. Your company can wait until the second
   or third sentence.
3. **Short enough for a phone.** If they have to scroll, cut it.
4. **Easy to answer.** In a first email, ask a question they can answer in one line. Save the
   calendar link for when they have said yes to something.
5. **Sounds like a note, not a campaign.** Plain words, no banners, no three links.
6. **True, or leave it out.** Name only the customers, numbers and events you can back up.

## Put a framework into a sequence

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add an email step">
    Open the sequence and click **Add step**, or press `N`. Choose **Email** to have it sent for
    you, or **Email (you send it)** to get a draft in your **Tasks** that you personalize and
    send.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the wait">
    Under **How long after the previous step**, set the wait the framework calls for. Every
    framework page says where it belongs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Paste the template">
    Copy the subject and body from the framework into the step.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fill in the placeholders">
    Merge fields in double curly braces fill themselves in. Anything in square brackets is for a
    person to write. See [Placeholders](#placeholders) below.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Preview it">
    Click **Preview as a sample contact** to see the email filled in. Fix anything marked
    **Would be blank** before you turn the sequence on.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Placeholders

The templates use two kinds of placeholder, and they behave very differently.

| Placeholder | Example | What happens to it |
| - | - | - |
| Merge field | `{{first_name}}`, `{{company}}`, `{{title}}` | Filled from the contact when the email sends |
| Custom field | `{{custom.trigger}}` | Filled from a column in the CSV you uploaded, matched by its header |
| Square brackets | `[one line about the trigger]` | Nothing. A person has to replace it |

<Warning>
  Square brackets are not merge fields. In an **Email** step, bracket text is sent to the prospect
  exactly as typed. Use bracket templates in **Email (you send it)** steps, where a rep edits the
  draft first. For an automatic **Email** step, replace every bracket with fixed words or a custom
  field.
</Warning>

To personalize automatic emails at scale, add a column to your list before you upload it. Every
column you don't map to a contact detail becomes a custom field named after its header. A column
called `trigger` becomes `{{custom.trigger}}`. See [Add people to a sequence](/sequencer/enrolling-people).

### Which step type each framework needs

| Step type | Frameworks | Why |
| - | - | - |
| **Email (you send it)** | The Trigger, The Double Tap, The Recap, The Right Person, The Not Now, The No-Show Rescue, The Second Look | Each one refers to something only the rep knows: what happened on the call, or what changed |
| **Email** | The One Problem, The Short Question, The Heads-Up, The Nudge, The New Angle, The Clean Exit | The same words work for everyone in a well-built list |
| Either | The Lookalike, The Switch | Automatic if one customer story fits the whole list, or the tool each account uses is in a column. Otherwise by hand |

### Sign-offs

The Sequencer has no merge field for the sender's name, so type your sign-off into the template
where it says `[Your name]`. If several reps add people to the same sequence, duplicate it for
each rep so the name is right.

## For managers: test one framework against another

You don't have to guess which framework your market answers. There are two ways to test.

**The simple way: two sequences.** Duplicate the sequence, swap one email for a different
framework, and add half of your list to each. Then compare the **Analytics** tab of the two
sequences: **Replied**, **People replied**, **Bounced** and **Opted out**.

**The precise way: two templates in one step.** On an email step, click **Use saved templates**
and add two emails built on different frameworks. A step can hold up to 10. Give them the same
weight, and Salesfinity picks one at random for each person. Each template keeps its own counts of
sends, opens, clicks, replies, bounces and opt-outs. The app's **Analytics** tab shows totals for
the whole sequence, so read the counts for each template through the API
([List templates](/api-reference/endpoint/list-sequencer-templates)) or the
[MCP server](/mcp/sequencer-tools). To retire the weaker email, set its weight to 0.

Whichever way you test, change one thing at a time, and judge on replies and on the meetings your
call steps book afterward. Opens tell you about the subject line, not the email.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="First-touch frameworks" icon="paper-plane" href="/sequencer/frameworks-first-touch">
    Five ways to open a conversation with someone who has never heard of you.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cold email playbooks" icon="list-check" href="/sequencer/email-playbooks">
    Full sequences that chain these frameworks with call steps.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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