The email coach skill

A free Claude skill we use ourselves - it coaches your emails instead of just rewriting them.

What it does

Hand it a rough draft and a line of context, and it gives you three things: a reader's-eye read-back of how your email actually lands, a redraft built on an inverted-pyramid structure with the ask up front, and - the part that matters - the reasoning behind every meaningful change. A redraft with no explanation fixes one email; a redraft with the reasoning fixes every email after it.

The one idea it's built on: communication only happens on receipt. Sending is not communicating - an email is only communicated when the reader actually absorbs it. Every judgement in the skill traces back to that.

New in this version: the skill now catches AI writing tells - the binary reframe ("it's not just an update, it's a milestone"), self-answered questions, performed empathy, the connector parade, and the rest. Email drafted with AI help is normal now, but default model prose has a recognisable shape, and a reader who spots it starts discounting the message. If you downloaded an earlier copy, grab this one.

It also handles the hard cases: bad-news emails that risk tipping into passive-aggressive, the "sorry for the late reply" trap (there's a better opening, backed by published research), and how to chase an email that's being ignored. It's a plain-text file - open it and read exactly what it tells Claude to do.

See it work

A project update, written the way most of us write one late on a Friday. Nothing about it is incompetent - it is clear, polite and complete. It just makes the reader do the work.

The draft

No subject line

Hi Bob,

Sorry for delay in providing this update. Hope you are well.

I would like to update you about the project. It is on track and we're at budget. One risk to be aware of is that we increased scope for the agent. Jane sees extra value in the agent being able to log the file requests into the tracker, so we mapped out that change and the CR is sitting with Alan. He hasn't approved it yet and the project dates might slip if he doesn't approve in the next 3 days.

Would you be able to nudge Alan about that please?

Also, I have booked a trip to Brisbane for the conference next month and will be out of office from the 13th to the 19th.

Thanks
Jeff

After the coach

Subject: Agent project - CR needs Alan's approval by Tuesday 18 August

Hi Bob,

Could you nudge Alan to approve the change request sitting with him? If it is approved by Tuesday 18 August the delivery dates hold. After that they start to slip.

Thanks,
Jeff

Where the project stands

Otherwise it is in good shape.

On track and on budget.
Scope has grown: Jane wants the agent to log file requests into the tracker as well.
We have mapped that change and raised the CR. It is with Alan, unapproved.

Same facts, same tone, roughly half the words. The difference is that a reader skimming on a phone now acts on it.

What the coach changed, and why

The apology went, and so did "hope you are well". A minor delay with no cost to the reader does not need referencing - it spends your only guaranteed sentence on the one thing you would rather they did not dwell on. Published research backs this: for small failures, thanks restores goodwill better than sorry.

"I would like to update you about the project" is a sentence about a sentence. Cut it and start with the thing itself.

The ask moved to the top and got a real date. It was in paragraph four, behind the detail. And "the next 3 days" rots the moment the email sits unread until Monday - a date survives, a relative deadline does not.

The deadline is framed as a consequence, not a demand. "So the dates hold" gives the reader a reason to move Alan. "Within 3 days" just gives them a deadline.

The leave notice was split into its own email. Different purpose, different shelf life - the reader will go looking for those dates in September, not dig them out of an August status update.

The sign-off sits above the detail. It looks odd the first time. It means the busiest reader gets the entire ask without scrolling, and the context is still there for whoever wants it.

It also flags what is missing. The scope grew but the email says "on budget" - does the change request move the number? By how much do the dates slip if it is not approved? And who covers the week away in September? The reader will ask all three, so the coach asks first. That is the part a proofreader cannot do.

How to install it

Skills work in the Claude desktop app (Cowork) and Claude Code, on any paid Claude plan.

Download the email-coach.skill file above.

Open the Claude desktop app and drop the file into a chat - Claude offers a Save skill button. Click it.

That's it. Next time you write "coach this email" and paste a draft, the skill loads automatically.

Prefer to see what you're installing first? Download the SKILL.md and read it - it's plain English, no code. You can also paste its contents into any AI chat as a one-off prompt, though the skill route means you never have to paste it again.

Want more of this?

This skill is one small piece of how we help organisations put AI to work - agents, automation and the Microsoft Power Platform, proved with rapid proofs of concept rather than slide decks. If you'd like a conversation about what that could look like in your business, we're easy to find: talk to us, or browse the insights hub for the thinking behind the work.