Segmented loyalty offer by attendance history. Recognition is the offer, not a discount.
How to use it
Copy the SKILL.md below, paste it into a Claude chat, and tell Claude to remember it as a skill. Claude will save it and pull it in the next time you ask for a loyalty tier email.
To make it match your venue, tell Claude the details it doesn't know yet: your venue name, the typical recognition you offer regulars (early access, priority will-call, a private show, a name on the wall, simply a public thank-you), your sign-off conventions, anything your team does differently. Then ask Claude to update the skill with that information. The file will be tuned to how you actually run loyalty, without you ever opening a code editor.
Works best with: install the venue-voice-profile-builder first. Loyalty emails are voice-sensitive because they are reflective and personal. The skill checks for the profile it produces and writes in your venue's voice when it finds one. Without it, Claude falls back to a generic event-marketing voice.
Once it's saved, trigger it by telling Claude "use the loyalty tier email skill" and pasting the tiers you want emails for (with the show-count cutoffs), the recognition each tier gets, and the fan-data placeholders you want personalized in at send time. Do not use it for artist-specific segmentation, flash sales, or fan reactivation. Those have their own skills.
---
name: loyalty-tier-email
description: Draft a segmented loyalty email that offers different tiers of recognition based on how many shows a fan has attended (heavy attendee, mid attendee, light attendee), where the recognition itself is the offer rather than a discount. Trigger whenever an operator says "write the loyalty email", "draft the seven-time attendee email", "we want to recognize our regulars", "Elements-style loyalty send", "build the tiered loyalty offer", or describes a campaign that rewards fans by show count. Also trigger when the operator pastes a segmentation of fans by attendance history and asks for the email that goes to each tier. This skill is built on the Elements playbook: recognition is the offer. Distinct from artist-specific segmentation (use `audience-segmentation-brief`) and from flash sale or discount-driven sends (use `price-drop-flash-sale-email`).
---
# Loyalty tier email
## What this skill does
This skill drafts the email that recognizes a fan based on how many shows they have attended at the venue, segmented into tiers. The version of this campaign that works (Elements ran it well) does not lead with a discount. It leads with the recognition itself. The number, the years, the streak. The fan reads the email and feels seen. That is the offer.
The skill produces one email per tier the operator wants. The structure is consistent across tiers; the recognition copy and the call to action change.
## When to trigger
Trigger when an operator wants to recognize repeat attendees through a segmented send. Trigger on "loyalty email", "tiered recognition", "regulars email", "Elements-style loyalty send", "[N]-time attendee email", or when the operator pastes a fan-count-by-tier breakdown and asks for the campaign.
Do not trigger this skill for artist-specific segmentation (use audience-segmentation-brief), for flash sales or price drops (use price-drop-flash-sale-email), or for lapsed-fan reactivation (use fan-reactivation-tactics). Those are different jobs.
## Required inputs
Ask for these in one message if anything is missing.
The tiers the operator wants emails for, and the show count or behavior that defines each tier. Examples: seven-or-more-time attendees, three-to-six-time attendees, one-to-two-time attendees. The operator decides the cutoffs. The skill writes one email per tier they want.
The window. Attendance counted in the last twelve months, since the venue opened, since a date the operator names. The window matters because "seven shows since 2019" reads different than "seven shows in twelve months".
The recognition itself. What the venue is actually offering each tier. Examples: early access to all on-sales for the next year, a name on the wall at the venue, priority will-call line, an invite to a free private show, a venue-branded item, simply a public thank-you in the body of the email with no other offer. The recognition is the point. The skill needs to know what it is.
The fan's data the venue will personalize in. Show count, first show date, most-attended artist, total years on the list. The skill drafts placeholders the operator fills in at send time.
The venue voice profile if one exists. Loyalty emails are voice-sensitive because they are reflective and personal. Default to the profile if it exists; ask the operator about voice fallback if it does not.
Any tier-specific notes from the operator. The seven-plus tier might warrant a hand-signed sign-off from the booker. The one-to-two tier might warrant a softer ask. Capture these before drafting.
## Voice
Read the venue voice profile if one exists. Loyalty emails should sound like the venue speaking, not a brand running a points program. The reader should feel addressed, not enrolled.
Default Backstage operator voice if no profile exists: warm, specific, declarative. The skill writes like a venue thanking a regular by name, not like a loyalty platform sending a tier upgrade notification.
Hard voice rules:
No em-dashes. Use commas, semicolons, or periods.
No fragment chains.
No fabricated specifics. The number of shows the fan has attended is the fan's number. The first show is the first show. Do not invent details to add warmth. Recognition that is half made up is worse than no recognition at all.
No "VIP", "elite", "exclusive" framing unless the venue voice profile uses those words. Most independent venues do not.
No discount-language framing the recognition as a perk-tier reward. The recognition is the email. If there is a discount, name it plainly; do not pitch it as the climax.
## Structure per tier email
Every tier email follows this skeleton. The recognition copy and the call to action change.
Subject line. One option per tier. Different tiers get different subject lines. The seven-plus tier subject line is usually the fan's number ("[Fan first name], seven shows in") or a phrase the venue uses to mean "you are part of this room". The lower tiers use lighter framing ("Glad you came back" or "Thanks for being on the list"). Under 55 characters per tier. No all caps unless the voice profile uses them.
Preheader. One sentence. Twelve to eighteen words. The preheader should add a specific personalization detail the subject line did not: the first show, the most-attended artist, the year they joined the list.
Opener. Two to three sentences. Lead with the recognition. State the number, the window, or the streak directly. Make it specific. "You have been at seven shows at [Venue] in the last twelve months" is better than "You are one of our most loyal fans". Specificity earns the email.
Reflection. One short paragraph, two or three sentences. What that number means in the venue's voice. The booker's perspective, the room's perspective, the scene the venue is part of. Avoid corporate gratitude. If the operator gave you a real note ("this is the third year we have had Elements regulars at every show of the residency"), use it.
The offer (or no offer). One short paragraph. State what the venue is offering this tier, plainly. If the offer is purely the recognition (no perk attached), the paragraph names that, in a way that does not feel like an empty promise. If there is a tangible perk (early access, priority line, free private show), name it specifically and give the next-step link. If the tier gets a different perk than the others, the difference is the differentiator. Do not blur it.
CTA. One primary link if the perk requires action (claim early access, RSVP to the private show, redeem the credit). No CTA if the recognition is the email and no action is required. The lower tiers may have a soft ask: "Reply and tell us your favorite show this year". Soft asks are fine. Sales asks are not.
Close. One line. Optional sign-off. The highest tier may warrant a personal sign-off from the booker or the owner, if the operator confirms that.
## Length cap per email
Body prose sits at about 140 words per tier email. Loyalty emails earn a little more length than transactional emails because they are reflective.
Total email length should not exceed 180 words. Past that, the emotional weight starts to drain. Recognition is sharpest when it is short.
## Common failure modes to avoid
Treating the recognition as a setup for the offer. The recognition is the offer. If the email reads like "thanks for coming to seven shows, here is 10% off the next ticket", the recognition is reduced to a coupon disclosure.
Same email, three tiers. The whole point of the campaign is that the seven-plus reader gets something different than the one-to-two reader. If two of the tier emails are interchangeable when you swap the number, the segmentation has not been earned.
Generic "valued member" language. "Thank you for being a valued member of our community" is brand-bot copy. Loyalty emails fail fastest on this exact phrase.
Inventing first-show details. If the operator did not give you the first-show artist or date, use the placeholder and let the operator personalize at send time. Do not make up the first show to add warmth.
Treating the lowest tier as an afterthought. The one-to-two tier often has the most upside. Recognition at that level converts new attendees into regulars. Draft this tier with as much care as the heaviest tier.
Hyping the tier. "You are part of an exclusive group of seven-plus attendees" is overreach. State the number. Let the number do the work.
## What to deliver
Return one email per tier the operator asked for, in the structure above, with the tier clearly labeled.
For each email return:
Subject line.
Preheader.
Body copy with placeholders for personalization (first name, show count, first show date, most-attended artist) called out clearly.
CTA copy and destination URL, if the tier has an action attached.
A short closing note, two to three sentences, naming any tier where the recognition felt thin given the inputs and the single piece of fan data that would sharpen it. Do not walk the operator through every word choice. The emails are the doc.
.svg "backstage logo 1 (3)")
