If you're sending cold emails or sales outreach, you know most of them end up ignored. You tweak the subject line, try new templates, and still—crickets. If you’re using Lavender to write and analyze your emails, you’ve got a pile of metrics at your fingertips. But what do they actually tell you? And how do you use them to get more replies, not just a prettier dashboard?
This guide is for anyone who wants to cut through the noise, understand what Lavender’s email performance metrics really mean, and make changes that actually move the needle on response rates.
1. Get Your Bearings: What Metrics Does Lavender Actually Track?
First, let’s clear something up: not every stat Lavender shows you is worth obsessing over. Here’s what you’ll see most often:
- Open Rate: How many people opened your email.
- Reply Rate: How many replied (this is the one that matters).
- Click Rate: If you’ve got links, how many people clicked.
- Spam/Deliverability Warnings: Whether your email might get flagged.
- Lavender “Score”: Their AI-generated grade for your email’s quality.
And then there are more granular stats, like reading level, sentence length, and even “positivity/negativity” scores.
Honest take: Open rates are flaky (thanks, Apple Mail privacy). Click rates are rarely useful unless you’re actually trying to get someone to click a link—not just start a conversation. The reply rate is the closest thing to a north star. The rest? Helpful for troubleshooting, but don’t lose sleep over them.
2. Step One: Stop Chasing Vanity Metrics
It’s tempting to fixate on Lavender’s overall “score” or to endlessly A/B test subject lines for a 2% bump in opens. Don’t. Here’s why:
- Open rates are unreliable. Apple, Gmail, and others block tracking pixels or auto-open emails, skewing the numbers.
- Lavender’s score isn’t gospel. It’s a useful sanity check, but it doesn’t know your prospect or your relationship with them.
- Clicks don’t equal conversations. If your goal is replies, optimize for clarity and curiosity—not just engagement.
What actually matters: If your reply rates are inching up, you’re doing something right. Everything else is just a clue.
3. Step Two: Analyze Your Baseline
Before tweaking your emails, see where you stand. Here’s how to get a read on your current performance:
- Pull up your recent email campaigns in Lavender.
- Look at reply rates across similar types of emails (cold outreach vs. follow-ups vs. referrals).
- Jot down your averages—don’t just stare at the dashboard. Write them somewhere (spreadsheet, notebook, napkin) so you can track changes over time.
Pro tip: Ignore outliers. That one email with a 50% reply rate? It was probably to someone you already knew. Focus on patterns, not one-offs.
4. Step Three: Dig Into What’s Working—and What’s Not
Now, let’s figure out why some emails work better than others:
- Subject Lines: Are your best-performing emails using direct subject lines (“Quick question”) or something more specific?
- Length: Lavender will nudge you to keep things short. Look at your highest-replying emails—are they under 100 words? (Hint: They usually are.)
- Personalization: Did you reference something specific about the recipient? If your most generic emails are flopping, that’s a clue.
- Call to Action: Are you making a clear, low-pressure ask (“Open to chat for 10 minutes?”) or being vague (“Let me know your thoughts”)?
How to analyze: - Skim your top 10% and bottom 10% of emails by reply rate. - Spot the common elements: Is there a pattern in tone, formatting, or structure? - Take notes. You’re looking for “oh, I always get replies when I…,” not just stats.
Don’t overthink it: You don’t need a data scientist. Just a notepad and a sharp eye.
5. Step Four: Use Lavender’s Feedback—But Don’t Be a Robot
Lavender’s got a bunch of AI-driven suggestions: “Too many I’s,” “Reading level too high,” “Subject line too generic.” Here’s how to use them without losing your human touch:
- Reading Level: Aim for 5th-8th grade. If it sounds like a textbook, rewrite it.
- Sentence Length: Shorter is usually better. Break up run-ons.
- Tone: Lavender likes “friendly, confident, and curious.” But don’t force fake enthusiasm. If you wouldn’t say it out loud, don’t write it.
- Spam Triggers: Pay attention to warnings (all-caps, sales-y phrases). If Lavender flags something, fix it.
What to ignore: If Lavender’s tips make your email sound stiff or generic, trust your gut. Robots don’t get replies—real people do.
6. Step Five: Make One Change at a Time—Then Measure
It’s tempting to overhaul your whole approach after reading one advice thread. Don’t do it. Here’s how to run a real experiment:
- Pick one variable to test. Maybe try a shorter email, or a more direct call to action.
- Send a batch of emails with the new approach. 20-30 is usually enough to spot a trend.
- Compare reply rates to your baseline. Did it move the needle?
- If you see improvement, keep it. If not, toss it. Rinse and repeat.
Pro tip: Avoid “analysis paralysis.” You’ll never have enough data for perfect certainty. Look for a clear pattern, not statistical significance.
7. Step Six: Filter Out the Noise
Not every metric tells you something useful. Here’s what to skip:
- Obsessing over click rates (unless you’re linking to something critical).
- Chasing a perfect Lavender score. Good enough is good enough.
- Worrying about open rates. Focus on replies—what happens after the open is what counts.
If you’re getting responses, your emails are working, even if your “score” says otherwise.
8. Step Seven: Rinse, Repeat, and Don’t Get Fancy
The best email senders do the basics well—clear, personal, and brief emails with a single ask. They check their results, make small changes, and keep going.
- Don’t overhaul everything at once.
- Don’t copy “top performing templates” blindly—what works for others might not fit your prospects.
- Iterate on your own data, not someone else’s playbook.
Keep It Simple and Keep Moving
You don’t need to become a metrics nerd or chase every Lavender suggestion. Focus on reply rates, look for clear patterns, and make one change at a time. Most “tricks” are just distractions. Real progress comes from paying attention, being genuine, and keeping things simple.
You’ve got the tools. Now use them to get more real conversations—not just better numbers.