So, you want your sales team to get better at writing cold emails—and you don’t want yet another tool that just spits out dashboards nobody reads. You want real feedback, actual coaching, and improvements you can see in your pipeline. This guide is for sales leaders, enablement folks, or anyone who wants their team to stop making the same email mistakes over and over.
We’ll walk through setting up team coaching and feedback loops in Lavender, a tool designed for sales email improvement. I’ll show you what’s worth your time, what’s overrated, and the practical ways to use Lavender to create a feedback culture that actually sticks.
Why bother with coaching and feedback loops (and why Lavender)?
Let’s get this out of the way: most reps don’t improve just by sitting through another webinar or reading a generic tip sheet. They get better when feedback is targeted, fast, and actionable—especially on real emails they’re actually sending.
Lavender is built for this. It plugs into your workflow (think Gmail, Outlook, or Salesloft), analyzes your emails as you write, and gives scoring and suggestions. But it’s not magic. The tool is only as useful as the way your team uses it—and that’s where coaching and feedback loops come in.
Step 1: Set up your Lavender team account the right way
If you’re starting from scratch, don’t just invite everyone and call it a day. Structure matters.
How to do it: - Decide who’s in your “team.” Usually, this means everyone writing outbound emails—SDRs, AEs, and maybe managers or enablement folks. - Invite users from the admin dashboard. Group them logically (by team, region, or role if you want to compare apples to apples later). - Set permissions. Managers and coaches should have access to team analytics; reps can see their own.
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate your structure with too many groups unless you have a real reason. You can always break out teams later.
Step 2: Decide what you’ll actually coach on
Lavender spits out a lot of data—email scores, readability, personalization, spam risk, and more. Don’t try to coach on everything at once. Pick 1-3 focus areas that matter to your team’s current goals.
What’s worth focusing on: - Personalization: Are reps making their emails feel human, or are they just mail-merging names? - Clarity: Are emails short, clear, and jargon-free? - Call-to-action: Do emails make it easy for the reader to know what to do next?
What you can skip (at least at first): - Chasing a perfect email score every time. It’s not the point. - Obsessing over “reading level” metrics unless your audience really demands it.
Set expectations: Make it clear which Lavender metrics matter and why. Otherwise, people just chase scores without understanding what moves the needle.
Step 3: Set up team coaching sessions (don’t overthink it)
Too many teams make coaching a big production. You don’t need a 90-minute Zoom with slides. Try this:
Weekly or bi-weekly, 30 minutes max: - Pick 2-3 real emails from the past week (good, bad, or “meh”). - Review them together in Lavender. Focus on what’s actionable: subject line, opening, ask. - Discuss what Lavender flagged and whether you agree with it. Sometimes, a “bad” score is actually a great email for your audience—context matters. - End with one thing everyone can try in their next batch of emails.
Rotate who shares their emails. Nobody likes being put on the spot every week.
What not to do: - Don’t just read scores out loud. Discuss why certain choices work or don’t. - Don’t let one person dominate the conversation. Everyone should chime in, even if it’s just a quick take.
Step 4: Use Lavender’s analytics—but keep it simple
It’s tempting to drown in charts. Resist the urge.
What’s actually useful: - Team average email score: Is it trending up? If not, why? - Personalization rates: Are reps actually writing unique emails? - Coachable moments: Look for patterns—does everyone struggle with subject lines, or is it just one person?
What’s not useful: - Obsessing over week-to-week swings. Improvement takes time. - Comparing teams with wildly different territories or roles. Apples to oranges.
Best practice: Once a month, use analytics to spot trends and pick 1-2 focus areas for upcoming coaching sessions.
Step 5: Create a lightweight feedback loop
Feedback isn’t just for the team meeting. The magic happens when reps get feedback in the flow of work.
How to set this up: - Encourage peer reviews: Have reps drop a draft email in Slack (or wherever you chat) and ask for a gut check before sending. - Use Lavender’s in-the-moment feedback: Remind reps to actually look at suggestions before hitting send—not just after the fact. - Managers: Do spot-checks. Pick one or two emails per rep per week, leave quick comments, and move on. Don’t make it a big deal.
What to avoid: - Don’t turn feedback into micromanagement. You want reps to want feedback, not dread it. - Avoid public shaming. Share wins and learning moments, but don’t roast people in front of the whole group.
If you want to get fancy: Lavender lets you build custom scorecards or templates. But honestly, most teams don’t need this out of the gate.
Step 6: Make it easy for reps to ask for help
A lot of reps sit quietly, send mediocre emails, and never ask for help. Break that pattern.
Tactics that work: - Set a “no dumb questions” rule for email reviews. - Create a Slack channel or thread just for “email feedback.” Managers and peers can chime in. - Occasionally, have a “bad email” day—everyone brings their worst-performer and crowdsources a fix. It’s more fun than it sounds.
What to skip: - Formal ticketing systems or forms for feedback. Too heavy-handed. Keep it casual and quick.
Step 7: Iterate, don’t automate everything
Lavender’s great, but it can’t replace human judgment or creativity. Use it as a coach, not a crutch.
Keep an eye out for: - Reps gaming the system—writing for the tool, not for real people. - Feedback fatigue—if your team starts ignoring suggestions, scale back or switch up your approach.
What works in the real world: - Short, regular check-ins beat big quarterly reviews. - Celebrate small wins—did someone get a reply or book a meeting with a tough prospect? Share what worked. - Keep the process flexible. If something isn’t helping, drop it.
Final thoughts: Keep it simple and keep moving
Don’t fall into the trap of over-engineering your coaching process. Start small, focus on a couple of things that actually matter, and use Lavender as a tool—not a replacement for real conversations. The best feedback loops are built on trust, quick wins, and the willingness to try, tweak, and try again.
Iterate as you go. Your team—and your pipeline—will thank you.