How to use it
Score the draft cold and independently against each of the 5 criteria before discussing it with the writer, cite the exact sentence that earned or lost the points, then total the score to decide ship, revise, or rewrite.
What's inside
- Clarity: 1–5 rubric with descriptions per level
- Relevance: 1–5 rubric with descriptions per level
- CTA: 1–5 rubric with descriptions per level
- Personalization: 1–5 rubric with descriptions per level
- Brevity: 1–5 rubric with word-count anchors per level
- Scoring bands (/25): Ship / Revise / Rewrite
- Reviewer instructions for consistent scoring across reps
Score every draft against all 5 criteria before you talk to the rep about it. Cite the specific sentence responsible for the score on each criterion, "it felt generic" isn't feedback a rep can act on.
1. Clarity (1–5)
| Score | Description |
|---|
| 1 | Reader can't tell what's being offered or asked, even after re-reading |
| 2 | Message is present but buried in throat-clearing or jargon |
| 3 | Clear on a second read |
| 4 | Clear on first read, single throughline, no competing ideas |
| 5 | Clear on first read AND a non-expert could explain what it's asking in one sentence |
2. Relevance (1–5)
| Score | Description |
|---|
| 1 | Could be sent to anyone at any company |
| 2 | Vague industry reference only ("companies like yours") |
| 3 | References the specific company or segment by name |
| 4 | References a specific trigger or context for this account |
| 5 | References a specific trigger AND ties it directly to a stated priority of this persona |
3. CTA (1–5)
| Score | Description |
|---|
| 1 | No clear ask |
| 2 | Ask is vague ("let me know if you're interested") |
| 3 | Ask is clear but high-friction ("book 30 minutes on my calendar") |
| 4 | Ask is clear and low-friction (a direct yes/no question) |
| 5 | Ask is a single low-friction question AND makes it easy to say no without ending the conversation |
4. Personalization (1–5)
| Score | Description |
|---|
| 1 | No personalization: pure copy-paste |
| 2 | Name/company merge-fielded only |
| 3 | One specific detail about the recipient or account |
| 4 | Detail is meaningfully tied to the offer, not just trivia |
| 5 | Detail shows real research (recent post, hire, launch, earnings call) tied directly to the ask |
5. Brevity (1–5)
| Score | Description |
|---|
| 1 | Over 200 words / multiple paragraphs |
| 2 | 150–200 words |
| 3 | 100–150 words |
| 4 | 75–100 words |
| 5 | Under 75 words, one idea per sentence |
Total score: ___ / 25
| Range | Verdict |
|---|
| 20–25 | Ship it |
| 15–19 | Revise the specific criteria that scored below 4 before sending |
| Under 15 | Rewrite from scratch, patching a low-scoring draft rarely lifts it past a 15 |
Reviewer instructions
- Score independently, criterion by criterion, before forming an overall impression.
- For every score below 5, write the one sentence in the email that caused the deduction.
- Review with the rep criterion by criterion, not as one blended "this needs work" comment.
- Track scores over time per rep: a rep who's consistently weak on the same criterion needs coaching on that specific skill, not another round of edits on this specific email.