“I hope this message finds you well!”

 

Let’s talk about the outreach line that refuses to die: “I hope this message finds you well!”

Ugh! The limp handshake of opening lines. The verbal equivalent of flat soda served in a paper cup that smells vaguely like waiting room coffee.

Sure, the phrase is polite, but it’s overused, making emails feel generic and easy to ignore. It’s the beige throw pillow of business language, showing up and it whispering: “I have nothing to say, but protocol demands I say something.”

I get it. You’re being polite. You don’t want to come in hot like a used-car version of a sales guru yelling about synergy. But this line? It doesn’t “soften the ask,” it puts your reader in an emotional waiting room where nothing ever happens … it wastes the first few seconds of attention in a world where attention has the shelf life of mayonnaise at a summer picnic.

So what do you do instead?

You start like you mean it. Start with value. Start with a question. Start with something human. Start with something weird if you're brave and caffeinated enough. Understand that politeness alone doesn’t build connection. Presence does.

Try something along these lines instead:

• Quick question about [specific topic] on your site…
  
  
• “I’ll get to the point, because your time matters.”
  
  
• “I saw your recent work on _____________ and needed to reach out.”

• I saw [a specific trend] and thought of your site…"

• “Quick thought for you ... might be useful, might spark something wild.”

or even:

• “Look, I know you have 147 unread messages, so I’ll be brief.”

Now you have my attention. Now it feels like a human wrote this.

Ya gotta sound alive. Show intention. But, please, don’t lead with a sympathy card. “I hope this message finds you well!” can take its polite, neutral little suitcase and go retire in a quiet cul-de-sac of forgotten phrases next to “Per my last email” and “Sorry to bother you”

The world doesn't need more well-finding ... it needs well-doing.

Now go write like you showed up on purpose.

And if this post finds you well?

Great.

But more importantly, I hope it finds you awake.