Frankly: nothing is wrong with this email (and that’s the problem)

You know the one.

Three sentences. No spelling mistakes. Vaguely flattering. Just familiar enough to slip past the spam filter. Just hollow enough to make your brain itch.

“Hi Bel,
I came across your impressive work at Frank & Earnest and thought there might be synergies…”

No, you didn’t.
ChatGPT did. And it skim-read the About page and summarised it poorly.

And it did the same thing for approximately 44,000 other businesses who sent me emails this month.

Here’s the thing that’s driving businesses quietly feral: AI hasn’t made cold outreach smarter – it’s made it boringly predictable. The same cadence. The same vague verbs. The same non-committal “quick chat?” that never quite says why you, why now, or why on earth this exists.

It’s communication that technically functions but emotionally fails.

These emails skate under filters because they’re polite, clean and empty. They don’t offend. They also don’t connect. They’re written to pass, not to mean anything. And because no actual human has vetted them before hitting send, they’re often slightly… off. Like a smile that lasts half a beat too long.

Business owners can smell it instantly.

The frustration isn’t “AI is bad.” The frustration is that AI is being used as a shortcut instead of a tool. There’s no judgement applied. No common sense. No moment where someone stops and asks, “Would I open this?” or “Does this sound like a real person to a real person?”

Good outreach still needs a reason. A brain. A point of view. A sentence that risks being specific.

Because when everything sounds vaguely lifelike, nothing stands out.

If your first touchpoint with a potential client feels like it was generated, skimmed and shipped without a human heartbeat anywhere near it – congratulations. You’ve saved time.

But you’ve also guaranteed the delete.

Frankly… AI can help you write faster, but if you’re not applying yourself to it like a human who actually gives a shit, it’s just noise.

Bel