First Message Examples That Actually Get Answered

Openers that work, openers that do not, and why length is the wrong thing to optimise.

The short version

Be specific. Specificity is what makes a profile answerable, an opener replyable and a plan agreeable. Almost every problem in this area is a vagueness problem wearing a different hat.

In practice

One clear photo of your face beats five artful ones. One genuine question beats a paragraph of introduction. One concrete plan beats three weeks of texting. And one public venue with other people in it beats any amount of atmosphere on a first meeting.

The other half of this is patience. A quiet fortnight is not evidence about a platform, and the people posting about their results online are a tiny and self-selecting sample.

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