Per my last email. Hope this finds you well. Low-hanging fruit. The phrases that make professional email slower, colder and vaguer — with replacements that cost nothing.
THE SHORT ANSWER
The phrases that most damage professional email are ‘just checking in’ (says nothing), ‘per my last email’ (heard as an insult), ‘ASAP’ (a deadline that isn’t), ‘please advise’ (an ask that hides), and ‘I hope this email finds you well’ (ceremony before content). Each has a direct replacement that is shorter, warmer and clearer — the full swap table is below.
Email phrases die the way slang does: first they are fresh, then they are everywhere, then they signal that the writer has stopped thinking. The nine below are not errors — they are worn-out tools. Each entry gives the phrase, why it underperforms, and the replacement we recommend in our own correspondence.
| Retire | Why | Write instead |
|---|---|---|
| Just checking in | ‘Just’ apologises; ‘checking in’ conceals the reason | State the reason: ‘Following up on the invoice from 3 October — has it been approved?’ |
| Per my last email | Universally decoded as ‘as I already told you’ | Restate the fact neutrally: ‘As mentioned on Tuesday, the deadline is Friday.’ |
| ASAP | Means ‘whenever’, urgently | A date and time: ‘by 3pm on Thursday’. Real urgency can then be believed |
| Please advise | An ask disguised as a procedure; the reader must guess the question | Ask it: ‘Could you confirm which option you prefer?’ |
| I hope this email finds you well | Five words of ceremony before the point | Go to purpose; add a specific human line only when you mean it |
| Touch base / circle back | Meetings about meetings | Name the action and date: ‘Let’s decide this in Thursday’s call.’ |
| Low-hanging fruit | The most exhausted metaphor in business | ‘The quick wins are X and Y’ — or describe the actual tasks |
| At the end of the day | Filler that precedes a conclusion the sentence could simply state | Delete it. The conclusion survives alone, stronger |
| Thanks in advance | Presumes the favour; can read as entitlement | ‘Thank you for your help with this’ — after, or alongside, a clear ask |
The principle behind the swaps
Every replacement obeys one rule: specificity is politeness. Vague phrases cost the reader work — decoding what you want, when you want it, and how annoyed you are. Specific sentences do that work for them, which is why they read as both warmer and more competent. Audit your own sent folder for a month; the phrases you find three times are your personal retirements.
Frequently asked questions
Is ‘thanks in advance’ rude?
Context decides: between close colleagues on a routine task it passes unnoticed; to a stranger or a senior, it can presume. ‘Thank you for…’ phrased around the request itself is the zero-risk version.
Should I ban these phrases entirely?
In your own drafting, treat them as drafts’ scaffolding: allowed in the first pass, removed in the edit. Total bans matter less than the habit of one specificity pass before sending.
