The Email Buzzwords We Love to Hate

The Email Buzzwords We Love to Hate

If you’ve ever opened a work email and immediately rolled your eyes, you’re in good company. Sometimes it’s the message itself, but more often it’s that one phrase we’ve all typed a thousand times even though it makes us cringe.

A new study from ZeroBounce dug into more than a million real work emails to figure out which buzzwords show up the most. And wow, we really are creatures of habit.

According to the study, about one in every 50 emails includes a buzzword. That might not sound like much until you realize they analyzed over a million messages. That adds up fast.

The most overused phrase of all is “reaching out.” It appeared more than six thousand times. Right behind it are “follow up” and “check in,” which also made thousands of appearances.

And then there’s the “hope” family. Nearly three thousand emails started with some version of “hope you’re doing well,” “hope this finds you well,” or “hope all is well.” It’s basically the pumpkin spice latte of email greetings. We all know it’s basic, but we keep going back.

Even AI Is Doing It

Here’s the funny part. Almost a quarter of employees now use AI to help write emails, and the bots are picking up our habits. ZeroBounce’s CEO says even AI is “reaching out” and “circling back.” So we’ve officially trained the machines to sound just as corporate as we do.

The Top 10 Most Overused Email Buzzwords

Here’s the full list from the study:

• Reaching out
• Follow up
• Check in
• Aligned
• Please advise
• Hope you're doing well
• Hope this email finds you well
• Hope all is well
• E-meet
• Circle back

If you’re feeling personally attacked, same.

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Photo: Getty Images