LinkedIn connection note critique

The 12 checks (what we score on)

1. Length 180-280 chars - the empirical sweet spot. Under 30 chars or over 300 chars hurts.
2. Specific signal - mentions their post, role change, content, podcast, hire, fundraise, etc.
3. No CTA - first message should NOT ask for a meeting, send a calendar link, or paste a Loom URL.
4. Curious question - ends with a real, specific, open question about their work.
5. Soft opt-out - includes "no worries if not", "totally fine if not relevant", or similar.
6. Merge fields complete - no literal "{first_name}", "{company}" left in. Or no merge fields at all.
7. Merge-field discipline - 0-2 merge fields fine, 4+ reads templated.
8. No emoji-heavy - 0-1 emoji okay, 2+ drops acceptance.
9. No sales jargon - "synergy", "circle back", "leverage", "value-add", "low-hanging fruit" hurt.
10. No "open to a quick call" - specific phrasing that signals BDR bot.
11. First-person plural usage - "we" 0-1 times. Over-using "we" reads pitch-y.
12. Their-name density - using their first name 2x in a 50-word note reads forced.

FAQ

How accurate is this? It's a heuristic, not a guarantee. The scoring rules are calibrated against ~4,200 sent invites with measured acceptance. Direction-of-prediction is correct ~78% of the time. Don't trust the exact percentage; trust the rank.

Why 180-280 chars and not 300? LinkedIn allows 300 but truncates at ~280 on mobile, which is where most invites are reviewed. The last 20 chars of a long note often hide the CTA.

Where does the data come from? SocialScalr customer accounts. See our full breakdown.

Is my note stored? No. Everything runs in your browser - the textarea content never leaves your device. There's no backend call.