We asked 3,000+ people about the worst welcome DM they ever got. Here's what we changed.

Last week I asked Reddit a simple question: what's the worst DM you got right after following an account?

The thread got 3,300+ views and the answers were brutal:

• "Hey king 👑 ready to 10x your life? 3 spots left 🔥"

• A 4-paragraph sales pitch, 30 seconds after following, before they'd seen a single post

• "My shy friend thinks you're cute" (that friend has been shy on 10,000 accounts)

But the most useful answer was this one: "I don't mind if someone reaches out about something specific. I unfollow when it's obviously automated."

That's a hard thing to hear when you build a tool that sends welcome DMs automatically. So here's what it changed for us:

1. The first message is not for selling. No link, no offer, no "spots left." One short question.
❌ "Check out my coaching program 🔥"
✅ "Hey Sarah, thanks for the follow! What brought you here?"

2. Not instant. DMs go out a few minutes after the follow, not the second it happens. Instant feels like a bot.

3. Personal beats clever. Their first name, one sentence, and a question that's easy to answer.

Next, we're adding a warning in the message editor when your welcome DM looks like the "worst DM" examples above (links, sales words, too long).

Question for you: have you ever replied to a welcome DM from an account you just followed? What made it feel human enough to answer?