--- title: "Cold Message Checker: Score Your Cold DM or Email Opener (Free)" url: https://trysumora.com/tools/cold-message-checker markdown-of: https://trysumora.com/tools/cold-message-checker --- # Cold Message Checker: Score Your Cold DM or Email Opener (Free) [Home](/)/[Tools](/tools) Free tool # Cold message checker Paste a cold LinkedIn message, Instagram DM or email opener and get a transparent score: length for the channel, personalisation, questions, spam words, links, you versus I, call-to-action friction and reading level. Runs in your browser. Free, no sign-up. Every rule and its scoring is listed below the checker. Channel LinkedIn connection noteLinkedIn messageInstagram DMCold email Your first messageTry a weak exampleTry a strong example 0 characters · target 150 to 500 characters · limit 600 Their first name (optional) Their company (optional) Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored. Paste a message above, or load an example, to see the score and the rule-by-rule breakdown. ## What it checks, and how it scores Nine rules, 100 points in total. Each one is a plain heuristic run in your browser: no AI model, no randomness, so the same text always gets the same score. They encode common cold outreach practice, not a measured reply-rate model, so read the score as a checklist, not a verdict. Rule Points What it looks at Scoring Length for the channel 15 Characters for LinkedIn and Instagram, words for email, against the range for the channel you picked. Full points inside the range, partial points when short or a little long, zero above a hard limit (LinkedIn's 280-character connection note, Sumora's 600-character LinkedIn message ceiling, or 200 words for email). Personalisation 15 Their first name and company (if you enter them), phrases that point at something specific such as "saw your post" or "congrats on", and concrete numbers. Unfilled merge tags such as {first\_name} or \[Company\]. Points per signal found, capped at 15. Any unfilled merge tag scores zero, because the message would go out looking like a template. Generic phrases 10 Stock outreach lines such as "I hope this finds you well", "my name is", "I came across your profile" and "quick question". Full points with none, 4 with one, zero with two or more. Number of questions 10 Question marks in the message. Exactly one question scores full points. Two score 6, none scores 4, three or more score 2. Spam and trigger words 10 A list of hype and spam-filter phrases ("guaranteed", "act now", "10x", "risk-free" and similar), runs of exclamation marks, and ALL-CAPS words. Three points off per problem found. Links in a first message 10 URLs and bare domains such as calendly.com/you. Full points with no link, zero with any link. You versus I and we 10 Counts of you, your and you're against I, me, my, we, our and us. Full points when "you" words are at least as common, partial when they are at least half as common. Call-to-action friction 10 High-commitment asks ("30 minutes", "book a demo", calendar links) against low-friction ones ("worth a look?", "want me to send it?", "open to"). Full points for a low-friction ask, 7 for a question with no recognised ask, low scores for a meeting request or no ask at all. Reading level 10 Flesch-Kincaid grade, estimated from average sentence length and syllables per word. Full points at grade 8 or below, then stepping down to grade 12 and above. Messages under 12 words are not graded and score 7. ## Length by channel Channel Comfortable range Hard limit LinkedIn connection note 80 to 250 characters 280 characters (LinkedIn's connection note limit) LinkedIn message 150 to 500 characters 600 characters (Sumora's LinkedIn message ceiling) Instagram DM 60 to 400 characters None Cold email 50 to 125 words 200 words The LinkedIn limits are the character ceilings Sumora enforces, published on the [capabilities page](/capabilities). The comfortable ranges and the 200-word email bound are editorial judgement, set to match common practice. ## What a strong first message looks like 1. **One line only they would recognise.** Their post, a hire, a launch, a number from their site. 2. **One line of relevance.** Why that detail made you think of them, framed around their situation. 3. **One small ask.** An interest check or an offer to send something, not a calendar link. No pitch deck in the opener, no link, no warm-up pleasantries. If they reply, you have earned the second message, and that is where the detail belongs. ## What the checker cannot see - Whether the person is a good fit. Targeting decides more replies than wording does. - How you send it. Sending pace, warm-up and timing decide whether the account survives long enough for copy to matter: check yours with the [LinkedIn and Instagram limit calculator](/tools/linkedin-instagram-limit-calculator). - Sameness across a campaign. The same text sent to many people is itself a spam signal on Instagram and LinkedIn, however well each copy scores. More on pacing and approval in the guides: [LinkedIn versus Instagram outreach](/guides/linkedin-vs-instagram-outreach), [cold email warm-up](/guides/cold-email-warmup-schedule) and [approval before send](/guides/ai-outbound-approval-architecture). ## Embed this checker Free to use on your own site, newsletter or course. Paste the code below; it runs fully inside the iframe and never sends the text anywhere. Please keep the credit line. DarkLight Copy embed code ```

Cold message checker by Sumora

``` ## Frequently asked questions How long should a cold LinkedIn connection note be? LinkedIn caps a connection note at 280 characters. Inside that, one or two sentences is enough: one specific line about them and one reason to connect. The checker treats 80 to 250 characters as the comfortable range. How long should a cold email be? Widely shared cold email benchmarks put the sweet spot at roughly 50 to 125 words. Short enough to read in the preview pane, long enough to say why you are writing to this person. Treat it as a guideline, not a rule. Should I put a link in my first cold message? Usually not. A link from a stranger looks like spam or phishing to the reader, and many deliverability practitioners keep the first cold email link-free. Offer to send the resource instead and share it once they reply. Do spam trigger words still matter? Less than they used to for email filters, which now weigh sender reputation and engagement far more than individual words. They still matter to the human reading the message: hype reads as a sales blast, which lowers replies and raises complaints. Is this score a prediction of my reply rate? No. It is a transparent set of heuristics drawn from common cold outreach practice, and every rule and its scoring is listed on this page. A high score means the message avoids the common mistakes; it cannot know whether your offer is relevant to the person receiving it. Is my message sent anywhere? No. The checker runs entirely in your browser with no network calls. Nothing you paste is sent to Sumora or stored. ---- _Markdown twin auto-generated from the HTML page at build time. Source of truth: the HTML/_next data._