I Accidentally Sent ChatGPT's "I Hope This Helps!" to a Client. Never Again.

The Email That Still Haunts Me

The client was worth $150K annually. The proposal needed to sound sharp, confident, professional. I was exhausted after a 12-hour day, staring at a blank email draft.

So I did what millions of professionals do every day: I asked ChatGPT to help me write it.

ChatGPT delivered a beautiful proposal in 30 seconds. I skimmed it, thought "perfect," copied the whole thing, pasted it into Gmail, and hit send at 11:58 PM.

Two minutes later, I opened the sent email to forward it to my manager.

That's when I saw it.

"...and we're confident this approach will deliver measurable ROI within Q1.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you'd like me to adjust anything."

I had sent ChatGPT's signature closing line—verbatim—to a $150K client.

The Aftermath

I didn't sleep that night. I kept refreshing my email, hoping the client hadn't opened it yet. Maybe Gmail had an "unsend to specific person" feature I didn't know about. (It doesn't.)

At 8:32 AM the next morning, I got a response:

"Thanks for the proposal. The pricing looks reasonable, but I have to ask—did you use ChatGPT to write this? The closing line gave it away. Call me when you get a chance."

That phone call was humbling. The client wasn't angry—they were actually amused—but they made it clear:

"If you're using AI, at least clean it up."
"It makes me question if you actually read your own proposals."
"I expect more attention to detail for this kind of partnership."

We didn't lose the contract, but I lost credibility. And that's harder to rebuild.

The 5 ChatGPT Phrases That Will Always Give You Away

After my mistake, I analyzed hundreds of ChatGPT responses. Here are the closing phrases that scream "I didn't write this":

1. "I hope this helps!"

The most obvious tell. ChatGPT uses this in 40%+ of responses.

2. "Let me know if you'd like me to adjust anything"

Sounds helpful in ChatGPT. Sounds weird coming from you.

3. "Feel free to reach out if you have questions"

Overly accommodating for a business proposal.

4. "Here's a [document type] for you"

ChatGPT's meta-commentary about what it just generated.

5. "Please don't hesitate to..."

The double-negative politeness no human actually uses.

My New Workflow (That Saved Me Countless Times Since)

I still use ChatGPT for emails, proposals, and client communication. But now I have a system:

Generate with ChatGPT

Ask ChatGPT to draft the content. Be specific about tone and purpose.

Clean it with DeGPT

Before I even read it, I run it through DeGPT. It strips all the "I hope this helps" phrases, fixes the weird punctuation (em-dashes, smart quotes), and removes the AI filler.

Add my voice

Now I read it and tweak it. Add a personal detail. Use my actual phrasing. Make it mine.

✓

Send with confidence

No more 3 AM panic attacks wondering if I left an AI fingerprint.

What I Learned

The lesson wasn't "don't use ChatGPT."

The lesson was: ChatGPT is a tool, not a copy-paste solution. You wouldn't send a rough draft to a client. Don't send raw AI output either.

The pros who succeed with AI aren't the ones who use it the most. They're the ones who clean it the best.

ChatGPT saves me 2-3 hours per day. But taking 30 seconds to clean the output saves my reputation.

Don't make my mistake. Clean your ChatGPT output before you hit send.

Try DeGPT free — clean ChatGPT text in one click →