Boost LinkedIn InMail Response Rates With These Tips

BY Kathy Crosett
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LinkedIn can be a great lead generator, but not every sales rep is happy with their LinkedIn InMail response rates. If you're hoping to boost your leads from this popular network, adding a couple simple tweaks to your strategy can have a big impact. According to a recent LinkedIn post by Katie Reid and Greg Lewis, you can adopt some of the tactics used by recruiters on the site. You may ask what emails from recruiters have in common with the message sales reps send. Think about it this way: Recruiters are in the business of selling jobs to prospects, while you're in the business of selling your products and services to prospects.

Boost LinkedIn InMail Response Rates

Your InMails will get more traction when you pay attention to:

  • Message Length
  • Level of personalization
  • Delivery Day

Message Length

Prospects, like everyone else, are busy. On a daily basis, they're bombarded with text messages, notes on the office chat system and email on their business sites. LinkedIn InMail messages will be seen as yet another way for them to spend time they don't have. You can change that mindset by keeping your message brief. Your goal should be to get a response. Reid and Lewis report that "response rate for InMails of 201 to 400 characters is 16% above the average rate." 

They also note that most InMail messages run between 400 and 1,000 characters. Is it possible that recipients respond to shorter messages because they don't want to read huge blocks of text? You can find out by doing a bit of A/​B testing with your message strategy. Send out shorter messages to one group of prospects and longer messages to another set of contacts. Compare the response rate and if there's a big difference, you'll know how to move forward.

Level of Personalization

One success strategy is to treat initial LinkedIn communications like warm introductions. As sales moves away from the traditional transaction style, buyers expect salespeople to personalize each communique — even those sent via LinkedIn. Even though LinkedIn messages are less formal, they shouldn't be used as a one-​size-​fits-​all approach. 

Did you know that InMails "sent individually performed nearly 20% better than InMails sent in bulk?" The same holds true for InMails created without a template.

The key is to find a context for conversation that will appeal to each potential lead. Take the time to find out what you may have in common with a prospect. You may have attended the same university or worked at the same company at some point in your career. If you're both members of the same social organization or support the same charity, that detail can open the door to a broader conversation. When your LinkedIn InMail message shows you put some effort into learning about the prospect and the company, your credibility factor grows.

Delivery Day

To boost your LinkedIn InMail response rate, pay attention to the day of the week you send out messages. In our Voice of the Buyer research, 57% of prospects told us they're most open to hearing from sales reps on Wednesdays. LinkedIn's research show that InMails get the best response rates between Mondays and Thursdays. 

LinkedIn can be a powerful (and easy-​to-​use) lead generation tool. And, by simply taking the time to personalize each invite or message, paying attention to character count, and sending out your messages on the right day, you increase the chance of receiving a response.

Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels


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