LinkedIn Messaging: All You Need to Know

LinkedIn messaging is an extremely powerful yet often overlooked feature on the platform. With over 900 million members, LinkedIn provides a massive opportunity to connect with professionals and businesses worldwide.

LinkedIn messaging allows you to communicate with other members directly via the LinkedIn platform. You can use LinkedIn messages to:

• Connect with new professional contacts
• Follow up with existing connections
• Promote your business, products, or services
• Hire employees or freelancers
• Conduct market research
• Build relationships and network

LinkedIn Messaging vs Email

So why use LinkedIn messaging instead of email? Here are some of the key advantages:

Linkedin’S Business Outreach is like a big online meeting where businesses can talk to each other, share ideas, and make deals. it’s like a big playground for businesses to make friends and grow.

• Higher Response Rates

Studies show LinkedIn messages have 2-3x higher response rates than cold email outreach. The messages go directly into the LinkedIn inbox, which sees much more activity than external email.

• More Targeted

With LinkedIn messaging, you can target prospects based on their designation, company, industry, location, and other filters. This allows for highly targeted communication.

• Builds Relationships

LinkedIn is a relationship-focused platform. Messaging someone directly enables you to establish and nurture a connection over time through consistent value-driven conversations.

• Promotes Your Profile

Every message you send includes a snippet showcasing your LinkedIn profile. This provides passive promotion of your brand, which can lead to more profile views, connections and opportunities.

LinkedIn Messaging Limits

While LinkedIn messaging is a powerful tool, it does have certain limits to prevent spamming and abuse like any platform. Here are the key limits to keep in mind:

• Can only message people who are Connections
• 100 messages per day limit
• 20% response rate required to maintain account health

The limits mean you must be selective and tactical about who you message. Quality over quantity is key on LinkedIn.

Best Practices for LinkedIn Messaging

Here are some proven best practices to get the best results from LinkedIn messaging:

• Personalise Every Message

Generic “spam” messages have meagre response rates. Make sure to personalise by referencing their designation, company, interests, etc.

• Provide Value Upfront

Don’t pitch or ask for something immediately. Offer value by sharing relevant articles, advice, introductions, etc.

• Keep It Short

Long messages can be off-putting, so in 2-3 concise paragraphs, focus on your value and get to the point.

• Follow Up Persistently

Follow up at least 2-3 times with connections who don’t respond immediately by adding more value. Avoid sounding desperate or pushy.

• Track Messages

Use a LinkedIn message tracker to know who opened and read your messages. Follow up appropriately with the next steps for interested prospects.

These DOs and DONTs may help you to equip yourself with best practices for LinkedIn messaging.

Do	Don’t
Personalise every message	Send generic copy-pasted messages
Provide value relevant to their interests	Immediately pitch your product or services
Follow up 2-3x with non-responders	Send multiple messages in a day to the same person
Use a CRM to track opens, replies and follow-ups	Message people outside your target audience
Build relationships before proposing any paid services	Come across as spammy or salesy

Using LinkedIn Messaging for Sales Prospecting

One extremely powerful use case of LinkedIn messaging is for sales prospecting and lead generation.

You can leverage messaging to:

• Book Sales Calls/Demos Directly – After providing some value, ask prospects if they would like to learn more over a quick call or demo.
• Nurture Leads Over Time – Not everyone will be ready to talk immediately. Nurture leads by sending periodic valuable messages until they are sales-qualified.
• Send Personalised Pitches – Tailor your messaging outreach and sales pitch specifically based on their role, company, industry, interests, etc.
• Connect With Decision Makers – Identify and directly message key decision makers and influencers who are difficult to reach via email.

These leveraging a structured yet personalised messaging sequence can generate exponentially more sales conversations and opportunities over time.

Step	LinkedIn Message Template
1. Personalise	[First Name], I noticed [Company / Interests] and would love to connect.
2. Provide Value	I recently published an article on [relevant topic]. Thought you would find it useful: [link to article]
3. Follow Up / Nurture	Hi [First Name], Checking back to see if you had a chance to read the article I shared and connect. [url] |
4. Pitch	Thanks for connecting! Since you’re in [industry], I thought you would be interested in [services, products, events etc.].
5. Offer Value Exchange / CTA	I’d be happy to schedule a quick call to show you a demo and discuss further if helpful. Just let me know a time that works!

LinkedIn Messaging Campaigns

Taking it further, you can scale your prospecting by running targeted LinkedIn messaging campaigns.

The key steps for executing successful campaigns include:

Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

Get very specific on the exact titles, companies, locations, industries, interests etc. This will be the foundation of your targeted outreach.

Step 2: Identify Your Prospects

Leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator or third-party tools to identify relevant prospects matching your ideal customer profile. Curate customised prospect lists you can message.

Step 3: Craft Your Campaign Messages

Create value-driven personalised templates catered to your different prospecting goals, whether booking meetings, lead generation etc.

Step 4: Set Up Your CRM for Tracking

Use a CRM system to import your prospects lists, segment and organise campaigns as well as track opens/replies over time.

Step 5: Start Messaging

Begin structured messaging sequences to your targeted prospect lists. Follow up over time and track response rate KPIs.

Step 6: Analyse & Iterate

Review metrics to determine optimal messaging frequencies, follow-up cadences, response rates by industry etc. Continuously refine and improve over time.

Running structured LinkedIn messaging campaigns allows you to scale your personal branding and sales prospecting measurably and effectively.

LinkedIn Messaging Tools

Conducting messaging campaigns manually can become extremely tedious and challenging to scale.

That’s why leveraging some key LinkedIn messaging tools is highly recommended:

• LinkedIn Automation Tools – Tools like Woodpecker allow you to automate personalised campaigns and sequencing based on opens, replies, follow ups and more.
• LinkedIn Chatbots – Chatbots like Chatfuel can engage site visitors via automated messaging sequences and campaigns.
• CRM Software – Robust CRM software like HubSpot provides automation as well as seamless workflow integration between websites, ads and messaging.

The right tools provide the fuel for your LinkedIn messaging efforts to deliver exponential results. It also helps in building meaningful business connections, allowing for mentorship opportunities.

LinkedIn Messaging Compliance

To maintain your LinkedIn messaging access, you must adhere to platform guidelines and compliance thresholds.

It’s critical to avoid being seen as spammy, which can lead to restrictions or suspensions.

Response Rate Requirements

Maintain an account response rate above 20% by only messaging qualified, relevant prospects.

Daily Message Limits:

Keep messages limited to 100 or fewer per day to remain compliant. Messages get throttled after the 100-message threshold.

Mark As Spam Reports

Avoid language perceived as promotional or solicitous. High spam reports lead to disabled accounts.

Blocking & Unsubscribes

Honour user blocking and opt-out requests immediately. Continuing to message them can cause suspensions.

By sticking to platform guidelines and compliance best practices, your LinkedIn messaging account will remain in good standing for the long term.

LinkedIn Messaging Statistics & Metrics

It’s important to track key LinkedIn messaging metrics to analyse campaign performance and make data-driven optimisation decisions. Here are some top metrics to monitor.

Open Rates

Open rate measures how many people opened your LinkedIn messages, indicating initial interest. Benchmark to hit 25-50%.

Response Rates

Response rates track how many prospects reply to your campaigns and messages. Aim for 10-25% or higher over time.

Sales Qualified Conversations

Are your conversations leading to real sales opportunities? Track how messaging converts into demos, meetings, and opportunities.

Follow-Up Effectiveness

Analyse the % of initially unresponsive prospects that eventually convert after consistent, value-driven follow-ups.

Messages Sent Per Day/Week

Monitor daily and weekly messaging volumes to ensure you remain below platform limits and compliance thresholds.

Continuously tracking and optimising around key LinkedIn messaging metrics directly impacts overall campaign performance and sales outcomes. Optimizing LinkedIn Page Communication for Career Advancement means making your LinkedIn page better so it can help you get a better job or move up in your career. It’s like cleaning up and decorating your online work profile to impress bosses. Understanding AI Messaging on LinkedIn is like learning how a smart robot sends and reads messages on a website for professionals. It’s about how artificial intelligence can help us communicate better on LinkedIn.

Composing an Excellent LinkedIn Follow-Up Note means writing a polite and friendly message to someone you met on LinkedIn. It’s like saying “nice to meet you” after talking to a new friend. Improving LinkedIn Messaging Feedback means making the messages on LinkedIn better and easier to understand. It’s like cleaning up your room so you can find your toys more easily.

LinkedIn auto-messaging insights help you understand how well your automatic messages are working on LinkedIn, like seeing if people are reading and replying to them. Handling LinkedIn replies means answering messages you get on LinkedIn in a nice and quick way so people feel happy talking to you

Writing LinkedIn Connection Requests is about asking someone to connect with you on LinkedIn in a friendly and polite way so you can build your professional network Optimize LinkedIn outreach by making your profile stand out and sending personalized messages to potential connections

Craft compelling messages Create powerful words that grab attention and make people want to listen or act Automated LinkedIn outreach

Conclusion

As we’ve explored, LinkedIn messaging is a versatile and powerful tool for business networking and communication. Each aspect requires a nuanced approach, from individual LinkedIn messages for business to broader LinkedIn messaging campaigns.

The effectiveness of the best cold LinkedIn messages lies in personalization and understanding your audience. By embracing these strategies, professionals can unlock the full potential of LinkedIn messaging, turning connections into valuable business opportunities.

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