Imagine you’re at a business dinner party and suddenly someone comes to you and says, “Hi George! I would like to add you to my business network.” Would you accept the invitation? Certainly not! It happens all the time on LinkedIn.
Prospects, today, have become very smart. When you send boring templated messages to prospects, they know there’s a sales pitch lurking behind. They don’t like lazy, unprofessional messages and these are highly unlikely to get a response.
With more than 740 million users, LinkedIn has evolved into a leading B2B marketing platform. It is a goldmine for B2B marketers and businesses who are always on the hunt to find leads. And the best thing is that LinkedIn provides them a platform to connect with everyone on the platform. It’s providing them an opportunity to enhance their lead generation and business growth opportunities. That’s only possible when you work on your messaging skills.
How to write perfect LinkedIn messages that would make your campaign successful and bring you maximum acceptance and response rate? That’s the question every B2B marketer and business is asking.
Also read:
Top 10 Digital Marketing courses in bangalore offering training with 100% placements.
Our Course on Advanced Digital Marketing
Many marketers who run LinkedIn automation campaigns often complain that it didn’t give them any significant outcomes. But why is that so?
Why Your LinkedIn Messages Are Ignored by the prospects
Many marketers and recruiters who use LinkedIn automation tools to run messaging campaigns or send them manually, consider outreaching a number game. They have developed this mindset that sending bulk messages would bring leads and better results.
So they send templated or default connect request messages which prospects don’t even read. It’s because they get hundreds of such messages every day. Most are the same, templated, boring and as a result, they get rejected.
Ironically, sometimes there are users who don’t even like to define their target audience and they send messages to totally untargeted and random prospects. The result? Their accounts get flagged due to spamming and LinkedIn takes action against them.
LinkedIn also discourages such approaches…
LinkedIn has always been taking action against those who spam and send connection requests and messages blindly. LinkedIn has also revealed the statistics of the messages that get accepted and rejected.
According to stats, most people have only a 20-45% response rate and that means a 75% failure rate.
That shows you’re successful only ¾ times and that’s not enough if you really want to grow your business.
This is why LinkedIn urges its users to get to know each other well before sending sales-y pitches. This is why it has also introduced ‘LinkedIn New Invite Restrictions” saying that:
“Connections benefit you more when you know them personally, so we have weekly limits to encourage better networks.”
This shows how important personalization is to successfully build relationships and generate leads on LinkedIn.
Before we jump into how to write effective LinkedIn messages, let’s dig into what mistakes you really make in writing messages that fail your campaigns.
1. You’re reaching out blindly
When doing outreach or sending messages on LinkedIn, people often use LinkedIn automation tools or do it manually. In both cases, you need to filter out the right audience first.
Sending messages to the wrong people can get your account blocked.
Sending messages to the wrong people is just a waste of time as they will bring you nothing in the short or long term.
Like we mentioned above, many marketers think that generating leads on LinkedIn is all about the number game. They see random people which appear as 2nd and 3rd connection and send them connection requests with notes.
The results?
They get zero acceptance or response rate.
2. You don’t mention why you want to connect
LinkedIn is a professional platform, and you need to act professionally to get some results. When you’re sending messages to prospects, you don’t tell them why you are reaching out to them.
When your prospects open a message, they look for a reason or something relevant. If they don’t find it, they leave it there without giving it a second thought.
You need to tell them where you found them, why you are reaching out to them, what value you can add to their network to grab their attention.
3. You write long messages
Another mistake that you make is writing long paragraphs to your prospects thinking they might be impressed. However, the truth is that no one likes to read long messages, especially on LinkedIn. This is even more irritating for people who use LinkedIn on their phones.
Imagine you’re sitting in your office doing your work and a random person enters and starts talking about himself, his inspirations, his product/services, his goals, etc. How annoyed would you be?
Our guess… a lot!
The same goes the other way around. People who wonder why they don’t get a better response rate should know that prospects like short and to-the-point messages. Don’t write stories. Write meaningful and to-the-point messages.
4. Not having a professional profile
When someone sends us a friend request or message, the first thing we do is check their profiles. The same happens when you send someone messages on LinkedIn.
Many people write really good messages, but they forget to pay some attention to their profiles. If it lacks a good profile picture, a good headline, or a summary, your message will have no worth. Thus, it’s important to tweak your messages and skills before you start running a messaging campaign.
5. You don’t introduce yourself
We just mentioned above that including too many details about yourself will make the prospects lose interest in your message. But that doesn’t mean you don’t introduce yourself.
People often get rejected by prospects because they become too straight in their messages.
Balance is the key. Thus, make sure you give them an idea of who you’re and why you are sending them a message.
Pro Tips to Write Effective LinkedIn Messages That Will Get You 70%+ Response Rate
Now that you know what mistakes can ruin your LinkedIn automation campaigns, make sure you avoid them.
In an environment where the response rate is less than 25%, make sure you do your proper homework to make your messaging campaign successful and drive better results. You need to ensure that you write messages that encompass the following criteria:
1. Highly Personalized Messages: Write relevant messages that include personal details of the prospects.
2. Appropriateness: Make sure you create different templates that are suitable for prospects of different industries.
3. Usability: Make sure your messages have value and will be useful for the respective receivers.
Now let’s move towards the best practices:
1. Walk An Extra Mile to Get Results
When sending a connect note or messages, LinkedIn shows you some templates or defaults messages. Most people send connection requests without any notes and others who send a note don’t even put any effort to alter it or add any specific details.
When sending a connect request message, don’t just rely on the line. ‘ I’d like to add you to my network.’ Most of the prospects won’t even pay attention.
Try something like this:
Hi Mike!
I see you belong to the XYZ industry. I also work in the same niche. Let’s connect and see how we can benefit each other professionally.
Talk soon.
2. Involve Your Mutual Connections
LinkedIn has this amazing feature that lets you know who your mutual connections are. People tend to trust those who have the same connections as you do. Thus, if you want to connect with a prospect and you both have some mutual connections, use your mutual connections as the talking point.
Try something like this:
Hi Mike,
I noticed that we have some mutual connections. Most of them spoke very highly of you and your skills. Really impressed. I’d love to add you as my connection so we can add value to each other’s network.
Looking forward to it.
3. Talk About Their Interests
To get your prospects’ attention, you need to provide them something that they are really interested in. For that, you first need to learn about their interests or problems they might be facing. You can use the best LinkedIn automation tools to collect information about them or do it manually if you have enough time.
Once you have collected enough data about them, include those details into the notes and messages so they know you are not just connecting randomly.
Try something like this:
Hi Mike,
I came across your profile while searching for B2B marketers. I see you’re facing trouble with lead generation. As an industry expert, I have good suggestions on how you can speed up your B2b lead generation. Let’s connect and discuss.
Regards,
4. Connect on the same ground.
When you collect data about your prospects, see who has the same interests as you. If you find prospects with common interests, you can use this relevancy to get in touch with the prospect.
You can try something like this:
Hi Mike,
Came across your profile and noticed that you have an interest in automation and Artificial Intelligence. I am glad to see we share common interests. Let’s connect and see how we can push each other ahead.
Best,
When you talk about their interests, they realize that you have visited their profiles and put some effort into crafting a connect request note for them. Using such information, you can also establish a strong business relationship outside LinkedIn. You can connect with them through Email or on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
5. Tell Them Why You Are Reaching Out
People are always curious to know how you found them or why you want to connect with them. So, while writing messages you can add details about what made you send them a connection request.
Try something like this:
Hi Mike,
I see you work in the XYZ industry. I have also worked in the same industry and in the same position. Let’s connect and see how we can support each other professionally.
Best,
6. Write to-the-point
Limit yourself to 50 words while writing a LinkedIn message – no less, no more. Don’t add irrelevant details, stay focused and choose your words wisely.
Your LinkedIn message should have the following details:
- Personalized
- professional
- Praiseworthy
- Pertinent
- Polite
Always use their first or last name or any other title to address them. If you are using advanced LinkedIn automation tools to send messages, the CSV file feature will automatically place variables according to a person’s profile.
7. Do not sell right away
The age of cold approaches has gone. Cold messages containing sales-y pitches don’t work anymore.
Today is the age of social selling which means building strong relationships before you finally pitch your product or service. It’s something very common that marketers and salespeople start everything with a sales pitch but you should know that it doesn’t work anymore.
Social selling has become the latest and most successful approach to generating leads.
Now that we have shared some useful practices to write effective messages, we hope you take all the useful steps to make your campaigns successful.
Important Points To Strike Up Conversation
In the modern digital landscape, it’s not easy to get replies from prospects. If you want people to accept your connection requests and answer your notes and messages, make sure you have tweaked your profile so it looks attractive to the prospects.
Use the following points to increase your profile appearance:
1. Add a professional profile picture
2. Write a relevant and good headline and summary
3. Add details about what you can do for your targeted audience to catch their attention
4. Use personalization to get a maximum response rate
5. Add CTAs to make them take an action
Conclusion
Making sales on LinkedIn is not a piece of cake.
You first need to create an impression and that’s possible when you send them highly personalized messages including details that they really want to read.
All the points mentioned above are tried and tested and brought us a 70%+ response rate. Putting a little effort into sending messages can make you win your dream clients.
