Does cold outreach work on LinkedIn?

Cold outreach, also known as cold calling or cold emailing, refers to the practice of contacting people you don’t have an existing relationship with to generate leads and sales. On LinkedIn, this often means sending connection requests or InMail messages to prospects you don’t know personally. But does this tactic actually work?

The rationale behind cold outreach

The idea behind cold outreach is that it allows you to expand your network and connect with prospects you otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach. Rather than waiting for warm leads to come to you, cold outreach takes a proactive approach to getting in front of potential customers. Some key potential benefits of cold outreach include:

• Increasing your visibility and exposure to new prospects outside your existing network
• Building relationships with decision-makers you want to do business with
• Introducing prospects to your brand, products or services
• Qualifying leads by initiating a conversation and gauging interest

For sales teams, cold outreach is often seen as a necessary tactic to hit revenue goals and scale the business, especially in the early stages. LinkedIn’s large professional network and detailed user profiles make it an appealing platform for cold outreach.

Challenges of cold messaging on LinkedIn

However, cold messaging on LinkedIn comes with some inherent challenges:

• Low response rates: Studies show that cold email response rates are often below 5%. LinkedIn messages may fare slightly better, but response rates are still likely to be low.
• Messaging restrictions: LinkedIn limits the number of InMail messages that can be sent, making it hard to contact prospects at scale.
• Negative perception: Prospects may find unsolicited messages annoying or intrusive.
• Lack of context: With no prior relationship, it’s hard to personalize effective cold messages.
• Spam concerns: LinkedIn is cracking down on sending bulk InMail messages, which may be flagged as spam.

These factors can make it difficult for cold outreach campaigns to cut through the noise and engage prospects meaningfully on LinkedIn.

Best practices for cold messaging

To maximize effectiveness, cold messages should follow certain best practices:

• Personalize every message with relevant details from the prospect’s profile.
• Craft subject lines that are specific and compelling enough to pique interest.
• Highlight shared connections or groups to establish common ground.
• Focus on providing value rather than making a sales pitch.
• Keep the message concise and scannable for busy prospects.
• Emphasize benefits the prospect will gain over features of your offering.
• Make it easy to learn more or continue the conversation.
• Follow up any connections with warm, value-focused messages.

Unfortunately, even messages carefully crafted this way see low response rates. Spraying and praying with bulk generic messages is even less effective on LinkedIn.

The role of InMail

LinkedIn’s InMail system, which lets you message anyone (even if they’re not a direct connection), is often positioned as the primary channel for cold outreach. Here are some key InMail stats to consider:

• Each LinkedIn account gets a limited number of InMail credits per month, ranging from 5 to 30 based on account type.
• InMail response rates are estimated at 10-15%, slightly higher than generalized cold email stats.
• InMail open rates range from 20-50% on average.
• Conversion of InMail messages to sales opportunities falls between 2-4% typically.

While InMail does provide a way to message prospects outside your network, conversion rates remain low. Credits are limited and expensive to buy in bulk.

InMail quick tips

• Only use InMail to contact leads highly relevant to your offering – don’t spam prospects.
• Personalize messages extensively with details from the prospect’s profile.
• Avoid copy-pasting duplicate InMails – this will cause accounts to be flagged.
• Focus on starting a dialogue rather than heavy selling in initial messages.
• Follow up InMails that receive a response to continue nurturing the lead.

Creative approaches beyond basic InMail

Given the limitations of basic cold InMail, creative approaches can improve results. Consider these InMail alternatives and enhancements:

InMail display ads

In addition to sending direct InMails, you can run InMail ads that allow recipients to opt-in to receiving your InMail. This “warmer” approach can increase open and response rates.

Conversational InMail

LinkedIn now allows you to send InMail that includes follow-up messages if the prospect responds. This helps move the conversation forward.

Connection requests with notes

You can include customized notes with your connection requests to provide context when asking to connect. This increases acceptance rates versus silent requests.

Sequenced messaging

One-off InMails see poor results. But sequenced messaging over time leveraging different formats like InMail, messages, and connection requests can warm up cold prospects.

Thoughtful content sharing

Sharing relevant content like articles and whitepapers with thoughtful personalized notes is less intrusive than a heavy sales pitch.

Targeted ad campaigns

Running LinkedIn ad campaigns targeting your keywords and ideal prospects can attract new leads organically without cold messaging.

Should you use bots or automation?

Some social media management tools like Drift and PersistIQ promise to automate cold messaging on LinkedIn, including using chatbots. But this approach has significant downsides:

• Bots are impersonal and prospects can easily detect robotic messages.
• Automated tools violate LinkedIn policies and can quickly lead to banned accounts.
• Mass spamming destroys your brand’s reputation with low quality interactions.
• LinkedIn’s algorithms demote accounts that use automation tools.
• You lose control of nuanced messaging and personalization.

For these reasons, automation is not recommended for cold outreach on LinkedIn. The risks outweigh any perceived benefits.

Measuring LinkedIn cold outreach results

To determine if your LinkedIn cold outreach strategy is working, you need to track key metrics:

InMail metrics

• InMail open rate
• InMail response rate
• InMail click-through rate
• InMail unsubscribe rate

Lead metrics

• Connections generated
• Qualified leads acquired
• Opportunities created
• Sales pipeline influenced
• Revenue attributable to campaign

Continuously optimize your campaigns based on results. Response rates below 5% may indicate ineffective messaging. Prioritize InMail personalization, targeting, follow-ups, and integration with other tactics.

Conclusion

Does cold outreach work on LinkedIn? The reality is cold messaging sees low response rates and is best used selectively. Mass blasting generic InMails is ineffective. For best results:

• Deeply personalize every message
• Use InMail judiciously for high-value prospects
• Experiment with creative approaches like sequenced messaging and content sharing
• Avoid bots and automation which damage your brand
• Continuously measure performance and optimize

With a strategic, nuanced approach, cold outreach can be modestly successful on LinkedIn. But it should be blended with other tactics like content, ads, referrals and events to generate warm inbound interest.