LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 800 million members globally. As a social media and business networking site, LinkedIn enables users to connect with professionals in their industry, search for jobs, follow companies, and more.
A key part of the LinkedIn experience is notifications – emails informing users about activity on their profile and changes within their network. However, some users complain that LinkedIn sends too many emails, cluttering up inboxes and becoming a nuisance.
So does LinkedIn really send that many emails, and are they necessary? Let’s take a closer look at the types of emails LinkedIn sends and whether the volume is justified.
Types of Emails LinkedIn Sends
LinkedIn sends out a variety of different emails to its users, including:
Connection Requests
When someone wants to connect with you on LinkedIn, you’ll receive an email notifying you of their request. You can then choose to accept or ignore the request.
Connection Confirmations
Once you accept a connection request, LinkedIn will send an email confirming that you are now connected.
Messages
If another LinkedIn member sends you a direct message, you’ll get an email alerting you to the new message.
Mentions
If someone mentions your name or company in a post or comment, LinkedIn will let you know via email.
Profile Views
You have the option to get notified every time someone views your LinkedIn profile. This results in emails each time someone looks at your profile.
Job Suggestions
Based on your profile and activity, LinkedIn may email you suggestions for jobs you may be interested in.
Company Follows
When you follow a company page on LinkedIn, they may send you updates about new products, initiatives, job openings, etc.
Daily or Weekly Digests
LinkedIn can send you a roundup of your notifications – like profile views and mentions – on a daily or weekly basis.
Notifications from Groups
If you join LinkedIn Groups relevant to your industry or interests, you’ll get emails when there is activity in those groups.
Reminders to Finish Setting Up Profile
To encourage members to fully complete their profiles, LinkedIn may send reminders to add a profile photo, experience, etc.
Marketing Emails
And of course, like any platform, LinkedIn may send marketing emails about new products/features, reminders about existing features, etc. Users can adjust their preferences for receiving these types of emails.
Frequency of LinkedIn Emails
How often you receive emails from LinkedIn depends on several factors:
– How fully you’ve completed your profile – the more complete it is, the more engagement you’ll likely have from others.
– Your level of activity on the platform – the more you interact with content and other members, the more notifications you’ll trigger.
– Your notification settings – you can turn certain notifications on or off.
– How many Groups you’ve joined – each Group you join adds potential email activity.
– How many companies you follow – company updates can lead to more emails.
To illustrate the impact of settings and activity on email volume, here’s a comparison of potential daily/weekly emails at low and high activity levels:
Low Activity User
– Profile views: 0-1 emails per week
– Connection requests: 0-2 emails per week
– Messages: 0-1 emails per week
– Mentions: 0 emails per week
– Marketing emails: 1 email per week
Total: 1-5 emails per week
High Activity User
– Profile views: 1-3 emails per day
– Connection requests: 2-5 emails per day
– Messages: 3-10 emails per day
– Mentions: 1-3 emails per day
– Marketing emails: 1 email per day
– Group notifications: 2-5 emails per day
– Daily digest: 1 email per day
Total: 10-30+ emails per day
So the volume can really vary significantly based on user behavior. But even on the lower activity end, 1-5 emails per week is not very much compared to other social media platforms.
Are the Email Notifications Necessary?
While LinkedIn emails can pile up quickly at high volumes, most serve a useful purpose:
- Connection requests allow you to grow your network.
- Messages facilitate direct communication.
- Mentions alert you to relevant activity.
- Profile views indicate people’s interest in you.
- Company and Group updates provide valuable news.
Without these notifications, you’d miss out on a lot of the activity that makes LinkedIn worthwhile as a professional network.
However, you can reduce the volume without losing out by:
- Only joining relevant Groups instead of all Groups that spark your interest.
- Following only companies you want to specifically keep up with.
- Turning off daily digests in favor of real-time emails.
- Setting your profile to only notify you of profile views from 2nd or 3rd degree connections.
By fine-tuning your settings, you can find the right balance of LinkedIn emails to stay informed without getting overwhelmed.
Conclusion
LinkedIn does have the potential to send high volumes of email, but most of those emails serve a purpose in connecting professionals and facilitating engagement. With over 800 million users, the platform needs to notify members of all relevant activity.
The number of emails you receive depends entirely on your level of activity and your notification settings. With the right settings in place, most users can stay up to date without getting too many unnecessary emails from LinkedIn. So while LinkedIn may have a reputation for sending many emails, the notifications can be managed to avoid email overload.