LinkedIn’s InMail feature allows you to directly contact other members, even if you’re not connected. With a free LinkedIn account, you can only send a limited number of InMails per month. So how many InMails can you send each day if you have a free account?
InMail Basics
InMail is LinkedIn’s internal messaging system that allows you to contact any member directly by sending them a message to their LinkedIn inbox. This can be useful for reaching out to connections, prospective clients, recruiters, and more.
With a free LinkedIn account, you get a limited number of InMails each month. If you want unlimited InMails, you need to upgrade to one of LinkedIn’s premium paid account options like LinkedIn Premium Career or Sales Navigator.
InMail Limits for Free Accounts
As of October 2023, here are the InMail limits for free LinkedIn accounts:
- You get 5 InMails per month
- This works out to about 1 InMail every 6 days
- You cannot send more than 1 InMail per day
- Any unused InMails expire at the end of each month
So in summary, with a free LinkedIn account, you are limited to sending a maximum of 1 InMail per day, up to 5 per month.
How to Get More InMails
If you need to send more InMails per day or per month, you have a few options:
- Upgrade to LinkedIn Premium Career or Sales Navigator – this gives you 25-30 InMails per month
- Invite someone to connect on LinkedIn – you get 1 free InMail for each connection invitation
- Recommend someone for a job – you get 1 free InMail for each job recommendation
- Follow a company – you get 1 free InMail for following each new company
- Use credits from referring others to LinkedIn Premium – you get 1 InMail credit per referral
Here is a comparison of the InMail limits for LinkedIn’s paid account types:
| LinkedIn Account Type | InMails Per Month |
|---|---|
| Free Account | 5 |
| Premium Career | 25 |
| Sales Navigator Pro | 30 |
| Sales Navigator Team | 30 |
As you can see, upgrading to a paid LinkedIn account significantly increases the number of InMails you can send per month. With a Premium Career account, for example, you could send 25-30 times more InMails than with a free account.
Tips for Using InMail Effectively
When using your limited number of free InMails each month, make sure you use them strategically for the best results:
- Personalize each message with the recipient’s name and why you want to connect
- Keep messages concise and compelling to pique interest
- Follow up if you don’t get a response within a week
- Target recipients who are more likely to respond and convert to connections or opportunities
- Track your InMail response rates to optimize future outreach
InMail Etiquette
To use InMail effectively and avoid turning off recipients, be sure to follow proper InMail etiquette:
- Only send to relevant prospects based on role, industry, location, etc.
- Personalize each message and demonstrate you did research on the recipient
- Introduce yourself and explain why you want to connect
- Keep messages professional and avoid hard sells
- Respect it if someone doesn’t respond and avoid harassing with multiple messages
InMail vs. LinkedIn Connection Requests
InMail and connection requests serve different purposes on LinkedIn:
- InMail – Direct private messaging system to contact anyone on LinkedIn
- Connection Requests – Ask to add someone to your network of LinkedIn connections
With InMail, you can message people you’re not connected to. Connection requests simply ask to establish an ongoing connection on LinkedIn. Many people use an InMail to introduce themselves before sending a connection request.
Other LinkedIn Messaging Options
In addition to InMail, LinkedIn offers a few other messaging options:
- Messages – Have conversations with your existing LinkedIn connections
- Chat – Chat in real-time with your connections
- Group Messages – Communicate with all members of a LinkedIn Group
However, all these messaging options require an existing connection. InMail is the only way to message people you are not connected to already.
Conclusion
To summarize, with a free LinkedIn account you are limited to sending just 1 InMail per day, up to a maximum of 5 per month. To increase your daily and monthly InMail limits, you would need to upgrade to a paid Premium account. When using your limited number of free InMails, make each one count by personalizing the messages and targeting recipients carefully based on role and interest. With the right strategy, you can make the most of the InMail capability even with a free LinkedIn account.
