A LinkedIn InMail campaign is a way to directly engage and connect with your target audience on LinkedIn through personalized messages called InMails. InMails allow you to reach LinkedIn members that you are not currently connected to, going beyond your 1st degree network. With an InMail campaign, you can:
Reach your target audience
LinkedIn gives you access to over 722 million members across the globe. You can target your campaign by job title, company, industry, seniority level, geography, skills, interests, and more. This allows you to reach your ideal customers or prospects at scale.
Send personalized outreach
InMails are private messages sent directly to a LinkedIn member’s inbox, so you can craft customized messaging for each recipient. This makes your outreach more personal and increases open and response rates compared to generic outreach.
Establish thought leadership
An InMail campaign is a chance to position yourself and your company as an industry leader. You can share valuable insights, new product launches, event invites, and other updates to build relationships and grow your brand.
Generate leads
InMails present a direct opportunity to engage prospects, educate them on your offerings, and ultimately convert them into leads. With an InMail campaign, you can scale your lead gen efforts.
Steps to create an effective InMail campaign
Here are some best practices for running a successful InMail campaign on LinkedIn:
Define your goals
Be clear about what you want to achieve from the outset. Do you want to book more sales demos, drive registrations for an event, or collect leads for your sales team? Defining your goals will shape your targeting, messaging, and call-to-action.
Research your audience
Take time to understand your target audience – their challenges, motivations, role, seniority level, etc. This allows you to craft relevant messaging that resonates. Analyze your existing customers and best prospects to identify patterns.
Personalize your outreach
Generic outreach is less effective. Personalize each message with the recipient’s name, company, role, and interests. Refer to their background if possible. This shows you did your research on them.
Keep messages concise
InMails have an ideal length of 50-100 words. Get to the point quickly and focus on how you can add value. Long-winded pitches are less likely to get opened or generate a response.
Provide value
Don’t make it just a sales pitch. Offer useful insights, advice, or resources like ebooks, articles, or events based on what would benefit them.
Include a clear CTA
Tell the recipient clearly what you want them to do – schedule a call, visit your website, attend a webinar, etc. Make it easy for them to convert with a strong call-to-action.
Follow up
Set reminders to follow up if you don’t get a response after a certain period. Continue nurturing leads through ongoing communication and value delivery.
Track and optimize
Pay attention to open rates, response rates, and conversion rates. Tweak your targeting, messaging, and follow-up strategy to improve results.
Benefits of an InMail campaign
Here are some of the key advantages of running an InMail campaign on LinkedIn:
- Higher open rates – InMails see open rates around 50%, much higher than email.
- Increased engagement – The personal outreach drives more engagement than general broadcasting.
- Qualified leads – You can target decision-makers, influencers, and prospects.
- Lead nurturing – InMails allow you to establish and build relationships over time.
- Brand awareness – Position yourself as an industry thought leader.
- Measurable results – Track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
Types of InMail campaigns
Here are some common InMail campaign types:
Lead generation
Goal is to collect qualified leads for sales team. Messages promote offerings and direct to gated content or contact form.
Event promotion
Drive registrations and attendance for webinars, conferences, and other events. Position event as can’t-miss opportunity.
Content promotion
Increase viewership and engagement with gated assets like ebooks, whitepapers, and reports. Offer exclusive previews via InMail.
Cold outreach
Proactively connect and build relationships with new prospects not in your network. Position value you offer.
Account based
Target multiple decision makers and influencers within an organization you want to do business with.
Employee advocacy
Leverage your employees’ networks by empowering them to share content via InMail.
Customer re-engagement
Bring dormant contacts and past customers back into the funnel through personalized InMails.
Best practices for InMail messaging
To maximize InMail open and response rates, incorporate these best practices:
- Personalize with name, company, and role
- Make relevant to their interests and challenges
- Establish common ground connection
- Focus on their needs rather than yours
- Provide value – insights, advice, resources
- Authenticity – avoid sounding like a sales pitch
- Conversational tone and brevity
- Strong, clear call-to-action
- Proper spelling, grammar, punctuation
- Consistent branding – colors, logo, style
InMail campaign metrics
Track these key performance indicators (KPIs) to optimize your LinkedIn InMail campaigns:
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| InMail Send Volume | Number of InMails sent in campaign |
| InMail Open Rate | Percentage of InMails opened by recipients |
| InMail Click-Through Rate (CTR) | Percentage clicking links within InMails |
| InMail Response Rate | Percentage of InMails receiving a response |
| Conversions | Leads, demos, purchases, etc. from InMails |
| InMail Volume per Lead/Customer | Number of InMails needed to generate a conversion |
| InMail Cost per Lead/Customer | Cost to acquire leads/customers via InMails |
Tips to improve InMail campaign results
Here are some tips to boost the effectiveness of your LinkedIn InMail campaigns:
- Tightly define your target audience and recipients
- Limit to 50-150 characters to increase opens
- Write compelling subject lines
- Send on days/times recipients are most active
- Leverage LinkedIn Matched Audiences to target warm leads
- Test different messaging, offers, CTAs
- Use A/B testing to optimize campaign approach
- Automate nurturing sequences to engaged recipients
- Provide free, gated content to build relationships
- Follow up promptly with non-responders
- Monitor and improve over time based on data
InMail campaign templates
Here are some template InMail messages you can model your campaigns after:
Lead generation InMail
Subject: How {Company} uses {Product} to increase sales
Hi {First Name}, I noticed you’re the {Role} at {Company}. We help companies like yours drive 30% more leads with our {Product}. I’d love to schedule a quick call to demo it and discuss if it may be a fit. Let me know if you have some time on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
Thanks,
{Your Name}
Content promotion InMail
Subject: Exclusive preview of our 2022 trends report
Hi {First Name}, I came across your profile and saw you’re the head of marketing at {Company}. I thought you’d enjoy an exclusive sneak peek of our 2022 Digital Marketing Trends report before we release it publicly next week.
Let me know if you’d be interested in reviewing it. I’m happy to send it over and get your feedback. Looking forward to connecting!
Best,
{Your Name}
Webinar promotion InMail
Subject: You’re invited – {Webinar Topic} virtual event
Good morning {First Name}, I hope you’re doing well! We’re hosting a webinar on {Date} – “{Webinar Topic}” featuring our CEO and top industry experts. I noticed you’re {Industry/Role}, and thought it would be valuable for you.
You can register here {link}. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Thanks,
{Your Name}
Conclusion
A LinkedIn InMail campaign can be a powerful tactic to engage your audience at scale on LinkedIn. By taking the time to research your targets, craft personalized messaging, demonstrate value, and track results – you can generate more qualified leads, strengthen relationships, and achieve your marketing goals with InMails.
The keys are targeting the right audience, creating relevant content, writing compelling subject lines and messages, setting clear calls to action, and continually optimizing based on performance data. Master these best practices for InMail outreach to maximize your next LinkedIn campaign.