The average LinkedIn inmail response rate is around 20-30%. This means that for every 100 inmails sent, you can expect to get around 20-30 replies on average. However, the exact response rate can vary significantly depending on factors like your industry, seniority level, the quality of your message, and how targeted your outreach is.
Factors that influence LinkedIn inmail response rates
There are several key factors that impact how likely someone is to respond to your inmail messages:
- Your industry and seniority level – Senior executives and those in highly competitive industries like tech tend to get more inmails, so they respond less frequently. Entry-level candidates in less sought after fields respond more often.
- Personalization – Generic outreach gets ignored. Personalized messages that reference someone’s background have higher response rates.
- Quality of your message – Well-written, relevant messages that clearly communicate value perform better than short sales pitches.
- Targeting – Messaging contacts who you share connections with yields higher response rates than cold outreach.
- Your profile strength – Those with complete profiles and large networks get more responses than blank or sparse profiles.
Average response rate by industry
While individual factors impact response rate, some broad trends emerge when looking at average response rates across industries:
- Healthcare – 37% average response rate
- Higher education – 35%
- Non-profits – 33%
- Consumer goods – 31%
- Finance – 30%
- Technology – 27%
- Media and publishing – 24%
- Professional services – 23%
- Manufacturing – 22%
- Software – 21%
Fields like healthcare and education see higher response rates, while competitive industries like tech and media trail with lower response averages.
Response rate by seniority level
Seniority level also impacts how frequently LinkedIn members respond to inmails:
- C-level executives – 15%
- Vice presidents – 18%
- Directors – 22%
- Managers – 28%
- Entry level candidates – 38%
More senior roles get bombarded with messages, so they reply less often. Recent grads and early career candidates tend to be more open to new opportunities, so they respond more frequently.
How to improve your LinkedIn inmail response rate
While there are no guarantees, you can optimize your outreach strategy to improve your chances of getting responses:
- Leverage shared connections for warm introductions
- Personalize every message with specific details about the recipient
- Communicate clear value focused on their needs
- Keep messages concise but insightful
- Follow up once or twice on unanswered messages
- Engage recipients by asking thoughtful questions
- Highlight relevant experience, expertise and recommendations on your profile
Taking the time to target the right people, craft customized messages, and showcase your credibility pays off in higher response rates over time.
Tools to help manage your outreach
Reaching out manually is time consuming. Using tools to streamline the process can help you scale your efforts and boost responses:
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator – Paid tool to identify prospects and send InMails
- Mailshake – Automates tracking and following up on messages
- Outreach.io – Sequences outreach and manages responses
- Yesware – Tracks opens and automates follow-ups
- Woodpecker – Organizes your outreach and reporting
The right tools help you reach more prospects faster, implement organized follow-up, and capture analytics to refine your approach over time.
Key takeaways
- The average inmail response rate on LinkedIn is approximately 20-30%.
- Industry, seniority, message quality, targeting, and your profile impact response rate.
- Personalized, valuable messages sent to warm connections yield better results.
- Tools can help automate and organize your outreach at scale.
- A strategic approach is key to connect with more prospects on LinkedIn.