Would you like to understand how to use LinkedIn Inmail? Then this article is for you! It’s about one of the most interesting tools of the most atypical and certainly unique social network online. I’m talking about LinkedIn, the social platform with the intention of putting professionalism at the center of everything, which has developed primarily for business purposes, becoming a true territory of B2B research.
Here, professionals connect with each other for business purposes, and recruiters analyze profiles that are most useful for their cause, utilizing tools like LinkedIn Inmail to contact the most interesting profiles. It is also the social platform where companies seek to increase their earnings through modern sales techniques and the search for new clients. In this regard, if you want to become an expert in online sales, I recommend the “Digital Sales Account” course.
The platform offers various types of profiles, which are divided into the free (Basic) one that does not allow access to many truly useful tools, and the paid (Premium) one characterized by different subscription packages and the ability to use all the provided features, such as LinkedIn Inmail.
In this brief guide, I’ll explain in detail:
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- What is LinkedIn Inmail
- Why use LinkedIn sponsored Inmail campaigns
- Best practices for creating successful LinkedIn Inmails
- How to respond to messages on LinkedIn?
Let’s get started!
What are LinkedIn Inmails and what are they used for?
LinkedIn Inmails are a perfect tool to use for your Digital Strategy and they are real email messages that allow you to get in touch with a user even if they are not in your network. Each user has a certain number of messages available based on the type of account they have.
A LinkedIn Basic profile can only send messages to LinkedIn users who are already connected to them. Therefore, to access InMail, you’ll need to upgrade to a Premium account, which comes with different costs depending on the chosen package.
The main use of this tool can vary depending on the user’s role, as it can be used to get in touch with a recruiter, perhaps to inquire about a specific job posting or, conversely, if you are a recruiter, to analyze a profile and see if it is suitable for the role being sought. It can also be useful to directly contact potential clients (and vice versa).
As for companies, the main use of LinkedIn InMail can vary depending on the type of strategy, especially if adopting a B2B or B2C approach, for the search of potential customers or partnerships. In the first case, it can be developed through the company page or even through the behavior and comments of its employees, or to create relationships between companies based on common goals or potential business advantages. In the second case, it can be used to promote a product or marketing strategy by directly interacting with potential consumers through comments and shares.
The advantages of LinkedIn InMail
LinkedIn InMail allows you to get in touch with users who are not part of your network. This is done through highly customizable messages (with possible call-to-action or anchor link insertions) and a one-to-one approach that allows for more direct communication. It is a tool that has a high read rate and allows for the personalization of multiple messages and multiple sends, eliminating the issues related to single sending of regular email.
Another important aspect is that being a fully monitored accessory, it allows for careful real-time analysis of your marketing strategy, enabling highly targeted advertising campaigns.
How LinkedIn Sponsored InMail campaigns work
So, what drives the use of Ads Campaigns through LinkedIn Sponsored InMail in contrast to other types of campaigns available on the market? Quite simple, with InMail, the sender can sponsor their brand/product to an extremely specific and selected market segment, knowing they are offering a product that will surely be appealing to the recipient, thanks to the right Audience targeting.
This is achieved by using a system with a high read rate, thanks to its function not as an easily scrollable ad with little attention, but rather as a chat-like email message that is hard for the potential customer to ignore. This leads to a more probable lead compared to the use of other Ad campaigns that allow for less accurate targeting and, above all, have less suitable places to search for potential customers.
Keep reading; I will now explain how LinkedIn InMail works.
Access InMail messages
After talking extensively about the theoretical aspect and the use of LinkedIn InMail, we can now address the question “how to access this service?”. I must start by saying that LinkedIn only allows access to this service for those who have subscribed to one of the 4 Premium plans, so the basic starting profile is excluded.
But what are these plans? Let’s take a look together:
- Premium Career: This plan is generally used by those who want an advantage for potential hiring, through direct contact with the company/recruiter and the opportunity to make a distinctive presentation that stands out from other applications. It also allows the candidate to be highlighted for job postings and compare themselves with other applicants. Additionally, it offers profile monitoring with the ability to see who visited it in the last 3 months, all at a cost of 30.23 USD per month including VAT.
- Premium Business: This plan is used by companies to promote their brand on LinkedIn and obtain information about growing trends, in order to stay updated on new trends and develop new marketing campaigns accordingly. This plan allows for unlimited profile searches up to the 3rd degree, visibility of page visitors and their activities, 15 free InMail messages, and access to LinkedIn Learning platform, all at a cost of 45.36 USD per month including VAT.
- Sales Navigator: This profile is primarily used to obtain essential data for finding new customers (e.g., revenue, number of employees, company size, etc.), use LinkedIn Learning, save searches, and view users who visited the profile. It also offers the ability to send up to 20 free InMail messages, all at a cost of 60.49 USD per month.
- Recruiter Lite: Last but not least, the Recruiter Lite plan allows for the most advanced search capabilities with specific filters and dynamic profile suggestions. It includes integrated hiring for managing job candidates, automatic tracking, unlimited profile searches, and the possibility to send up to 30 InMail messages, all at a cost of 90.73 USD per month (making it the most expensive and top-tier LinkedIn profile).
Once you’ve decided which type of subscription is most suitable, let’s now talk about the fundamental role played by InMail credits. With each type of LinkedIn subscription, you are granted a certain number of credits to use. But what are LinkedIn InMail credits? They are essential tools for a successful content marketing strategy.
With InMail credits, you can send InMail messages even to those who are not connected to your network, which is extremely useful for lead generation strategies and for promoting your page (whether it’s a blog, website, or e-commerce) to potential customers! Do you need to purchase more credits once you’ve used up the InMail credits in your package? Absolutely not! Since 2015, LinkedIn allows for the recredit of InMail credits spent for a message if it has been opened, read, and responded to by the contacted user.
So, how many credits (and consequently, how many opportunities to send messages to potential customers) does each subscription offer? Let’s take a look together!
- Premium Business: 3 to 5 InMail credits
- Premium Business Plus: 10 to 15 InMail credits
- Executive: 25 to 30 InMail credits
- Sales Navigator Basic: 5 to 8 InMail credits
- Sales Navigator Pro: 10 to 15 InMail credits
- Sales Navigator Team: 25 to 30 InMail credits
- Recruiter Lite: includes 30 credits
- Recruiter Professional Services: 50 to 100 credits
- Recruiter Corporate: 50 to 150 credits.
Finally, I remind you that it’s possible to purchase 10 credits for sending messages in addition to each profile except for Sales Navigator.
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Select your audience
To conduct a detailed analysis of identifying suitable profiles to whom you can forward your InMail messages, LinkedIn allows targeting the new campaigns through Audience analysis, which can be done in two ways:
- Specific attributes (such as age, gender, education, work experience, hobbies, and interests, or for companies, based on category, network connections, number of followers, growth rate, revenue, or size).
- Creating customized Audiences through corresponding Audiences (for example, retargeting, uploading lists, or contacting those who visited your website or viewed a sponsored video).
Studying the most suitable Audience allows creating precise campaigns with the right target for the specific campaign, knowing that you are offering or presenting a product of sure interest to the targeted subject.
Craft your content
To create a good LinkedIn InMail, you need to understand its structure: subject, summary, message body, disclaimer.
- Subject: Unlike other types of emails, InMail goes directly to individuals through messaging; therefore, the subject line carries less importance compared to the message body.
- Summary: It is an optional field that complements the message body, providing a preview of the actual content of the message.
- Message Body: This is, of course, the most important part of the message. It’s where you make introductions and explain the reason for contacting the recipient via InMail, presenting yourself and the product (or company) you are trying to promote. This is the most crucial section that should be personalized as much as possible and written persuasively, as it is the core of the InMail, the reason for its use, and visually the most viewed and with the least margin for errors.
- Disclaimer: This part allows explaining in more detail to the recipient who you are and why they have been contacted by you.
Of course, the most crucial part of what has been written is the message body, as mentioned earlier, it is the real centerpiece and the reason for the recipient’s reading, and therefore the sender’s top priority should be to make this part extremely engaging and personalized to attract the reader’s attention.
But is it the only essential part of the InMail? Certainly not, as another extremely important part when using this contact tool is undoubtedly the final part, dedicated to links and, above all, the CTA (Call To Action). What is the CTA, and why is it so important? The CTA is a Call To Action that allows, as the name suggests, to draw the recipient’s interest in taking a specific action that encourages them to request more information, perhaps moving them from LinkedIn to a dedicated landing page or a contact form, to convert the recipient into a potential customer.
By doing so, you can make your product or persona known. The CTA is essential in a message as it converts a simple user into a lead, which is extremely important in an Inbound Marketing campaign such as the one you do when using LinkedIn Inmails.
Learn how to create powerful content by learning the best practices of content marketing
Tips for writing effective LinkedIn Inmails
Now that you have seen how to access LinkedIn Inmails and how to structure your message and the choice of your Audience, a question arises: how to write an effective LinkedIn Inmail? Here are some useful tips in this regard!
Anyone who wants to send a single message or start a sponsored Inmail campaign to conquer users who are synchronized with the service, brand, or job position must use the opportunity offered by LinkedIn with maximum attention since there are very specific rules to be respected to create a conversation that is rich in results. This is why every message that must be sent must be structured and studied very carefully, trying to create a text that is compliant for the recipient.
First of all, knowledge of the interlocutor is essential; you need to understand the common points and topics on which to build the foundations of your message. “One shot, one opportunity”, the first impression is of fundamental importance; everything is played out in this phase: a dialogue must be created that bears empathy and is stimulating.
Another rule to respect is the way in which you present yourself: you have to be concise but precise in presenting your offer, your profile, and the reason for the message as best as possible, using transparency and clarity as much as possible, spontaneity and an interview from simple tones are to be put first, the impression of an openness to dialogue is fundamental, and it is very important to know how to adapt as best as possible to the recipient of the message, to the role he occupies, to his age, but also to the type of person with which we relate, finding synergistic points to use to one’s advantage.
Finally, it is of fundamental importance to structure the message also through a type of captivating text (perhaps supported by photos or videos) that captures the interest of the potential customer and finish it with the insertion of external links of one’s own interest and above all an adequate CTA that you bring the efforts made to obtain a result through a conversion process that makes the instrument used pay off.
Conclusions and strategic consulting
LinkedIn InMail messages, along with other useful tools provided by the LinkedIn platform, are definitely to be used if you want to implement a successful web strategy.
Whether you are a recruiter, a recent graduate looking for a job, or a company requiring B2B or B2C strategies, they are a fundamental and indispensable tool to unleash the full potential of LinkedIn. Learning how to write them in the best way can make a huge difference between a missed opportunity and a successful deal.
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