Author: Anamaria Copilau
Publication date: 04.08.2023
With over 900 million members and more than 58 million registered companies, LinkedIn is the largest business-centered social media platform. From students to professionals, this is the platform to use if you wish to connect with people you admire or you want to collaborate with.
One of the main ways to make new connections on LinkedIn is through cold messages. These are the easiest ways to contact and start a conversation with someone you don’t know yet. Remember that cold messages are neither free nor unlimited and that your reputation is dependent on their success.
Coming across as ‘spammy’ can cause you to lose potential contacts, or even have your account suspended. Additionally, unless you’re a LinkedIn Premium user, your cold messages are limited to 300 characters. Keeping this in mind, you should curate your messages carefully, so they work to your advantage. That’s why we’ve created a guide to help you write the best cold messages that will ensure a high response rate.
1. Make it personal
We’ll elaborate on this in the following points, but ensuring your message comes across as intentional and personalized is a bare minimum. In addition to using the recipient’s name and some personal information, you should ensure the person you’re contacting feels you’re interested in their input.
2. Build a relationship and save the selling for later
Finding common ground with a new contact will make you appear more familiar, and give you a higher chance of receiving a reply. Reading through someone’s profile and learning more about them will allow you to find easier ways of communicating with that person. It always helps to use information from their profile to adjust your method of approaching them. Try asking them about their journey and their experiences by relating them to your own dreams and desires.
Whilst promoting a product on LinkedIn can be beneficial, make sure you’ve built a personal connection with the person you’re promoting to. Not doing so can make your product appear undesirable and your company unsuccessful. This is worse than not reaching out at all. Therefore, when introducing yourself to potential customers on LinkedIn, remember that your main goal isn’t to sell your product, but to build connections.
3. Build relationships
Building on the previous point, try to get to know the person. So, the first step is to build a relationship with them and allow them to familiarise themselves with you. This way you increase your chances of successfully promoting your business or selling your product.
Additionally, you may find yourself speaking to someone influential that can help you grow in your career. An easy way of connecting with people on LinkedIn is by finding mutual connections. You can either ask the mutual connection to introduce you, or simply mention them in your first message to the person you’re looking to get to know.
4. Show your interest in their accomplishments
Mentioning someone’s accomplishments, or something specific you found on their profile shows your interest in the person. For example, showing that you’ve informed yourself about who you’re speaking to can drastically improve their first impression of you. Consequently, this will make a reply more probable.
5. Why are you valuable?
This isn’t reserved for a company or product. Show the person you’re contacting that you’re special and worth their time. Focus on your strengths, interests and future plans. Show them that you have a vision for your career or product. This will diminish their worries about the potential risks involved and assure them of your competence.
6. Less is more and shorter is better
Time is a valuable resource. Make sure the content and value of your message is as compact as possible. A good first impression is formed almost instantaneously, so ensure you start strong. Avoid long paragraphs and instead opt for short, concise sentences.
In particular, your first goal is to receive a reply. This is only achievable when the person is interested in reading your message. Focus on how you’re coming across, what you have in common with the addressee, and your strengths.
5. Why should they reply?
If the addressee has to wonder what their answer to you should be, then they probably won’t reply at all. Avoid bland ending statements because they’re likely to leave your message unanswered. Instead, opt for a question. Find something you believe they wish to speak about.
For instance, you can ask them about their specific experience in a particular company or position in a company. What’s more, you may ask about their interests, experience or even advice on a particular topic or task. This way, you’re more likely to receive a reply if you make the person feel helpful and knowledgeable.
6. Keep track and follow up
Since you’re reaching out to multiple people, try your best to keep track of who you’ve contacted. Whilst you might want to follow up with them if they don’t reply immediately, most certainly avoid spamming them.
Cold messages on LinkedIn
Regardless of what you’re trying to achieve by using LinkedIn, your main priority should be making new connections. Putting yourself out there professionally can be scary, especially when success isn’t imminent. So, remember to give yourself time to become acquainted with other professionals and learn from them.