LinkedIn Data Reveals What Type of InMail Gets Best Results
LinkedIn’s InMail premium messaging service has been studied to determine the most effective messages.
The study examined tens to millions of InMails that corporate recruiters sent between May 2021 & April 2022.
The social media site used five areas of study to find out which messages received the most responses. The following questions were asked:
- Are shorter or longer messages more effective?
- What day of the week is more likely to receive a reply?
- Do personalized messages get a better response rate?
- Is it more common for “Recommended Matches” to accept an InMail?
- Are “Open to Work” candidates more likely to respond?
The InMails most likely to get a reply within 30 days were personalized messages, which are shorter and sent to “Recommended Matches” or “Open to Work” users on Mondays.
Shorter Messages Outperform Long Ones
LinkedIn discovered that the shortest emails performed best.
Messages less than 400 characters performed 22% higher than the average. The numbers fell as the news got longer.
The average performed 3% better for characters between 401-800 characters than the average, while those between 801-1200 performed 6% below.
The worst performing messages were those that exceeded 1200 words. They performed 11% lower than the global average.
However, recruiters tend to send longer messages. 90% of InMails exceed 400 characters.
LinkedIn suggests that shorter messages might perform better as users receive more outreach in a candidate-driven market.
InMails sent Friday and Saturday get the lowest response rate
LinkedIn data showed that day was not a significant factor in response rates, as long as it wasn’t sent on Friday or Saturday.
Every day was within 1% of the global average response rate, with Mondays doing slightly better than others.
Friday’s responses fell 4%, and Saturday was 8% lower than the average. Only 2% of messages were received on Saturdays, however.
Get More Responses
The study found that InMails sent did 15% more than bulk mails.
This aligns with general email marketing principles that identify message personalization as the #1 strategy for increasing engagement rates.
Most Likely To Respond
The study revealed that LinkedIn’s recommended candidate recruiters are 35% less likely to respond to messages than those who search only. Relevant skills in a user’s profile are used to recommend candidates.
Researchers also found that recruiters were more successful with candidates whose profiles were marked “Open to Work.” This user responded 37% more frequently than other candidates.