No engaging LinkedIn connect message, no reply, no network growth.
What if your next message could get you new opportunities?
It's not easy to reach out to someone on LinkedIn. To expand your network and build your brand, your message has to stand out.
But you can still do it successfully. We’ll share 7 LinkedIn connect message templates that will expand your audience!
This article will cover advice and templates about LinkedIn connect messages for sales, marketing, growth, and anyone who'd like to start a LinkedIn strategy.
We'll see:
Since a social network aims to create relationships and engage with people,we'll see how to ask someone to connect on LinkedIn.
Let's draw the whole process and start with the basic parameters. When it's ready, we'll go into more detail with templates and examples.
Let's dig right in.
The first thing that people see when you send a LinkedIn connection request is:
This builds trust. Therefore, focus on optimizing these components. Starting with...
LinkedIn profile photo
How to pick the right LinkedIn profile photo.
Your name and LinkedIn headline
In my case, I added: "I help with Growth 🚀" after my surname to
Headline
First of all, this is not your title. It's your description in 120 symbols.
Most people think they need to share just their title. Here's the problem: We all do that.
Don't believe me? Ok, let's check together. How many "Marketing Managers" do you see?
There are millions of "Marketing Managers" and you rarely see anything unique about most of them.
"Ok, but how to stand out with a LinkedIn headline?"
Add your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) in the headline. Tell everyone what makes you different from other experts in the industry.
Here's the formula you can use:
{Title} at {Company Name} - We help {Target Audience} with {USP}
For example, we all know that millions of digital agencies do SEO and PPC campaigns to help their clients generate more leads.
So if you only see: "XYZ - Digital Agency"... it barely tells you anything.
Do you want AI to write your LinkedIn headline? You can speed up crafting the perfect headline with Taplio’s free headline generator.
If you try to connect with everyone on LinkedIn - you will fail.
Instead, connect with small groups of people who operate in the same environment as you.
Think about people working in your industry, people you met during events, colleagues you've worked with, professionals you admire, influencers you love, etc.
Let's go through a few strategies for finding your audience precisely. These will help us when writing LinkedIn connection request messages.
Play with LinkedIn search filters:
Using a basic search on LinkedIn is not enough. You should go beyond that, for example, with the boolean search:
Or Sales Navigator search.
Find LinkedIn content makers:
The most active users on LinkedIn are content makers. They're checking inboxes and new connection requests daily.
This is a great tactic to find relevant people to connect with.
Boom!
Now, you have a list of people who write about a specific topic.
If you want to scrape these people and filter them by titles or region, just use Phantombuster’s LinkedIn Search Export.
You’ve successfully identified with whom we want to connect on LinkedIn, and your profile is all set up. So, how can you message someone who is not a connection?
1. Go to their LinkedIn profile.
2. Click the Connect button.
3. Select Add a note.
4. Once you write the message, click Send.
Your message has to be short (limited to 300 characters), so you should choose the words you'll use and your tone.
Plus, some people already have connections in common with you, and some don't. Be sure to pick the right approach.
There is no right or wrong way to proceed down this road. Sometimes, sending a simple invite with no message can be sufficient to connect with someone.
But if you want to contextualize and start a conversation, you probably want to add an intro message
I'm sure you'll have that "That's the message I have to send to Bob" moment when you see these LinkedIn connection request message templates.
Since LinkedIn is for professionals, everyone puts their title, experience, location, the company they work at, and so on.
You can find the perfect audience to connect with by just using this already available data.
We've tested dozens of different strategies, but the one that always works:
It always gives a 70-75% acceptance rate.
How to connect on LinkedIn based on common interests?
You can also find your target audience by checking what's going on in various communities.
For example, your chances of getting a meaningful connection with someone from a LinkedIn group that you're both a member of are way higher.
In my case, it's an 87% acceptance rate.
It is the same tactic as before, but now with Facebook groups. This is the one we've shown in our LinkedIn lead generation guide.
Results are the same... 70-80% acceptance rate.
If you're in sales and are using LinkedIn for sales prospecting, keeping updates on your leads and their companies is usually a good idea.
You can leverage their recent milestones and congratulate them by staying in sync with the news.
This is a strategy that our Head of Business Development, Nadja, uses regularly.
It's really working great!
How exactly does LinkedIn lead generation work?
Let's be frank: not everyone is 100% active on LinkedIn.
If you connect with someone who's not active, chances are you won't get a reply back, no matter how good the message is.
TIn a nutshell, this strategy involves finding a sentence that is highly personalized for this specific person. We named it theTiramisu strategy.hat is a great tip for your lead generation. They've already heard about you before reach out to them!
One of the best growth hacks I did on LinkedIn is ... to go beyond LinkedIn search.
85-90% of people accepted my LinkedIn requests
In a nutshell, this strategy involves finding a sentence that is highly personalized for this specific person. We named it the Tiramisu strategy.
It might be a reference to their summary or work experience. For example, "Saw you've reached 100k organic views in 6 months".
And use it as a variable in your connection campaign:
"Hey, big fan of your work.
I've checked your last achievement shared on LinkedIn and I was quite impressed!
We have a position at lemlist that you might fit into perfectly. Would you be open to hearing more about it?"
This is a message a lot of you can relate to if you're active on LinkedIn. And there are many great job opportunities available too, as well as top talents looking for their next gig. 😊
Sometimes, people won't accept your invitation or answer your message. But you have a second chance!
You could always try another channel to reach out to them. An email follow-up can be a good idea if you have a professional intent.
In any case, it's always better to make it as personal as possible, so personalized images could be a great way to proceed!
For example, this campaign generated around 80 warm leads!
You can easily replicate this for yourself, either with the Phantombuster<>lemlist integration or the lemlist chrome extension.
Making it possible to import leads directly to your campaign from LinkedIn and automate your LinkedIn and cold email outreach 🚀
Now, you've seen different examples of LinkedIn connection messages with good conversion rates.
But you understand that there is no magic formula. 🧙♀️ Even the best LinkedIn connection message example can't work for all your requests.
Sometimes, you'll have a crazy creative idea, and you'll find THE message for the right person.
For this last paragraph, we've selected three examples that other people sent to us and that we thought deserved a shout-out.
Sending automated messages that can fit multiple people is solid. However, delivering personalized messages that are genuine is the best.
We can take a simple compliment as an example. The more genuine it is, the easier it is for the person to really connect with it and get the impression that you really meant it.
Here's what Vuk, our Head of Growth, recently received.
If you leverage a common ground or a shared passion with the person you're trying to connect with, it almost always motivates that person to reply to you and start the conversation.
At this point, we all know that the referral outreach strategy is probably the best one to use on any channel.
In this example, Quentin reached out to Vuk's colleague, Marouane, before reaching out to him. By doing so, he increases his chances Vuk would be on the lookout for that message.
In this case, Quentin was working on a new product and wanted to connect with his potential customers to confirm the product-market fit.
You can see Vuk's response. It's the power of a good old referral.
The final example of a LinkedIn connect message combines good timing with a straightforward message.
Frank reached out to Vuk after watching a webinar he did a few months ago.
Reaching out at the perfect time is another great way not only to connect with people but also to start chatting.
In this example, Frank and Vuk started exchanging ideas about email deliverability.
Once you’ve connected with your prospects, don’t forget to engage further. Try out our LinkedIn Personalized Voice Messages and stay ahead of the pack!
-> Now you're ready to go with your perfect LinkedIn connect message on the road to success 🚀
-> Keep in mind that the best messages are personalized ones, created from our authentic experiences.
-> Remember to A/B test when you hesitate. Your audience will help you understand what works best.
If you want to know more, you can check our LinkedIn prospecting guide or learn how to do generate LinkedIn leads.
G2 Rating | Price | Best for | Standout feature | Con | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.9 star star star star star | $30/mo $75/mo $2,999/mo | Large, distributed sales teams | AI evaluation precision, gamified KPIs | Lack of tracking system | |
4.6 star star star star star-half | Not publicly available | Sales operations and finance teams | Powerful configurability | Limited training resources and complex to navigate | |
4.4 star star star star star-half | Not publicly available | Mid-market and enterprise businesses | Comprehensive incentive management | Potentially high cost and steep learning curve | |
4.7 star star star star star-half | $15/user/mo $40/user/mo Enterprise: custom price | Complex sales structures and businesses of all sizes | Complex sales structures and businesses of all sizes | Steep learning curve | |
4.6 star star star star star-half | Not publicly available | Collaborative teams | Connected planning | Complexity and steep learning curve | |
4.6 star star star star star-half | Not publicly available | Companies with complex sales structures | Complex incentive compensation management (ICM) with high efficiency and accuracy | Complexity for smaller teams and potentially high costs | |
4.7 star star star star star-half | Not publicly available | Companies who want to automate commission calculations and payouts | Simplicity and ease of use | Lack of features like redirection | |
4.7 star star star star star-half | $30/user/mo $35/user/mo Custom: upon request | Businesses that need a comprehensive and user-friendly sales compensation management software | Ease of use and adoption | Lack of ability to configure the product based on user needs | |
4.8 star star star star star-half | Not publicly available | Companies with modern sales culture and businesses who want real-time insights | A built-in dispute management and real-time visibility | Users say it works slowly, customer support is slow | |
4.9 star star star star star | $30/user/mo $50/user/mo | Smaller sales teams | Powerful automation | Lesser user base and average user interface | |
4.7 star star star star star-half | Not publicly available | Companies with scalable needs | Automated Commission Calculations | Lack of filtering by date, no mobile app |
PRM Tool | Rating | Feature | Pro | Con | Mobile App | Integrations | Free Plan | Pricing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.65 star star star star star-half | Org-wide alignment | User-friendly layout and database | Suboptimal as a personal CRM | square-check | Lack of tracking system | square-check | Team: $20/month Business: $45/month | |
4.7 star star star star star-half | Social Media Integration | Easy contact data collection | No marketing/sales features | square-check | Lack of tracking system | square-xmark 7-day trial | $12/month | |
4.75 star star star star star-half | Block Functions | High customization capability | Not a dedicated CRM | square-check | Limited | square-check | Plus: €7.50/month Business: €14/month | |
N/A | Open-source | Open-source flexibility | Requires extensive manual input | square-xmark | Limited | square-check Self-hosted | $9/month or $90/year | |
3.1 star star star | Simple iOS app | Ideal for non-tech-savvy users | iPhone only | square-check iOS only | Limited | square-xmark 1-month trial | $1.49/month or $14.99/month | |
3.6 star star star star-half | Smart Contact Management | Feature-rich and flexible | Reported bugs | square-check | Rich | square-xmark 7-day trial | Premium: $13.99/month Teams: $17.99/month | |
4.4 star star star star star-half | Customizable Interface | Customizable for teamwork | Pricey for personal use | square-check | Rich | square-xmark | Standard: $24/member Premium: $39/member | |
4.7 star star star star star-half | Integrated Calling | Integrated Calling | Too sales-oriented & pricey | square-check | Rich | square-xmark 14-day trial | Startup: $59/user/month Professional: $329/user/month | |
4.8 star star star star star | Business Card Scanning | Business Card Scanning | Mobile only | square-check | Limited | square-check | $9.99/month | |
4.45 star star star star star-half | 160+ app integrations | Comprehensive integrations | No free app version | square-check | Rich | square-xmark 14-day trial | $29.90/month or $24.90/month (billed annually) |
Capterra Rating | Free Trial | Free Plan | Starting Price (excluding the free plan) | Maximum Price (for the most expensive plan) | Best for | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.5 star star star star star-half | square-check 14-day | square-check | €15/month/seat billed annually | €792/month/3 seats billed annually + €45/month for each extra seat | Versatility and free plan | |
4.2 star star star star | square-check 30-day | square-xmark But it offers reduced price to authorised nonprofit organisations | €25/user/month | €500/user/month billed annually (includes Einstein AI) | Best overall operational CRM | |
4.3 star star star star star-half | square-xmark | square-check Limited to 3 users | Comprehensive incentive management | €52/user/month billed annually | Small-medium businesses and automation | |
4.5 star star star star star-half | square-check 14-day | square-xmark | €14/seat/month billed annually | €99/seat/month billed annually | Sales teams and ease of use | |
4.1 star star star star | square-xmark | square-check Limited 10 users | $9.99/user/month billed annually | $64.99/user/month billed annually | Free plan for very small teams up to 10 |
CRM goal | Increase the sales conversion rate for qualified leads from marketing automation campaigns by 10% in the next 6 months. | ||||
SMART Breakdown | 1. Specific: It targets a specific area (conversion rate) for a defined segment (qualified leads from marketing automation). | 2. Measurable: The desired increase (10%) is a clear metric, and the timeframe (6 months) allows for progress tracking. | 3. Achievable: A 10% increase is possible based on historical data and potential improvements. | 4. Relevant: Boosting sales from marketing efforts aligns with overall business objectives. | 5. Time-bound: The 6-month timeframe creates urgency and a clear target date. |
Actions | Step 1: Refine lead qualification criteria to ensure high-quality leads are nurtured through marketing automation. | Step 2: Personalize marketing automation campaigns based on lead demographics, interests, and behavior. | Step 3: Develop targeted landing pages with clear calls to action for qualified leads. | Step 4: Implement lead scoring to prioritize high-potential leads for sales follow-up. | Step 5: Track and analyze campaign performance to identify areas for optimization. |
Outcomes | Increased sales and revenue | Improved marketing automation ROI | Marketing and sales alignment | Data-driven marketing optimization |