Posted by Ben Kniffen in Uncategorized
Remember when I told you why I don’t respond to LinkedIn Inmails?
Well the big guys at LinkedIn must've heard me because they are making some changes…and not everyone is happy about it.
Sending a well-crafted InMail message can be a great tactic for reaching out to your top business prospects and growing your business. And starting January 1, 2015, LinkedIn will update their InMail policy in an effort to increase response rates and create more beneficial connections.
This InMail policy update will effect ALL members who hold a Premium Subscription.
Let’s take a look at how these changes might impact you and your business.
Increasing Quality Responses
Under the current InMail policy, any InMail that doesn’t get a response within seven days is credited back to the sender. The sender doesn’t have to waste gobs of money purchasing more InMail credits if their current messages are being ignored.
I.e. you aren’t currently being punished for sending out a bunch of spammy crap.
Once 2015 hits, any InMail that hasn’t received a response within 90 days WILL NOT be credited back to the sender. Only InMails that receive a response within those 90 days will get that credit back into their accounts.
So what exactly does LinkedIn consider a response?
Both a direct reply from the recipient as well as a “recipient was not interested” is taken as a response. So if you are hearing nothing but crickets…expect to pay.
And if your current InMail strategy isn’t producing quality results, things can get pricey very quickly. The pressure will certainly be on to create meaningful and engaging InMail messages.
More InMail Credits
In addition to rewarding quality responses, the new policy will provide Premium Subscription account holders with additional InMail credits each month.
The number of InMails you receive depends on what type of Premium Subscription you have. But here is an example of the new breakdown for anyone who holds a Sales Navigator account:
- Sales Navigator Team: 30 credits (25 currently)
- Sales Navigator Professional: 15 (10 currently)
- Sales Navigator Basic: 8 (5 currently)
If you are unsure how many InMails you are allotted each month, you can look under the Account & Settings tab— Mange your account.
Implications
As I mentioned before, the initial response to the policy updates haven’t been exactly favorable. And while most business owners and sales professionals don’t exactly welcome change with open arms, I actually think these amendments are for the better.
Why do I think that?
For one, the changes reward you for sending quality messages that promote action and engagement. It might force your to reevaluate your current InMail strategy.
If you current tactics aren’t working and your response rate is low, then you will need to make changes to up your game…which will only benefit you in the long run, anyways.
In addition, the swarm of InMail spammers will be soon be weeded out. And once the rate of spam messages decrease, your prospects won’t automatically groan when they get an InMail notification. Thus, your chances of getting an actual response increases.
Do you see the silver lining?
It’s there…I promise!
So, now what do you do?
Since the new policies don't take effect until January, I would urge you to take a look at your current InMail strategy and see where there is room for improvement.
It may take a while to figure out how to get a quality response. Play around with the copy NOW, so when January rolls around you will have a better insight on engaging your top prospects and you aren't wasting the money/credits on the dreaded unanswered InMail.
Good luck and Happy InMail-ing!
Now I want to hear from you. What do you think about LinkedIn InMail policy updates?
I agree with the new policy however, I can see LinkedIn making another less drastic change as companies reduce their spend when measuring time against exposure.
Anything that cuts down on SPAM is good for legitimate marketer. It makes it easier for us to get our message across. So I’m thinking that it will extremely important to always ask some sort of enticing question to encourage a response?
Sorry for the typos 🙂 Oops!
*marketers
*will be extremely
Hey Jordan, yeah you can’t go wrong there. If you’re not asking them a question…not much chance of getting a response!
I like the new policy Josh. I used to reply to all of the SPAM messages, just to use up their credits. Now, I’ll go back to ignoring them.
I’ll treat the better LinkedIn Members better by replying to their Inmails appropriately.
Thanks for sharing this with everyone.
I’m with you Teddy!
The new policy makes sense however the mailing feature is not what it use to be! You cannot see your contacts by industry nor can you see them as your address book… which has made targeted emailing impossible. For that reason, we have stopped using the mailing feature.
Thanks Josh. So under the new rules, if you send 10 InMails and everybody responds, theoreticaly you don’t use any of your InMail credits? Am I reading that right?
Hey Ian – Yep, that’s right.
Yes, but a 50% response rate would be very impressive. So you’re going to lose at least half of the credits no matter what. Josh, is this right? If so, you have 10 credits each month, so you send 10 InMails and hope 5 respond. Then you have 5 credits back so you send 5 more and 2 respond, then you send 2 and one responds. So basically your 10 InMails a month, with a 50% response rate, might actually get you closer to 20 actual InMails.
That all sounds correct JD. It boils down to this. If you are getting a low response rate on your inmails, this is not good news for you. On the other hand, if you get a high response%…this is GREAT news for you!
The new policy makes sense in that I believe it should reduce the amount of irrelavant emails.
Definitely agree with you on that!