LinkedIn Sales Messages That Get Replies, With Examples
Open your LinkedIn inbox and find the messages from strangers. How many did you read to the end?
Most share one structure: a pitch, a paragraph about the company, a calendar link, and a request for half an hour from someone who has no idea why you picked them.
In LeadBound's campaigns, the LinkedIn reply rate runs 20% to 45% (what counts as good). What moves a campaign within that range is decided before anyone writes a word: who you write to, why now, and what you offer first.
What is the difference between a connection request, a message and an InMail?
LinkedIn gives you three ways to write to someone, each with its own rules.
A connection request is an invitation to connect, with an optional short note. A message goes only to your first-degree connections. An InMail reaches someone you're not connected to and costs credits that only come with a paid plan.
Most sales messaging uses the first two. Save InMail for the one person you must reach. Quotas per plan are in LinkedIn limits in 2026.
Should you add a note to a LinkedIn connection request?
Usually not, unless you have one real, specific reason that fits in a sentence.
According to LinkedIn's Help Center, as of 2026 an account without Premium can add a personal note to only three connection requests a month, each capped at 200 characters. Premium members can add one to every request.
A note like "I'd love to grow my network" adds nothing, and a note that sells reads like a promo before anyone agreed to listen. It earns its place when something is true only of this person: this week's post, a conference you both attended, a role open on their team for two months. LinkedIn's Help Center suggests saying how you found the person, what you share and why you want to connect now. I'd add one rule: no ask.
What should the first message say after they accept?
A good first message says why you chose them, offers to send something useful, and ends with a question they can answer in one word.
Many campaigns break here: someone accepts and gets a pitch and a calendar link within a minute, like an insurance agent cornering you at the bar at a wedding.
The structure we use, in order:
- The reason. What you saw at their company, in a sentence written by hand. "Congrats on {event}" reads like a merge field.
- One sentence about you, through what happened at a similar client, with no list of services.
- An offer to send something. A short doc or a two-minute video, worth reading even if they never buy. Here's how to build that offer.
- A question they can answer with yes. "Want me to send it?" asks for one word. "When's good for a call?" asks a stranger for half an hour.
Two rules never move. The first message has no link: it offers to send, and the link comes later in the sequence. A link up front looks like mass sending.
And we send from the client's existing profile, with no new account and no warm-up, so the reader sees a founder or CEO from their own field (how that works).
The message often gets read on a phone, between meetings or stuck in traffic on the way into Tel Aviv. If it needs scrolling, it's too long.
How many follow-ups should you send, and what goes in them?
The number depends on the campaign. What doesn't: every follow-up brings a new reason to reply, and the sequence ends with a breakup message.
A new reason can be a different kind of proof (a client in their industry by name, in place of a number), something else to send, or a question in case you reached the wrong person. "Just bumping this up" fails that test. Leave a few days between messages.
One exception: someone said yes, got what you sent and went quiet. Two lines are enough (example 8), because they already know you.
The breakup message says you'll stop writing and leaves the door open, with no pressure. It's the only message that asks for nothing.
What should you avoid in LinkedIn messages?
Anything that makes the message look like it went to a thousand people that morning.
| What kills the reply | Why | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| A pitch in the first message | They don't know yet why you chose them | One reason to write, and an offer to send something |
| A link in the first message | Looks like mass sending | Link later in the sequence |
| "Could I pick your brain?" | A favor from a stranger, usually a hidden pitch | Say plainly what you offer |
| "Loved your post" | Any automation tool writes that | Quote a specific line from the post |
| A mutual connection who didn't refer you | One WhatsApp message between them exposes it | Mention the connection only as it really is |
| A signature at the end | The quickest sign of a mass message | Don't sign on LinkedIn |
One more fixed rule: when the signal is a new role, the message never mentions it. The signal decides who and when; the message talks about the company.
LinkedIn message examples by situation
These are templates I wrote for this article, not client messages. {first name} is the merge field. Everything else in braces you write by hand for each person.
Writing to Israelis? Use the language the person works in, natural Hebrew or English. Hebrew is gendered, so our Hebrew versions avoid guessing: written Hebrew spells "you saw" the same for a man or a woman.
After a signal
How to find a signal worth writing about is in signal-based selling.
After they published a post
People who commented on a competitor's post are a special case, with their own playbook.
Follow-ups
The breakup message
If you can change only one thing in a running campaign, delete the link from the first message.
Frequently asked questions
How do you write a LinkedIn message to someone you don't know?
Start with a real reason to write now, like an open role or a post they published. Keep it short, with no link and no pitch, and offer to send something useful.
What should you write in a LinkedIn connection request?
Usually nothing. With a specific reason, write a sentence on how you found the person and what you share, with no selling. As of 2026, a free account gets three notes a month, up to 200 characters each.
How many LinkedIn messages can you send per day?
LinkedIn publishes no daily number for messages to first-degree connections. It does say that many connection requests in a short time, or requests ignored or marked as spam, lead to a restriction. I send messages on the same logic, at an even pace through the week.
How do you turn LinkedIn messages into leads?
A LinkedIn lead starts with a reply. When someone says "yes, send it," send what you promised quickly and suggest a next step. At LeadBound a human SDR answers, filters out who doesn't fit and books the meetings.
What is the difference between LinkedIn marketing and LinkedIn messaging?
Marketing usually means organic content and paid ads that reach many people at once. Messaging is outreach to one person you chose. They work best together: someone who saw your name in their feed meets your request with less suspicion.