When preparing a message on LinkedIn, there is nothing more important than being able to clearly and concisely convey information about your business to potential customers. Only one thing is more important: being able to convey this message EFFECTIVELY.
Many business owners, salespeople, and marketers treat cold email and messaging on LinkedIn in the same way. They copy and paste their cold emails into LinkedIn messages and expect to achieve the same results.
Unfortunately, approaching two very different channels with one very narrow strategy is not an effective way to generate new leads.
LinkedIn messages and cold email
Let’s start with what cold email is. A cold email is an email sent to a potential customer who hasn’t had contact with your company before. What are the biggest differences between sending messages on LinkedIn and cold email?
LinkedIn messaging is a bit like texting potential customers. First of all, LinkedIn messages open in a small chat window, so a potential customer will have to scroll to read any message longer than a few sentences. Not only can this annoy a potential customer who has to spend more than the minimum time and effort reading a message from someone with whom he or she has no relationship yet, it will also make them immediately treat your message as “spam”.
Think of LinkedIn messaging as text – you wouldn’t be sending long snippets of text to someone at once. Also, don’t do this on LinkedIn.
Consider sending links
Second, while embedding a link in an email is easy and effective, doing it on LinkedIn can produce different results.
When you include a link in a LinkedIn message, LinkedIn will automatically expand the link into a large thumbnail that takes up the lead’s full screen. This is a terrible experience for a potential customer as it again causes you to scroll to read the entire message.
This doesn’t mean that you should never include a link in your messages on LinkedIn, but you should be very conscious.
If you’re not sure what your message will look like to a prospect, you can use the LinkedIn Post Inspector to preview your post before sending it.
Now that you know why LinkedIn messages should be treated differently than cold emails, check out these 10 tips for writing highly converting messages on LinkedIn:
Short is better.
Focus on the benefits of your offer
Follow the principle of “4 points of contact”
Show the value of your offer
Show testimonials from your clients
Attach a case study to your offer
Share valuable content
Show your portfolio.
Choose a personalized approach.
Create a multi-channel communication strategy
Tip # 1: short is better
Your password should be “short and to the point” when communicating on LinkedIn.
If a potential customer needs to consider whether or not he has time to read your message, it is too long. Your message on LinkedIn should be so short that the potential customer sees it and reads it as soon as they open it.
The main purpose of establishing contact by Ciebei is not to drop all information about the offered product or service onto a potential customer. On the contrary, it is enough for your first message to get his attention and he expresses his interest in receiving more information from you.
Your initial message should never be longer than three sentences. A good format to follow is: “We can make X for Y for people / companies / industries like you. We get Z scores. [A call to action.] ”Plug your own information into X, Y, and Z and you’ll get a clear and concise message, and your prospect won’t have to think twice about reading.
An example of such a message:
Hello [Name],
We can help you reach your potential customers. We helped one of our clients to generate PLN 100,000 in revenue through our campaigns. If you want to know how we did it, let me know and I will send you a description of the strategy we used.
Tip # 2: Focus on the benefits of your offer
One of the mistakes business owners make in their messages about potential clients on LinkedIn is starting each sentence with “me” and focusing on themselves rather than on the benefits of their company’s offering.
In fact, 95% of the listings placed on LinkedIn focus only on the person making the offer, not on the benefits that the potential customer can get.
Instead of focusing on yourself, try to direct your message directly to the potential customer. Start with something like: “Hi Piotrek, your profile caught my attention …” or “Natalia, your company has piqued my interest …”.
By directing your message on LinkedIn directly to a potential customer, you show him that your goal is to support his business, not just to close the sale. Focus on solving customer problems and thanks to that you will be able to generate 10 times more potential leads.
An example of such a message:
Hello [Name],
Your profile got my attention – it looks like you are doing an amazing job of generating leads and I’d love to hear a little bit about your process.
At the same time, I could tell you about several ways in which we help our clients save the time of generating leads on LinkedIn. It sounds interesting?
Tip # 3: follow the “4 points of contact” rule
Another common mistake business owners make when sending messages to prospects on LinkedIn is opt-out after not receiving a reply after the first or second message.
It is worth sticking to the principle of “4 points of contact”. Until you get a response from a potential customer, you should try to contact them within 1-2 months.
Here is an example of what your 4 point touch strategy might look like:
Send your first message on LinkedIn.
Once a potential customer accepts your message, send a follow-up message within 24 hours.
If you don’t get a reply, please send another message in 1-2 weeks. Try to approach this message from a different point of view, such as offering free resources.
If you still don’t get a reply, please send your last message about one month after your previous message. Try to approach this message from yet another perspective. For example, you can try to get them during a free consultation call with you.
The goal of the “4 touch points” rule is persistence without spamming. It’s also a safe number of messages to send without LinkedIn marking them as spam and blocking your account.
Message examples:
Message 1
Hello [Name],
We can help you reach your potential customers faster and better. We helped one of our clients to generate PLN 100,000 in revenue thanks to our campaign. If you want to know how we did it, let me know and I will send you a description of the strategy we used.
Message 2
Hello [Name],
Thank you for accepting my message. I work with many brands in your industry and help them get 10 times their revenue thanks to automated campaigns on LinkedIn.
Would you be interested in making an appointment for a 15-minute phone call tomorrow so that I can tell you about what we can do for your business?
Message 3
Hello [Name],
Companies like yours need a steady stream of high-quality leads to grow their business.
We have prepared a new e-book about how companies can generate profits thanks to automated campaigns on LinkedIn. You can download it here: [link to the e-book]
Do you have 15 minutes tomorrow to discuss the lead generation process for your business?
Message 4
Hello [Name],
I have great news for you – we started offering a free, no obligation consultation to help companies like yours get more return from automated campaigns on LinkedIn.
Click on the Calendly link to book an appointment day and time: [link to Calendly]
Tip # 4: Show the value of your offer
Your listing, testimonials, and messaging strategy on LinkedIn all play a role in achieving good results on LinkedIn.
Presentation of value: show what the potential customer will gain from working with you
References: satisfied customers who match your profile with your potential customer.
LinkedIn messaging strategy: Strategic messaging tips you learn in this article.
While all three factors can contribute to your results, be firm
But the most important thing is a strong value proposition.
You may have poor communication but still achieve great results if you have a well-developed strategy for portraying your benefits. However, without a strong strategy of presenting benefits, even the most strategic messages on LinkedIn may not produce results.
Message example
Hello [Name],
At RobotIn, we help sales teams like yours turn contacts on LinkedIn into warm potential, interested customers thanks to automatic contact with customers thanks to automated campaigns on LinkedIn.
Do you want to know more?
You can find more tips in the second part of the article.