Is your InMail response rate low, satisfactory, or great? How you use InMails to engage passive candidates has a huge impact on your response rate. Here are some useful tips to get the most from your InMails.

1. Supercharge your InMail response rates
This tipsheet is designed to help you increase your InMail responses. You should typically expect a
above 20%,response rate and above 30% for clients that have a strong employer brand on LinkedIn.
How you word your message has a direct impact on your number of replies.
As recruiters, we are keen to send job specs and get a commitment straightaway, but do remember that
80% of LinkedIn membersaround are not actively job hunting. While they are probably open to hearing
about suitable opportunities, they need to be addressed in a more personal manner. The following tips
will help you engage with those top candidates.
Don’t: Do:
Use a boring, over-used headline like “Job
opportunities at XXX”.
eye-catching headlineUse an . Some great
examples are “Your next career move”, “Great SQL
Background, Tom” or even a simple “Coffee?”
Use an obvious template that shows you have
done no research into their profile and are only
looking to fill a role.
Pay a compliment and make the message
personal, e.g.: “I was impressed with your
experience in…”
Send a full job spec and try to “sell the job” to
them just yet. A passive candidate will probably
feel overwhelmed and not respond.
Acknowledge that they may not be actively
looking. Ask if they are interested in exploring
future options, or have they thought about the
next step in their career development?
Have an empty LinkedIn profile, no profile picture
or- even worse- use a fake “HR @Company”
profile. Your response rates will suffer immensely
from this.
strong LinkedIn profileHave a which tells me
about your company. Your recipients will look into
who is making contact and who the company is
before deciding whether to consider your offer.
Send a long message that makes reading or
responding difficult.
shortKeep your message (2-3 sentences) and offer
easy way to connectan (propose a phone call or
informal chat) if they’d like to learn more.