I Boosted My LinkedIn Response Rate By 400% With This ONE Trick!

Many people come to me frustrated by the lack of response on LinkedIn.

They believe it could work, because they know it's where their target prospects are.

But any time they've sent outreach messages, they typically get little to no response, and start wondering if anyone even reads these things.

The irony is—most people try to solve this by writing "better" messages.

But don't realize that prospects don't respond because of what's written...

But how it makes them "feel".

At some level, the best outreach messages make people feel:

• Safe
• Casual, like they're talking to a friend
• And slightly curious

So instead of trying to craft the perfect message...

Focus on the "vibe" your messages give off.

Now, while personalization isn't absolutely necessary to create that "vibe"...

(Some of my clients get great responses with a casual, conversation starter sequence that can be applied to anyone)

It certainly helps.

And in this episode of "How to Get People to Respond on LinkedIn" (lol)

I wanted to see how far I could stretch it.

The Power of Personalization—At Scale

See, I've always known personalization can double or even triple response rates.

But the problem is, it typically takes a massive amount of time.

Going through profiles and writing custom lines can take hours of your time (or your team's time) every single day...

So, here’s what I tried instead:

Scaling personalization.

I created an automation that scrapes profiles, identifies something unique—like a recent post or an interesting statement in their About section—and uses that as the intro for my messages.

I ran a few tests and the results were clear:

People actually started responding again.

Proof in the Responses

Before switching things up, I was seeing lower response rates than usual—probably due to LinkedIn being inundated with people like me,

So folks are getting more selective.

But once I implemented custom first lines that were directly relevant to each person,

My response rate grew by 3–4X.

For example, one custom first line said:

“Love your mission to improve psychological safety and make work fun for everyone.”

Nothing crazy.

But a small, thoughtful comment like this can turn heads enough to at least start the convo.

This prospect responded, booked a call, and we’re now talking about a deal.

Another example was:

“Love your dedication to meaningful connections in the industrial sector.”

Again, super simple.

But getting that initial response is all that really matters.

Because then a human can take over...

And and as long as they know what they're doing, you're in the clear.

Another response, another call, and another deal in progress.

Within the past 2 weeks, I've booked 12+ calls and am working 3-4 deals from it.

So I think you could say it works, lol

Making Automation Work

So here’s what the process looks like:

1. Lead Sourcing: I use Sales Navigator, but you could pull leads from anywhere.
2. Automate: This tool scrapes relevant info from each profile (headline, recent posts, etc.) and loads it into a Google Sheet.
3. Generate Custom Intros: ChatGPT takes that info, writes a personalized first line, and adds it to the Google Sheet.
4. Sending: Just import the Google Sheet into an outreach tool, set up the campaign with the custom first lines at the beginning, and let it rip.

Instead of me scrolling through profiles and manually entering data, this all happens through automation.

And since launching this 3 weeks ago, I’ve gotten 30+ prospects to respond with interest.

Not all will convert of course (and that brings up the very important skill of appointment setting and sales....)

But at least I've got "at-bats".

It’s All About Feel

Look, if you’re struggling to get responses, stop writing and re-writing them...

Stop asking ChatGPT...

Or considering other lead gen strategies.

You need to learn the psychology of opening conversations.

Because before you can speak to the rational brain,

You need to make it through the emotional triggers.

This is all about tonality,

Associations,

Filler words,

Stuff like that...

It's the reason I use "lol" in my messages,

And send voice memos when I can.

Because I know people won't respond to what I say....

But how I say it.

I’ve seen clients beat their heads against the wall, sending hundreds of messages a week with no responses,

Then I come in with a 1-2 line message,

And within weeks they're getting dozens of responses every single week.

Stop being smart.

It's killing you...

Final Thoughts

If you’re tired of putting in the effort and hearing nothing back, consider this:

Getting responses doesn't have to involve complex strategies.

Sure the personalization tool I built is "cool".

(If you think so, check out the video above and watch me geek out about it)

But there are plenty of low-tech, simple shifts you can make to get people to start feeling:

• Safe
• Friendly
• And interested in talking with you

Just don't overwhelm them with words.

It will only backfire.

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If at any point you have questions, ideas, or would like me to take a look at what you're doing when it comes to outreach,

Just shoot me a message.

Happy to chat.

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Happy outreaching ??

Alexander J Brooks