Linkedin’s new inmail policy: how to enable it for you

Linkedin’s new inmail policy is basically a reverse of its current one. There are pros and cons to the new one and I have a few ideas as to how you can make it work for you.

To summarise this is Linkedin’s new inmail policy from January 2015:

InMail credits returned for every response, rather than no response: InMail messages that get any response (Reply or Not Interested) from a recipient within 90 days will be credited back to you. If you don’t get a response within 90 days, however, the InMail credit will not be replaced.

Previously the reverse happened. You only got inmails back that were NOT responded to. The new policy means that it is actually better to get a negative response than no response. This did not happen in the previous policy.

So what will this mean to you and your inmail policy?

1. You will need to think much harder about who you are sending that inmail to. If someone on your target list saved in Sales Navigator or Premium has less than 500 connections, no Premium Account and has no photo then don’t bother. The chances of them responding are considerably less than sending to someone who has all.
2. Your target list criteria on Sales Navigator will need to be looked at to really focus your target lists. Why bother with the 50/50’s when it will cost you an inmail that you may not see again. You will need to ensure that you use the data very effectively on Linkedin to inspire a response – hopefully positive but at least a response.
3. If the person you are sending an inmail to has a premium account too (the gold “in” symbol will tell you in your target list) then they are also more likely to respond. They may also be OpenLink members and the inmail may not cost you anything at all. Linkedin appear to have removed the OpenLink from profiles so only some remain. However if your target profile has “message” and not “inmail” on their profile it means that you can contact them without it costing you in an inmail.
4. I would suggest that you change the wording on your inmail to elicit a response, any response. It is now better to get someone to reply negatively as well as positively to ensure that you get that inmail back. Previously this may have annoyed you, a wasted inmail, but now you will be thankful. I know of people who deliberately replied negatively to spammers to ensure that they couldn’t send the same inmail again – they should no longer do this in order to achieve the same goal.If you are reading this and are not interested in someone’s message then please respond to them anyway in order to give them back the inmail to use for someone else.
5. Suggested wording may include phrases like “Did you know that you can allow us to reuse this InMail credit by responding to it, even if you are not interested? We appreciate your kind understanding in responding in any way” . I am open to suggestions on this and I will certainly be testing out a series of new inmail messages to generate any kind of responses rather than purely going for a positive one. If I do the latter I run the risk of only getting some of my inmails back if people are not interested but feel that they don’t wish to say so or that they don’t have to respond.
6. Do not include your email address on your inmail. If you do this and your target sends you an email not a reply to your inmail it will be counted as a non-response and you will lose that inmail even though you have had a positive response. Weird but true.
7. 2nd connections will become much more important so keep increasing your network with personalized connection requests. You meet someone at an event connect with them stating that the event is where you met them, you meet someone for a coffee/drink then connect with them with a personalized connection request thanking them for their time and asking for a connection, you meet someone randomly through someone else then again ask them to connect on Linkedin stating how you met. You need to beef up your 1st connections in order to utilize your 2nd connections network to maximise introductions when you have no inmails.
8. Ask for introduction to your target list. Linkedin give you a choice of all those people that you are connected with who know the person that you are targeting. Use your network to ask for introductions. I will certainly introduce anyone to any of my network if asked, I hope that you will do the same.
9. Teamlink is the new feature on Sales Navigator. It allows you to ask for an introduction from any member of your team if they are connected to your target or someone who know’s your target. However this doesn’t really work for SME’s or for MNC’s who have a team of sales people who have few connections. Nevertheless if you have a larger sales team who all have great profiles and lots of connections then this will work for you.
10. Groups – you can still message people in groups for free. The trick is to join the groups that you think your target audience are going to be in and then find them in that group and message them. If you are targeting different countries and different industries all you do is change groups to reflect your new business development strategy.
11. Your Content Marketing Strategy. Everyone has one. If you share sporadically it’s a random strategy, if you blog specific themes every week and share in a focused way then you have a more designed content marketing strategy. With the latter you are more likely to get people to read your blog, look at your profile and if they like what you say (and you are answering a question that they have been trying to answer) then they are more likely to contact you for your services.
12. Event speaking. You may raise your eyebrows at this but bear with me. If people see you on stage, any stage, they are more likely to listen to you, trust you and see you as an expert. They are then more likely to contact you, be receptive to your contact and take your connection request. This is even more important if they are paying you for a personal branding service or a niche service like Linkedin, they need to know that you know what you’re talking about. You then don’t need inmails to close the deal.
13. Don’t forget your first connections. People often overlook their existing network when it comes to creating business. If you have a large network many of those people will have changed jobs and may now be employed by a potential client of ours or they may have started their own business and need your help whereas previously they were part of an MNC and didn’t. It’s always worth revisiting and reviewing your existing network with the same data filters that you have been using on 2nd and 3rd connections in Sales Navigator.
14. Remember that if you’re using inmails you in a minority on Linkedin. Most people didn’t understand how the previous inmail policy worked. Therefore not only will you have to know about this new inmail policy to be able to make it work for you but you will need to help educate other people on Linkedin to ensure that you receive your inmails back to make the new policy work for you too.

Good luck!