6 LinkedIn InMail Subject Lines for More Conversions (More: In the Resource!)

LinkedIn InMail is pretty powerful.

It allows you to send messages in pseudo-email form on LinkedIn …even to people that are not your connections.

This is especially useful if you want to do cold outreach but you can’t seem to connect with the prospect that you want to talk to.

But, here’s the problem.

People won’t read your message if it’s not good enough.

This is why your subject lines have to be catchy or else you’re just wasting LinkedIn InMail credits.

In this guide, we’ll show you the best LinkedIn InMail subject lines that you should be using to get your prospects to read your messages, save money on tokens, and avoid failed attempts at communication.

Ready?

Let’s go!

Quick Tips on LinkedIn InMail Subject Lines

Keep it Short

One way to destroy a good LinkedIn InMail subject line is to make it too long.

It has to be short because need to see it right away and understand what you’re trying to say.

Keep it to seven words or less if you can. You don’t want an ellipses (…) in the middle of your really catchy subject line that just wrecks everything for you.

If you really do have to write a long headline, make sure that the best part of your line comes in the beginning. For example, if you want to praise them for the work that they’ve done on a post or article, start with that.

Take into consideration people will also view their LinkedIn messages on their phones and that means you need to make things less text-heavy and easier to view on mobile.

Don’t Assume that Email Subject Lines Work …This is LinkedIn

If you have subject lines that work in your email outreach, remember they won’t work on LinkedIn.

Here’s why.

Emails are designed a certain way.

They’re for formal communication and there’s a certain mood when it comes to dealing with your email inbox. You know you’re getting mail from people you don’t know.

LinkedIn InMail’s are integrated with the LinkedIn chatbox so they’re in there along with casual conversations that your prospects have with your connections. Getting an InMail is not a natural occurrence, and most of the time they’re reluctant to open anything that’s remotely sales-y in nature.

If you want to use your email subject lines, they just won’t work.

The better way to go about this is to rework the subject lines that you have while keeping this in mind.

Personalize – Don’t Use Something Twice

We all know that personalization is the way for you to get quick wins.

But, with LinkedIn InMail, we’re not just talking about personalizing the content of the mails that you send, you need to work on the subject lines as well.

If you can mention the work that they did on the subject line, the way you guys are related, what you need from them, etc.

The more personalized the email, the more likely it is for them to click on the subject line increasing your CTR.

Test!

You need to test your LinkedIn InMail subject lines!

Just because it works for one industry doesn’t mean it will work for yours so you need to test everything.

All of this starts with tracking.

You can’t growth hack if you don’t track!

Everyone at BAMF Media

Try to divide your prospect lists and test a couple of subject lines out. You want to make sure you’re taking notes as to how people have responded – if they do, and what other anomalies you’ve noticed.

If you find that your target audience responds well to a particular style, then stick with that style.

Once you pick a style, it’s time to A/B test which words work, how the subject line is structured, etc.

Here’s why this is critical with LinkedIn InMail subject lines.

They cost money and since everything is personalized it also takes a toll on your human resources as well. You want to be an efficient growth hacker and you can only do this through testing!

1. *Common connection name* told me to get in touch with you

The quickest way to get your subject’s attention is to mention a common connection that you have.

Since common ground has already been established they are highly likely to open your message because of sheer curiosity.

You also automatically benefit from “trust by association”.

Whatever relationship that they have with the common connection is also passed to you. It makes talking to them easier and they’re less reluctant to click on your InMail.

This is one of the best ways to connect with a LinkedIn InMail subject line

But, here’s the downside.

You need to go to each individual profile to check which common connections you have, then you have to message these connections to ask for a referral so that you technically have “permission” to reach out to the prospect.

It might be a lot of effort, but think of it this way, at least you get to reconnect with your old connections and that’s always great when you’re doing marketing.

Whatever you do make each conversation genuine, don’t just message your connections for a referral, that comes off as sly and it will most likely be detrimental to your reputation. Remember, people can tell when you want something from them, so try to time things right.

2. I liked/loved your *something they published* on *publishing platform*

This is a common outreach technique, but on LinkedIn instead of having the praise for their post/article/research paper inside the body of the email itself, you put it on the subject line.

Why the subject line?

Because you want to inform them to feel good about themselves even before they click on the subject line.

A compliment goes a long way and why wait until the conversation has started before you give it out?

By complimenting first, they don’t just feel good but they become curious as to who gave them the compliment and what else you have to say.

This gets you one foot through the door and is still one of the most highly effective ways to draw a prospect in.

Notice that the subject line is highly specific?

A compliment is more effective if you single something out, it shows that you really do read their work and that you’re a follower.

Also, when you single something out you’re forced to highly customize the content that you have and that makes your LinkedIn InMail resonate more with your prospects.

3. Can I ask about your work with *specific topic that they’re doing/done in the present/past*?

Want a quick way through to your prospect?

Do some research.

So what you want to do is check about the past work that they’ve done and you can easily pull this out of their LinkedIn Experience section.

Here’s how to optimize your LinkedIn Experience section.

Pick something somewhat recent, if they have an experience that seems freelance in nature – for example, if they wrote a book like in my experience section – choose to pick on that.

Make sure the question you ask is interesting. Avoid anything generic or forced just to start a conversation.

Don’t ask:

Can I ask about your work with LinkedIn training?

Try:

Can I ask about your work with developing LinkedIn training systems?

It might just be a couple of words more, but making it specific makes it more relatable.

4. Congratulations on *an achievement that they recently did*

Sometimes one of the best ways you can engage your prospects is by congratulating them.

You can do this after you see a prospect achieve something on Linkedin, change employment, get promoted, or even post something that’s valuable.

People normally react well to congratulatory messages because it’s the way we’re built.

Think about it this way, when’s the last time you ignored someone who said “congratulations” to you? Nobody ignores people who are trying to be happy and supportive of them.

If you time it right, you can even take advantage of the good vibe that your prospect feels and they will be more enthusiastic to deal with you.

However, don’t just congratulate them in the subject line and leave it at that with the mail itself. Make sure that you keep the conversation open in the main body of the message to make sure that you have enough room to start a conversation.

5. Hi, I wanted to ask if… *genuine question related to their field*

This is a more direct approach that also works well especially with highly specific fields in a particular industry.

The reason it works is simple, they automatically get curious about why you’re so interested in what they’re doing. You come off as an interested third-party, collaborator, or client, and that makes them want to talk to you.

It’s not as flamboyant as other LinkedIn InMail subject lines but it does the job well enough to be considered part of this list.

This also serves as a precursor to a conversation that you can have with them regarding their work. People who are passionate about what they will want to talk about it and that’s a good thing because it builds rapport, and it leads to more conversations.

Again, make this as specific as possible because that allows you to personalize your LinkedIn InMail.

6. I think we can fix those *number* issues in *industry name* for you, *prospect name*

Just because it’s LinkedIn doesn’t mean it has to be super formal.

Remember you’re still going to end up in the inbox of a prospect who also has casual conversations in there, so keeping things a little interesting always works.

We like this particular email subject line because it tells your prospects straight up that you’re working with solutions so they know you have something in mind for them, but it also adds some intrigue because you’re promising a way for them to fix a problem that they’re having in a specific industry.

What problem are you referring to?

That’s where the curiosity play comes along.

Now if you play this subject line well, you can get people clicking on your InMail just because of curiosity alone.

This is a great thing because it helps you.

Takeaways

As you’ll notice, most of the subject lines that we used have some form of personalization built right in.

This is critical.

LinkedIn InMail subject lines are highly dependent on personalization due to their position inside LinkedIn’s messaging tool. They’re in there along with messages from your prospect’s real connections, and you want to stand out and not sound like a cheap attempt at marketing.

The moment your prospect sees that your message is just marketing fluff, you can immediately put them off.

You need to resonate with them immediately.

This is also the reason why we at BAMF value the organic approach to InMails.

We talk to people when we reach out to them and we’re genuinely interested in what they have to offer.

You can’t sell a solution if you don’t have a connection.