Your LinkedIn message open rate, click rate, and CTA conversions depend on your subject line. It sounds like a lot of responsibility for 60 characters. Isn’t it? Don’t worry; once you understand what makes a great subject line, you’ll crack them out effortlessly and see your open rates skyrocket. With sales InMail subject lines, a little creativity goes a long way. After all, sparkling your prospect’s curiosity is often the most effective way to get them to open your messages. In this article, we will share the best LinkedIn message subject lines that have been tried & tested and have worked for people worldwide.
What is LinkedIn InMail?
LinkedIn features can be divided into two categories – paid and unpaid. LinkedIn InMail is a premium LinkedIn feature that allows users to send a direct message without sending a connection request. Every LinkedIn premium member gets a specific number of InMail credits which depend on your subscription type. To find the number of InMail credits for your account, navigate to ‘Manage Your Account Page.
‘To send an email to a second-degree or third-degree connection, you must go to the person’s profile and click on the InMail button to compose your message. It is important to note that InMail messages cannot have more than 200 characters in the subject line, and the character count on the body should not exceed 1900 characters. Therefore, ensure to have a well-crafted subject line and a personalized message.
Three types of InMail subject lines can be classified as follows:
- Keepers – These are impactful subject lines that give a person a reason to open the InMail. They get the maximum attention as they aptly summarize the content.
- Sleepers – These are boring subject lines that rarely get a response. This can put your prospects to sleep. Therefore, avoid using overused phrases. Instead, send a personalized and unique message.
- Bleepers – These are the worst of the bunch with boring subject lines. These get unnoticed and will affect your brand’s reputation.
What makes an excellent InMail subject line?
Keep it short
The ideal length of an email subject line varies between desktop and mobile devices, so make sure you craft the perfect one-liner for your sales email. As mentioned earlier, the maximum limit for a subject line is up to 60 characters, but the research has shown that a subject line of 41 characters works well as they appear well on both mobile and desktop devices.
Personalize to each individual
People want to talk to and buy from people and not from big brands and companies. Personalizing the subject line to include the prospect’s name is a smart way.
Make it interesting
Making the subject line attractive could mean many things such as recent news in their industry, new statistics about their industry, or an ask for their help. All these are talking about your prospect. Please note that you will have plenty of time to talk about your product in the body of the email or in future messages or calls. The primary goal of your subject lines here is to get the prospect to click, read more, and decide if they’re interested in responding or taking action.
Offer value
If your company product or service help prospect reach their goals faster, then offer those values to the prospect, which become enticing angles to include in your subject line. To create value, address the prospect’s pain points. Use phrases and keywords to assure your prospect that you might have the solution to their issues.
The best LinkedIn message subject lines
While just a few words may seem like a small piece of your message, the subject line is what creates the first impression in your audience. Don’t assume that your email subject lines will work on LinkedIn. Emails are designed in a certain way, whereas LinkedIn InMail is integrated with LinkedIn messages, so they’re there along with the casual conversation.
Here are some of the best LinkedIn message subject lines that boost engagement.
Cold email subject lines:
- Hi [name], question?
- [Mutual connection] recommended getting in touch with you
- A [benefit] for the prospect’s company
- The idea for [topic that prospect cares about]
- Hoping you can help
- Can I help?
- X benefits we can bring to your platform
- X ways our product/service can improve your life
- Interested in [their topic of interest]?
- X ways we can help you with [the issue they might have]
- We have a delicious deal for you
- I liked your [something they have posted] on [publishing platform]
Follow-up email subject lines
- Our next steps
- X options to get started
- I’d love your feedback on that meeting
- Here’s what I promised
- I had this idea since we last spoke
Subject lines when no response
- Know this about [topic of their interest]
- Should I stay or should I go?
- If you change your mind about partnering with [your company]
- Permission to close your file?
Email subject lines for meeting requests
- Time for a quick touch base?
- Meeting invite: [Date]
- Requesting a meeting on [Day]
Questions to ask yourself while evaluating your headline:
- Who is my reader, and why would they want to read my message?
- Is my subject line clear and specific?
- Does my subject line promise any benefit for reading the message?
- Does my subject line relate to the message that follows?
What makes a good InMail?
Make your InMail more personalized. Research your prospect’s profile and look for their pain points, shared interests, connections, work experiences, etc. From the insights gained, personalize your message, and tell them how you can be of help to them.
Key Takeaways
LinkedIn InMail subject lines depend highly on personalization since they are positioned inside the LinkedIn messaging tool. The moment your prospect sees that your message is some promotional stuff, they will immediately put it off. Therefore, you need to resonate with them.
If you want more message open rates, it all starts with your subject line. Consider that people will also view LinkedIn messages on their phones, so don’t make it text-heavy.
