Do Sophisticated Bots Work for LinkedIn Outreach?

Recently, I received a pretty sophisticated outreach that was probably bot-driven using a LinkedIn automation tool. #nobots

It started with a connection request saying he just wanted to network. That’s fine, so I connected. 

Then he sent me a video that clearly wasn’t personalized to me. On the video, he thanked me for connecting and said he’d check out my profile. 

Wait...he hasn’t looked at my profile yet?

I replied to his video, but he never responded.

Then 2 weeks later, he endorsed me for several skills. Note, this guy doesn’t know me, and he may have not even looked at my profile. But he endorsed me. 

Then he sent a DM mentioning that he had endorsed me and requesting that I reciprocate and endorse him for 3 specific skills.  But I don’t know him. So how could I authentically endorse him for anything?

I responded, explaining this and offering a couple tips that could improve his outreach. 

He did not reply. (if you’re keeping track, this is my second response, and second time for him to ignore me).

Then 3 weeks later, I received this message:  “Hey there Candyce, Would you be interested in chatting to see how we could help each other out?”

So he won’t reply to any of my responses, he’s not mentioned anything that we have in common, and he’s not offering any value in his suggestion for a meeting. But he wants to meet. 

I replied to that message on Dec. 21st. So far, he has not responded.

I’m pretty sure he’s using a fairly sophisticated automation platform to drive these messages. But he’s not paying attention to people’s responses.

What’s the point of doing this outreach if you’re not willing to engage? 

This is just another example of why using bots (even very sophisticated bots) is a really bad idea.

And using LinkedIn automation tools got a lot more risky after LinkedIn won a couple court cases against firms using automation on the platform.

About the Author: Candyce Edelen is founder of PropelGrowth, where she teaches B2B entrepreneurs and sales professionals to build authentic, human-to-human relationships on LinkedIn. Her strategies have helped clients shift from spammy automation to genuine outreach, resulting in higher-quality leads and increased sales. Candyce is passionate about helping professionals build trust and create a reliable, predictable sales pipeline. She's also a firm believer that you can't automate a relationship.