LinkedIn®️ Restricted Personalized Invitations. Now What?

For years, I’ve advocated for sending a personalized connection request anytime you wanted to connect with someone on LinkedIn®️. 

This year, LinkedIn changed the game and started restricting personalized invitations for free accounts. Now you can only send about 5 a month unless you purchase a premium subscription. 

So I suggested sending blank invitations and then starting a conversation immediately after the person accepts. But today, a conversation with Bruce Johnston has made me re-think this strategy. 

Because LinkedIn is being used so heavily by spammy sellers using automated outreach, people tend to be on the defensive about DMs (direct messages on LinkedIn). 

That’s especially true when a DM arrives right after a blank invitation. Most of the bots are programmed to send a message immediately upon connection, and those are almost always pitch-slaps. 

So Bruce suggests a different approach — using inMails and free messages to start the conversation. 

First, let’s talk about these LinkedIn messaging tools: 

If you are in a group, LinkedIn allows you to send a free message to any group member, even if you’re not connected. (That’s about the only value of most LinkedIn groups these days.)

If you’re a premium member, LinkedIn allots a certain number of “free” inMails every month. You can use inMail to message anyone on LinkedIn (or at least to the 3rd degree…I haven’t tried it with people beyond that level). 

Some people have a setting turned on in their profile to allow free messages from anyone. If you’re a premium member, you can send those people a free inMail without tapping into your monthly allotment. 

Should you use the free LinkedIn inMails?

Bruce’s point (which you can read our conversation in the screenshot below), is that the no-note invitations don’t accomplish the goal of starting a conversation. 

And they can actually make it more difficult to get a conversation going later because of that reluctance people feel to being pitch-slapped. 

This has definitely been my experience. For some reason, I find people more willing to engage with me right after we connect (I’m very careful to NOT pitch and to start a conversation based on their interests rather than mine). 

If I wait a day or two (or longer) to start a conversation, I get a much lower response rate. I don’t understand why that’s the case, but it has been my experience. 

This is why I’ve always advocated for using the invitation to connect start that conversation. 

My recommendation has not changed for premium users. But if you’re on a free account, it’s time to try some different approaches. 

Recommendation for Premium LinkedIn subscribers 

If you have a premium account, I still recommend that you send a personalized invitation to connect. In that note, mention something about them that interests you. That means you need to research the person, figure out what they’re interested in, and ask them a question about that topic. 

There is both an art and a science to this. It sounds simple, but it’s actually challenging to get right at first. If you want to know more about how to approach it, reach out to me. 

Recommendation for Free LinkedIn accounts

If you’re using a free LinkedIn account, then I suggest that you experiment with some other approaches. 

1. Use your allotted 5 personalized invites wisely. Don’t squander them with poor invitation copy like you see below: 
2. Once you run through your allotment, research your lead and look at what groups they belong to. Try joining that group. This will give you the opportunity to message the person for free. 
3. Do NOT pitch-slap group members. Take the time to research them, find a nugget, and start a conversation just like you would in the personalized invitation. 
4. In your message, ask if they’d be interested in connecting with you. If they say yes, then send the blank connection request. 
5. If you’re serious about using LinkedIn for social selling, then consider subscribing to LinkedIn’s premium subscription. I recommend Sales Navigator. It’s worth the investment just to get more value from LinkedIn. 

As I mentioned above, there is an art and a science behind this approach. I coach people on this every day, and I have courses dedicated to cracking the code to prospecting on LinkedIn. 

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.