What’s a good LinkedIn reply rate?
Depends what you divide by. The same campaigns read 8% or 26%.
Upscale Outreach ·
Per person messaged, anything above 31% puts a campaign in the top quarter, and the middle campaign got 25%. But the same campaigns read about 8% per connection request sent and 8% per message, so check what a reply rate is divided by before you compare it.
Outscale benchmarks, from 113,308 prospects reached in real campaigns.
Three numbers for the same campaigns
Take one set of real campaigns and count their replies three ways. Divide by the people who were messaged and you get 26%. Divide by every connection request sent and it’s 8%. Divide by every message sent and it’s 8%.
- Per person messaged26%
- Per connection request sent8.3%
- Per message sent8.1%
All three are fair. They answer different questions. But quote one and compare it with somebody else’s other one, and a good campaign looks poor or a poor one looks great.
Where campaigns land
Counting per person messaged, which is how we count, here’s where the quarters fall.
- Top quarter starts at31%
- Middle campaign25%
- Bottom quarter ends at21%
So a good reply rate is above 31% of the people you message. Per request sent, the middle campaign read 8%.
Why the numbers never match
Everybody quotes the version that flatters. A tool shows one, an agency’s case study another, a LinkedIn post a third. Put them side by side and you’re comparing different questions with the same word on top.
What to do today
- Ask what it’s divided by. Before you compare a reply rate, find out whether it’s per person, per request or per message.
- Aim for the top quarter. Above 31% of the people you message.
More in benchmarks
LinkedIn acceptance rate by continent
A continent is too big to target by.
South America accepted LinkedIn connection requests most and Asia least: 65% against 33%, with every continent together at 39%. But within the same campaigns, the gap shrinks to 14%: most of a continent’s rate is the campaigns aimed at it.
Read itLinkedIn reply rate by department
The board and the sales team talk. Operations is busy.
Board members and salespeople replied most, 30% of them once messaged, against 26% overall. Operations replied least, at 20%. All three held within the same campaigns.
Read itWhat’s a good LinkedIn acceptance rate?
Above 47% is top quarter. And it barely buys you replies.
Anything above 47% puts a campaign in the top quarter. In real campaigns, the middle one had 37% of its connection requests accepted, the bottom quarter fell below 29%, and the top tenth beat 60%.
Read it