How long should a LinkedIn reply be?
Say something. The length takes care of itself.
Upscale Outreach ·
Length barely matters. Short answers got written back less, 27% against 42%, but more than half of them were a pleasantry with nothing to answer. Against the same kind of answer from the same inbox, every length landed within 6% of usual. Their first name and an exclamation mark made no difference.
Outscale benchmarks, from 115,160 prospects reached in real campaigns.
Short answers look like they fail
- Up to 15 words27%
- 16 to 35 words37%
- 36 to 70 words42%
- Over 70 words42%
On the raw numbers, short answers flop. But 54% of the answers of 15 words or fewer were a pleasantry: a thanks, a “you too”, nothing to reply to.
It’s what’s in them
So we compared each answer with the same inbox giving the same kind of answer to the same kind of reply. Length stopped mattering. Every length landed within 6% of the usual.
What moves a conversation is giving them something to answer. That’s in how to keep a LinkedIn conversation going.
The small touches
Using their first name made no difference. Nor did an exclamation mark. Both make the seller feel warm while writing. The reader skims straight past them, looking for one thing: is there something here for me?
Emoji was the one small touch that looked like it hurt. Answers with one got written back 31% less than usual. Only a few answers had one, so read it as a hint. A smiley from a stranger who wants a meeting can read as trying a bit too hard.
What to do today
- Stop counting words. Check your answer gives them something to reply to.
- Leave the emoji out. It’s a business conversation with a stranger.
More in replies and meetings
How to keep a LinkedIn conversation going
Ask them something. Nearly four in five answers don’t.
Ask them a question. In real conversations, prospects wrote back to 52% of answers with a question in them and 29% of answers without one. Yet 78% of answers asked nothing.
Read itWhich kinds of LinkedIn replies turn into meetings?
Most meetings start with a maybe.
71% of meetings started with something other than “I’m interested”. A “thanks” opened 28% of them, nearly as many, and a thanks or a question ended in a meeting nearly twice as often as its campaign’s average conversation.
Read itHow to reply when a LinkedIn prospect just says thanks
“Thanks” is a maybe with good manners.
Ask for the call. When a prospect replied with only “thanks”, proposing a time booked 1 conversation in 6. Leaving it booked 1 in 53.
Read itWhat to do when a LinkedIn prospect says “not right now”
“Later” is a diary entry, and nobody keeps the diary.
Name the date now, even if it’s months away. When a prospect said “later”, proposing a time booked 1 conversation in 6. Leaving it booked 1 in 572.
Read it