LinkedIn acceptance and reply rates by industry
It takes one to know one.
Upscale Outreach ·
Professional services accepted LinkedIn connection requests most, at 46%, and finance least, at 34%, against 39% overall. Within the same campaigns they were still 25% apart, and on replies professional services beat its own campaigns by 9% while finance fell 10% short.
Outscale benchmarks, from 115,160 prospects reached in real campaigns.
Who says yes
- Professional services46%
- Education and non-profit44%
- Marketing and media43%
- Health and pharma38%
- Retail and consumer38%
- Technology37%
- Industry and energy37%
- Finance34%
- Every industry together39%
Consultants, recruiters, coaches and lawyers came top. Finance came last. Compared with the same campaigns’ usual rate, they were still 25% apart. Finance accepted less than its own campaign in 46 campaigns and more in 10.
It takes one to know one
An adviser’s pipeline is their network. Every new connection is a possible client, or somebody who knows one, so yes is the default. And people who prospect for a living know what it’s like on your side of the screen.
Finance gets pitched all day, and saying no is half the job. A message from a stranger looks like one more deck. It’s the same pattern we found with the people who sign the cheques. Finance is where the budgets are, so that’s where campaigns get aimed. Budget for the work.
Who talks
- Education and non-profit29%
- Professional services28%
- Industry and energy26%
- Health and pharma26%
- Marketing and media26%
- Finance24%
- Technology24%
- Retail and consumer23%
- Every industry together26%
On replies the order shuffles. Education and non-profit edged it and retail and consumer came last. Against their own campaigns, professional services still replied 9% more and finance 10% less.
What to do today
- Expect finance to take more requests per conversation. Plan the volume before you judge the campaign.
- Compare an industry with its own campaign. A strong offer makes any sector look good.
More in benchmarks
LinkedIn reply rate by continent, and how much of it is positive
The easiest accept, the coolest reply.
North America replied most once messaged, at 31%, and the Middle East least, at 23%. The share of replies that were positive ran the opposite way to acceptance: Asia, which accepts the fewest requests, had the most (30%), and South America, which accepts the most, sat at the bottom with Europe (19%).
Read itWhat LinkedIn prospects actually say when they reply
Most replies are a way in.
59% of first replies were an opening for a meeting: a yes, a thanks, a “not now”, a question, an objection or a pointer to somebody else. Those six opened 92% of the meetings that followed. 37% were a plain no, and just 1% were annoyed.
Read itLinkedIn 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 it