InMail Policy Change to Increase Response Rates

For our members, nothing tops receiving a personalized InMail regarding a relevant job opportunity. And for recruiters like you, it’s gratifying when a prospect immediately responds to your InMail.

Reviewing not only members’ profiles, but also the posts, photos, videos and presentations they posted, shared, commented on and liked, the Groups they belong to, and the Influencers they follow, can help craft personalized InMails that garner higher response rates. “My team receives higher than average response rates on InMails. That’s because we send personalized InMails by first reviewing all the professional information a prospect has shared on LinkedIn and then focusing on finding the common connections to our business,” says Suzanne Myers, director of talent acquisition at Real Page.

Most recruiters know that personalized InMails garner higher response rates. But a handful of Recruiter users (less than two percent) still send thousands of generic InMails per month. Ninety-four percent are bulk InMails (one InMail to two or more members) that aren’t personalized to each recipient. Since these InMails are impersonal, they garner low response rates, create a bad member experience, and cause some members to be less responsive to other recruiters’ InMails, which can decrease overall InMail response rates. Long story short, everyone loses.

We’re determined to improve the member and recruiter experiences. So in January we stopped enabling Recruiter users from sending free InMails to Group members who are second- and third-degree connections. Since then, overall InMail response rates have increased 25 percent. And starting in August:

• We’ll notify Recruiter users if their InMail response rate drops below 13 percent on 100 or more InMails sent over a 14-day period, and give them tips to help increase it.
• After this one-time notification, users who continue to have a less than 13 percent response rate will only be able to send one-to-one InMails for a 14-day period.
• After the 14-day period, users who meet the threshold will be able to send bulk InMail messages. Users who don’t will not be able to send bulk InMail messages for another 14-day period.

More than 98 percent of Recruiter users won’t be impacted by this InMail policy change. Yet everyone will benefit from it.

You can view your InMail response rates from the Analytics page in Recruiter. Click here to learn how to access and interpret the page. For the latest and greatest tips on how to increase your InMail response rates, check out our InMail eBook and our Director of Talent Acquisition Brendan Browne’s recent byline in ERE.net, 5 Tips to Help Increase Your InMail Response Rates.

If you have any questions, please check out our FAQ, or contact your Account Manager.