LinkedIn outreach
How an AI agent decides between an invite and an InMail
By Viktorio Shopov, co-founder of Sellinger. Reviewed by Asen Levov. Published . Last updated . 7 minute read.
With InMail switched on for an account, the Sellinger LinkedIn agent checks four things for a lead it is not connected to: has the daily InMail limit been reached, does the person have an Open Profile, is a Premium credit left, and if none of those allow it, it sends a plain connection request instead. Connected people get a normal message. No InMail result is published, because there are too few sends.
Most posts on LinkedIn InMail automation describe what InMail is. Few say how an automated agent chooses between it and an invitation, which is the question that decides whether you spend credits wisely. This post describes the shipped behaviour, no more and no less.
What does the agent decide?
For each lead it is about to contact, the first touch is one of three:
- A normal message, if the lead is already a connection.
- An InMail, if the lead is not connected and InMail is on and allowed.
- A connection request, if the lead is not connected and an InMail is not possible.
The decision is made lead by lead, from the account's settings and its state that day.
What are the four steps?
- Daily limit reached? The account sends no more InMails than its daily limit. The default is 10 a day per account, and the maximum you can set is 50. Over the limit, the person gets a plain connection request.
- Open Profile? If the person has an Open Profile, they get an InMail and LinkedIn does not charge a credit. Sellinger reads the flag from the profile data when it routes the first touch.
- A Premium credit left? Otherwise one Premium credit is spent. Only Premium credits are used. Sales Navigator credits are not used by the product at the moment.
- No credit? The person gets a plain connection request with no note.
Two more details: the daily InMail limit counts free InMails too, and if LinkedIn refuses a free InMail during a cycle, the account stops trying it for the rest of that cycle. The behaviour is also described on the Open Profile glossary page.
Who can use it?
Every account, as a per account setting that is off until you switch it on. The account needs LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator, and without one the product says so on the account. Credits come from your LinkedIn plan, and the balance is read from the account. The mode is for people the account is not connected to. It cannot be combined with invites that carry a note, so switching InMail on turns the note setting off.
What does the agent write?
An InMail has different limits from a chat message, and the agent writes to them.
- A subject specific to the person, under 60 characters, with no clickbait and no emoji. LinkedIn's own hard limit is 200.
- A message of 700 characters or less as the target, in three to five short sentences. LinkedIn's hard limit is 1,900.
- An opening with one concrete thing about the person's work, a brief reason for reaching out and what is in it for them, and one low friction question.
- No calendar link in this first message, and no pretending you have spoken before.
- Plain text only, since LinkedIn does not render formatting or attachments.
These constraints match what our own data suggests for a first message: on our own LinkedIn outbound, openers that state an observation beat openers that ask a question by 10 to 15 points, and booking links went out after interest, typically after three prospect messages. See observation openers beat questions.
A worked example of one day
The numbers below are made up to show the routing. Assume an account with InMail on, a daily limit of 5, and 3 Premium credits left. Eight leads come up in the queue, none connected to the account.
| Order | Open Profile? | Credits left | Daily slots left | What the agent sends |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | 3 | 5 | InMail, free, no credit spent |
| 2 | No | 3 | 4 | InMail, one credit (2 left) |
| 3 | No | 2 | 3 | InMail, one credit (1 left) |
| 4 | Yes | 1 | 2 | InMail, free |
| 5 | No | 1 | 1 | InMail, one credit (0 left) |
| 6 | No | 0 | 0 | Connection request, no note |
| 7 | Yes | 0 | 0 | Connection request, no note |
| 8 | No | 0 | 0 | Connection request, no note |
Three things show in this table. The free InMails still use up daily slots, because the daily limit counts them. An Open Profile lead at row 7 still gets a connection request, because the day's slots are gone. And the order of the queue decides who gets the scarce credits, which is why the best leads should come first.
What does the lead see?
An InMail arrives in the person's LinkedIn messages with a subject and a message, from someone they are not connected to. A connection request arrives as an invitation, with no note in this mode. The two look different to the person, and nothing is said about how the agent chose.
Questions that come up
Why did my account send a connection request when InMail is on? Check the four steps in order. Either the daily limit was reached, or the person has no Open Profile and no credit was left. The fallback is by design, not an error.
Can I force an InMail for one lead? The routing is set per account and applied lead by lead. If a lead matters, make sure the account has credits and slots when that lead comes up, and move the lead earlier in the queue.
Does a free InMail count against my limit? Yes. The daily limit counts free InMails too.
Will the agent keep trying if LinkedIn refuses a free InMail? No. If LinkedIn refuses a free InMail during a cycle, the account stops trying it for the rest of that cycle.
How should you set it up?
- Start with a small daily limit, such as 3 to 5, and raise it when you have read the results.
- Use approval mode for the first ten. A subject line is public to the person, and a poor one is a bad first impression. Read the first ten InMails before the rest go.
- Check your credits. Use the InMail credit planner to see how far they go, with your own estimate of the Open Profile share.
- Put the right leads first. Credits are scarce, so the people who matter most should reach the front of the queue.
- Watch the fallback. If many leads fall back to a connection request, you are out of credits or slots, and the daily limit is too low or the credit pool too small.
The playbook on InMail as a first touch has the same steps with the reasoning, and the product page lists the settings.
What do we claim, and what do we not?
We claim the routing above, because we can read it in the product. We do not claim that an InMail gets more replies than a connection request, or that Open Profile members answer more. The playbook has no outcome by design: there are too few sends to publish a result, and we would rather say so than invent one. On invitations, the evidence we hold is for our own account, where 41% of 68,818 connection requests were accepted.
Also, as with any LinkedIn automation, no tool can guarantee that LinkedIn will never restrict an account. Sellinger's defaults are 20 invitations a day and 150 a week, and InMails have their own daily limit. See which first touch for which buyer for a decision rule that covers email too.
A checklist
- [ ] InMail is switched on only for accounts with Premium or Sales Navigator.
- [ ] The daily InMail limit starts low.
- [ ] The first ten InMails go through approval.
- [ ] I know my credit balance and my Open Profile share is an estimate.
- [ ] I watch how many leads fall back to a connection request.
- [ ] I make no claim that InMail outperforms invitations without my own test.
Common questions
Does the agent always send an InMail when it is switched on?
What is the default daily InMail limit?
Which credits does it spend?
Can I use it with invites that carry a note?
Is the InMail better than an invitation?
How Sellinger helps
Read how it works on See LinkedIn InMail, or see a real campaign in Read the Sellinger case study.
