LinkedIn connect message tips (with 10 templates & examples)

It's not easy to reach out to someone on LinkedIn. So if you want to do it successfully, we'll share with you 7 LinkedIn connect message templates that we personally used!

I love LinkedIn because it's the only platform where you can reach a 100k audience with $0 ads spend.

You can also generate tons of leads on autopilot and build your personal brand with less stress I'd say.

However, being such a paradise, marketers gladly came to it and then overuse every single LinkedIn tactic that worked before.

This means that you can't just Google "LinkedIn connect message examples" and use them.

Thousands of people already did that for their LinkedIn invitation message. The bottom line - it won't work.

I'm not saying this example is bad and that it won't build some connections. All I'm saying is that it's overused. By using a more creative note to connect on LinkedIn, you can double your results.

That's why today, we'll share the guide on how to connect with people on LinkedIn with proven LinkedIn connection templates. 

Here’s how to send a LinkedIn connect message that gets results!

This article will cover both advice and templates about LinkedIn connect message for sales, marketing, growth, and everyone who'd like to start a LinkedIn strategy.

We'll see:

• The essentials to sending LinkedIn connection messages
• How to write a LinkedIn connection request
• Concrete examples and templates of LinkedIn connection

How to send a LinkedIn connection message

Being that the aim of a social network is to create relationships and engage with people, we're gonna see how to ask someone to connect on LinkedIn.

Let's draw the whole process and start with the basic parameters. When it's ready to go, we'll go into more into detail with templates and examples.

Let's dig right in.

Step 1 - How to make a LinkedIn personal profile stand out

The first thing that people see when you send a LinkedIn connection request is:

1. your photo 🤳
2. your name 😺
3. your short summary 😎

This builds trust. Therefore, focus on optimizing these components. Starting with...

LinkedIn profile photo

How to pick the right LinkedIn profile photo.

1. YOU need to be on that photo
2. Try to highlight your photo in a unique way to catch the attention

Your name and LinkedIn headline

In my case, I added: "I help with Growth 🚀" after my surname to

1. Attract attention and break the pattern
2. It shows people what I do straight away

Headline

First of all, this is not your title. It's your personal description in 120 symbols.

The majority of people think that they need to share just their title and that's it. Here's the problem... we all do that.

Don't believe me? Ok, let's check together. How many "Marketing Managers" do you see?

There are millions of "Marketing Managers" and you rarely see anything unique about most of them.

"Ok, but how to stand out with a LinkedIn headline?"

Add your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) in the headline. Tell everyone what makes you different from other experts in the industry.

Here's the formula you can use:

{Title} at {Company Name} - We help {Target Audience} with {USP}

For example, we all know that there are millions of different digital agencies doing SEO and PPC campaigns to help their clients generate more leads.

So if you only see: "XYZ - Digital Agency"... it barely tells you anything.

You can dramatically increase your chances to be successful on LinkedIn by optimizing your profile and reaching out to someone on LinkedIn with a better photo, headline, and summary.

Step 2 - Who to connect with on LinkedIn

If you try to connect with everyone on LinkedIn - you will fail.

Instead, connect with small groups of people that operate in the same environment as you.

Think about people working in your industry, people you met during events, colleagues you've worked with, professionals you admire, influencers you love, etc.

I'll show you a few strategies to find your audience precisely. That will help us when writing LinkedIn connection request messages.

Play with LinkedIn search filters:

As I said before, it's not enough to use a basic search on LinkedIn. You should go beyond that, for example with the boolean search:

• OR (e.g. Growth OR Sales) - LinkedIn will list all the profiles that have either one of these two keywords
• AND (e.g. Growth AND Content) - A more narrow search as LinkedIn will now look for profiles that must include both terms
• NOT (e.g. Growth NOT Sales) - Linked will list profiles that include the word growth and not sales
• Type under quote marks (e.g. ****"VP of Growth") to get all LinkedIn profiles with that exact match

Or Sales Navigator search.

Find LinkedIn content makers:

The most active users on LinkedIn are content makers. They're checking inboxes and new connection requests daily.

This is a great tactic to find relevant people to connect with.

1. Use hashtags when searching
2. Identify audience through content

Boom!

Now you have a list of people who write about a specific topic.

If you want to scrape these people and filter them by titles or region, just use Phantombuster’s LinkedIn Search Export.

Step 3 - How to message someone on LinkedIn who is not a connection

Ok, we've successfully identified with whom we want to connect on LinkedIn. We have a good-looking profile. It's time to send LinkedIn connect messages!

Your message has to be short (limited to 300 characters), so you should choose the words you'll use and your tone.

Plus, some people already have connections in common with you, and some don't so be sure to pick the right approach.

7 LinkedIn connection request message templates

There is no right or wrong way to proceed down this road. Sometimes, sending a simple invite with no message at all can be sufficient to connect with someone.

But if you want to contextualize and maybe start a conversation, then you probably want to add an intro message. Precisely why we're here. 😎

I'm sure you'll have that "That's the message I have to send to Bob" moment when you see these LinkedIn connection request message templates.

Search-based LinkedIn connect message in B2B

Since LinkedIn is for professionals, everyone puts their title, experience, location, the company they work at, and so on.

You can find the perfect audience to connect with by just using this data that's already available.

I've tested dozens of different strategies, but the one that always works for me:

It always gives a 70-75% acceptance rate.

Connection request to LinkedIn business group members

How to connect on LinkedIn based on common interests?

You can also find your target audience by checking what's going on in various communities.

For example, your chances to get a meaningful connection with someone from a LinkedIn group that you're both members of, are way higher.

In my case, it's an 87% acceptance rate.

Connect on LinkedIn with FB sales group members

The same tactic as I showed above, but now with Facebook groups. This is the one we've shown in our LinkedIn lead generation guide.

Results are the same... 70-80% acceptance rate.

LinkedIn connection message example for milestones

If you're doing sales and are using LinkedIn for sales prospecting, keeping updates on your leads and their companies is usually a good idea.

By staying in sync with the news, you can leverage their recent milestones and send your congrats to them.

This is a strategy that our Head of Business Development, Nadja, uses regularly.

It's really working great!

Connection request messages to people who engaged on your LinkedIn posts

How exactly does LinkedIn lead generation work?

Let's be frank, not everyone is 100% active on LinkedIn.

If you connect with someone who's not active, chances are you won't get a reply back, no matter how good the message is.

And that is a great tip for your lead generation. They've already heard about you before your reach out to them!

One of the best growth hacks I did on LinkedIn is ... to go beyond LinkedIn search.

85-90% of people accepted my LinkedIn requests

Recruiting on LinkedIn [connect with top talent]

In a nutshell, with this strategy you should find a sentence that will be a highly-personalized for this specific person. We named it the Tiramisu strategy.

It might be a reference to their summary or work experience. For example, "Saw you've reached 100k organic views in 6 months".

And use it as a variable in your connection campaign:

"Hey, big fan of your work.

I've checked your last achievement shared on LinkedIn and I was quite impressed!

We have a position at lemlist that you might fit into perfectly. Would you be open to hearing more about it?"

This is a message a lot of you can relate to if you're active on LinkedIn. And there are many great job opportunities available too, as well as top talents looking for their next gig. 😊

Multi-channel cold email outreach strategy

Sometimes, people won't accept your invitation or answer your message. But you have a second chance!

You could always try another channel to reach out to them. An email follow-up can be a good idea if you have a professional intent.

In any case, it's always better to make it as personal as possible, so personalized images could be a great way to proceed!

For example, this campaign generated around 80 warm leads!

You can easily replicate this for yourself, either with the Phantombuster<>lemlist integration or the lemlist chrome extension.

Making it possible to import leads directly to your campaign from LinkedIn and automate your LinkedIn and cold email outreach 🚀

3 best LinkedIn connection message examples we’ve seen recently

Now you've seen different examples of LinkedIn connection messages with good conversion rates.

But you understand that there is no magic formula. 🧙‍♀️ Even the best LinkedIn connection message example can't work for all your requests.

Sometimes, you'll have a crazy creative idea and you'll find THE message for the right person.

For this last paragraph, we've selected three examples that other people sent to us and that we thought deserved a shout-out.

Example 1: Make it 100% genuine

Sending automated messages that can fit multiple people is solid. However, delivering personalized messages that are genuine is the best.

We can take a simple compliment as an example. The more genuine it is, the easier it is for the person to really connect with it and get the impression that you really meant it.

Here's what Vuk, our Head of Growth, recently received.

If you leverage a common ground or a shared passion with the person you're trying to connect with, it almost always motivates that person to reply to you and start the conversation.

Example 2: Play on referrals

At this point we all know that the referral outreach strategy is probably the best one to use on any channel.

In this example, Quentin reached out to Vuk's colleague, Marouane, prior to reaching out to him. By doing so, he increases his chances Vuk will be on the lookout for that message.

In this case, Quentin was working out on a new product and wanted to connect with his potential customers to confirm the product-market fit.

You can see Vuk's response. It's the power of a good old referral.

Example 3: Expand your network

The final example of a LinkedIn connect message combines good timing with a straightforward message.

Frank reached out to Vuk after watching a webinar he did a few months ago.

Reaching out at the perfect time, no matter who is another great way not only to connect with people but to start chatting too.

In this example, Frank and Vuk started exchanging ideas about email deliverability.

Once you’ve connected with your prospects, don’t forget to engage further. Try out our LinkedIn Personalized Voice Meesages and stay ahead of the pack!

Key takeaways

Now you're ready to go with your perfect LinkedIn connect message, on the road to success 🚀

Keep in mind that the best messages are personalized ones, created from our authentic experiences.

And don't forget to A/B test when you hesitate. Your audience will help you understand what works the best.

If you want to know more, you can check our LinkedIn prospecting guide or learn how to do LinkedIn lead generation.