It is increasingly import to keep your acceptance ratio of your invitations to connect as high as possible.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
- A low acceptance rate increases your odds of being temporarily restricted from sending invitations to connect. In essence, LinkedIn does not want to see their platform devalued. If their users are constantly getting unwanted invitations to connect, LinkedIn knows that their users will begin to see the platform as spammy and as having less value. When your acceptance rate is low, LinkedIn sees your activity as something that is not wanted by its users, of lesser value to the platform, and therefore something LinkedIn wants to minimize and restrict.
- LinkedIn has demonstrated a pattern of lowering the amount of activity permitted on their platform over time. Since we can no longer send as many invitations as before, it is more important to be as efficient as possible and make the ones that we do send really count.
Here are some simple techniques that will greatly increase the odds of your invitations being accepted:
1. Target 2nd degree connections
When your prospects see that you have connections in common, they are more likely to accept your connection invitation.
2. Target prospects who have been active on LinkedIn recently.
A significant percentage of people with LinkedIn profiles do not log into their accounts very frequently. Therefore, your invitation to connect may sit in their Inbox and never be seen.
In Sales Navigator, click the box highlighted in the above image to target prospects who you know have been active on LinkedIn recently. This will dramatically increase your invitation to connect acceptance rate.
3. Target prospects with shared interests: LinkedIn group members
This is a powerful and underutilized method of targeting that will dramatically increase your acceptance rate when used properly.
Find a group that contains your ideal customers, create a campaign targeting them, and mention your shared interest in the invitation message.