Should you send more than 1 Linkedin message to a prospect per day?
Or should you wait a few days?
When finding the right time to follow up with prospects on Linkedin, you have to have a data-driven sales cadence strategy.
Because if you do it too soon, or too often, or not often enough, your sales team isn’t going to land the sale.
It’s a delicate balance.
This article will discuss what we have found to work on Linkedin according to our outreach data, and how you can implement it in your sales strategy.
The same strategy can be applied to cold email outreach and text messaging outreach. How did we come up with this process? By analyzing data from the last 1 million replies detected on QuickMail.io.
(If you’re interested in seeing how Salesbread generates 20+ leads per month for our clients read this in-depth article sharing our sales strategy. OR… Book a free 15 minute strategy session.)
Does it really matter when you send messages on Linkedin?
According to research, it matters when you post content on Linkedin, so of course, it will matter when you send outreach messages too.
For example, if you are sending too many messages to prospects in one day, they are going to become annoyed and view you as a spammer, and if you leave the prospect for weeks on end, they are probably going to forget about you.
It’s all about the perfect timing. A sales cadence example is of Jermey, (the founder of Quickmail.io) who had just finished a podcast about artificial intelligence.
He received a cold email from a company that developed AI and they mentioned how they could help QuickMail.io.
Jeremey mentioned how he was happy to reply because he had just completed a podcast on AI.
But he also mentioned that if he had received this email two months prior, he probably wouldn’t have responded, because AI wasn’t on his mind previously.
So this shows that timing is important.
Why should Linkedin messages be spaced out?
Have you ever received a few Linkedin messages in one day from a pushy salesperson?
If you have, then you either:
A: Ignored the message
B: Deleted it
C: Sent an irritated reply back
Why?
Because it’s spam. If messages come across as spammy prospects are going to ignore you.
The problem with many lead generation agencies out there, is that they automate many of their sales outreach messages. So it’s easier for prospects to just ignore the messages because there is no real human interaction.
Below is an example of some automated messages I received on Linkedin.
So if you are sending these kinds of messages and the cadence is awful, the chances of positive reply rates will be very close to zero.
You also have to realize that you would have a better shot at approaching your prospects on the right day by spacing out your Linkedin messages over a period of time, even months, instead of days or weeks.
This means that you should get more positive replies if you are doing a killer job at sales cadence.
Stats also show that the more follow-ups you send over a period of time the more positive replies you will receive.
Have a look at the following stats from Salesbread
An explanation of the above graph
As you can see from the graph above the first outreach message on Linkedin got a reply rate of 37.5%.
Yes, we know that some SDRs receive more replies and others not, depending on various factors.
But according to the stats above, if you have a look at the average, the first outreach message will bring in about one-third of all your replies.
If you look at the second touchpoint (or first follow-up) you will see how the replies decline slightly to about 31.5%.
And then from the 3rd touch and 4th touch, the replies start to dwindle.
The metrics show that you will receive a reply rate of 17.7% with the 3rd touch and then an average reply rate of 8% with the 4th follow-up and so on.
What does this mean?
Does this mean that after the 4th touch you should just stop sending follow-up messages?
Well, no.
Yes, the replies dwindle but you are still getting replies. Remember the example above of Jermey, if the sales rep never sent him an email after a few months of contact, he never would have responded earlier because he wasn’t interested in AI.
It wasn’t until he did a podcast that the email actually meant something to him.
So even if you had to send a follow-up to a Linkedin prospect 6 months down the line, they might actually respond positively.
“Some sales reps send up to 24 follow-up messages whether it’s via email or Linkedin, and they still get replies, albeit the reply rate is as little as 0.001%.”
But this means that you should still continue with follow-ups because you will still get replies.
(Even if they do diminish after the third touch.)
But the point is, don’t give up after just 2 follow-ups.
What would be the perfect Linkedin messaging sequence for your b2b sales outreach
If Linkedin outreach is a new form of prospecting for you, this would probably be the easiest sequence to follow.
Send your connection request and once the prospect connects, send an immediate thank you message with a personalized intro.
You could say something like:
“Thanks for connecting with me, by the way, I noticed that your company does {XYZ}, how do you handle {XYZ?}
Ps: For background my company does XYZ”
This is when you should wait 72 hours before sending a follow-up if they haven’t immediately responded to you. If they respond, reply as soon as possible. If you don’t hear a thing, wait 72 hours between each touch.
It’s important to wait business days.
This ensures that there is enough timing between each sales prospecting message.
You don’t want messages to be too frequent because this could annoy potential customers.
So you basically want to send a message every 3 days.
Whether it’s a Linkedin message, or a follow-up email, or even an SMS.
A multi-channel approach is also a good idea because if you can’t reach your decision maker via Linkedin, you could try to get hold of them via email or even phone call.
“This also ensures that if you only have 5 or 8 touchpoints, your messaging is spaced out enough to reach your prospect when it is the right time for them.
You don’t just want high open rates and hundreds of just any kind of reply. You want positive replies because this will close deals in the end. And successful sales cadence can accomplish this.
Do some A/B testing
For example, you could send a message every 2 days. You might get more replies, but maybe not all the replies will be positive. Or you could space your messages out a bit further and see if this gets a better response.
So ask yourself: Do I receive more negative replies from annoyed prospects when I send many messages closer together? Or do I have a more positive response when you wait a day or more?
These small tests can give you some insight into what might work for you. Let the test run for at least 14 days to see if it works or not. And if you haven’t even gotten 1 lead after that amount of time, then it’s time to change your outbound sales cadence.
Have you heard of the Fibonacci sequence?
At Salesbread we call this the Italian way. The Fibonacci sequence is a set of numbers that you can use to space your outreach messages.
The Fibonacci sequence follows the idea that the more sales emails, or LinkedIn messages you send in a short space of time, the more replies you will receive.
BUT it starts to slow down over time so that you are not seen as annoying.
Here is an example below:
The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, …
The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it:
the 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1),
the 3 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+2),
the 5 is (2+3),
and so on!
You can start your outreach methods by sending your Linkedin messages or inmails quite close together.
So you would send a message on day 1, day 2, day 3, and then on day 5, 8, 13, and so on.
This helps in the sense that initially, you have many messages in your sales funnel that are frequent, but then they slow down over time.
This allows you to expand your campaign over some time so that you might just reach out to them at the right time, and get a yes from your sales leads.
Does this mean that if you follow the above your sales campaigns will be a success?
Well following the above cadence can help your outreach campaigns, but it doesn’t mean that you can be sloppy with your copywriting.
Remember you will still need to research prospects in order to write ultra-personalized messages.
You will still have to build super-defined lists of prospects in order to get positive response rates.
If you don’t do these 2 very important things, then it doesn’t matter if your sequencing is perfect, prospects are still not going to reply.
Each message should add value to your prospect and offer to solve their pain points.
Side Note:
There are times when the 3-day rule and the “Fibonacci sequence” might not apply.
Example:
If there is an event that you letting prospects know about (like a webinar) it won’t make sense to use the Fibonacci sequence or the 3-day rule.
The better option would be to almost reverse the Fibonacci sequence.
So, send your email or Linkedin message, two weeks before your event. If you still don’t get a reply, send it a week before, and then two days before, a day before, and on the day.
This works because there is a specific time and date for the event. So as you get closer and closer to the event’s date, the emails become more frequent, especially if the prospect has not replied, reminding them that the event will occur soon.
Takeaway
If your cadence is perfect, and you pair it with expert personalization AND an ultra-refined prospect list, then you will be guaranteed 20+ qualified leads per month.
Read some of our case studies, because they explain how we bring our clients 1 qualified lead per day. Feel free to apply the tips and tricks to your own outreach.
And if you still aren’t getting the results you would like, hop on a free 15-minute sales call with us.
Our done-for-you lead generation is cheaper than hiring a full-time SDR with no locked-in contracts.