LinkedIn is flooded with bots sending connection messages.
Too many people try the spray & pray method to build their network. Just sending out dozens of connections and hoping one hits.
As a result, you’d get:
Really low acceptance rates
Cold responses
Poor reputation
It's no secret that one of the most powerful tools in a sales or business development professional's toolkit is LinkedIn.
Not only is it a powerful platform for building relationships and developing leads, but LinkedIn also offers a great way to connect with potential customers and clients through direct messaging (DMs).
However, simply sending a LinkedIn DM is not enough to guarantee success.
“In a recent study of over 5,000 businesses, HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost 3 times higher (277%) than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%).” (Corliss, 2020)
In order to stand out from the competition and increase the likelihood of getting a response, your message must be well-written and tailored to the specific recipient.
In this blog post, we'll share some tips on how to write effective DM scripts for LinkedIn, including the importance of Personalisation and Experimentation.
Blog Content:
What are DM scripts?
DM Scripts are planned or structured frameworks of a messaging flow. It can be a winning formula to close more deals, increase revenue, and exceed your sales goals.
These scripts save you time and improve your messaging sequence. It takes into account the planning of the potential responses of the recipient, your follow-up messages, and your recommendation.
DM Script Personalisation 👥
When it comes to Personalisation, the key is to make the recipient feel like you are speaking directly to them.
It adds a human touch to your message.
This means avoiding generic phrases like "I hope you're doing well" and instead including specific details that show you have taken the time to learn about who they are and what they do.
The genuinity comes through in the message and they feel acknowledged.
Here are some ways to personalise your DM Script to the individual you’re messaging:
1. Address people by their first name.
This makes you seem more approachable and shows that the message is meant for the person you're connecting with. You don't have to be super formal here.
2. Determine your tone.
Make an educated guess about their personality by having a look at their profile, the content they react to and how they reply to comments. Matching their tone when crafting messages helps create a connection and resonate with them.
3. Find commonalities between you and them.
It can be:
Past experiences
Schools/groups
Interests
Mutual connections
This helps create a sense of familiarity and makes it easier to build relationships.
4. Look for focal points.
A focal point is something that prompted you to send the message and is the basis of your message.
It could be:
A comment they made
A featured article they took part in
Something in their portfolio
One of their LinkedIn posts
This shows you actually took the time to look at their profile and act as a conversation starter.
5. Use lead magnets.
These are assets that’d attract leads to you and your business.
This comes in the form of:
E-books
Webinars
Invitations to offline events
For example, you could also mention a recent blog post they wrote or something you have in common, such as a mutual connection. The goal is to establish a rapport and build trust from the very first message.
Here are some examples of DM Scripts:
DM Script Experimentation 🔬
Experimentation is also important when crafting your direct messaging scripts. LinkedIn allows you to track metrics such as open and click-through rates, so you can test different approaches to see what works best.
There are 2 ways you could do this:
Conduct A/B testing for script-based DMs.
Formulate a list of hypotheses to test out against each other — These hypotheses differ based on clients' needs such as client acquisition, recruitment, or sales.
To explain this in the best possible way, I interviewed whacked’s very own Growth Marketer, Mohan to help us out.
Here’s how he explains it.
“A/B testing DM scripts is a great way to improve expected outcomes. The general rule of thumb for A/B testing is to test one variable at a time."
So, how do you find variables to test?
"First, we need to define what is our expected outcome (goal). For example, increased connection acceptance rate, increased response rate, increased bookings made, and more.
Once the goal is defined, you can then choose a variable to test that will affect the outcome.
For example, we sent post-webinar DM messages to 178 attendees. There were two different variations to the script.
Although they’re both identical, the only difference between script A and Script B is an eBook CTA which we attached at the end of the script.
In script A, we attached the eBook as a google drive link which will redirect the prospect to a different tab. In script B, we attached the eBook as a PDF which is downloadable within LinkedIn DM itself.”
He continued to explain how hypotheses are formed, “So, with this small variation, we're testing out 2 hypotheses:
Attaching the eBook as a PDF document will reduce the number of clicks on the prospect's end and will increase the response rate.
Attaching the eBook as a PDF document which will be shown as "Ashvin sent attachment" will increase the response rate.
We used an equal sample size. We sent 96 DMs with script A and 96 DMs with script B.
It's advised to keep the script variations identical and test one variable at a time. The sample size needs to be the same too.”
This is what it looks like.
You should be experimenting with the length of your messages, the level of personalisation, or the time of day you send them.
By constantly testing and tweaking your approach, you'll be able to fine-tune your direct messaging scripts for maximum impact.
It is through Personalising your messages and Experimenting with different approaches that you'll be able to stand out from the competition and increase your chances of getting a response.
So there you have it – a few expert tips on how to improve your LinkedIn direct messaging game.
Personalisation and Experimentation are key, so make sure to keep those in mind as you craft your messages.
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