How to Personalize Your LinkedIn Connection Request

If you’re on LinkedIn, you’ve probably sent some invitations to connect.

Did you write a custom note or take the easy way out and went with the default one?

And how about the connection requests you got?

Were they personalized?

And if they weren’t – did you accept them?

In this blog post I’m taking a look at how to send a LinkedIn connection request to someone you don’t know to get them to connect.

I’ll also show you how you can use Woodpecker to make your outreach easier across channels.

Why should you personalize a LinkedIn connection request?

A default invitation rarely works on LinkedIn.

It sends a signal that you were either too lazy or didn’t care enough to make it relevant to the person you want to connect with. And if you don’t bother to make an effort, why would they?

Leaving the copy as is reeks of the “spray and pray” approach from a mile away. It won’t get you very far.

Even though it might seem unnecessary to personalize a LinkedIn connection request, don’t dismiss the difference a well-thought out note can make in the number of accepted invites.

Wouldn’t you be more willing to accept a connection request with a note that looks like it was written specifically for you? I know I would.

What to say in a LinkedIn connection request to get an “accept”

Recently, LinkedIn limited the number of connection requests you can send to 100 per week. That’s one more reason to put more thought into the invites.

But you don’t have to bend over backwards and come up with revolutionary ideas to write an effective connection request.

Just remember that a perfect LinkedIn connection request should be:

• professional

LinkedIn is a business platform, so while there’s no need to be formal and never crack a joke, don’t swing to the other side either – stay professional.

• relevant

Let them know you’re not sending connection requests at random. Show them why you decided to connect with them specifically.

• personalized

If you’re using Woodpecker, you can use snippets to easily personalize a connection request with the data you’ve collected about your contacts in the PROSPECTS table. Just remember to keep them short – the character limit for a note is 300.

With a personalized note, your invitation will be more effective, but there’s one more advantage it gives you: it keeps your LinkedIn account safe.

Just like with email, users on LinkedIn might report your messages as spam. And if many users of the platform do so, you will get blocked.

Again, there are no official resources on how many reports it would take, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Examples of a personalized LinkedIn connection request

LinkedIn’s goal is to make it easier for you to build business relationships.

And although LinkedIn can build more trust than a cold email at a first glance – as the person you’re reaching out to can easily look up your profile – keep in mind you’re still contacting someone that you don’t know.

Since you’re reaching out to a stranger, you need to give them a really good reason to make them want to connect with you.

Check these examples for some inspiration:

Praise the recipient

{{First_Name}}, I saw you speak at {{Snippet_1}}, and I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that {{Snippet_2}}. Would love to connect with you here on LinkedIn and maybe exchange insights about it some time.

Point to shared interests/approach

Hey {{First_Name}}, a while back, your post appeared in my feed. It was the one about {{Snippet_1}}. I’ve read many of them since, and I can tell we have a lot in common, like {{Snippet_2}}! Would you like to connect?

Ask a specific question about their business

Hi {{First_Name}}! I read an interview in which you talked about how {{Company}} {{Snippet_1}}. Those are impressive results! I’m also in finance. Would you mind sharing how you were able to do so well?

Be bold and genuinely excited to connect

Hi {{First_Name}}, we haven’t met, but I see you and I both are in {{Industry}}. Isn’t it marvelous to be a {{Job_Position}}? Let’s connect and chat about {{Snippet_1}} some time!

Mention a mutual connection

Hey {{First_Name}}, I checked your profile because of a mutual connection – {{Snippet_1}}. I have to admit, I’m quite impressed seeing what you do at {{Company}}. Would you like to join my network?

Now that you know what to say in a LinkedIn connection request, see how you can include reaching out on Linkedin as a step in your Woodpecker campaign.

Make outreach across channels easier with LinkedIn tasks

Recently we’ve introduced a new type of manual tasks in Woodpecker, dedicated to help you reach out to people on LinkedIn. I went into details in this blog post.

They help you with finding contacts on LinkedIn, and serve as reminders to perform a LinkedIn action at a certain step of your campaign.

Keep in mind that tasks are handy reminders that some kind of manual action needs to be taken at a given point, but you still have to perform the action yourself.

This has one big advantage. You see, LinkedIn has a very strict 3rd party tools policy. If you’re using a tool that you shouldn’t, your account might get blocked. But since Woodpecker doesn’t connect directly to your LinkedIn account, using it won’t get you into trouble.

To try LinkedIn tasks, you need the Advanced Campaigns add-on. Or you can sign up for a trial and test them for 7 days for free:

Here’s how you can include a LinkedIn connection request in your Woodpecker campaign:

1. To create a LinkedIn task, go to your campaign edit view. The first step will be by default set as email. To change it, click on the dropdown menu and choose LinkedIn.

The third option, task, is a regular manual task, i.e. – a reminder of any other type of manual action you set for yourself.

You can start your campaign with any of these 3 options.

2. Now, choose Send connection request.

3. Next, type in the message you want to include in your invitation. When it’s time to do the task, you’ll have the message ready to be copied.

See how I used snippets there? Snippets in tasks work the same as in emails: once your campaign is active, they turn into pieces of information you included in your PROSPECTS table.

4. If you add a link to a contact’s Linkedin profile in the PROSPECTS table, a View LinkedIn profile notification will appear in the task.

You can add a link by:

• Importing it from Google Sheets (natively integrated with Woodpecker)
• Using the Woodpecker + Hunter native integration
• Using the LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms + Woodpecker integration (via Zapier)

If you haven’t added a link, Woodpecker will still help you out.

It’s going to generate a LinkedIn search link based on at least two pieces of data: the first and last name of a contact. Make sure you also fill the Company field for more accurate results.

In this case, you’ll see a Find LinkedIn profile notification.

Thanks to Woodpecker, you now have easy access to a prospect’s LinkedIn profile.

When you click on a link, Woodpecker will open your LinkedIn account – the one you’re currently logged into.

An exemplary campaign

Since you know how to set up a LinkedIn task, here’s what an exemplary flow could look like:

1. An opening email
2. A follow-up email
3. Then, set a condition to the follow-up, e.g.:

• if a prospect opens your email more than 3 times, the path will move onto a manual task – e.g. call a prospect
• if they don’t meet the condition, the path will go to a LinkedIn task with the Send a connection request option

Both LinkedIn tasks and regular manual tasks give you the opportunity to increase the chances of closing a deal and make reaching out easier if you’re using multiple channels.

Log in to your Woodpecker account or sign up for a free trial to test it for yourself: