LinkydyYou connected. They accepted. Now comes the part most people fumble: the first message.
These 16 templates are for that moment — the messages you send after a new 1st-degree connection accepts, not the 300-character note you attach to the invite itself. Need invite notes? Those live in our LinkedIn connection request templates.
Every template below is copy-paste ready, under 500 characters, and built around one rule: earn a reply before you earn a pitch. Fill the {FirstName}, {Company}, and {JobTitle} placeholders, swap the bracketed parts for real specifics, and never send the same message to your whole list. The five groups map to the 14-day sequence covered further down — work through them in order.
1. The double-tap — day 0, message #1
Send this within 24 hours of the acceptance, while you're still fresh in their notifications. The job: thank them, prove you're a human, and ask exactly one light question. No links, no calendar, no pitch.
Thanks for accepting, {FirstName}. No pitch — I connect
with {JobTitle}s because that's who I learn the most from.
Out of curiosity: what's eating most of your week at
{Company} right now — hiring, pipeline, or something
less glamorous?
Why it works: it names the "no pitch" elephant up front and asks one easy, open question.
Appreciate the connect, {FirstName}. Quick one while I'm
here: how is {Company} handling [specific process] these
days — still mostly manual, or have you found a tool you
actually like?
Why it works: it replaces small talk with a question they can answer in one line.
Good to be connected, {FirstName}. I saw {Company} is
[recent event — hiring push, launch, new market]. Does
that change much for you as {JobTitle}, or is it business
as usual on your side?
Why it works: a recent-event reference proves you actually looked; the either/or makes replying effortless.
Thanks for connecting, {FirstName}! I'll keep this short:
I talk to a lot of {JobTitle}s and I collect one answer
from each — what's the one tool you'd refuse to give up?
Always hunting for what actually works.
Why it works: it's flattering, zero-commitment, and genuinely fun to answer.
2. Problem–agitate — name the pain, skip the pitch
Use one of these as your day-3 follow-up if the double-tap got silence. Name a specific pain of their role, make it vivid, and stop. Resist the urge to attach your solution — that comes only after they engage.
{FirstName}, most {JobTitle}s I talk to say the same
thing: leads come in fine, but follow-up dies after
message two. By week three the list has gone cold again.
Is that close to how it plays out at {Company}, or have
you solved it?
Why it works: it names a specific, common failure and invites correction — people love to correct you.
Quick question, {FirstName} — when someone leaves
{Company}'s sales team, how much pipeline knowledge walks
out the door with them? Every {JobTitle} I ask winces at
that one. Curious how you handle it.
Why it works: it agitates a pain they've felt but rarely quantified, with no pitch attached.
{FirstName}, honest question: how many hours a week does
your team at {Company} spend copying LinkedIn profiles
into a spreadsheet? Most {JobTitle}s guess two, then
check and find it's closer to six. What's your number?
Why it works: the guess-then-check contrast makes them want to verify — which means replying.
3. Case-number opener — lead with a result
These frame a concrete outcome. One rule before you touch them: {X} and the before/after figures are placeholders for your own real numbers. Fill them with results you can actually stand behind — an invented stat that falls apart on a call costs you the deal and the reputation. If you don't have a number yet, use group 2 or 4 instead.
{FirstName}, we recently helped a company about
{Company}'s size cut [painful metric] by {X}% in [N]
weeks. I'm honestly not sure the same applies to you —
that's why I'm asking. Worth a 5-line summary of how
they did it?
Why it works: a concrete number plus honest uncertainty beats a confident pitch.
Hi {FirstName} — a {JobTitle} at a company like
{Company} went from [before] to [after] in one quarter
using our approach. If I sent over the 3 steps in a
short message, would you read it? No deck, no call.
Why it works: before/after framing plus a tiny, explicit ask — "would you read it?"
{FirstName}, one number: {X}%. That's how much [metric]
improved for teams like {Company}'s after they changed
how they [process]. Happy to share what they changed —
or tell me that metric isn't a priority right now.
Why it works: it leads with the number, and the opt-out line drops the pressure to zero.
4. Permission-based ask — small yes before big yes
The day-7 move. Instead of asking for 30 minutes, ask for permission to send something tiny. A "sure" costs them nothing — and it converts a cold thread into a two-way conversation.
{FirstName}, mind if I send over a two-paragraph summary
of how {JobTitle}s at companies like {Company} are
handling [problem]? If it's useful, great. If not,
delete it and we're still good.
Why it works: it asks permission for something small; "delete it" removes all obligation.
Hey {FirstName} — open to me sharing a short checklist
we built for {JobTitle}s on [topic]? One page, no
sign-up, no email sequence lurking behind it. Just say
"sure" and I'll paste it right here.
Why it works: it promises no strings and names the exact effort required: one word.
{FirstName}, I have a strong opinion on how {Company}
could improve [specific area] — but I'd rather ask than
assume. Want me to send it over? Takes 60 seconds to
read, and I'm happy to be told I'm wrong.
Why it works: "happy to be told I'm wrong" invites a reply either way — agreement or correction.
5. The break-up — day 14+, close the loop politely
Silence after three messages is an answer; the break-up just makes it official. Sent well, it often outperforms the follow-up before it — an explicit out is easier to respond to than another nudge. Send it, update the lead's status, and move on.
{FirstName}, I've sent a couple of notes and haven't
heard back — which usually means bad timing or not
relevant. Either is fine. I'll close the loop here; if
[problem] climbs your list later, you know where I am.
Why it works: no guilt, no pressure — an explicit out often draws more replies than a fourth nudge.
Last one from me, {FirstName} — I'd rather stop than
become the person who "just bumps this to the top of
your inbox." If it's a no, no reply needed. If it's a
"not now," one word and I'll check back next quarter.
Why it works: it gently mocks the bad follow-up cliché and offers two easy exits.
{FirstName}, closing this out. Three messages is my
limit — past that I'm just noise. If [topic] becomes a
priority at {Company}, reply anytime and I'll pick it
right back up. Either way, good luck with the quarter.
Why it works: stating a rule ("three messages is my limit") reads as discipline, not desperation.
The 14-day sequence: what to send when
Run one lead through at most four messages over two weeks. The moment they reply — even with "who is this?" — leave the sequence and respond like a person.
| Day | What you send | The job of the message |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | The double-tap (group 1) | Thank them for connecting, ask one light question, prove you're human. Send within 24 hours of acceptance. |
| Day 3 | Problem–agitate (group 2) | Name a specific pain of their role. Short, no links, no pitch. Reference nothing about being "circled back to." |
| Day 7 | Case-number or permission ask (group 3 or 4) | Offer one concrete thing — a result summary or a one-pager — and ask permission to send it. |
| Day 14 | The break-up (group 5) | Close the loop politely and give an explicit out. This is the last message. |
| After day 14 | Nothing | Stop. Set the lead's status to "no response," and revisit in a quarter with a fresh angle — not the same sequence. |
Weekends and Mondays get the worst response; Tuesday-to-Thursday mornings in the prospect's time zone do best. If day 3 lands on a Saturday, shift it to Monday afternoon — the cadence is a rhythm, not a contract.
Reply-rate realism: what to actually expect
For cold B2B outreach on LinkedIn, a 5–15% reply rate is typical. Above 15% means your targeting and first lines are genuinely good. Below 5% means the list is wrong, the message is generic, or both — and sending more of it won't help.
The math favors small lists. Fifty well-researched prospects at a 12% reply rate is six real conversations. Five hundred blasted profiles at 2% is ten lukewarm replies — plus a burned network, "I don't know this person" flags, and a real chance of LinkedIn restricting your account. Personalization beats volume every time the two compete.
Two more habits that move the number: keep messages under 500 characters (one phone screen), and ask questions a busy person can answer in one line. "What's your tech stack?" gets ignored; "manual or tooled?" gets answered.
Put it to work with Linkydy
Templates are the easy half. The grind is remembering who accepted yesterday, who's due a day-7 message, and who already replied. Linkydy — a free Chrome extension — handles that half:
- Saved leads. Collect prospects from LinkedIn search and Sales Navigator into a lightweight CRM, with notes and tags per lead.
- Auto-filled placeholders. {FirstName}, {Company}, and {JobTitle} fill from each lead card — the same fields used in every template above.
- Follow-ups on schedule. Queue the day 0 / 3 / 7 / 14 sequence with human-like pacing and daily caps enforced by the extension. It runs in your own browser session — see is LinkedIn automation safe? for why that architecture matters.
- Statuses that track replies. Who replied, who's mid-sequence, who hit the break-up — visible at a glance, so nobody gets message four.
Pair these scripts with our connection request templates for the invite itself, run the whole flow against the LinkedIn outreach checklist before you press send, and let outreach automation keep the cadence honest while you write the replies that actually close.
FAQ
How long should a LinkedIn cold message be?
Keep it under 500 characters — roughly 60–80 words, about one phone screen without scrolling. Every template on this page fits that limit. If you need more space, you're pitching too early: the first message's only job is to earn a reply, not to close a deal.
How many follow-ups should I send on LinkedIn?
Three to four messages over 14 days is plenty: a first message on day 0, follow-ups around days 3 and 7, and a break-up message on day 14. If there's still no reply, stop. Mark the lead's status and revisit next quarter — more messages past that point hurt your reply rate and your reputation.
What's a good reply rate for LinkedIn cold outreach?
For cold B2B outreach on LinkedIn, 5–15% is typical. Above 15% usually means your targeting and personalization are strong. If you're below 5%, shrink your list, tighten your targeting, and rewrite the first line for each segment — sending more messages rarely fixes a low reply rate.