How to send personalized LinkedIn connection requests with Dux-Soup
One of the most commonly asked questions we get is “How do I send personalized connection messages with Dux-Soup?” and “Where do those messages show up?” so we’ve prepared a quick guide covering everything you need to know about sending personalized LinkedIn connection messages using Dux-Soup.
With Dux-Soup, we make it easy to automate your connection process. It can save you hours every week, and before you know it, you'll have a growing network of connections.
This blog post showcases an expert user interface. If you don't see some of the features mentioned in the post, don't worry! Just make sure that you've enabled the "expert" settings in the Options section under the User tab. That should do the trick!
Before getting started, we want to clarify the difference between 1st and 2nd or 3rd degree LinkedIn connections. 1st degree connections are people who have already connected with you, which means that they can see your posts and are able to send you private messages. 2nd and 3rd degree connections are people outside your network whom you are not connected with yet.
Automating LinkedIn connection requests
To send automated, personalized LinkedIn connection messages, follow these simple steps:
1. Find your list of target profiles in LinkedIn, Sales Navigator or Recruiter (If you're unsure how to do this, check out our LinkedIn search and filter masterclass).
2. Once you have a list ready, click on your Dux-Soup extension on your Chrome bar. As soon as Dux-Soup is active and ready to perform automated activity (you need to have your LinkedIn list ready), you'll notice a 'Dux-Soup at your service' notification, and the menu will offer you the features in the image below.
3. Next to 'Visit & Connect', turn on the 'Include custom message' option. Now you can create your personalized connection message in the box. Use the Dux-Soup markers to add personalization to your message e.g. First name, Company name, etc.
Once you've finished crafting your personalized message, you can hit 'Visit & Connect'.
Dux-Soup will then get to work, automatically viewing profiles and sending personalized connection requests to your target LinkedIn list. Simple, eh?
The process is the same whether you're running a Free Trial, Pro,Turbo or Cloud license.
LinkedIn connection message tips
A personalized connection message will stand out from other connection requests. On testing various types of connection requests (blank, general, non-personalized) a connection message with a high degree of personalization and relevance has been found to have a much higher acceptance rate.
Remember that you only have 300 characters, which need to include any personalized fields so leave some extra characters free for long names.
The more relevant you can make your connection message to your prospect, the better your results will be. We've heard of connection acceptance rates as high as 70-80%.
A tip here on making your personalized message look bespoke is to give the impression that you have actually checked the person’s profile before asking to connect.
LinkedIn has a stringent policy when it comes to connecting with people. If a person keeps ignoring your request or, even worse, they keep ticking the option “I don’t know this person”, it could cause your LinkedIn account to get temporarily suspended. Therefore, personalization is key.
So, make use of the Dux-Soup markers for personalization. An example message can look something like this:
The markers _FN_ will be replaced with the person’s first name and _IN_ with the industry found in their profile.
Here’s another example of a short but effective connection message:
To see what your connection message will look like once it has been sent, you can check it by going to your LinkedIn account and clicking on 'My Network'. Then, click “Manage all” and “Sent” to see all the messages that you have sent to people.
If you notice that you’ve made a mistake in the connection message or the spacing is wrong, you can quickly press “Withdraw”.
For more LinkedIn connection message tips, read "How to write connection messages that get results".
Skipping profiles
When sending automated connection invitations there may be profiles that you wish to skip. For example, skipping profiles that have a blank profile photo, that are tagged, or that you have visited within the previous 31 days. These can be configured in the 'skipping' tab of your extension.
Sending direct messages to 1st-degree connections
Another useful Dux-Soup feature is sending messages to your current connections to reignite the relationship with them. Why not send invitations to events / webinars, new content that you've released or offers that may be of interest to your network and help you to stay engaged?
Or you may have recently connected with lots of people that you've not yet engaged with. In this case, sending an auto-message to all of these contacts is a great idea. An example message could look something like this:
Learn How to send direct messages to 1st-degree connections with Dux-Soup.
Here you go. We hope you have found this post useful and that it gave you more ideas on how to send personalized LinkedIn messages using Dux-Soup.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about how to use Dux-Soup, please just get in touch via live chat on our site or email us at info@dux-soup.com and we’d be happy to help!
