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InMail5 min read

How to Send a LinkedIn InMail Step by Step

Send an InMail from the introduction section of a profile or as a new message: click More, choose Message, add an optional subject and send. Each send uses one credit, and extra credits cannot be bought mid-month.

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You send a LinkedIn InMail from the recipient's profile or from a new message, and it costs one credit. LinkedIn's own steps are short: open the person's profile, click More in the introduction section, choose Message [Name], add an optional subject and your text, then click Send (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). Most of the work is in the two minutes before that: confirming you can actually reach this person and that the credit is worth spending.

Before you start

Three checks decide whether the send button will even help you.

Your plan includes InMail. LinkedIn states InMail is a Premium feature, and with a Basic (free) account you can only message members you are connected to (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). You need a paid subscription such as Premium, Recruiter or Sales Navigator (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). LinkedIn's messaging help also names Campaign Manager, but describes it as an ad management tool for Sponsored Messaging campaigns rather than a member InMail seat, so this guide treats it separately.

The recipient accepts InMail. LinkedIn notes you "can't message a member if they've chosen not to receive InMail messages in their message preferences settings" (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). If someone has turned InMail off, there is no InMail route to them from your account.

Your credits are in the right balance. InMail credits are specific to the product you paid for: LinkedIn states "Premium InMail message credits can't be used to send InMail messages on Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Recruiter" (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). A Premium credit balance will not cover a Sales Navigator send, so check the balance attached to the product you are sending from.

Send an InMail from a profile (desktop)

This is the route LinkedIn documents first.

  1. Open the profile of the member you want to reach.
  2. In the introduction section at the top, click More.
  3. Select Message [Name of the member].
  4. Type a subject in the Subject field. It is optional.
  5. Type your message in the text box.
  6. Click Send.

One shortcut worth knowing: LinkedIn also says you can search for a member and send a new InMail "from the messaging page or conversation windows" (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). That is faster when you already have a shortlist and do not want to open each profile.

Send an InMail from a profile (mobile)

The mobile flow mirrors the desktop one:

  1. Open the member's profile.
  2. Tap Message in the introduction section.
  3. Type the subject in the Subject field. It is optional.
  4. Type the message.
  5. Tap Send.

LinkedIn also notes you can search for a member and send a new message from mobile rather than starting on the profile (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)).

Keep the message inside the limits

InMail is capped at 200 characters for the subject line and 2000 characters for the body (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). The subject is optional, but LinkedIn's writing guidance calls a direct, informative subject line part of what captures attention (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). If you skip it, your opening line has to do the whole job.

The 2000-character ceiling is generous, and spending all of it usually works against you. LinkedIn's own advice for effective InMail is to "be brief and to the point," to personalize the message with something from the person's profile, and to avoid pasting a job description or a URL in place of a message (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)).

Common reasons a send fails or is not offered

That last point is the practical constraint teams miss. You cannot buy your way out of a thin month. Your monthly allocation is what your plan grants, but it is not a hard monthly send cap: in Sales Navigator unused credits roll over and accumulate up to 150 total, and a qualifying reply returns a credit, so you can have more than one month's allocation available (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). The plan-by-plan allowance is covered in how LinkedIn InMail credits work.

An illustrative send plan

Label these as illustrative numbers, not a benchmark. Suppose a Premium Business seat gives you 15 credits a month and you want to use them on a target list of 60 people. The arithmetic is 15 sends across the month, so three or four a week, spread over the working days rather than burned in one sitting. You keep the other 45 people for a connection-request note or a later month. That pacing is a budgeting choice, not a safety guarantee. LinkedIn separately says it "limits how many messages a member can send in a certain time period" and does not publish the number, and the actual limit depends on account activity, so no article can promise that a given weekly rate stays inside it (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab), Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).

The limit to keep in mind

Because credits cannot be topped up mid-month, an InMail is a one-shot resource. If the first line is wrong, the recipient may ignore the message and the credit is gone. Write the opener before you open the profile, not after.

If you are comparing outreach tools, Visit Clapa. For the next decision, compare the two native channels in InMail versus message.

FAQ

Can you message someone on LinkedIn if you are not connected?

Yes, if you have a paid subscription with InMail credits and the recipient accepts InMail. LinkedIn describes InMail as the feature that lets you directly message a member you are not connected to (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)).

Where is the InMail option?

On the member's profile, in the introduction section: click More, then Message [Name]. On mobile, tap Message in the introduction section (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)).

How long can an InMail be?

Up to 200 characters for the optional subject and 2000 characters for the body (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)).

Can I buy more InMail credits if I run out?

Not outside your monthly allotment. LinkedIn states additional credits cannot be purchased separately (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)).

Sources

Put the workflow in perspective.

Explore Clapa, then use the guide to ask the right questions.

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