Spent 6 months on cold emailing then switched to LinkedIn DMs and got 3x more replies in just 2 weeks

Cold emails got me maybe 1 response out of 100 but a quick personalized message to people in my city with a specific compliment landed me 3 actual conversations about work last month - has anyone else found one platform way better than another for reaching out?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_davis5d ago

Yeah I gotta push back a little on that @the_drew. You said "a cold email is just a name in an inbox" but honestly a LinkedIn message is just a name in an inbox too... people still delete those without reading them. The real difference I've seen is that LinkedIn feels more like a social space where people expect to get random messages, while email feels more like work and chores. I've had way better luck reaching out to local business owners on Facebook groups actually - joined a group for small business owners in my city, commented on their posts a few times, then sent a friend request and a quick message about something they posted. Got 4 solid leads that way last quarter compared to maybe 2 from LinkedIn over the whole year. Different crowds respond different ways I guess.

the_drew5d ago

That 1 in 100 reply rate on cold emails sounds about right from what I've seen. But I think you might be comparing apples to oranges a bit - LinkedIn messages work better because people can click your profile and see who you are, while a cold email is just a name in an inbox.