Facts
LinkedIn has recently been imposing new weekly invite limits randomly to some accounts. We have tried to find out what these limits are and what basis LinkedIn decides to set these limits. However, LinkedIn has not been very straightforward. In the absence of credible and accurate information, rumor mills work in high gear adding to the confusion.
Therefore, we are giving below the facts we have gathered from the transcripts of our customers' chats with LinkedIn that they shared with us. We have reproduced, wherever applicable, in quotes the parts of actual chat transcripts with the LinkedIn support representatives to help you draw your conclusions. We hope that this article will help you separate facts from fiction and also help you redefine your LinkedIn prospecting strategy.
When did LinkedIn start the Weekly Invite Limit?
Around late March 2021.
Does it apply to all LinkedIn members?
Not yet. It appears that LinkedIn is currently testing it and applying it randomly, at least for now.
Does it also apply to LinkedIn members with premium subscriptions like Sales Navigator?
Yes. Everyone has the same limits as of now.
How do I know my account has a weekly limit?
You will see a pop-up notification on LinkedIn like below.
What's my weekly limit?
That's unknown because LinkedIn says, "For your privacy, LinkedIn Support cannot disclose any additional information regarding the Number limit or reason for the invitation restriction on your account."
Most LinkedIn support representatives did not provide any information on the weekly number. A few representatives stated, "We do not have an exact number associated with this restriction." In one instance, a representative said, "I can't give a number with regards to the number of invitations sent per week. However, I would suggest for you not to send more than 15-20 connection requests per day."
A lot of resources on the internet claim the LinkedIn weekly invite limit to be 100. We have not been able to validate this number from LinkedIn so far.
On what basis LinkedIn decides the weekly limits?
There could be several reasons. But based on LinkedIn's responses, we found the below two as the main reasons.
"Because our system has determined that you have sent a large number of invitations in a short period of time."
"Your account is currently unable to send invitations due to the majority of them being rejected or ignored by other members you've invited."
What can I do to get the weekly limit lifted?
Nothing. It's a temporary restriction, and LinkedIn will lift it automatically.
When will I be able to invite again?
It's a weekly invitation limit, and the text of the LinkedIn pop-up message states, "Please try again next week." So you should be able to send again after one week from the date from which your account got limited. In one instance, the LinkedIn support representative stated, "The restriction will be lifted within 3-5 days". However, It is not yet clear which day of the week LinkedIn starts counting the week. For example, Monday or Sunday? In a few instances we have seen that LinkedIn lifted the weekly limit within 3 days of imposing it.
Will there be a limit again after it is lifted?
LinkedIn provided a vague answer. Here is what they said, "You will need to send Invites mindfully to avoid being restricted again!"
Does withdrawing the long-pending invites help?
Yes, but the weekly limit will still be in place for the number of days set by LinkedIn. Like 3,5 or 7 days, depending on how LinkedIn defines the week!
What We-Connect is doing to help
Several things related to safety, strategy, and best practices as mentioned below.
Safety
We automatically pause your invite campaign. Our software detects when LinkedIn applies a weekly restriction to your account and automatically pauses your invite campaign and resumes it after one week. In case LinkedIn lifts the restriction earlier than a week, you have the option to restart it from the dashboard. Try to stay under 20 invites a day for 1-2 weeks. Try to increase gradually and see if LinkedIn again puts a weekly limit.
We send you an email notification to inform you that LinkedIn has imposed a weekly limit on your account. You will also see a pop-up on the We-Connect app notifying you of such a restriction. You can log in to your LinkedIn account and try to send a manual invite to test if the limitation is still in place.
Safe Mode. We have released a new feature called" Safe Mode." Once a customer enables the safe mode, it will automatically increase the delay between invites and randomize them. It will also limit the total number of invites not to exceed 15 per day. Therefore, the Safe Mode will prevent your account from sending a large number of invitations in a short period, which LinkedIn states as the 1st reason for imposing weekly limits.
Auto and Bulk withdraw pending invites. We-Connect also has a feature that helps its customers (i) auto withdraw and (ii) bulk withdraw the old pending invites. We encourage our customers to use these features to withdraw invites from people who do not want to connect with you. It will also help you comply with the second reason mentioned by LinkedIn for applying the weekly invite limit. Please read this article to learn more about this feature.
Invite By Email: This is a great workaround to overcome LinkedIn weekly invite limits if you have a list of your prospects' email addresses. You can upload the list and LinkedIn to send the invites to the individual LinkedIn profiles that match the uploaded email address. Once your invite is accepted, you can add those contacts to a messaging campaign in We-Connect and automate the follow-ups. You can read this article to learn more about it.
Alternatives to inviting someone to connect.
There are a few very good alternatives to inviting and yet getting the same results. It is not clear if LinkedIn plans to implement the weekly limits for all its members globally. Yet, we all need to prepare just in case it becomes a reality. It is anyway a good idea to review your prospecting strategy and best practices. Let us take this opportunity to do so. If LinkedIn prospecting is an integral part of your plan, then quality will matter more than quantity. Here are a few alternatives to inviting someone to connect.
Explore sending free InMails to open profiles. You can altogether skip inviting new contacts and waiting for them to accept your invite. Instead, you can straightaway send free InMails to members with open profiles using We-Connect. You may not find as many Open Profiles, but you can still get the same or better results than an Invite campaign. Here is simple math. Let's say you have a list of 1000 contacts in your Invite campaign and have a connect rate of 25%. That means you added 250 contacts to your network. Alternatively, you can use the same list of 1000 contacts, filter all the open profiles, and most likely find 250 or more open profiles. You can then straightaway send free InMail to those 250 plus Open Profiles and achieve the same outcome. We-Connect filters the lists automatically for you. Please read this article to learn more about sending free InMails to Open Profiles.
Send messages to group members: You can send messages including follow-up messages to the members of any group you belong to. Sending messages does not count against your invite or InMail limits. Please read this article to learn more.
Send Invites to contacts more active on LinkedIn: People with LinkedIn premium subscriptions are more active on LinkedIn and are more likely to accept your invitation promptly. We-Connect offers the ability to filter your list and show you contacts with LinkedIn premium subscriptions. Please read this article to learn more.
Connect with qualified and targeted contacts from your CRM. We-Connect offers you the ability to push contacts from your CRM into campaigns using Zapier or API. We-Connect can already sync CRM contacts with active campaigns. We are shortly releasing the ability to sync contacts with the completed campaigns. These features can be handy as you can automatically add contacts from your CRM to your Linkedin outreach campaign.
Monetize your existing Network: Send direct messages to your 1st connections instead of inviting new people. Please read this article to learn more about it.
Endorse connections: You can automatically endorse the top three skills of your existing 1st-degree connections to get their attention. Please read this article to learn more.
Visit Profiles: Automatically visit the profiles of your targeted audience to get their attention. Please read this article to learn more about it.
Auto Follow: We connect also offers the option for you to automatically follow people to improve your LinkedIn feed and stay updated with what your contacts are posting on LinkedIn.
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile, writing compelling messages, see if you are following the 12 Tips for Safely Automating LinkedIn Lead Generation.
We understand that LinkedIn wants to control spam, improve the quality of relationships and also make money. We would have appreciated it if LinkedIn could have done the same in a more transparent, professional, and unambiguous manner. We think that LinkedIn members have a right to know the number of the weekly limit and how LinkedIn decides to apply the limits on their accounts. There is nothing private about it. We hope that LinkedIn clarifies these issues sooner. It will genuinely help uphold LinkedIn's trust with its member community and its reputation. Meanwhile, we all need to adapt, rethink LinkedIn prospecting strategy, and follow the best practices.
We hope this article helps you clear the confusion surrounding these new LinkedIn invite limits and provides a direction to develop strategies for continuing LinkedIn prospecting. We would also like to assure you that We-Connect will continue to explore new features that can enhance your LinkedIn prospecting while keeping your account safe.