20+ LinkedIn Connection Message Templates: Proven Scripts to Connect and Convert (2025)

If your prospects ignore your LinkedIn connection request messages, chances are you won’t build a relationship with them. And in sales, no relationship often means no conversions. 

Your LinkedIn connection message is the bridge between being ignored and getting accepted. If done right, it warms up the prospects, creates familiarity, and initiates a conversation. While there is no single best LinkedIn connection request message, the value you offer, your objective, and your audience determine whether you’ll get in or not. 

How do you do this? That’s why you have this article. Here, you will learn:

• What LinkedIn connection request message mean
• What to include in your LinkedIn connection request
• 20+ Best LinkedIn Connection Request Templates for All Occasions

Let’s get started. 

What is a LinkedIn Connection Request Message, and how does it work?

A LinkedIn connection request message is a message you send to grab the attention of someone you want to network with. It’s what you use to initiate conversations and build relationships with professionals (colleagues, clients, industry experts) on LinkedIn.

When you visit a potential connection’s LinkedIn profile and click Connect, you’ll be given 2 options: Send without a note and Add note.

• If you hit Send without a note, LinkedIn will send a blank connection request with no personalized text.

• However, the Add note option lets you include a personalized note of up to 300 characters on LinkedIn.

Sending a connection request on LinkedIn

Your LinkedIn connection request message involves lots of processes. First, have a well-defined target audience or a potential sales prospect you’d like to send a LinkedIn welcome message to, and treat them like an actual person.

Avoid sending a sales-y LinkedIn cold message straight away (because they don’t care), don’t lie about how you went through their profile (it’s super obvious when this isn’t the case), and don’t tell your whole life story in the small connection box either. Instead, you can talk about how their recent post resonated with you or a recent achievement you wish to celebrate with them.

But before you even send a LinkedIn connection message, let’s take a step back and analyze the situation a bit. The first thing you need to know is – to whom are you sending the requests?

What are the different types of LinkedIn connections?

On LinkedIn, there are 3 types of connections in your network. Your relationship with them determines the kind of connection request message that you’d send. These LinkedIn connection types include:  

• 1st Degree – People you’re already connected with.

These are the people you’ve connected with on LinkedIn. You’ve access to their profile information and can message them directly. 

• 2nd Degree – People connected to your 1st-degree connections (mutual connection).

These are individuals who are connected to at least one of your LinkedIn connections. They are basically a friend of your friends. You can see their profile and send a connection request, but you can’t message them directly unless you subscribe to LinkedIn Premium.

• 3rd Degree – People connected to your 2nd-degree connections (1 or 0 mutual connections).

3rd-degree connections are those connected to your 2nd-degree connections or even beyond. They’re not within your direct network. You can identify them via the “3rd’ icon on their profile or in the search result. Messaging them directly requires being in the same LinkedIn group or subscribing to the platform’s paid version.

Understanding these degrees of connections helps you tailor your messages accordingly. For example, suppose you want to send a connection request to a second-degree connection. They could be your colleague, acquaintance, former co-worker, someone you know personally, met at a networking event, from your industry that you look up to, or someone you want to work with professionally.

As a result, a one-size-fits-all LinkedIn connection message template can’t work here. Instead, each person will require a different LinkedIn welcome message. At this stage, you should have a general idea of who your ideal customer profile (ICP) is.

For instance, use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to filter LinkedIn members by relationship, keywords, geography, and more.

Filtering members on LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Once you have your lead list, proceed to crafting your message. People respond well to LinkedIn welcome messages that include:

• Personalization – Specific, relevant LinkedIn connection requests. Having something in common (e.g., mutual connections or a LinkedIn group).
• Appropriateness – Don’t jump into the pitch straight away. Your first point of contact should be about providing value.
• Applicability – WIIFM? What’s in it for me (them)?

Imagine you’re at a networking event and someone comes up to you and says:

TEMPLATE EXAMPLE

“Hi (first name)! Based on you being at this conference, I assume you’re also interested in marketing/growth-hacking? I’d love to add you to my list of networks and tell you a bit more about what I do and how I help business owners like you…”

An alarm would go off in your head, and you’d want to run away, wondering if you just came in contact with an actual robot. Here’s the thing – most automated LinkedIn connection requests sound robotic, with no personality.

So if you really want to boost your acceptance rate, here’s what you would do first before sending welcome messages on LinkedIn.

Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile and 4 Next Steps to Boost Your LinkedIn Connect Messages

Think about it like this: What is the first thing you do when you receive a LinkedIn connection message request from a stranger? Like most people, you’ll probably click on their profile and try to understand who they are and what they offer.

Consequently, your LinkedIn connection acceptance rates don’t exist in a vacuum. Instead, it’s shaped by various factors, such as your mutual connections, how well your profile is optimized, whether you work in the same industry, and more.

Some of these factors are within your influence. As a result, the next time you send a LinkedIn welcome message, think about the impression your profile gives. A weak profile can prompt a prospect to ignore your request. However, a well-optimized LinkedIn profile makes people safe and curious enough to hit the “Accept button.” 

In short, your LinkedIn profile is like your personal landing page. Most people look at your profile picture, banner photo, tagline, and summary before accepting your connection request. That’s where your first impression starts on LinkedIn. Start there.

Sebastian’s profile is a great example below. His clear, custom-designed banner photo and straight-to-the-point tagline tell you what to expect from him at a glance. That’s what you should aim for.

Optimizing your profile on LinkedIn

So, here’s what to do to optimize your profile before you send connection request messages on LinkedIn:

• Profile and Banner Photos 

Ideally, both should be professional. With a custom banner photo, you’ll manage to stand out from everyone else on LinkedIn. If design isn’t your forte, ask someone on Fiverr to create one for you. 

As for the profile picture, use a high-resolution photo and keep your face centered and clearly visible. Employ a neutral background to avoid distractions.

• Tagline

You’ve got about 120 characters to show who you are and the value you offer through your LinkedIn tagline. Here is a quick formula: Who + Effect + How. Combine your offerings (features) into benefits (the outcome) with this formula. 

For example, in Sebastian’s profile above, he didn’t stop at “Senior Customer Success Manager at Expandi.io.” He added “Lead Generation Expert” so his prospects can understand the value he offers.

• LinkedIn Summary 

Consider your context, experience, and background in your LinkedIn summary. You don’t need to make this too long, but give the prospect what they need to know about you (what you do, who you help, and what’s in it for them) in your profile.

Now, once you’ve optimized your LinkedIn profile, go behind-the-scenes:

1. Make sure you’re targeting the right audience.
2. Set up campaign templates relevant to the outreach 
3. Create limitations so you don’t run into LinkedIn restrictions
4. Optional: Connect your CRM and use Zapier to automate your efforts
5. Track your LinkedIn campaign performance and iterate where necessary.

If you want a deeper walkthrough of how to do this, check out our full guide on the 5 steps to take before launching a LinkedIn campaign. Now, let’s move on to optimizing your LinkedIn connection message and the templates to use. 

What to Include In Your LinkedIn Connection Request Message

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all LinkedIn cold message template that will magically skyrocket your acceptance rate and have everyone connecting with you.

Otherwise, everyone would be on LinkedIn all the time! However, what works consistently is personalization. The more relevant your message feels to the individual prospect, the higher the chances they’ll accept your connection request.

You can do this efficiently by running automated LinkedIn campaigns in Expandi. You can pull relevant data from the prospect’s LinkedIn profile, adding a personal connection when messaging your prospects.

For instance, Expandi lets you insert personalization tags such as

• {first_name} 
• {last_name} 
• {job_title} 
• {company_name} 
• Dynamic Placeholder

Most of them are straightforward, right? It’s just info from their LinkedIn account.

But you’re probably wondering – what’s the dynamic placeholder tag?

Essentially, the dynamic placeholder tag is a custom tag, unique to Expandi, that lets you tailor your message to each prospect you target. With this tag, you can add contextual information beyond names and job titles. 

For example, let’s say you want to target authors who have written about LinkedIn automation tool alternatives. If you don’t want all the messages to sound the same way, use a dynamic personalization tag to mention something specific from their LinkedIn article in each LinkedIn message. 

Using a dynamic personalization tag in Expandi.io

Here’s how to do this:

“Heyo {first_name}, Just finished reading your article on {IF EXIST=Website} Type your message containing the {Website} {ELSE} Type your message without the placeholder {ENDIF} about {IF EXIST=Title Article} Type your message containing the {Title Article} {ELSE} Type your message without the placeholder {ENDIF}. And I really liked it. Keep it up! Would be awesome to follow you and stay in touch. Let’s connect. Stefan”

Here’s what the prospect would see with that template:

“Heyo {first_name}, Just finished reading your article on “Tools With Ward about Meet Leonard & Linked Helper Alternatives” and I really liked it. Keep it up! Would be awesome to connect and follow your work to stay in touch. – Stefan”

This campaign has achieved a 69% LinkedIn connection acceptance rate and an 83% follow-up response rate.

Not bad, right?

Check out the full case study, based on the growth hack that goes way beyond personalizing first and last name for LinkedIn messages. You’d also see the follow-up message we used and the rest of the campaign.

As mentioned earlier, remember that the success of your LinkedIn message templates will depend on who you’re reaching out to, what your goal is, and how your message is relevant to them.

So, consider tweaking the LinkedIn connection message templates accordingly. To personalize your messages, consider these steps:

• Relevance. Your connection note should be so relevant for the prospect that it wouldn’t work for anyone else.
• Pain points that mention a challenge in their role or interests (e.g., they need to improve visibility on LinkedIn)
• Benefits that explain what they get by connecting with you (e.g., a LinkedIn template to help them grow organically).
• A reason to connect with you. Avoid overselling your product. Instead, offer your value so they can connect with you  (e.g., to get more items or tips that could help grow their account on LinkedIn)

Now that you understand the fundamentals, let’s take a look at how to craft short, compelling LinkedIn connection messages that get replies.

20+ Best LinkedIn Connection Request Templates for All Occasions

And now, for the meat of this guide. We’ll be revealing our exact, proven LinkedIn connection message templates, as well as the follow-up messages.

It’s also worth noting that the success of your LinkedIn welcome message will depend on your overall cold outreach campaign. For example, someone in the same LinkedIn group is more likely to connect with you than a stranger you have nothing in common with. This is why we’ll be sharing different kinds of cold outreach campaigns below.

We’ll be covering different LinkedIn connection message occasions, which are as follows:

• Connecting with someone in a mutual LinkedIn group.
• Giving value up front.
• Retargeting someone based on the content they engaged with.
• Mentioning the tech they use (and how to find this).
• “Comment-to-receive-gift” type of connection request.
• Using Sales Navigator to filter people who posted about something specific.
• Using Sales Navigator to ‘view similar’ leads and prospects.
• Inbound lead generation LinkedIn connection request message.
• Connecting with local leaders in your industry.
• Targeting sales prospects to propel forward connection requests.
• Sending LinkedIn connection notes based on audience pain points.
• Reaching out to potential candidates as a recruiter.
• Reaching out to company HR or recruiters as a job seeker.
• Targeting LinkedIn webinar attendees with Expandi.
• Reaching out to LinkedIn contacts who follow a specific leader or influencer.

Let’s jump into it.

#1 How to connect with someone in a mutual group

If you share the same group with someone else, they’ll automatically be more likely to trust and connect with you. Whether it’s a Facebook or a LinkedIn group, the shared space makes your outreach feel warm and relevant.

So, here’s how to use that to your advantage. First, scrape the list of the members you want to reach from a Facebook group you’re both in.

Scraping a list of Facebook group members

Then, reach out to them using the following LinkedIn message template:

Connection request message

“Hi {first_name}, I noticed your profile and wanted to reach out as I see we are both members of the Facebook Group Dux Soup users. I guess we have a lot in common. Love it! Let’s connect, Stefan.”

After sending this message example, set these follow-up LinkedIn messages:

Follow-up 1 (1 day after the connection request was accepted)

“Hey {first_name}, I’m working on a much safer tool for LinkedIn automation (It’s cloud-based, so LinkedIn doesn’t detect it), and to avoid making something useless, I wanted to find people who can help me by sharing their thoughts. I’d love to get your feedback on it, if you don’t mind?”

Follow-up 2 (5 days after no reaction message 1)

“Does this sound interesting enough to justify a short conversation? Please let me know what you decide, {first_name}?”

The results?

• 72% acceptance rate.
• 49% response to follow-ups.
• 42(!!!) booked demos.

Not bad, right? If you’re wondering how to scrape Facebook (or LinkedIn groups) properly, and set even more LinkedIn messages to connect and follow-ups, check out the full guide here: The best way to generate leads on LinkedIn.

#2 Value upfront LinkedIn connection message template

Many people care about how you can help them when you send a connection message on LinkedIn. You can do this by providing value upfront. It sparks curiosity and increases the chance of accepting your request.

Here’s how to do that:

Connection request template

“Hi {first_name}, I’m Demi – a Growth Marketer. But let’s skip the boring intro. I’d love to send you a kickass guide on how we drove 1,500 paid customers from LinkedIn in just 4 months. Click accept if you’re interested. If not, that’s okay too!”

Follow-up 1 (1 day after the connection request was accepted)

“Thank you for connecting {first_name} – I’m grateful to have a like-minded person in my professional network. Here’s a copy of the guide: [link]. I’d love some feedback – please feel free to send your honest opinion.”

Follow-up 2 – 5 days

“Hey, any thoughts on the deck I sent over?”

Now, obviously, this message requires offering upfront value to work effectively. Hence, the reason we created the top LinkedIn outreach strategies PDF a few months before we launched this campaign.

Here are the results for this campaign:

• 17 booked demos (all warm leads).
• Out of 500 contacts, 198 accepted the request 
• 71 replied to follow-ups.

See the full campaign, as well as how to connect Expandi to Zapier in order to run retargeting Facebook ads for your prospects here: LinkedIn growth hack to increase brand reach and awareness.

Note: There’s a hidden lesson in this case study, which is to ALWAYS A/B test your outreach request and to have your profile fully optimized. Read the full guide mentioned above to learn why.

#3 Content retargeting LinkedIn connection request template

Quick question: what’s the best way to tell if you’re actually connecting with your target audience?

It’s simple: see what posts they engage with and reach out to them with mutual interest in mind.

Here’s how:

1. Find a significant LinkedIn influencer in your niche.
2. Find a viral post they made with lots of comments and likes.
3. Scrape everyone who likes and comments, and reach out to them using Expandi.

This is a proven outreach strategy that works in just about every niche out there. And it’s also very easy to personalize your LinkedIn connection message, as you’re about to see below.

For example, we targeted this post with 678 comments by Ugljesa:

Connecting via content retargeting

This simple hack doesn’t require any external tools, so you can try launching this campaign today to generate a warm list of leads.

LinkedIn connection request template

“Hi {first_name}, I saw you also liked the amazing LinkedIn growth hack post by Ugljesa Djuric from Lemtalk. Guess we both share the same interest in LinkedIn Growth. Love it! Let’s connect, Stefan!”

Follow-up 1 (1 day after the connection request was accepted)

“Great to be connected {first_name}! Which part of the Growth Hacking techniques that Ugljesa shared did you like the most? I just finished writing a step-by-step LinkedIn growth hack that includes the templates and tools that generated 40 conversions a week. I thought it might be useful for you, too. So here it is: The Best LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategy.”

Follow-up 2 (7 days after no reaction message 1)

“Hi {First_name}, I was wondering if you had the chance to read my article and if it gave you any ideas for your LinkedIn growth strategy? It would be such a pleasure to hear your thoughts.”

Results:

• ~72% acceptance rate.
• 40% response to follow-ups.

Moral of the story? Have a great hook and always follow up after you send your LinkedIn welcome message.

See the full campaign for the exact step-by-step here: The best LinkedIn content retargeting growth hack to start generating leads.

#4 Using the same tech LinkedIn connection message

Another way to break the ice on LinkedIn is to connect over a shared tool. When prospects see you use the same tool they rely on, they’re more likely to trust and accept your connection request. 

Before you send this message, do a quick lookup to confirm the tools they use. The goal is to validate that the prospect uses the product you reference. 

Here’s how to do that:

1. Use BuiltWith to search for sites using Albacross.
2. Download the full lead list as a CSV report.
3. Use FindThatLead to find prospects’ contact information and verify their emails.
4. Use Phantombuster to turn those names into LinkedIn profiles.
5. Reach out on LinkedIn using Expandi.

It looks like a lot of steps, but here are the basics: identify users, find their contact information, match them to LinkedIn, and send the sequence.

Connection Request Template

“Hi {first_name}, Came across your profile and thought to connect because we are both Albacross users. I’ve been testing a few things and have some questions I’d love to compare notes on. Stefan.”

Follow-up Message 1 (1 day after accepting connection request)

“Great to be connected {first_name}! I really like Albacross, and I’m curious about how you reach out to the visitors identified on {IF EXIST=Website} Type your message containing the {Website} {ELSE} your website {ENDIF}. I’ve been experimenting with a couple of methods and would love to hear what’s working for you.”

Follow-up Message 2 (5 days if no reply to message 1)

“Hi, trust you’re good. We developed an automated follow-up sequence for Albacross users like you on LinkedIn. It can increase conversions up to 400%! I’m gathering feedback from users like you and would love to know your thoughts about it.”

Campaign results:

• 73.6% acceptance rate.
• Almost 50% responded to one of the follow-ups.

Naturally, people will be wondering how you discovered their tech stack (Albacross, for example), which could spark conversations. This makes the “same-tech” angle effective in getting warm replies from prospects. Stay up to date with this growth hack that gets you light-years ahead of your competition.

#5 Comment-to-receive offer connection request

You’ve seen this tactic on LinkedIn: “Comment below and I will send you the guide.” There is a reason this works. The more people comment on your post, the bigger your reach, and the LinkedIn algorithm will show your post to even more people.

Once the comments start rolling in, you’d have to reach out to people who engaged with your post. With Expandi, you can automate the entire process.

Here are some LinkedIn connection request messages to make this work:

Connector Campaign Request Template: (if you’re not connected with them yet)

“Hello {first_name}, I saw your comment on my post about the Top 3 LinkedIn Outreach Strategies. Would love to connect so I can send you the PDF. :-)”

Messenger Campaign Outreach Message: (if you’re already connected)

“Hi {first_name}, I saw you commented on my post about the Top 3 LinkedIn Outreach Strategies. Cool! I will send it over soon via mail.”

This approach stems from our larger LinkedIn lead generation omnichannel growth hack email outreach case study, where we connected Expandi to Lemlist using Zapier for an omnichannel outreach. The sequence warms up the prospect on LinkedIn first before sending the resource via email.

The result? 80.2% acceptance rate on LinkedIn.

Here’s the result for the actual email campaign.

#6 Posted on LinkedIn search filter request (Sales Navigator)

LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides powerful features to identify active and engaged prospects on LinkedIn. Whether it’s the “Posted on LinkedIn” or “Commented on LinkedIn” option, this detail makes your request message more relevant..

LinkedIn connection request example

“Hi {first_name}, Your recent comment about {post-content-keyword} really struck a chord. I tend to cover some great content on growth hacking that you can use to increase your outreach strategy. If you want to check it out, I’d love to send you a quick breakdown. Just let me know if it’s of any interest to you?”

Wondering if LinkedIn Sales Navigator is worth the $99.99 price tag per month? That depends on your workflow. If you’re into LinkedIn prospecting and understand how to use the filter well, it can be a treasure.

For a deeper understanding, check out our LinkedIn Sales Navigator growth hack to see how you can use the advanced filters to your advantage and start generating high-quality leads.

#7 ‘View similar’ LinkedIn Sales Navigator leads request

Here’s another quick LinkedIn Sales Navigator hack.

1. Go to the “Search Bar.”
2. Search for your existing clients.
3. Select any client from the search result.
4. Press “View similar.”

With this hack, you’d get a list of 100+ leads similar to your customers.

Viewing similar clients on LinkedIn Sales Navigator 

LinkedIn message template

“Hey {first_name}. You popped up in my feed and I gotta say – I really dig what you’re working on! Actually, what you’re working on at {Company name} really reminds me of what I did for {your-similar-work-for-top-clients}. We’re always {your-unique-pitch-or-solution}. I wrote a little story about what we do that’s different, which I think you’ll enjoy. Would you like a copy?”

While this approach may be time-consuming and require more personalized messages than other broad outreach messages, if done right, the results are sure to pay off.

#8 Inbound LinkedIn leads connection request template

Here’s a simple LinkedIn message template that works almost every time.

1. Go to your profile.
2. Click on “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” in your dashboard.
3. Send those people a personalized message.
4. Bonus: follow-up with something useful (e.g., an article or case study you wrote).

Checking who viewed your profile on LinkedIn

LinkedIn connect message template

“Hey {first_name}, Saw you clicked on my profile, awesome, is there anything specific you’re looking for? Nice to see you work in {industry} too. I’ve actually written quite a bit on the topic. I’d love to send you some articles (or case-studies) if you’d be interested? Let me know! Cheers,”

This works even better if you have an optimized profile, as the prospect will be more likely to connect with you (or send you the LinkedIn connection request message themselves!)

#9 Mutual LinkedIn groups connection request

In LinkedIn’s advanced search, you can filter for groups and find other professionals interested in a common subject. Here’s how to do it.

• On your LinkedIn homepage, click the search bar
• Input the target keyword. 
• Select groups from the menu bar.

Finding groups on LinkedIn

Then, you can send a super simple LinkedIn template message like:

LinkedIn connection request template example

“Heyo {first_name}. Saw you’re a member of the Growth-Hacking Strategies group too. It would be great to connect with someone like-minded to see if there’s any room for collaboration.”

#10 Connection request – local leaders

Want to network within your city and meet your leads in person? Filter by location and use this LinkedIn message to connect with your prospect.

LinkedIn message template

“Hey {first_name}, growing my professional network with {your_industry} leaders. At our home base here in {your_city}, we’ve found incredible, creative, and profitable opportunities in {your_industry_niche}. I’d love to connect and share our learnings!”

#11 Targeted prospects to propel forward connection request

If you’re regularly publishing content on LinkedIn, this simple request template should work for just about every industry and position you as a relevant voice.

LinkedIn connection request sample

“Hey {first_name}, I’ve been following the work {company_name} is doing in tech and innovation, and wanted to connect. I share valuable resources and insights to help my network propel their company forward. Thought you’d be interested.”

#12 Audience pain point connection note

If you know your target audience well (and at this point, you should), you can include information about them inside your connection request. You can mention:

• Their pain points.
• Benefits or outcomes they’re looking to achieve.
• How you can solve their problem.

Here’s a LinkedIn connection message example that follows this principle.

LinkedIn connection message sample:

“Hey {first_name},

You ever noticed how many agency owners struggle with growing on LinkedIn? If you want, I can send over my 30-day template that gets me leads like clockwork, free of charge.”

#13 Reaching out to a potential candidate as a recruiter template

This works best if you want to grow your company and hire new employees.

The connection message request goes something like this:

LinkedIn message template

“Hello {first_name},

Your experience in (skillset) is quite impressive.

We’re currently looking for (role) to help us achieve (outcome). I think you’d be a great fit!

Want to hear more about this role?”

#14 Reaching out to a company’s HR or recruiter as a jobseeker

Looking for a new position in a new company?

This short LinkedIn connect message that targets HRs, recruiters, or department heads might be for you.

LinkedIn message template sample

“Hello {first_name},

Saw you deal with recruiting at {company_name}.

I’ve helped similar companies in (industry) achieve (outcome), and I’m seeking new opportunities now.

Any room to collaborate here?”

#15 LinkedIn webinar attendees connection request

With Expandi, you can scrape LinkedIn events and reach out to their attendees.

This works great if you want to:

• Scrape 1,000s of webinar attendees automatically.
• Find your target audience based on relevant topics or keywords.
• Personalize your connection requests and tailor them to everyone who attended a certain event. For instance, you can reference the webinar topic.

LinkedIn connection message example

“Hey {first_name}, saw you’re planning to attend (webinar name). Same here! 

I’m looking forward to Philip Storey’s Marketing automation session. Excited about any session?

Would love to get connected before it.”

#16 Reaching out to the scraped list of LinkedIn profile followers

With Expandi, you can scrape data from LinkedIn in 7+ different ways. You can also use other tools like TexAu. One of those hacks is to scrape a list of connections of an influencer in your niche.

After scraping, personalize your LinkedIn connection note. Here is an example below. 

LinkedIn connection request sample

“Hi {first_name},

Notice you’re following (influencer) on LinkedIn.

Just wondering if (outcome or service) is a priority right now for you at {company_name}?”

Why this works so well

When someone follows an influencer in a niche, that signals their interest. As a result, align your outreach message with that interest without being too salesy.

For example, if they’re following the CEO of an outreach tool, that signals they might be interested in sales and lead generation solutions.

#17. Common industry events connection request

Connecting with someone who shares experience from the same industry can be a powerful way to establish rapport. Events and webinars often create a sense of community, making people more likely to connect with you.

LinkedIn connection message template

“Hey {first_name},

I noticed we both attended [event name] last month. I found the discussion on [specific topic] really insightful.

Would love to connect and share thoughts on [specific topic].”

With Expandi, you can scrape LinkedIn events to automatically reach out to people who attended a specific event and make this connection message even easier. 

#18. Mentioning a mutual connection

Leveraging mutual connections can be a great way to enhance your credibility and personalize your requests. When a recipient sees a familiar name, they’re more likely to connect, as it establishes an instant sense of social proof.

LinkedIn connection request message template

“Hey {first_name},

Noticed we both know [mutual connection]. 

Would love to connect, seeing as we both work in [mutual industry].”

#19. Alumni network connection request

Reaching out to fellow alumni can create an instant connection, as shared experiences often foster mutual understanding. Your alumni network can be a powerful source for collaboration or referrals. Below is a template example.

LinkedIn message template

“Hey {first_name},

Noticed we both graduated from [university name]!

Great to see fellow alumni in [industry]. Glad to connect and explore any potential opportunities to collaborate or share insights.

#20. Industry-specific interest connection request

Targeting people who share specific interests within your industry can lead to valuable networking opportunities.

This approach focuses on establishing common ground and rapport, making it easier to initiate conversations that resonate with both parties.

LinkedIn message template sample

“Hey {first_name}, I’m really impressed by your work at {Company Name} in [specific area]. 

As someone passionate about [related topic], I’d love to connect and exchange ideas on how we can drive innovation in our industry!”

#21. Connection request based on activity

In this case, personalize your requests as well as position yourself as someone who is informed and relevant. This approach can spark conversations about recent trends, insights, or use personalization based on the prospect’s activity.

LinkedIn request message sample

“Hey {first_name},

Saw your recent comment on [specific article or topic]. Found your insights really compelling.

Would love to connect and share thoughts on how these changes might impact our industry.”

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, the acceptance of your LinkedIn connection request messages depends on your audience, objectives, and outreach strategy. So, it’s not like you can copy-and-paste different LinkedIn connection message templates without making any changes to them to start connecting with new people.

The above templates are what worked for us. But your success might vary.

But if you research your audience, optimize your LinkedIn profile, and tweak and test different welcome messages, you’d identify what works best for your audience.

That said, automate your outreach strategy to reach your target audience with Expandi. Get started with a free, 7-day Expandi trial now! Combine the above strategies and LinkedIn message templates to set up your first campaign in under 15 minutes and start seeing real results in 24 hours.

FAQs about LinkedIn connection message templates