LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks for Consumer Goods (2026)

Key Takeaways

In consumer goods, the average LinkedIn connection acceptance rate is 27.3%. Replies to the connection note average 2.5%, and replies to a message after the connection is accepted average 11.6%. Those numbers come from 43,878 connection requests sent by 50 consumer goods accounts between May 2025 and April 2026. Against the cross-industry averages of 28.5%, 3.0% and 10.4%, consumer goods is above on message replies and below on acceptance and note replies.

Consumer Goods vs. the platform average

Metric	Consumer Goods	All industries	Difference	Rank
Connection acceptance	27.3%	28.5%	-1.2 pts	25th of 38
Connection-note reply	2.5%	3.0%	-0.5 pts	24th of 38
Message reply after acceptance	11.6%	10.4%	+1.2 pts	10th of 38

Across the 38 industries with at least 50 sending accounts, acceptance runs from 21.8% (telecommunications) to 36.5% (staffing & recruiting). Note replies run from 1.8% to 6.6%, and message replies from 7.2% to 18.9%.

What the numbers say about consumer goods outreach

Consumer goods and retail sit next to each other in most market maps and far apart in this data. Outreach from retail converts about 5.8 in every 100 recipients into a reply to a follow-up, 2nd of 38. Consumer goods converts about 3.2, 14th of 38, accepting at 27.3% against retail’s 34.3% and getting message replies of 11.6% against retail’s 16.9%, a little over half the retail result end to end.

On its own terms consumer goods converses better than it connects. Acceptance ranks 25th and note replies 24th, both below the platform, while message replies rank 10th, 1.2 points above it. End to end that lands at about 3.2 replies per 100 recipients, 14th of 38 and just ahead of the 3.0 platform-wide, so the conversation makes up for the start with a little to spare.

Its closest matches are construction, higher education and real estate, all at or below the platform on acceptance and above it on message replies. At 50 accounts and 43,878 requests, consumer goods is the smallest sample of the 38 reported industries, so its ranks are best read as positions within a band rather than fixed places.

If your numbers sit below these

The dataset says where an account sits, not why. From what we see in campaigns, three gaps come up most often in this sector, and they point at different problems.

Message replies under 11.6%. The sector’s best measure at 10th of 38, and the one that lifts it above the platform. Lose that edge and consumer goods is below average at every step. A shortfall usually means the follow-up asks for a listing, a sample or a call before the recipient knows why this brand is writing.

Acceptance under 27.3%. The sector is 25th of 38 here, 1.2 points under the platform. A number below that usually reflects a list chosen by company rather than by role: everyone at a retailer or distributor, instead of the people who decide what goes on the shelf.

Note replies under 2.5%. 24th of 38 and half a point below the platform. The sector reaches an above-average end result without the note doing any visible work, so this is the measure to leave until the other two are at the sector line.

Further reading:

• Improving your LinkedIn Sales Navigator targeting
• How many LinkedIn invites can you send a week?
• Personalising a LinkedIn message request without tripping limits
• The LinkedIn message follow-up formula
• Tips for building a LinkedIn content strategy for B2B sales
• The best AI lead generation software to add to your stack

Frequently asked questions

What is a good LinkedIn acceptance rate in consumer goods?

27.3% is the sector average, 1.2 points below the 28.5% cross-industry figure and 25th of 38 reported industries. Reaching the 28.5% platform figure puts a consumer goods account ahead of its sector and level with the cross-industry average.

Does consumer goods outreach perform like retail outreach?

No, it converts at a little over half the rate. Outreach from retail turns about 5.8 in every 100 recipients into a reply to a follow-up, 2nd of 38. Consumer goods manages about 3.2, 14th of 38, accepting at 27.3% against retail’s 34.3% and replying to messages at 11.6% against retail’s 16.9%.

How does consumer goods compare with other industries?

Acceptance ranks 25th of 38, note replies 24th and message replies 10th. End to end about 3.2 in 100 recipients reply to a follow-up, 14th of 38 and slightly ahead of the roughly 3.0 across all industries.

How this data was collected

Consumer Goods is reported from 50 accounts and 43,878 connection requests sent between May 2025 and April 2026, drawn from the LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks 2026 dataset of 13.2 million requests across 13,302 accounts. That report carries the full methodology, along with the breakdowns by sender seniority, company size and month that are not repeated here.

Two things to hold in mind while reading any of these figures. The industry is the sender’s, taken from their company profile, not the recipient’s. And only industries with at least 50 sending accounts are reported at all: below that, a single unusual account moves the average by several points, which is why some of the most extreme numbers in the full appendix are not published here.

Related industry benchmarks

• Construction, 26.9% acceptance and 11.4% message replies
• Higher Education, 26.4% acceptance and 11.6% message replies
• Real Estate, 28.4% acceptance and 11.8% message replies
• All industry benchmarks

Grade your own outreach against these numbers

Enter your own acceptance and reply rates and grade your outreach against the consumer goods benchmark, plus see where you sit among all 38 reported industries. No signup.

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Data updated 19 August 2026. Refreshed quarterly against the source report.