How to write a LinkedIn connection note worth accepting

A good connection note gives one specific, true reason you're writing to this person and asks for nothing yet. That's the whole method. Everything below is about doing that in very little space.

You have less room than you think

A connection note can be up to 300 characters, about two or three short sentences. LinkedIn counts invitations with a note separately from those without one, and basic accounts get only a small allowance of notes. Check the counter on your own screen as you write.

That's a small allowance, so spend them on the people you most want to reach. For everyone else, a plain invitation with a shared context, like a comment you left on their post, can do the same work.

A structure that fits in 300 characters

1. The reason. Something specific to them: a post, a talk, a job change, a problem their company has publicly described.
2. The link. Why that matters to you, in a few words.
3. A light close. Say why you'd like to connect. Not a meeting request, and not a pitch.

Worked examples

These are illustrations we wrote for this guide, not templates to paste. Each one depends on a detail you'd have to find yourself.

After reading someone's post

Your post on month-end close matched what we saw at my last firm, especially the bit about reconciliations. I write about finance ops too, and I'd like to follow your work.

It works because it names a detail only a reader would know, and asks for nothing.

After a shared event

We were both at the Denver ops meetup last week. I liked your question about handoffs between shifts. Good to connect.

It's short, and it's easy to check that it's true.

Reaching someone you want to sell to

Saw you're hiring two field supervisors in Ohio. I ran crews for twelve years before moving into software and I'm curious how you're thinking about training. Happy to connect.

It says what the sender does without pitching, and the credibility is real experience. If it isn't true of you, don't write it. The conversation that follows will expose it.

What gets notes ignored

• Pitching in the note. Nobody has agreed to a conversation yet. The pitch can wait until they have.
• Fake personalisation. “I was impressed by your background at Acme” could be sent to anyone at Acme, and readers can tell.
• Asking for time. “Fifteen minutes this week?” from a stranger is an easy no, and it can end in a spam report.
• Links. A link in a first note reads as a pitch, and it uses up your characters.
• Talking about yourself first. If the first word is “I” or your company's name, the note is about you.

Spam reports aren't only a bad feeling. LinkedIn lists invitations that are ignored or marked as spam among the causes of invitation restrictions. A careless note can cost you more than one connection.

What to send after they accept

Don't pounce with a pitch in the first minute. A short message picking up the reason you connected, and one real question, keeps the conversation going. If they don't reply, one follow-up with something new to say is plenty. Then stop.

Writing these at volume

AI can draft these quickly, but only well if it has the specific detail and your real voice to work with. How to make AI drafts sound like you covers that, and every note still deserves a person reading it before it goes.