Introduction
When a company launches prospecting campaigns aimed at key decision-makers, it’s important to have a well-defined strategy. That’s lead generation on LinkedIn. These decision-makers hold strategic positions within an organization, and you can’t contact them just any old way. To help you build your strategy, we analyzed average statistics with a prospecting agency (acceptance rate, open rate, LinkedIn outreach response rate and email response rate) so you can see things more clearly.
The importance of prospecting
LinkedIn and email prospecting plays a very important role in business development and B2B (business to business) marketing. It enables companies to find new customers, build lasting professional relationships and drive growth. Here are a few reasons why prospecting on LinkedIn is essential:
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Expanding your professional network: LinkedIn needs no introduction, THE professional network par excellence with its millions of users. Through prospecting, you can expand your network and connect with influential people in your industry.
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Identifying qualified prospects: Prospecting lets you specifically target the people or companies likely to be interested in your products or services. This ensures your marketing efforts are directed at a relevant audience.
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Personalizing communications: Using LinkedIn and email, you can personalize your messages to address each prospect’s specific needs and concerns. This increases the chances of sparking their interest.
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Building long-term relationships: Prospecting isn’t just about selling, it’s also about building solid professional relationships. By engaging in meaningful conversations, you can earn your prospects’ trust and retain them over the long term.
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Efficient tracking and management: The tools available for LinkedIn and email make it easy to track interactions with prospects, schedule reminders and manage relationships efficiently. This makes lead management and process optimization easier.
Prospecting jargon
To talk statistics, you need to understand a few fundamental notions. Nothing difficult, but let’s get the basics straight.
Acceptance rate
The term “acceptance rate” on LinkedIn refers to the proportion of people you sent a connection request to who accepted it and became a 1st degree connection on LinkedIn.
The acceptance rate can be an important indicator for assessing the effectiveness of your networking approach on LinkedIn. A high acceptance rate can indicate that your profile and connection requests are well targeted and that users want to connect with you. Conversely, a low acceptance rate can mean:
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that your approach needs adjusting
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that your connection requests aren’t personalized enough
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that you’re connecting with people who aren’t relevant to your professional network
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that your profile isn’t good enough: poor-quality profile photo, a headline that doesn’t interest your target, an inactive profile…
To help you optimize your profile, MirrorProfiles has put together detailed guides on the subject.
Open rate
The email open rate, also simply called “open rate”, measures the number of recipients of an email marketing campaign who opened and viewed the message sent. It helps you understand the effectiveness of your email campaign by assessing how many recipients showed interest by opening the email, compared with the total number of emails sent. Here, you need to pay close attention to your subject line! The more impactful it is, the better your chances of getting an open. But be careful, an open doesn’t necessarily mean a reply.
Response rate
The response rate measures how many people reply to a message you sent them, whether by email, on social networks or elsewhere. It shows whether your message had an impact and whether people reacted to what you said. For example, if you send 100 sales emails and 10 people reply, your response rate is 10%.
It’s like throwing a ball to someone. If the person catches the ball and throws it back, that’s a reply. If they don’t, it’s as if they ignored your message. The response rate measures how many times the ball was thrown back compared with the number of times you threw it. It tells you whether your message was well received and whether people are interested.
The importance of the profile that does the prospecting
One very important thing to take into account: your profile. Let me explain. Let’s imagine you want to approach the HR director of Orange. However, your LinkedIn profile says you’re an employee at XXX. You’re not the most senior person in your company, and that can influence the acceptance rate.
That’s why you need to choose carefully who prospects, depending on your target! A profile close to your target is more likely to be accepted. That’s where a tool like MirrorProfiles comes in! It lets you rent dedicated LinkedIn accounts, warmed up over 4 months and customizable (industry, positioning, photo, headline) within our usage rules, so you can prospect with a profile that’s consistent with your target. What’s more, in ABM strategies (multiplying touchpoints within the same company), prospecting volume is necessary. With several MirrorProfiles accounts, you multiply your capacity to make contact.
The same goes for email prospecting: choose carefully who makes contact, and pick a relevant subject that will catch your target’s attention.
We’ll now look at prospecting campaign statistics for four main targets: CFOs, CEOs, CTOs and HR directors.
Statistics by target: LinkedIn outreach response rate and email response rate
CFOs
A CFO, or Chief Financial Officer, is a company’s finance director. The CFO is responsible for the company’s financial management and for overseeing all financial activities.
Here are the statistics we obtain on average:
| Email open rate | Email response rate | LinkedIn acceptance rate | LinkedIn response rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70% | 10% | 30% | 20% |
CEOs
The position of CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is one of the highest management positions within a company. The CEO is responsible for the overall management of the company and plays an essential role in defining its vision, strategy and direction.
Here are the statistics we obtain on average:
| Email open rate | Email response rate | LinkedIn acceptance rate | LinkedIn response rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70% | 7% | 30% | 15% |
CTOs
“CTO” stands for “Chief Technology Officer”. The CTO is a management position responsible for overseeing technology strategy and managing technology-related activities within the company.
Here are the statistics we obtain on average:
| Email open rate | Email response rate | LinkedIn acceptance rate | LinkedIn response rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60% | 5% | 20% | 9% |
HR directors
The position of HR director (or CHRO) is a key role within an organization. The HR director is responsible for the strategic and operational management of the human resources function.
Here are the statistics we obtain on average:
| Email open rate | Email response rate | LinkedIn acceptance rate | LinkedIn response rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70% | 7% | 22% | 10% |
Increase your chances of a reply: our tips
On LinkedIn:
- Segment your audience
Carefully identify the people you want to target. LinkedIn offers many advanced search options for finding relevant contacts based on criteria such as industry, job title, location and so on.
- Use a personalized approach
Personalize every message you send. Mention specifically why you want to connect or talk with this particular person. Avoid generic messages.
- Highlight the value
In your message, highlight what you can bring to the person you’re contacting. Explain how your offer or proposal can benefit them.
- Establish a prior connection
If you have contacts in common with the person you’re targeting, mention them in your message. Mutual connections can help build trust.
- Be clear in your call to action
Clearly state what you’d like the person to do next, whether it’s scheduling a call, discussing your services or something else. Make the action easy to understand and follow.
- Run A/B tests with several MirrorProfiles LinkedIn accounts
If your account A has already sent a connection request that went unanswered, test a week later, from account B, a different invitation note or a differently positioned profile, then compare the results.
By email:
- Use a catchy subject line
The subject line of your email is the first thing the recipient will see. Make sure it’s catchy and relevant to grab attention. It must, however, be consistent with the content of the email. Otherwise, you risk losing credibility, and ending up in spam next time.
- Personalize the content
Personalize each email according to the recipient. Mention specific details that show you’ve done your homework and understand their needs or challenges.
- Offer value from the start
In the first few lines of your email, briefly explain what valuable thing you can bring. Recipients need to understand why they should keep reading.
- Include a clear call to action
Clearly state what you’d like the recipient to do next, whether it’s replying to your email, scheduling a call or visiting your website.
- Personalize your email signature
Make sure your signature includes your name, your company, your contact details and relevant links, such as your LinkedIn profile or your website.
Conclusion
Prospecting key decision-makers requires a thoughtful, personalized approach. Don’t go off in all directions: you need a strategy and the right channels. Now that you know the average KPIs, it’s up to you to adapt your messages to get as many replies as possible!
But how do you make your LinkedIn prospecting effective? There are still plenty of tips you should know 🙂
