What is InMail?
InMail is a LinkedIn message you can send to someone you are not connected to, using InMail credits from your LinkedIn plan.
In plain words
On LinkedIn, a normal message goes only to your first-degree connections, the people who accepted a connection request. To write to anyone else, you either send a connection request first or use InMail.
InMail usually comes with paid LinkedIn plans as a number of credits, and each InMail uses one. LinkedIn sets how many credits a plan includes and how they renew, so check your own plan for the details.
Because InMail reaches strangers, it is worth using sparingly and well: a short, personal message that explains why you are writing tends to work far better than a template.
Before sending an InMail, it often makes sense to look at the person's profile and recent posts, so the message can mention something real. If the person is likely to accept a connection request, that can be a gentler first step, and it saves your credits for the people you cannot reach any other way.
How it works in Spaces
Through Spaces, a normal LinkedIn message goes to a first-degree connection, and your agent can send an InMail instead when you ask. It can also check your InMail credit balance first. LinkedIn messages follow Spaces' limits: 20 seconds apart, at most 100 a day and 30 new chats a day, lower in the first weeks.
LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits unauthorised automated messaging, and Spaces is not affiliated with LinkedIn. Spaces lowers the risk with its limits, but keeping messages personal and relevant matters most.
Related terms
- Connection request: A connection request is a LinkedIn invitation asking someone to join your network, which, once accepted, lets you message them directly.
- New conversation: A new conversation is a message you send to someone who has not written to you in that chat yet, as opposed to a reply in a conversation the other person started.
- Daily limit: A daily limit is the most messages, or new conversations, an account is allowed to send in one day before sending stops until the next day.
- Workflow: A workflow is a short series of messages sent with a delay between each one, which stops as soon as the person replies.
FAQ
Who can I send an InMail to?
People you are not connected to on LinkedIn, using credits from a paid plan.
Can my agent check my InMail credits?
Yes. Spaces has a tool that reads your InMail credit balance.
Does an InMail count towards limits in Spaces?
Every LinkedIn message follows the Spaces limits for the account.
Is InMail better than a connection request?
It depends. A connection request with a short note is often more natural; InMail suits someone you need to reach directly.
Is automated LinkedIn messaging allowed?
LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits unauthorised automated methods. Read it before you start.
Useful next: LinkedIn limits, LinkedIn API, LinkedIn messages with AI. Every term: the glossary.