8 Worst LinkedIn Invitation Lines That Are Costing You Connections (And What to Say Instead)
Nailing your LinkedIn invitations is critical if you want to grow your network and ultimately drive more sales. Considering that the average professional has over 900 connections on LinkedIn, and 20% of users have between 500-999 pending invitations at any given time, your invite needs to stand out if you want to make it into that coveted "accepted" category.
One study found that welcome messages on LinkedIn receive an 85% open rate and a 45% click-through rate, highlighting the huge opportunity that exists to leverage LinkedIn for building relationships. However, that same study revealed that only 7% of LinkedIn users send welcome messages – meaning 93% are letting connection requests speak for themselves.
Bottom line: your LinkedIn invitation is make-or-break. The wrong line can sink your chances, while the right one can open the door to meaningful connections and conversations. To help you get it right, I‘ve analyzed the data, drawn on my years of sales & marketing experience, and collected advice from influencers to bring you the 8 worst offenders when it comes to LinkedIn invites – complete with alternative lines to use instead.
1. "I see we‘re in the same LinkedIn group."
On the surface, mentioning a common group seems like it would help you find common ground with a prospect. The problem is, there‘s nothing special about being in the same LinkedIn group. Users can join up to 100 groups, and considering some of the largest groups have over a million members, sharing a group is hardly a compelling connection.
When you use this line, prospects can‘t help but wonder, "okay, so what?". It doesn‘t give them any reason to care about connecting with you specifically.
Do This Instead
If you‘re going to mention a LinkedIn group, you need to be much more targeted. Join smaller, more niche groups that are hyper-relevant to your prospect. Once you‘re in, find a discussion they‘ve engaged with and reference that in your invite. For example:
"I saw your insightful comment on [topic] in the [group name] group and it got me thinking about how we‘re tackling that issue at my company. I‘d love to hear more about your approach – your perspective is so valuable!"
See the difference? Instead of leaning on superficial group membership, this approach demonstrates genuine interest in the prospect‘s thoughts & expertise. It gives them a reason to want to connect and chat further.
2. "Can we hop on a quick call to discuss [product/service]?"
A call is a big ask from a cold contact, even if you throw "quick" in there. You haven‘t built enough trust or demonstrated enough value to earn that type of time commitment from a prospect.
If you lead with a meeting request, don‘t be surprised if your invite gets rejected (or even marked as spam). Research shows that 78% of prospects want reps to provide more insights about their business before hopping on a call, so you need to deliver that value first to get your foot in the door.
Do This Instead
Your only goal with a LinkedIn invite is to get the prospect to see enough value in connecting with you to click "accept". That‘s it. Getting a call comes later.
So instead of asking for a meeting out of the gate, focus your message on building trust and rapport. Mention something about their background that genuinely impressed you. For example:
"I came across your profile while researching logistics experts, and wow – increasing on-time deliveries by 32% in your first 6 months at [company] is beyond impressive. I‘d love to follow your work and learn from your approach, if you‘re open to connecting."
80% of B2B buyers expect reps to act as trusted advisors who add value to their business. Sending invites focused on what you can learn from the prospect (not what you can sell them) is a great way to position yourself in that light.
3. "I know we‘ve never met, but…"
Prospects are smart. They can figure out that you‘re strangers without you stating the obvious. So when you lead with this line, you‘re wasting precious real estate on something they already know – and worse, you‘re giving them an easy out.
Think about it from their perspective: if you open with the fact that you‘ve never met before, they‘re left thinking, "You‘re right, we haven‘t met…so why should I connect with you?"
Do This Instead
Rather than drawing attention to your lack of connection, talk about what made you reach out to them in the first place. Bonus points if you can work in a compliment. Try something like:
"I discovered your profile while looking for sales leaders who are shaking up the SaaS space – and your track record at [company] blew me away. I‘d love to connect and keep up with your journey, your vision for sales innovation is truly inspiring."
69% of buyers say they are more likely to engage with sales pros who offer insights about their business. Not only does this approach avoid the "stranger danger" objection, it demonstrates that you‘ve done your homework and are reaching out with a specific, relevant purpose.
4. "I‘d like to add you to my professional network."
This is the default message that LinkedIn auto-populates when you request to connect. And that‘s exactly what it sounds like: a default message that you didn‘t bother to customize.
In fact, Iannarino found that only 5% of sales reps modify the standard LinkedIn invitation text. Meaning if you stick with this line, your invite will look like the dozens of other generic requests in your prospect‘s pending invitations. Not exactly an effective way to stand out.
Do This Instead
Literally anything is better than the standard line. Dig into their profile to find a detail you can authentically comment on, offer a resource related to their interests or role, even crack a (tasteful) joke – anything that shows you‘ve put thought into reaching out and aren‘t just clicking connect on autopilot.
"I stumbled across your post on lessons learned from leading remote sales teams and have to say, the way you‘ve kept your team thriving through change is amazing. I actually recently wrote an ebook on virtual sales and thought it might be helpful for your team – let me know if you‘d like a copy."
Messages that are obviously copy-pasted kill response rates. Personalized messages on LinkedIn get 15% more responses than generic ones. Small tweaks to customize your outreach for the individual prospect go a long way.
5. "Let‘s connect to explore ways we can help each other!"
Here‘s the thing: if you haven‘t already identified ways you could provide value to the prospect, you shouldn‘t be reaching out. Expecting them to hop on LinkedIn and brainstorm ways you can assist each other is frankly a little entitled.
As the one initiating contact, the responsibility is on you to make the value prop clear from the get-go. If they don‘t understand why connecting with you is worth their time, they‘ll pass.
Do This Instead
Come to the table with insights and ideas ready to go. Do your homework to understand their goals and challenges, and share specific ways you could help – a relevant case study, a report filled with data they‘d find useful, an offer to make an introduction.
"I saw [Company] is making a major investment in data security – that‘s an area my team has been doing a ton of research on. I‘d love to share our latest State of Data Security Report if you think it could help inform your strategy. No strings attached, just want to help however I can!"
74% of buyers choose the rep that was first to add value and insight. When you lead with unmistakable value, you dramatically increase your odds of making it into their network (and ultimately, their buying process).
6. "Join my upcoming webinar on [topic]!"
A webinar registration link is not a compelling reason to connect, especially if it came out of left field. If you haven‘t put in the work to build a relationship and understand the prospect‘s needs, why should they clear their schedule to attend your webinar?
Even if the webinar topic is somewhat relevant, this approach still comes off as self-serving. It‘s essentially saying "I see you as a lead that I want to get into my sales funnel" instead of a human with unique goals and challenges.
Do This Instead
Your invite should be focused on them and their world, not yours. Save the webinar invites for later, once you‘ve established yourself as a trusted resource.
In the meantime, look for other lower-commitment ways to add value, like sharing a blog post, report, or ebook related to something they‘ve posted about. For example:
"I loved your post on the future of fintech. I‘ve actually been doing a lot of research in that area and just published a report on emerging fintech trends – I‘d be happy to send it your way if you‘re interested! Let me know if you‘d like to connect and discuss further."
59% of B2B buyers say the most important thing sales reps can do to earn their business is to provide insights and solutions valuable to their business. When you make your outreach about helping them (not promoting your own content/events), you‘ll get on their radar for all the right reasons.
7. "You have an impressive profile! Want to connect?"
On one hand, a compliment is better than a totally generic opener. On the other, "impressive profile" is still pretty darn generic. What exactly about their profile caught your attention? This could easily be copy-pasted to anyone.
91% of B2B buyers say they‘d be more responsive to outreach that is personalized to their specific business issues. If you want your flattery to successfully capture their interest, it needs to be much more specific and tailored to them as an individual.
Do This Instead
Reference something tangible about their work that made you want to reach out. The more specific the better – did they work on a really cool project? Make a major impact on a key initiative? Author a thought-provoking post?
"I‘m so impressed by the work you did leading [initiative] at [company]. I read the case study and the results you achieved in such a short timeframe are mind-blowing. I‘d love to connect and learn more about your approach – it‘s so inspiring to see that kind of game-changing leadership in [industry]!"
Not only is this far more genuine than "impressive profile", it shows that you took the time to actually look through their background and identify something that truly resonated with you. That‘s the kind of personalized outreach that earns a response.
8. "I see you‘re also a [job title] – let‘s connect!"
Having their job title in common isn‘t compelling enough on its own to justify connecting. Think about it like this – if a stranger approached you at a conference and said "I see you‘re also in sales, want to exchange numbers?", you‘d probably say thanks but no thanks. Just because you do similar things doesn‘t mean it makes sense to connect.
Do This Instead
Go beyond surface-level details like job title and look for uncommon commonalities you share. Maybe you‘re both actively involved in the same niche industry organization, or volunteer for similar causes, or went to rival colleges with a legendary sports matchup.
"I saw that you‘re involved with Women in Tech too – the networking events they put on are fantastic! I‘m actually heading to the conference next month, let me know if you‘ll be there too and want to meet up. It‘s always great to connect with other women leaders in the tech space!"
When you can highlight something you have in common beyond just your job function, it feels like a more natural, relevant reason to connect. It‘s not just about growing your network for the sake of scale – it‘s about building genuine relationships with people who share your interests and challenges.
The Takeaway
When it comes to LinkedIn invitations, it‘s all too easy to fall into the trap of using generic, self-serving, or just plain ineffective lines. But a half-hearted invite means you‘ll never get the chance to build a real relationship.
So before you hit send on your next batch of LinkedIn requests, scan through and remove any of these 8 offenders:
- Mentioning shared LinkedIn groups
- Asking for a call/meeting right away
- Pointing out that you‘re strangers
- Using the generic default text
- Leaving the value prop open-ended
- Pushing webinar/content registration
- Giving vague profile compliments
- Leaning on job titles in common
And swap in the personalized, value-driven alternative openers, remembering these key principles:
- Make it about THEM, not you
- Do your research to find uncommon commonalities
- Lead with an insight or idea, not an ask
- Reference specifics from their profile & experience
- Keep earning trust, then work your way up to bigger requests
By making these simple tweaks, you can turn ineffective invites into accepted connections – paving the way for warmer, more productive sales conversations down the line. Get ready to build a LinkedIn network (and pipeline) full of high-quality, highly-engaged prospects.
[CALL TO ACTION – DOWNLOAD A TEMPLATE WITH 25 PROVEN LINKEDIN INVITE LINES]
