Definition
InMail
An InMail is a LinkedIn message you can send to someone you are not connected with. It uses one credit, provided by a Premium or Sales Navigator subscription, and LinkedIn gives the credit back if the recipient replies within 90 days. It is the paid alternative to an invitation followed by a message.
By Mo Alani, founder of MimikFlow
What is a LinkedIn InMail?
On LinkedIn you can normally only message your first-degree connections. For everyone else there are two routes: send an invitation and wait for it to be accepted, or send an InMail. An InMail lands straight in the recipient's inbox, with a subject line and a body, a bit like an email that stays inside LinkedIn.
Each send costs one credit. Credits come with paid subscriptions, Premium or Sales Navigator, in amounts that vary by plan. When the recipient replies within 90 days, LinkedIn returns the credit. An InMail that gets no reply is simply spent.
There is one exception: some Premium members switch on an Open Profile. Any member can then message them without spending a credit. It's handy when you come across one, but it only concerns a small share of profiles.
When should you use an InMail instead of an invitation?
An invitation is free, within LinkedIn's weekly limits, and it creates a lasting relationship: once accepted, you can write as often as the conversation allows. An InMail creates no relationship at all. It opens a single door, and that door closes if the person doesn't reply.
So it has its place in specific cases: a busy decision-maker who doesn't accept invitations from strangers, or a strategic account where you want to try now rather than wait for an acceptance. For a broad target, an invitation followed by a short first message does the job for free.
Write the InMail like a first message, not a brochure. A short subject line about the person, two or three sentences, one question. The MimikFlow 2026 Observatory covers messages sent after an accepted invitation, but the length trend is clear: 50.5% replies under 200 characters, 19.6% above 700. There's no reason to think an InMail escapes that rule.
How do you measure how well your InMails work?
Reply rate is the core measure, and LinkedIn hands it to you almost for free: every returned credit is a reply. For example, if you send 50 InMails in a month and get 10 credits back, 10 people replied, which is 20%.
Then look at what those replies turn into. How many open a serious conversation, how many lead to a meeting? A "no thanks" counts as a reply, but it doesn't move your calendar forward.
Finally, compare with your invitations on the same target. In the 2026 Observatory, 30.2% of 50,930 invitations at least 30 days old were accepted, and some of those people then replied to the first message. The InMail has to do better on the same profiles to justify what it costs. Work out a cost per meeting booked, not a cost per message.
Which InMail mistakes should you avoid?
Sending a wall of sales copy. InMail allows a long body, which tempts you to say everything at once. The recipient, who doesn't know you, reads the subject line and the first sentence. The rest rarely matters.
Using it as a mass channel. Credits are limited and generic messages get few replies, so you burn through them and get nothing back. Keep them for prospects you have actually researched.
Pushing. A new InMail costs a new credit, and chasing someone who doesn't know you comes across badly. If the person doesn't reply, wait a few weeks and try an invitation, or look for another contact in the same company.
Mixing up InMail and sponsored messages. The sponsored messages LinkedIn offers in its ad campaigns are a different product, paid for like advertising and sent in bulk.
How does MimikFlow reach prospects without InMail?
MimikFlow doesn't send InMails. The platform takes the free route: an invitation at the pace your account allows, then, once the invitation is accepted, a personalized first message, spaced follow-ups and replies from the AI Setter until the meeting is booked.
Invitations stay capped at 100 a week on a free account and 200 on a Premium or Sales Navigator account. If you have InMail credits, keep them for the handful of people you want to contact yourself, with a message you wrote by hand.
What does it look like in practice?
Example
An InMail to a hard-to-reach procurement director (fictional case)
A fictional procurement software company wants to reach the procurement director of an industrial group. Two invitations sent a few months apart went unanswered.
It spends one InMail credit. Subject: "Your supplier tenders". Body: "Hi Claire, I saw your group launched a tender for its packaging suppliers. How do you compare the bids today, in a spreadsheet or in a tool?"
No company presentation, no link, one question. If she replies, the credit comes back and the conversation continues in the inbox. If not, the team will wait a few months before trying an invitation, or contact the buyer on her team who handles that tender.
Still have a question about InMail?
- How many InMail credits do you get per month?
- It depends on the subscription: Premium and Sales Navigator plans don't include the same number, and LinkedIn adjusts its offers regularly. Your balance and monthly allowance are shown in your account, so check there rather than in an old article.
- Can you send an InMail with a free account?
- Only to a member who has switched on an Open Profile. For everyone else you need credits, which come with a Premium or Sales Navigator subscription. With a free account, the route is still the invitation, then a message once it's accepted.
- InMail or an invitation with a note?
- The invitation is free and creates a relationship, but its note is short and limited on free accounts. The InMail lets you send a real message right away, but it costs a credit and creates no relationship. For a broad target, invitations are enough. For a few key accounts, InMail is worth the spend.
- Should you follow up on an unanswered InMail?
- Rarely. Each new InMail costs a credit, and insisting with someone who doesn't know you leaves a poor impression. Let a few weeks pass, then try an invitation or another contact in the same company.
Which terms should you read next?
- First-degree connectionsFirst-degree connections are your direct LinkedIn relationships: people who accepted your invitation or whose invitation you accepted.
- Decision-makerA decision-maker is the person with the authority to say yes to a purchase and commit the budget.
- Cold emailA cold email is a prospecting email sent to someone who has never been in touch with you and never asked to hear from you.
- Multichannel outreachMultichannel outreach means contacting the same prospect on several channels, such as LinkedIn, email, phone or WhatsApp, in one coordinated sequence.
- IcebreakerAn icebreaker is the opening line of a first prospecting message, the one that shows the prospect why you are writing to them.
Where can you go further?
Want MimikFlow to handle it?
MimikFlow finds your prospects, writes the first message, follows up and replies until the meeting is booked, within your LinkedIn account's limits.