Why I Didn’t Accept Your LinkedIn Connection Request

Every day I receive anywhere from five to 10 LinkedIn invitations to connect.

Almost 90 percent of the time, the invitation includes the default invitation message subject line:

Deborah, please add me to your LinkedIn network

And my immediate response is:

Hey, Who are you? Where did we meet? Are you active in the communities I’m in?

From talking with my friends and colleagues, I’m not alone with that response.

My Rules for LinkedIn Invitations

My first rule for LinkedIn invitations: If I haven’t worked with you, interacted with you online, or met you in person, I’m not going to accept your LinkedIn connection request.

My second rule: If you send your LinkedIn connection request with the default invitation message, and don’t customize the message, I’m not going to accept your request.

That’s my decision-making strategy for connecting on LinkedIn.

I’m not trying to be rude.

Without any background info on how we met or interacted, I may not remember who you are.

Or recognize your name. And I won’t accept your invitation.

Valuable Way to Connect with People

I value my LinkedIn connections as people I:

• Can vouch for
• Know from working with them. Or whose skills, background, and experience I can recommend.
• Have interacted with online, or have something in common

Since I’m active online through my Twitter account, I interact with a lot of people in the WordPress, accessibility, user experience, and web design/development fields.

As leader of the Refresh Detroit, Metro Detroit WordPress, and West Metro Detroit WordPress groups, I meet dozens of people every month.

I regularly attend other local meetup group events as well as attend at least one webinar a week to stay current with my web design and development skills.

And I enjoy interacting and connecting with the people I’ve met in person and online.

If I don’t know you, and you don’t reference a common interest we have that we discussed, I’m not going to connect with you on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn recommends you only connect to people you know and trust and only join groups you want your name associated with.

For me, someone using the LinkedIn default connection message is the equivalent of leaving a voice message with no recognizable phone number.

Hi Deborah, this is Lee. Call me.

And my first thought is: Lee who?

Three Tips for LinkedIn Connection Requests

Make it easier for people to accept your LinkedIn invitation with these three tips:

1. Customize the LinkedIn connection message.
   Take the time to create a custom message. Introduce yourself.

   Not sure how to add a custom message? Here are the personalize invitation instructions from LinkedIn, for desktop and mobile.

2. Give context on how you know the person.
   Did you meet at a recent conference or at yesterday’s lunch presentation at the regional Chamber of Commerce? Share the event and location to help jog the memory of the person you want to connect with.
3. Reference your conversation.
   If you chatted on Twitter about a web design event or provided a resource, share the information or tweet URL in your request.

Summary

LinkedIn allows you to quickly send connection requests to other professionals without a lot of extra work on your part.

If you want your invitations to be accepted, take the time to make a personal LinkedIn connection request. Tell people who you are, how you met, and provide context in your invitations.

I’m sure you’ll see your invite acceptances go up quickly!

Originally published June 7, 2014