🤝 What makes you reply to a LinkedIn DM from a stranger?
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My LinkedIn inbox is half spam these days. Pitches right after connecting, fake "quick question" messages, AI written compliments about my profile.
But I still reply to some strangers. Usually when they mention something real I posted or just ask a normal human question without selling right away.
I'm curious where your line is?
What makes you reply to a DM from someone you don't know? And what makes you ignore it instantly?
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running outbound myself, the line is almost always whether the opener could've been sent to literally anyone with a pulse. "loved your profile" or "impressive background" gets ignored instantly, it's the same message copy-pasted at scale. the ones that get a reply reference something specific from the last week, a post, a comment I made, a detail that took actual time to notice. the response-rate gap between generic and specific isn't subtle either, it's not a 20% difference, it's more like 10x.
If it seems AI i ignore it, if they are selling a course I ignore it.
Usually, I say thank you and I do not have a need to go further.
In many cases, it is just my "polite" act.
If I had to write to everyone, I wouldn't sleep.
When I feel it is strongly AI, I leave it as "seen".
the ask decides it for me. a quick question I can answer from my phone gets a reply, a call request from a stranger usually doesn't. a calendar link in the very first message and I'm out.