By The PhantomBuster TeamYou draft a compelling, personalized message for a prospect and hit the send button on LinkedIn.
Then comes the endless wait for a reply. Wouldn’t it be a little less excruciating if you knew that your message caught the prospect’s eye? That’s where read receipts come to your rescue.
If you’ve been using LinkedIn for prospecting and lead generation, it’s time you understood the platform’s messaging indicators and used them to engage with more leads. Let’s learn about it all.
AI highlights
LinkedIn read receipts show if (and when) a recipient has opened your message if both you and the receiver have them enabled.
LinkedIn read receipts help identify and prioritize active leads, automate messages, A/B test them, and improve timing.
LinkedIn read receipts work on LinkedIn app text messages and aren't available for InMail messages.
To turn on or off read receipts and typing indicators on LinkedIn, users must click on the 'Me' icon, navigate to 'Settings & Privacy', then 'Data privacy', 'Messaging experience', and finally 'Read receipts and typing indicators'.
Turning off read receipts allows users to read LinkedIn messages without the sender's knowledge, providing a way to assess messages privately before replying.
The absence of a read receipt indicates that the recipient may have turned them off or never opened your message.
Typing indicators and message delivery icons (dots, circles, ticks) give additional context to message status during active conversation and enhance the LinkedIn messaging experience.
What do read receipts mean?
Read receipts let users track whether a recipient has opened their message. Messaging apps and social networking platforms, including LinkedIn, support read receipts.
Remember that read receipts only give an idea of whether your message was opened. They don’t guarantee that the recipient has read the entire message and will send a reply. However, they give you an idea of the effectiveness of your communication strategy.
Does LinkedIn have read receipts?
LinkedIn introduced the read receipts feature in 2017 to improve the platform’s messaging functionality.
These read message receipts appear at the bottom of the message thread as a miniature of the recipient's LinkedIn account profile picture. They indicate that the recipient opened the message.
If logged in from a desktop, you can hover over the read receipt icon to see when the message was opened.
Besides read receipts, LinkedIn also supports the following message status indicators:
Three dots: The recipient is typing a reply.
An empty circle: Your message is being sent.
A tick mark inside a circle: Your message hit the recipient’s inbox.
LinkedIn read receipts are enabled by default for all users. However, they work only if both the sender and receiver have the features enabled.
What about message requests? They're only enabled once the recipient accepts the request. Also, it's worth keeping in mind that InMail messages don't have read receipts.
These indicators give sales reps a better idea of how their LinkedIn outreach strategies are performing, making them a valuable feature.
What are the pros and cons of turning LinkedIn read receipts on?
Pros | Cons |
✅ Get insights into recipients’ interest levels. | ❌ Opening messages too soon can come across as desperate. |
✅ Optimize your follow-up strategy and prioritize leads who read your text messages. | ❌ Delaying responses after opening a message can hurt your rapport. |
✅ A/B test different sending times, opening lines, and calls-to-action. | ❌ It depends on whether both parties have the same settings. |
✅ Build a solid rapport with potential customers by showing how you promptly read and respond to their messages. | |
✅ Create accountability and encourage prospects to reply sooner. |
How can I enable and disable read receipts on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn enables read receipts by default for all users, but you can turn them off in a few easy steps if you feel pressured to respond immediately.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to disabling LinkedIn read receipts on a desktop:
Log in and click the 'Me' icon with your profile picture.
Select 'Settings & Privacy' from the drop-down menu to visit the account settings page.
Select 'Data privacy' in the left pane.
Scroll down the page and select 'Read receipts and typing indicators' from the 'Messaging experience' section.
Toggle the button on the right side of the screen to turn it off.
You can also disable read receipts and typing indicators from the LinkedIn mobile app by following the same process.
Tips to successfully engage with prospects on LinkedIn
Read receipts are a smart way to assess a prospect’s interest in your pitch, send timely follow-ups, and build a lasting rapport.
But if your message doesn’t strike a chord, the recipient may not respond.
So, how do you engage prospects on LinkedIn and compel them to respond?
Here are a few tips:
Target ICP-aligned prospects: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find profiles that match your ICP. Use advanced filters and Boolean search operators to identify key decision-makers in target companies.
Engage before selling: Follow a prospect’s profile, like their recent posts, and drop comments to grab their attention. Congratulate them on a recent job change, promotion, or funding round. These steps create room for a warm introduction when you send a connection request and intro message.
Don’t pitch right away: Share anecdotes, industry insights, or other useful resources. Also, keep the messages short—about three to four sentences. Find common ground and engage in a conversation using your sales script. Show that you’re genuinely interested in building a connection, not just closing a deal.
Always follow up: Many prospects won’t respond to the first message. Use read receipts and other delivery indicators to determine the right tone and timing of follow-up messages.
Personalize messages with AI: Whether sending a connection request or following up, send hyper-personalized messages that speak to the recipient’s unique interests and needs. Use PhantomBuster’s AI LinkedIn Message Writer to draft these messages based on a prospect’s LinkedIn profile and recent activity.
Automate your LinkedIn outreach: Use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Outreach automation to reduce manual work while prospecting. It lets you send connection requests and up to three follow-up messages to engage your contacts effectively.
LinkedIn read receipts FAQ
How do I know if my LinkedIn message was read?
If you and the prospect have read receipts enabled, you’ll see their miniature profile picture at the bottom of the message thread. It indicates that they opened your message.
The desktop or web version also shows when the message was opened when you hover over the miniature profile picture.
Can I read a LinkedIn message without the sender knowing?
LinkedIn allows users to turn off read receipts and typing indicators from the 'Data privacy' section under 'Settings & Privacy.'
These delivery indicators are on by default, though. You'll have to turn off the indicators if you don’t want your connections to know that you read their messages.
What does "grey tick" mean on LinkedIn?
A grey tick at the bottom of a LinkedIn message indicates that your message was sent to the recipient.
If logged in from a desktop, hovering over the tick will show when the sent messages landed in the recipient’s inbox.
Can LinkedIn messages be unread?
Indeed, you can mark your LinkedIn messages as unread so you can revisit important conversations later easily.
Select the three dots in your LinkedIn inbox and click 'Mark as unread'. However, once a message is opened, you cannot revert the message status indicator to unread messages.
What are the typing indicators on LinkedIn?
The LinkedIn typing indicators are visible to the recipient as three dots in the conversation thread when the sender is typing a message. It indicates to the receiver that the sender is responding to them.
