Sneak Peak:
Read this case study to know how a social media company used the social media platform itself (LinkedIn) to achieve over 800% increase in conversions. Company: LinkedIn Industry: Social Media Tool Used: LinkedIn Marketing Result: Over 800% increase in conversions / reached over 2 million prospects every week Business Type: B2B/ B2CReaching the loyal members through Sponsored InMail while they’re most engaged
With over 400 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site. Although most of these members were already using LinkedIn’s free offerings, but they had utilized the opportunities offered by its two monthly subscription services: LinkedIn Premium Business Plus and LinkedIn Premium Job Seeker.Business Plus offers members the ability to:
- Contact potential clients and customers with InMail messages
- See an expanded list of who’s visited their profile
- View an unlimited number of profiles, up to third-degree connections.
- It’s ideal for business professionals looking to grow and nurture their network.
Job Seeker enables members looking for new career opportunities to:
- Connect to hiring managers
- Follow up on job applications
- Get informational interviews
- See how they stack up against other applicants
Targeting the right segment
As it sounds, the LinkedIn Premium Job Seeker subscription has a very specific segment of target audience.Words by Jennifer Lin, Senior Product Marketing Manager, LinkedIn Premium
“We focus our outreach on job searchers, people who are currently unemployed, career changers, and company changers.” “We seek out individuals who have a need for that product.”At the same time, the Business Plus solution has a much broader segment of audience.
Words by Jennifer Lin, Senior Product Marketing Manager, LinkedIn Premium
“With this offering, we’re looking for anyone who’s seeking to grow their network.” “We’ve essentially opened up our marketing efforts for that product to the majority of the general LinkedIn member base.”In both cases, personalized Sponsored InMail messages were distributed by the team that clearly & concisely described the value of the Premium subscription while offering a month-long free trial.
Boosting the conversion rates through real-time messaging
Switching to the next-generation version of Sponsored InMail resulted in a substantial lift in conversion rates. The best part was with the help of latest upgrade that was mobile-optimized and could deliver the messages in real time, the team could deliver the messages only when members were actively engaged on the LinkedIn site and were therefore most receptive of the messages. Moving to the new Sponsored InMail platform helped the team to see a 6% lift in conversion rates.
Optimizing and driving more conversions through A/B testing
The creative & targeting were regularly A/B tested by the Premium team after which the most successful variations were scaled for their two primary campaigns.Examples of how optimization was carried out for success:
- Targeted language that talked directly to the benefits for particular member segments (engineers, consultants, researchers, etc.) was used resulting into an 11% increase in the conversion rates.
- Success metrics were incorporated into the messaging. The fact that Premium members receive an average of 6 times more profile views was leveraged that resulted into a 7% increase in the conversion rates.
- The Sponsored InMail were sent from a team member’s account that boosted the opens, clickthroughs, and conversions resulting into a 4% increase in the conversion rates.
- According to Jonathan Chia, campaign manager at LinkedIn, a factor that was greatly accountable for the campaign’s success was building on the existing relationship that prospects already have with the LinkedIn community.
Words by Jonathan Chia, campaign manager at LinkedIn
“When we reach out, we thank members for helping us grow LinkedIn. It helps that they already feel connected to us.”Campaign Highlights:
- Reach 2M+ prospects each week
- 75 percent increase in open rates
- 800+ percent increase in conversion rates
Words by Jennifer Lin, Senior Product Marketing Manager, LinkedIn Premium
“We’ve seen a 75 percent increase in open rates and more than an 800 percent increase in conversion rates over traditional email campaigns using Sponsored InMail.”Source: LinkedIn
