LinkedIn Message Ads (Sponsored Messaging) deliver personalised messages directly to the LinkedIn inboxes of targeted professionals. With open rates far exceeding email, Message Ads reach decision-makers with a one-to-one format that commands attention — at scale, without the hours of manual outreach.
LinkedIn Message Ads (now including Conversation Ads) are paid messages delivered directly to the LinkedIn inbox of targeted professionals. They appear as messages from either your company page or a nominated individual within your business — giving the impression of a personal, one-to-one outreach even when delivered to thousands of professionals simultaneously. Message Ads include a single CTA button (visit website, complete a form, or start a conversation). Conversation Ads add multiple CTA paths — allowing prospects to self-select their interest before being directed to the appropriate next step. LinkedIn Message Ads have average open rates of 50%+ — significantly higher than email — because LinkedIn members check their inbox with professional intent. Delivery is controlled so each member only receives one Message Ad per 30-day period from any single advertiser, preventing inbox saturation. For high-value B2B outreach where personal contact is the conversion goal, Message Ads reach decision-makers in a format that email cannot match for open and click rates.
Email open rates for cold B2B outreach in Australia average 15–25%. LinkedIn Message Ads achieve 50–70% open rates — because LinkedIn users check their inbox with professional intent, messages come from a branded or named sender they can verify as legitimate, and there are no spam filters to bypass. For B2B businesses that rely on direct outreach to generate enterprise leads, Message Ads scale the reach of one-to-one contact without requiring a sales team to manually send hundreds of messages. A professional services firm using Conversation Ads to reach Operations Directors at mid-market Australian businesses achieved a 62% open rate and generated qualified consultation requests at a CPL below their internal sales team outreach cost (Scalepoint client, 2025).
average open rate for LinkedIn Message Ads — significantly exceeding cold email open rates of 15–25% (LinkedIn internal data, 2024)
open rate achieved for a professional services Conversation Ads campaign targeting Operations Directors at mid-market Australian firms (Scalepoint client, 2025)
days — LinkedIn's delivery limit ensures each recipient receives at most one Message Ad per advertiser per month, preventing inbox saturation
LinkedIn offers two Sponsored Messaging formats — Message Ads for single-path outreach and Conversation Ads for multi-path engagement.
A personalised message with a single call-to-action button — visit a landing page, complete a Lead Gen Form, or start a conversation. Best for specific offers, event invitations, or direct consultation requests where there is one clear next step you want the prospect to take.
Conversation Ads present 2–5 CTA options within the message — allowing prospects to self-select their interest. "Tell me about your pricing" / "Send me a case study" / "Book a call" — each path leads to a different response or landing page. Self-selection pre-qualifies leads and increases overall engagement rates versus single-CTA messages.
Message Ads support dynamic personalisation fields — {firstName}, {lastName}, {companyName}, {jobTitle} — inserted automatically from the recipient's LinkedIn profile. A message that opens with "Hi Sarah, as a Head of Operations at [CompanyName], you might find this relevant..." achieves significantly higher open and response rates than generic broadcast copy.
Message Ads can be sent from your Company Page or from an individual's personal LinkedIn profile (with their permission). Personal sender ads typically achieve higher engagement because they feel more like genuine professional outreach. For enterprise B2B sales, using the account executive as the sender is standard practice.
Message Ad audiences are built with the same LinkedIn targeting parameters as Sponsored Content — job title, seniority, company size, industry, and matched audiences. The specificity of targeting determines message relevance, which drives open and click rates. We build separate campaigns for each audience segment with tailored message copy.
Message Ads work best as the opening touchpoint in a multi-channel B2B sequence — paired with Sponsored Content for awareness, followed by a Message Ad for direct engagement, and then a Lead Gen Form campaign for conversion. We design the full sequence, not just the individual message.
Inviting a precisely targeted audience to an industry event, webinar, or roundtable. Message Ads achieve the open rates needed to generate meaningful registrations from a targeted professional audience — performance significantly above email invitation campaigns.
For professional services and SaaS businesses where a consultation or product demo is the primary conversion goal, Message Ads reach the specific job titles and companies you want in your pipeline with a direct, personal invitation.
In account-based marketing programmes, Message Ads are used to activate specific contacts within target accounts — reaching the decision-maker directly after they have been warmed by Sponsored Content brand exposure. The combination of content awareness plus direct message achieves significantly higher response rates than cold message alone.
Matched audience campaigns reaching contacts in your CRM who have not engaged recently — personalised messages referencing their previous interaction and presenting a new reason to re-engage. More effective than email for re-engagement because of LinkedIn's higher open rates and professional context.
No call required. Tell us your business and goals — we send back a written audit within 3 business days.