TL;DR
LinkedIn voice messages can break through the repetitive pattern of text-based outreach and make a cold interaction feel more personal and human. The challenge is using them without turning a useful sales tactic into another time-consuming manual task.
Most cold outreach on LinkedIn fails because of one simple reason - it looks like cold outreach.
When an SDR drops a four-paragraph-long message into a lead’s inbox, the recipient doesn't even need to read the copy to know what it is. The length of the message is enough to drive them away. You are just adding to their mental bucket along with the 10 other automated outreach messages they received that week. So, if you really want to grab the attention of your prospects, the idea is to break the pattern. Enter LinkedIn voice messages.
It’s safe to say that LinkedIn voice messages are currently the most underutilized tool for outreach on the platform. They build trust, break the monotony and help improve reply rates. Yet only a few use them.
Time to talk about this underrated LinkedIn feature and how to use it to enhance your LinkedIn outreach strategy.
Why LinkedIn Voice Notes Work So Well for Sales Outreach
LinkedIn voice messages are simple voice notes that you send on the platform in place of traditional text messages.
LinkedIn introduced voice messaging in 2018 to help users communicate more naturally with their connections and build stronger professional conversations through voice rather than text alone. Voice notes can be up to 60 seconds long and can be recorded through LinkedIn's mobile app. Playback is available both on mobile and web.
How to send a voice message on LinkedIn
Use the LinkedIn mobile app. Voice message recording is only available on LinkedIn's iOS and Android apps. LinkedIn does not currently offer native voice message recording on desktop.
- Open a conversation with one of your first-degree connections.
- Tap the microphone icon.
- Record your message by pressing and holding the button while recording.
- Release the button to send the voice message.
LinkedIn currently limits voice messages to 60 seconds and restricts them to first-degree connections and group chats.
Are there any professional advantages to sending LinkedIn voice messages?
Short answer: yes, they are. Because most LinkedIn outreach looks exactly the same:
- Prospects receive connection requests
- When they accept the request, they receive an automated, machine-personalized message
- There is often a sales pitch and then a follow-up message in case there is no response
While this works, this all feels generic. LinkedIn Voice messages shake things up.
They grab attention
More than 100 million messages are sent on LinkedIn daily. And reportedly, a whopping 91.5% of cold outreach messages do not get a response. So, to actually cut through the noise and grab your prospect’s attention, you need something different. You need LinkedIn voice messages. A prospect might skim your text message in a second and forget what you even said. But voice notes require active listening. The extra attention they earn amplifies the opportunities for engagement and increases the chances of a response.
Almost no one uses them
Although LinkedIn launched voice messaging eight years ago, most professionals still don't use it regularly. Many don't even know the feature exists. That means your message immediately stands out.
Voice creates trust
Text copy, even when personalized, sometimes feels flat. But when a prospect hears your voice, they get information that traditional text cannot communicate. This information comes from the energy, authenticity and confidence in your voice. These cues support your intent.
So, a well-delivered 50-second voice note often feels more personal and authentic than a 200-word message.
Possibly shift the perceived relationship
People naturally associate voice messages with colleagues, friends, and trusted connections. By dropping a brief audio note, you instantly shift the dynamic from "stranger trying to sell something" to "peer starting a quick conversation."
Voice messages feel more human
While automation does help sales teams, not all prospects love being bombarded with generic text messages from bots. In an AI-driven world, hearing a real human voice has become rare. So, a well-crafted voice message feels more human and says more than most text messages could.
A Solid Framework for LinkedIn Voice Messages That Convert
Voice messages on LinkedIn only work better than text messages if they sound confident and intentional rather than cold and intrusive. Remember, your goal here is not to deliver your entire sales pitch but to earn a simple response.
To maximize conversions, keep your LinkedIn voice messages between 15 and 30 seconds long. This will be long enough to feel real but short enough so that it doesn’t feel like a big commitment.
- Skip pleasantries and formal intros and address the prospect right away.
- Start with context
- Front-load your message. Use the first few seconds to give your prospects a reason to listen to your message.
- Choose and stick with a single objective. Anchor your message around one concrete outcome or discuss a single pain point.
- End with an open-ended, low-friction question as a soft CTA in your message.
Here’s a template, for example:
“Hey [First name], [your name] here.
I noticed [specific observation about them/their company], and it made me think [specific reason your solution could be relevant].
We help [type of company/team] [specific outcome you help them achieve], without [common pain/friction].
Thought it might be relevant to you too. If it is, happy to share a little more about how we're doing this with [similar companies/teams].
Let me know if it's worth a conversation.”
Voice Messages vs Text Messages on LinkedIn
| Text Messages | Voice Messages | |
| Personalization | High | Medium |
| Building trust | High | Medium |
| Ease of consumption | Medium | High |
| Differentiation | High | Low |
| Scalability | Low (manual) | High |
The differences here give a brief idea of why many sales teams do not use LinkedIn voice messages. The native LinkedIn messaging interface makes voice messages a pain to scale.
You are forced to use the mobile app and record individual messages within individual conversations and manually send them one by one. That’s not exactly practical when you are managing 50 leads a day. It easily takes up hours of manual work and makes CRM tracking challenging.
How do you use LinkedIn voice messages without scaling problems? Use reliable LinkedIn automation tools like Botdog that support voice messaging in your campaigns.
Automating LinkedIn Voice Messages at Scale
One of the first things to do to eliminate the scaling problem with LinkedIn voice messages is to eliminate the need to do it on a mobile device. Botdog brings voice messaging to your desktop browser, letting you plug audio clips directly into automated campaign drips.
How do you use Botdog to automate LinkedIn voice messages?
- Log in to Botdog on your desktop. Record your audio message directly through your mic or upload an audio clip. You only need to do this once per sequence.
- Integrate your voice note into your outreach flow. For optimal results, use the audio clip as step two. Send it a day or two after your connection request is accepted or after a light text opener.
Botdog’s voice notes feature was built around the idea of simplifying voice messaging for sales teams. Record once and send to hundreds - it’s as simple as that. Instead of opening your mobile app for every single prospect, you record a message inside Botdog or a single audio message in a recording app of your choice and then automatically send it to the prospects in your outreach sequence.
All this can be done on a desktop computer without manual re-recording. You can play your message back and give it another shot if it doesn’t sound the way you want it to.
Also, Botdog automatically converts uploaded voice message clips into the format supported on LinkedIn. This ensures that the voice note plays seamlessly on mobile devices and desktop. This applies to voice messages recorded directly within Botdog as well as to clips uploaded.
How Botdog compares to manual LinkedIn voice messages
| Manual voice messages on LinkedIn | Voice notes on Botdog |
| Mobile only | Desktop workflow |
| Record every message manually | Record once and reuse |
| Focus on one prospect at a time | Hundreds of prospects at a time |
| Difficult to scale | Built for scaling effectively |
| High effort | Automated delivery |
What happens when you have a preset follow-up sequence built into your outreach automation? The sequence shouldn't stop just because you've sent a voice note.
Botdog's voice notes work smoothly with the rest of your campaign sequence. You can send a voice message at one step, then let your scheduled follow-ups continue automatically.
Botdog will still pause the sequence if the prospect replies or you manually take over the conversation. But when neither happens, your remaining follow-ups keep running as planned.
LinkedIn Voice Messages: FAQs
For most sales professionals, yes. Voice notes offer a differentiation that benefits your outreach efforts. The human connection it delivers gives you a huge advantage. If your prospects are receiving dozens of text-based outreach messages every week, being the only voice in their inbox can be a powerful advantage.
LinkedIn voice notes can be up to 60 seconds long. But they don’t always have to be 60 seconds long. The shorter, the better (in many cases).
Many sales professionals report higher engagement from voice notes because they stand out and create a more personal experience. Results vary depending on audience, messaging, and timing, but voice notes truly are effective ways to enhance LinkedIn outreach.
Scalable Voice Messaging on LinkedIn, With Botdog
We’re not saying that standard text message outreach on LinkedIn is dead. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Personalized text messages have a huge advantage. However, voice messages on LinkedIn are intended to switch things up. They are a great element to introduce into LinkedIn outreach workflows that have become stagnant. They help humanize your connection request.
But if the tedious manual setup is stopping you, there's a better way to do LinkedIn voice messages. Automate LinkedIn outreach with Botdog. Fine-tune your outreach and follow-up sequences and turn cold outreach into warm conversations today.
Start your 7-day free trial with Botdog. No credit card required. Launch your first voice note campaign in under 3 minutes.
