Managing your assigned inbox on LinkedIn can help you stay organized and respond to messages efficiently. The assigned inbox allows you to collaborate with colleagues by sharing responsibility for incoming messages. Here’s a guide to using this useful LinkedIn feature.
What is the Assigned Inbox on LinkedIn?
The assigned inbox is a feature that allows multiple LinkedIn members to manage incoming messages from a Page, Showcase Page, or LinkedIn profile. As an admin or editor of one of these LinkedIn assets, you can assign colleagues to help you triage and respond to messages.
When you assign a colleague, they will see a separate “Assigned” inbox in their LinkedIn Messages. Any messages sent to the Page, Showcase Page, or profile will be routed to this inbox. Your colleague can then respond, delete, or mark messages as unread from their assigned inbox.
The assigned inbox offers a few key benefits:
- Shared responsibility – Workload is distributed across multiple people instead of one main account owner.
- Improved response times – With multiple people handling messages, responses can be faster.
- Specialization – Assign colleagues based on expertise to handle certain types of messages.
Who Can Use the Assigned Inbox?
To use the assigned inbox feature, you must be an admin or editor of a LinkedIn Page, Showcase Page, or LinkedIn profile that has the feature enabled. Here are the requirements:
- Pages – Any admin or editor of a LinkedIn Page can assign colleagues. Pages must have the “Messages” feature turned on.
- Showcase Pages – Any admin or editor of a Showcase Page can assign colleagues. The “Messages” setting must be enabled.
- LinkedIn Profiles – The “Open to” setting must be turned on. Any admin or editor of the profile can then assign colleagues.
The colleagues you assign must also have a LinkedIn profile. Make sure to only assign trustworthy teammates who understand your company’s messaging strategy.
How to Assign Colleagues to Your LinkedIn Inbox
Follow these steps to start assigning colleagues to your LinkedIn inbox:
- Go to the LinkedIn Page, Showcase Page, or profile where you want to enable assigned inboxes.
- Click “Settings” in the admin toolbar at the top.
- Select “Preferences” from the menu.
- Under “Messages,” toggle on “Assign colleagues to help manage incoming messages.”
- Start typing the name of the colleague you want to assign. Select their name when it appears.
- Choose the assets (Page, Showcase Page, profile) you want the teammate to access.
- Click “Assign” to finish adding the teammate.
- Repeat steps 5-7 to assign additional colleagues as needed.
Once assigned, your colleagues will see a new “Assigned” inbox in their LinkedIn Messages. They can start responding immediately without having to switch accounts.
How to Respond to Messages from the Assigned Inbox
Replying to an assigned message is the same as responding to a standard LinkedIn Message:
- Open the LinkedIn Message from your assigned inbox.
- Type your response in the text box at the bottom.
- Customize the response with attachments, emoji, etc.
- Click the paper airplane icon or press “Enter” to send.
The person who sent the initial message will simply see a reply from the Page, Showcase Page, or LinkedIn profile. Your identity as the responder will remain anonymous.
Some best practices for responding from assigned inboxes:
- Use the company or brand voice, not your personal voice.
- Follow any pre-approved messaging guidelines from marketing.
- Avoid overusing canned responses – try to customize each reply.
- Maintain a friendly, conversational tone as you would on social media.
How to Delete and Mark as Unread
In addition to replying, you can manage assigned messages using these options:
- Delete – Permanently deletes the message so it’s no longer visible in the inbox.
- Mark as Unread – Flags the message as unread so it stays at the top of the inbox.
Reasons you may want to delete or mark as unread include:
- Message is irrelevant or inappropriate
- Message is a duplicate
- You want to come back and respond to a complex inquiry later
- Message needs review by another colleague first
To delete or mark as unread, hover over the message text and click the “Delete” or “Mark as Unread” text that appears. You can also select multiple messages and choose the action.
Monitoring Assigned Inbox Activity
As the account admin, you can monitor how well your assigned colleagues are handling your LinkedIn messages. There are a couple ways to do this:
- Check “Active Conversations” – See all open message threads that you, your colleagues, and customers are actively engaging in.
- Message History – View a complete record of all incoming and outgoing messages.
Analyzing these views over time can help you identify teammates who need coaching or additional training on messaging best practices.
Changing or Removing Assigned Inbox Access
Your teammates’ assigned inbox access will persist indefinitely unless you proactively remove it in Settings. To make changes, go to the LinkedIn Page, Showcase Page, or Profile Settings:
- Click the teammate’s name under “Assigned Colleagues.”
- Adjust which assets you want them to access, or click “Remove Access.”
- Click “Update” to save changes.
When you remove a teammate’s access, they will no longer see the assigned inbox in their LinkedIn Messages. Any open message threads they were engaging in will remain unaffected.
Best Practices for Managing Assigned Inboxes
Here are some top tips for getting the most value out of LinkedIn’s assigned inbox feature:
- Set clear expectations – Document guidelines for tone, response times, and overall messaging strategy.
- Assign specialists – Match teammates to inboxes based on skills, knowledge, and availability.
- Monitor activity – Check in regularly and provide coaching on how to improve.
- Communicate changes – If you alter assignments or processes, let your team know.
- Rotate assignments – Don’t overload a single colleague; alternate assignments to share the work.
- Say thanks – Recognize teammates who go above and beyond managing messages.
Conclusion
The assigned inbox on LinkedIn is a powerful feature to distribute workload, improve response times, and streamline message management. Take advantage of assignment, monitoring, and customization options to ensure your customers get excellent messaging experiences. With a thoughtful assigned inbox strategy, your LinkedIn presence will become an even more useful customer engagement channel.