You may find yourself in a situation where you’ve sent out an invitation to connect with someone on LinkedIn, but they have declined your request. While the invitation may be declined, you still have options to potentially retrieve and resend the connection request if you’d like to try connecting again in the future.
In this article, we’ll walk through the steps on how you can find and resend declined LinkedIn invitations, look at some of the reasons invitations may be declined in the first place, and go over best practices for sending out connection requests to increase your chances of acceptance.
Locating Your Declined Invitations
LinkedIn unfortunately does not have a dedicated section where you can view all of your declined invitations in one place. However, you can still find invitations that were declined by following these steps:
Check Your Sent Invitations
Go to the My Network page on LinkedIn and look for the Sent invitations section. This will display the last 10 connection requests you’ve sent out.
Scan through the list to see if any say “Invitation Declined”. The request will still be visible here for a short period after being declined before dropping off the list.
Search for the Member’s Profile
If the declined invitation is no longer showing in your Sent list, you can try searching for the member’s profile directly.
Use the main LinkedIn search bar to find their name or company. When you land on their profile, there should be a Follow button instead of Connect if they previously declined your invitation.
Look for Notifications
Another way to find declined invitations is to look in your LinkedIn notifications. When someone rejects a connection attempt, you should receive an alert.
Go to your homepage and click the notifications icon at the top. Scan through your recent notifications for any that say a member declined your invitation.
You can then select View Profile on the notification to head to their profile page and resend a request if desired.
Resending a Declined LinkedIn Invitation
Once you’ve located a declined LinkedIn invitation, here are the steps for sending a new connection request:
1. Go to the Member’s Profile
Navigate directly to the profile of the member who declined your invitation. You can get there a few different ways:
– Via the notification you received alerting you of the declined request.
– By searching for them in the LinkedIn search bar.
– Through your list of sent invitations if it was recent.
2. Click Follow
With their profile open, you should see a blue Follow button near the top instead of Connect. Click this Follow button.
3. Select Resend Invitation
After clicking Follow, you’ll get a drop down menu. Click on the option to Resend invitation.
4. Customize the Message
You’ll now have the opportunity to customize the connection request you want to send. LinkedIn will populate the message with your previous message.
Take this opportunity to modify or change the message if you want to improve your chances of getting accepted this time around. Consider making the message more personalized or explaining why you’d value connecting.
5. Send the Invitation
Once you’ve updated your invitation message as desired, click Send to resend the connection request.
And just like that, you’ve resent a connection invitation to someone who had previously declined! Now it’s a matter of waiting to see if they accept this new request.
Why LinkedIn Invitations Get Declined
Before resending a connection invitation, it’s a good idea to consider why it may have been declined in the first place. Understanding this can help you improve the way you reach out for new connections moving forward. Here are some of the top reasons LinkedIn requests get rejected:
You’re Strangers
If you don’t know the person at all, or you have very limited real-world connection to them, they may dismiss the invitation because complete strangers are trying to add them. Always try connecting with people you know first before reaching out to strangers.
No Personalized Message
Generic connection requests get rejected all the time. Taking the time to personalize your invitation and explain who you are and why you’d like to connect goes a long way. Vague or overly salesy messages may also rub people the wrong way.
Too Many Requests
When you send invitations to connect to everyone under the sun, you’re less likely to get accepted. Be selective in who you choose to connect with. Focus on those you truly want to network and engage with. Mass blasting connection invites will lead to higher rejection rates.
Suspicious Activity
Some members may suspect your account is fake or a bot if you send very generic connection requests without personalization. Others may worry you will spam them with promos or solicitations if accepted. Prove you are a real person they can network with in your invitation.
Competitors
If you work for a competing company, your invitation may get declined for competitive reasons. In these cases, it can help to clarify you’d like to connect for networking purposes only, and will keep discussions professional.
Best Practices for LinkedIn Invitations
To boost your acceptance rates when sending LinkedIn connection invitations, keep these best practices in mind:
Personalize the Message
Always customize your invitation with a sentence or two explaining who you are and why you want to connect. Generic messages are easy to dismiss.
Remind Them Where You Met
If you met the person offline at an event or gathering, mention those details to refresh their memory. Real world connections go a long way.
Highlight Common Ground
Look for shared connections, groups, colleges, companies or interests you can mention to show the person you have something in common.
Suggest How You Can Help
Rather than asking “how can you help me?”, offer up how you can help them. People are more likely to accept if they see the value.
Keep it Short
Long connection notes can seem overbearing. Get to the point in just a sentence or two. You can always continue the conversation after they accept.
Follow Up Politely
If declined the first time, follow up once more in a friendly manner emphasizing why you’d value connecting. But don’t harass people who continue to ignore requests.
Connect with Quality, Not Quantity
It’s better to focus on connecting with a handful of the right people versus spamming hundreds of people. Curate your network selectively.
Other Ways to Retrieve Declined Invitations
In addition to resending invitations directly through LinkedIn as covered already, there are a few other retrieval options to mention quickly:
Try Email Instead
If someone declines your LinkedIn request, consider reaching out to them directly via email if you have their contact info. Sometimes a more personal email can change their mind.
Get an Introduction
See if any mutual connections are willing to introduce you and endorse your request to connect. Having a shared connection make the intro can help.
Extend Invites Offline
When meeting people at events or networking functions, invite them to connect via LinkedIn and exchange business cards. This real world familiarity can then lead to accepted invitations.
Upgrade to Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator shows more details on who has declined your requests which makes them easier to retrieve and resend.
Use a CRM or Email Tool
CRM systems like Salesforce or email tools like Mailshake often store records of sent invitations, making it easier to track declines and follow up.
Bookmark Profiles
Bookmark or save the profile of members who decline your requests so you can conveniently revisit them later to send a new invitation.
Conclusion
Although having an invitation declined or ignored on LinkedIn can be disappointing, don’t take it personally. With over 740 million members, rejection is bound to happen occasionally. The key is using these best practices to customize your outreach, build real connections, and curate a quality network full of people you actually know, trust, and provide mutual value with.
While there is no perfect method to retrieve every single declined request on LinkedIn, you now have several options to resend invitations and continue growing your network. Just be sure to do so in a professional manner. With a little time and effort, those declines can turn into accepted connections.