LinkedIn message ads allow businesses to reach LinkedIn users via the LinkedIn messaging feature. But how much do these ads cost? The price of LinkedIn message ads varies based on several factors.
Pricing Factors for LinkedIn Message Ads
There are a few key factors that impact the cost of LinkedIn message ads:
- Targeting – More specific targeting generally costs more. Targeting by job title, company, groups, and interests will be more expensive than just targeting by location and demographics.
- Message length – Longer messages cost more to send.
- Attachment – Including an attachment like an image or document will increase the price.
- Audience size – Reaching a larger audience is more expensive.
In addition to the above factors, the basic pricing model for LinkedIn message ads is:
- Cost Per Send (CPS) – You are charged each time your message is sent to a user, regardless of if it’s opened.
- Cost Per Click (CPC) – You are only charged when a user clicks on your message.
LinkedIn Message Ad CPM Rates
LinkedIn does not publicly share average CPS or CPC rates for message ads. However, based on reviews from advertisers, the average appears to be:
- CPS: $2 – $8+ per message sent
- CPC: $0.25 – $3+ per click
The wide range is due to the various targeting and messaging factors mentioned above. Key things that increase your CPS and CPC include:
- Senior-level targeting like VPs and Directors
- Targeting by individual skills or job titles
- More niche industries like IT or Finance
More broad targeting of entry-level titles in common industries will be on the lower end of that range. Overall, LinkedIn message ads are one of the more expensive ad formats on LinkedIn due to the highly targeted nature.
How Message Ad Costs Compare to Other LinkedIn Ad Types
Here’s an overview of how the cost of LinkedIn message ads compare to other LinkedIn ad formats for an equivalent audience size:
Ad Type | Average CPM |
---|---|
Sponsored Content | $10 – $50 |
Sponsored InMail | $40 – $200+ |
Message Ads (CPS) | $20 – $100 |
Message Ads (CPC) | $3 – $30 |
As you can see, LinkedIn message ads have a higher CPM compared to Sponsored Content ads due to the more personalized targeting. But Message ads are less expensive than Sponsored InMail on a CPM basis.
Typical LinkedIn Message Ad Budgets
Most advertisers allocate between 10-30% of their total LinkedIn ad budget to message ads. Here are some examples of typical monthly spend on LinkedIn message ads by business size:
- Small business ($5k/mo LinkedIn budget): $500 – $1500 on message ads
- Mid-size business ($15k/mo budget): $1500 – $4500
- Enterprise ($50k+/mo budget): $5000 – $15,000+
To set an optimal message ad budget, start by looking at the size of your target audience and determine approximately how many sends/clicks you want to achieve each month. From there, you can deduce your range of potential costs based on the average CPS and CPC rates.
Factors that Impact Your Message Ad Results
While your budget dictates how many message ads you can send or optimize for clicks, your results will depend more on factors like:
- Your targeting relevancy – the better aligned to your ideal customer, the higher CTR and conversion rates you’ll achieve
- Your message copy – clearer value propositions improve CTR
- Your calls-to-action – urgency and personalization help drive conversions
- Your overall ad strategy – do you focus on clicks or sends? What works best for your business?
To maximize the performance of your LinkedIn message ads, it’s important to analyze your copy, targeting and overall campaign results on an ongoing basis. The level of personalization possible via LinkedIn message ads means there are always optimization opportunities to improve your CTR and conversion rates over time.
Opportunities to Reduce LinkedIn Message Ad Costs
If your current LinkedIn message ads are too expensive based on your targets and budgets, here are a few ways to potentially reduce your CPS and CPC rates:
- Broaden your targeting – reducing targeting specificity can lower costs, but may reduce relevance
- Shorten message length – concise copy can improve CTR and lower costs
- Limit to one message per user – recycle quality leads to expand reach
- Adjust bidding strategy – try manual bidding or lower max bid
- Increase budget to improve scale – LinkedIn rewards higher budgets with lower CPMs
- Test CPC vs CPS bidding – assess performance differences
- Analyze and optimize for peak interaction times – when are your audience most engaged?
Striving for that ideal balance between highly targeted, personalized messages and budget-friendly broader reach is key to maximizing your LinkedIn message ad performance.
Conclusion
LinkedIn message ads offer a unique opportunity to engage your ideal audience in a 1:1 conversation – but come at a higher cost than other LinkedIn ad formats. Typical CPS rates range from $2 to $8+ per message sent, while CPC averages $0.25 to $3+ per click.
Factors like your targeting, bid strategy, budget, ad copy and more impact your message ad costs. While innately more expensive than other options, message ads enable precision targeting and personalization that can ultimately drive higher conversion value.
The key is finding the right balance for your business between granular targeting and effective budget management. Track results closely and optimize over time to maximize your message ad performance and ROI.