At Burned Out Nation, we have always been passionate about helping high-achieving professionals overcome burnout and reclaim their personal and professional lives. When we launched our pre-order campaign for the Burned Out Nation book, we wanted to create meaningful connections with every visitor who engaged with our landing page. That’s when we decided to leverage LinkedIn messaging automation to engage visitors at scale, while still keeping it personal and authentic.
Here’s how we implemented a LinkedIn Direct Messaging (DM) funnel that turned passive visitors into engaged connections.
Step 1: Identifying Our Target Audience
Before automating anything, the first step was identifying exactly who we wanted to reach. Our target audience consists of high-achieving professionals, entrepreneurs and individuals from minority backgrounds who are facing burnout in fast-paced industries like tech and wellness.
To ensure we were reaching the right people:
- We analyzed the traffic coming to our landing page using LinkedIn Pixel, allowing us to track which visitors were engaging with our content.
- We then used LinkedIn Sales Navigator to further enrich this data, identifying key roles, job titles and industries that matched our target audience.
Step 2: Automating the LinkedIn Messaging Funnel
Once we had identified our audience, we began the process of automating our outreach through LinkedIn DMs. Here’s the step-by-step funnel we designed to create meaningful touchpoints with each visitor:
Message 1: The Connection Request
After identifying visitors through LinkedIn Pixel and using tools like Expandi and PhantomBuster to gather relevant profiles, we sent out personalized connection requests.
- Message:
“Hi [First Name], I noticed you visited our Burned Out Nation page and I’d love to connect. We’re helping high-achievers like you find balance and avoid burnout. Let’s connect!” - Why it works: The initial message acknowledges their engagement with the page and offers a light, non-pushy connection request that ties into their interests.
Message 2: Value Offering
Once the visitor accepted our connection request, we followed up with a value-driven message. Here, we emphasized how Burned Out Nation could specifically help them and provided early access to exclusive content.
- Message:
“Thanks for connecting, [First Name]! I wanted to personally share how we’re helping professionals like you transform burnout into breakthroughs. If you’re interested, I’d love to give you early access to some exclusive pre-order bonuses from our book!” - Why it works: This message provides immediate value, offering something tangible that appeals to their current challenges (burnout). We positioned the message as an exclusive offer to pique their interest.
Message 3: The Call to Action
After establishing rapport and delivering value, we moved into the call-to-action phase. Here, we subtly nudged them toward pre-ordering the book by framing it as an opportunity to solve a relevant problem they’re likely facing.
- Message:
“I’d love to share more about the upcoming release of Burned Out Nation! It’s packed with strategies on avoiding burnout while staying ambitious. Would you be interested in learning more about how to get early access?” - Why it works: We kept it conversational while directly addressing a pain point. The CTA was framed as a helpful offer rather than a hard sell.
Message 4: The Follow-Up
Not everyone responded immediately and that’s okay! For those who didn’t engage after the third message, we sent a gentle follow-up to remind them about the offer.
- Message:
“Hey [First Name], I am following up to see if you had a chance to check out Burned Out Nation. I’d love to offer you a sneak peek or a free chapter if you’re interested!” - Why it works: The follow-up is polite and adds an additional incentive (a sneak peek), giving the recipient another reason to engage.
Step 3: Tools We Used
To streamline this process, we used a combination of automation and CRM tools that allowed us to manage the workflow and stay compliant with LinkedIn’s messaging policies.
- LinkedIn Pixel: This helped us track visitors to our landing page and identify their LinkedIn profiles.
- Expandi and PhantomBuster: These tools enabled us to automate sending connection requests and follow-up messages based on visitor engagement.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Sales Navigator helped us enrich profile data, ensuring we were reaching out to the right people in our niche.
- Zapier: For automating workflows, integrating with our CRM and tracking responses for further nurturing.
Step 4: Tracking Engagement and Optimizing
It was important for us to track which messages were resonating with our audience and which were falling flat. We did this by:
- Monitoring open rates, response rates and engagement metrics within Expandi.
- Segmenting our audience based on engagement (e.g., who opened the messages but didn’t respond vs. who replied).
- A/B testing message copy to see which phrasing drove more engagement.
This allowed us to continually optimize our LinkedIn messaging funnel, increasing response rates and driving more pre-orders over time.
Pros and Cons of the Process
Pros:
- Scalability: We were able to engage with a large number of people quickly without manual outreach.
- Personalization: By integrating data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, we kept messages personalized and relevant to each recipient.
- Automation: The use of tools like Expandi and Zapier made the process seamless and saved significant time.
Cons:
- LinkedIn Automation Risks: LinkedIn has strict policies against aggressive automation. We had to be careful with message limits and timing to avoid being flagged for spamming.
- Data Accuracy: The process relies on correctly identifying visitors through LinkedIn Pixel and sometimes the visitor profiles weren’t an exact match.
- Initial Setup Time: While automation saves time in the long run, setting up the funnel and ensuring it runs smoothly required a significant initial investment in time and learning.
Conclusion
By automating our LinkedIn DM outreach funnel, we were able to create meaningful, personalized conversations with professionals who visited our Burned Out Nation landing page. This approach allowed us to scale our outreach, nurture relationships and drive more pre-orders while keeping the process efficient.
If you’re considering LinkedIn automation for your next campaign, ensure that your messaging is value-driven, respectful of LinkedIn’s limits and offers real solutions to the audience’s problems. Personalization and authenticity remain the key to building genuine connections—even at scale.
Are you ready to automate your LinkedIn outreach for more conversions? Let us know your thoughts or any questions you have in the comments below!