Recruiter InMail Report terms and definitions

The LinkedIn Recruiter InMail Report provides insights into InMail usage and performance for you and your team. All reports use Universal Coordinated Time (UTC +0), and activity can take up to 48 hours to appear. The report includes data going back two years from the current date and covers all InMails sent, including to 1st-degree connections, open profiles, and job applicants.

InMail Recommendations

The Recommendations button at the top of your InMail Report is an AI-powered assistant that translates your report metrics into practical next steps. Clicking Recommendations opens a side panel with targeted insights explaining recent trends, such as why your response rate may have decreased, and provides actionable suggestions, like focusing on specific candidate segments or refining your messaging strategy.

Recommendations refresh automatically whenever you open the report, change filters, or reset filters, so guidance always reflects your latest data (no manual refresh is required).

InMail Insights

The InMail Insights graph visualizes trends for multiple InMail categories. Hover over data points to see data on Overall responded, Benchmark, Non-AI InMails, and AI-assisted InMails on that specific date. These metrics are based on the InMails you and your team sent within the selected time frame and include activity on both desktop and mobile.

Important to know

When the date range is at least two months, graph data will be aggregated by the week instead of by the day. Week data is aggregated Sunday-Saturday, with the date on the graph being the Monday of that week. When the date range is at least two years, graph data will be aggregated by the month.

The top row above the Insights graph highlights the following metrics:

Sent: The total number of InMails sent in the selected time frame.
Responded: The percentage of InMails that were sent during the selected time frame and have been accepted or declined within 30 days. Often accompanied by how this compares to the Benchmark (e.g., 15% lower than benchmark).
Accepted: The percentage and count of InMails sent during the selected time frame and accepted within 30 days. Often accompanied by how this compares to the Benchmark (e.g., 20% higher than benchmark).
No response: The percentage and count of InMails sent during the selected time frame without a reply after 30 days.
Days to accept: The average time it takes recipients to accept an InMail after it is sent.

Important to know

Only InMails sent from the project pipeline will be reflected under InMail trends of that project overview and included in InMail report filtering for that project. If the InMails are not sent from the project pipeline and instead directly from the talent pool or candidate profiles, they will not be reflected under the InMail trends of that project.

Above the InMail Insights graph, these dropdowns appear as additional filters or quick-view options. Selecting or combining these filters reconfigures the chart to match your criteria:

Batch size: Filters by whether InMails were sent as single messages or as part of a bulk send.
Template usage: Filters by whether InMails used a saved template or not.
Sequence: Filters by whether InMails were initial outreach or follow-up messages.
Send time: Filters by the time range of when InMails were sent, based on the recipients’ time zone.
Character count: Filters by length of InMail.

For users on contracts with Hiring Assistant (or with the Hiring Assistant permission) that have the View reporting of other users setting On, two additional filters appear:

Recipient type: Filters by whether the recipient was sourced manually or by Hiring Assistant.
Project type: Filters by whether the project was with or without Hiring Assistant.

Important to know

Hiring Assistant is currently available to a subset of LinkedIn Recruiter customers whose language setting is English, and you might not have access to it at this time. You can learn more about Hiring Assistant here.

Left pane filters

In the pane to the left of the InMail Insights graph, you’ll find filters to customize your report view:

Date range: Sets the overall time frame for InMails included in your metrics.
Benchmark: Lets you compare your performance to a chosen company size and industry.

Important to know

The default industry benchmark selector shown in the Benchmark filter on the left pane typically reflects the same industry categorization as listed on your company's LinkedIn Career Page. However, each organization can have multiple industry classifications, and each one has a "confidence score" based on standardized industry data. The classification with the highest score is used as the default benchmark. In most cases, this aligns with your company's LinkedIn Career Page and ensures that the default benchmark remains the most accurate option. The selector displays your company's industry selector in the Level 1 industry hierarchy, and the company size benchmark defaults to all sizes. You can still choose a different industry or company size using the Benchmark filter.
Contract: Narrow down which InMails are shown based on your selected contract(s).
Project: Narrow down which InMails are shown based on your selected project(s).
Owner: Narrow down which InMails are shown based on your selected individual owner(s) and Account Center group(s).
User role type: Filter by Account Center user role type(s).
User location: Filter by user locations (zip code, city, state, or country).
User status: Filter by user status (Active, Inactive, or Parked).

InMail Details

Below the InMail Insights graph, you’ll find the InMail Details section, which breaks down specific categories and response rates:

InMail types shows categories of InMail messages (AI-assisted InMails, Other InMails, and Templated InMails) with metrics on Response rate, InMails sent, and Responses received by category. The data is sorted by InMails sent in descending order.
- Response rate: Percentage of InMails that were sent during the selected time frame and have been accepted or declined within 30 days.
- InMails sent: Includes all InMails sent during the selected time frame (InMails, first degree connections, or open profiles).
- Responses received: Number of InMails that were sent during the selected time frame that have been accepted or declined within 30 days.
Search Spotlights:
- Open to work: Highlights candidates who match your search criteria and have indicated they’re open to hearing from recruiters. These candidates have opted to privately share their career interests with Recruiter users and are interested in hearing about new opportunities.
- Have company connections: Identifies people who are 1st-degree connections of employees at your company.
- Interested in your company: This spotlight highlights candidates who selected "I’m interested" in future roles at your company or interacted with your company's content, including following the company page, or liking, sharing, or commenting on your company's posts. This is measured across your entire employer brand, including your LinkedIn Page, company updates, job posts, and Sponsored Content.
- Past applicants: Features people who’ve applied to your company before. This includes only applicants you’ve collected via LinkedIn job posts, Apply Starters, and candidates from your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) via Recruiter System Connect.
- No spotlight: Includes recipients who don’t fall into any of the listed Spotlight categories.
Seats: Shows the number of InMail messages sent by each user.
Companies: Shows the companies that employees are responding from.
Schools: Shows the schools that students are responding from.
Time in role: Shows the average time in role from candidates who are responding.
Templates: Shows the performance of the InMail template that was used. You will only see shared templates in the reporting. Private template usage can only be seen by the template owner.
Gender: Shows the average response rate for each gender. (In order to view Gender Insights, you must have sent at least 50 InMail messages before the data is displayed.)

View, save, or export

Use these buttons found in the upper-right to load previously saved filter settings, save your current combination of filters for future reference, or export your report:

View all saved reports: Opens a list of your previously saved configurations.
Save report: Stores your current filters and date ranges so you can revisit the same configuration without reapplying filters.
Export: Generates an XLS file containing the metrics from InMail Insights and the corresponding filter criteria. The additional filters above the InMail Insights graph are included in your export if they’re applied.