Practical guidance and the mistakes that hurt lead volume.
Start wider than feels comfortable
It's easier to tighten targeting once you see who replies than to guess perfectly up front. A broad first pass gives you real reply data to learn from.
Common mistakes
- Filling in every field at once — this can cut your audience to a handful of people.
- Listing one city instead of the surrounding metro area.
- Naming a job title in the Job Function field. Function is the department; use Seniority for level.
- Adding a long list of Current Companies alongside tight filters, which leaves almost nobody to reach.
Signs your targeting needs work
- Very few new connections week over week — the audience is likely too narrow.
- Plenty of connections but almost no replies — the audience may be wrong for your offer.
- Replies that are polite but off-base — tighten seniority or industry.
Tip: Change one thing at a time and give it two weeks. Changing targeting and messaging together makes it impossible to tell which change helped.