# InMail, connection notes, and messages after accept > LinkedIn message automation mixes three channels with different limits and manners. InMail, the invite note, and the after-accept DM are not interchangeable. - HTML: https://omentir.com/linkedin-message-automation - Markdown: https://omentir.com/linkedin-message-automation.md ## Three boxes that look like 'a message' A connection note rides on the invite. It is short. LinkedIn caps the length in the composer (confirm the current limit there; it has been tight for years). The person has not accepted you yet. A pitch in that box is asking a stranger to approve a salesperson. An after-accept message is a normal DM in the thread that opens when they say yes. You have more room, and they opted into a conversation by accepting. InMail is a paid or credit-based message to someone you are not connected to, packaged with Sales Navigator, Recruiter, or purchased credits. It has a subject line. It is closer to email than to a handshake. Confirm current InMail packaging on [Sales Navigator](https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/sales-navigator). Automation tools love to collapse these into one 'step' called Message. That is how you burn InMail credits on a template that belonged in a DM, or stuff a 1,200-character manifesto into an invite note and watch it get truncated. Configure the step for the box it actually writes to. *Three boxes. Automation that calls all of them 'Message' will truncate or waste credits.* ## What to put in each box Invite note: one specific reason, or nothing. After-accept: the premise and a small ask (a question, a resource, not a 30-minute hold). InMail: use it when the person is the right buyer and you cannot connect, or when their settings block invites. InMail copy should still sound like a person. A subject line that reads like a banner ad wastes a credit. If you automate any of these from your own profile, you still own the words. [Omentir](/signup) can draft and send campaign messages from a connected account with reply modes you choose. It will not invent InMail credits LinkedIn did not give you. Other sequencers that advertise InMail steps will spend whatever credits sit on that seat. Check the seat before you turn the step on. ## Replies are not a channel. They are a stop condition. Message automation that cannot see an inbound reply will keep talking. That is the classic double-send. The product needs to pull the thread, classify 'they answered,' and pause that person. Human review on the first few dozen replies teaches you whether the model (or the template) is overclaiming. After that, you can loosen. You cannot skip the week where you read them. Group messages, event messages, and Open Profile extras are more boxes with more rules. Do not assume a sequencer that handles DMs also handles those correctly. If the campaign targets event attendees, confirm that the step is the event's own message path, not a generic DM that LinkedIn will reject. ## Credits, caps, and complaints InMail unused credits and refill rules are a LinkedIn packaging question. Confirm them in Sales Navigator or Recruiter, not in a vendor blog post from 2022. DM volume still counts as account activity even when InMail is not involved. Complaints ('I don't know this person, they pitched me') are how accounts get a reputation. Automation makes it easier to create that reputation at scale. The fix is targeting and copy, not a friendlier send time. ## Related - [LinkedIn automation software, extensions, and the official API](https://omentir.com/linkedin-automation-software.md) - [Lists, commenters, and filters: automating LinkedIn lead gen](https://omentir.com/linkedin-lead-generation-automation.md) - [How to follow LinkedIn news without the rumor mill](https://omentir.com/linkedin-news.md) ## Common questions **Is InMail better than a connection request?** It is different. InMail reaches people you are not connected to and costs a credit. A request is a network action. For most cold outbound, a clean invite plus a DM after accept is the default. Save InMail for people you cannot reach that way. **Can I automate Open Profile messages the same way?** Only if the tool supports that path and the member has Open Profile. Treat it as another unofficial automation surface with the same account risk. Do not assume every sequencer implements it. [Create an Omentir account](https://omentir.com/signup). Pro is $49/month.