How to know if someone has read your LinkedIn message
Wouldn’t it be useful to know whether someone has not only received your LinkedIn message, but read it? Well, you can.
LinkedIn has read receipts, but the interesting thing is many people have never noticed them! Or have no idea what those little symbols beside their messages mean.
You might have seen beside your messages – sometimes there’s a little tick and sometimes there’s a small photo of the person you’ve messaged.
Here’s what they mean – a tick means your message has been delivered but hasn’t been read yet.
The person’s photo means they’ve seen the message.
Simple and potentially very useful. It means you can get a better idea of what’s happening after you press send. Is your message still sitting there waiting to be opened, or has the person read it?
Of course, if they reply, that’s another matter entirely! At that point, you’ve got something much more useful than a read receipt. You’ve got a conversation and that’s really the point of LinkedIn.
The more personal and relevant your LinkedIn messages are, the more likely people are to read them, respond and do something with them.
A message can start a conversation, which can lead to a meeting, a coffee and, ultimately, perhaps even some business.
Because LinkedIn messaging works best when it feels like one human being talking to another, not a sales automation system, or funnel, having a particularly productive afternoon.
29 September 2026
