How to schedule LinkedIn messages? Tutorial for planning and automating sending

If you’ve been trying to schedule LinkedIn messages, you’ve probably noticed something fast: most articles are about scheduling posts. 🙃

But LinkedIn DM scheduling (inside LinkedIn inbox) is a totally different story.

And yes, it is doable… just not natively in standard LinkedIn messaging. 😬
(We’ll break down what LinkedIn does and doesn’t allow in a second.)

In this guide, you’ll get:

• Simple explanation of why LinkedIn message scheduling feature is useful,
• Best practices that actually increase replies,
• And a step-by-step tutorial using Waalaxy Inbox (the easiest way to do this without jumping through hoops). 👽

Schedule LinkedIn messages: what’s the point?

Before tools and tutorials, let’s zoom out.

Scheduling a LinkedIn message means deciding ahead of time that you’ll message someone again on a specific date and time, directly through LinkedIn chat. 📍

It’s especially useful when a prospect (or recruiter, partner, etc.) says something like: “I’m slammed right now… Follow up at the end of the month.” 🌊

And then you’re stuck in the classic following situation:

• You want to follow up (obviously).
• You don’t want to annoy them (also fair).
• And you don’t want to forget (spoiler: you will 😅).

So instead of setting reminders across 12 different calendars (and snoozing them forever), scheduling lets your automated follow-up messages happen automatically, right on time. 👇🏼

The real benefit isn’t “saving time.” That’s nice, sure… But the real win is:

✅ Better timing and organization: you follow up when it matters, not when you randomly remember.
✅ Higher response rates: a message at the right time beats a perfect message at the wrong time.
✅ Cleaner conversations: you keep momentum instead of restarting from scratch.
✅ Better professional image: you look organized and on top of things (without being pushy).

How to schedule LinkedIn message? Tutorial

Let’s get into this Schedule LinkedIn Message Guide. 🗓️

Can you directly schedule messages on LinkedIn?

In standard LinkedIn messaging (normal conversations), LinkedIn doesn’t offer a universal “Send later” button for everyone.

Some LinkedIn products have messaging features (like InMail messages in Sales Navigator/Recruiter), but if what you want is: “Schedule send LinkedIn messages + follow up properly + stay organized…”

Then you’ll need a tool built for it.

Message type	LinkedIn (standard account)	Sales Navigator	Recruit	Simple solution
Classic “LinkedIn” message (conversation)	❌	❌/depending on options	❌/depending on options	✅ Waalaxy inbox
InMails	—	✅ (InMail)	✅ (InMail)	✅ (if you use it via your workflows)
Scheduling + reminders + email organization	❌	❌	❌	✅ Waalaxy Inbox

And Waalaxy Inbox, an automated LinkedIn messaging, is the most straightforward option. 👽

How to Schedule LinkedIn Messages with Waalaxy Inbox? Follow the steps

Waalaxy provides an enhanced messaging interface (“Inbox”) where you can schedule LinkedIn messages, manage conversations, use templates, add tags, set reminders, and keep everything tidy. 🪄

1) Open Inbox and choose a conversation

• Connect your LinkedIn account to Waalaxy.
• Go to the Waalaxy Inbox section. 💬
• Open the conversation you want.
• Click “Send Later.”
• Write your message + choose your send date/time 🕞

Simple, clean, no “LinkedIn engineering degree” required. 😄

2) Write a message that feels personal (and gets replies)

Scheduling a LinkedIn message = automating an action. 🤖

But if the content feels automated, the whole thing backfires. Your goal is to personalize and add a human touch for the recipient to think: “Oh wow, they actually remembered.” 🤩

Here’s a simple, high-performing structure:

• 1 line of context: “Following up on…”
• 1 line of intent/value: “Wanted to share…” / “Wanted to check…”
  1 clear CTA: one simple question.

✅ Here are best practices that reliably boost reply rate:

1. Keep it short: 3–6 lines max. No essays. You’re just getting back in touch, so take it easy, keep it light, and try to pique their curiosity. 
2. Make it about them: “How’s it going?” beats “We’re market leaders in…” every day.
3. Show you listened: if they said “end of month,” use that exact phrase. It re-establishes the context and creates a natural continuity
4. Reintroduce context: if it’s been weeks, don’t act like you talked yesterday.
5. Give a simple call to action, such as a closed question (yes/no) or A/B choices, which work great (e.g., “Still relevant?” or “Want to do a quick 10-min chat, or should I send details here?”).
6. Drop 1–2 industry keywords (so they instantly place you): marketing, ops, growth, enablement, recruiting, etc.

And yes, use personalization variables (firstName, companyName, etc.) and saved templates to move faster without sounding generic.

✅ Bonus: once your templates are set up in Waalaxy, you can also reuse them in regular LinkedIn conversations, even when you’re not scheduling. ✨

3) Polish and double-check the message

Waalaxy lets you format and enrich your message (links, attachments, LinkedIn emojis, images, etc.), to make your message more appealing. 🎀

A few simple rules:

• One link max (if you can avoid links entirely, even better)
• One emoji in the right spot (not a Christmas tree 🎄)
• Short lines for easy scanning

Before sending messages on LinkedIn (or scheduling a LinkedIn message), Waalaxy lets you preview and provides a mini checklist 👀:

• Use the {firstName} personalization variable.
• Use between 100 and 500 characters.
• Avoid polite phrases, e.g., “Best regards.”
• Do not use your first or last name—do not use “I” or “we” more than once.

4) Set the date and time to send

In the Waalaxy Inbox, above the message you have written. ✍🏼

• Choose the date and time in LinkedIn Scheduler.

• Confirm, and done: your message is scheduled. 🎉 You can breathe. 😮‍💨

Looking for more information on the best time to send LinkedIn messages? There’s no magical universal time… But there are patterns. For B2B, generally:

• ✅ Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday.
• ✅ Morning (9–11 A.M.) or early afternoon (2–4 P.M.).
• ❌ Monday morning (too much inbox overload and backlog).
• ❌ Friday late afternoon (survival mode)

But the real “best time” is the one your prospect told you. If they said “end of month,” schedule end of month. If they said “after the trade show,” schedule after the trade show.

That’s good timing: their timing. 😉

5) Edit or cancel a scheduled message

This is underrated: scheduling isn’t “set it and forget it.”

If the prospect replies before the scheduled time, or the context changes, you can edit or cancel the scheduled message directly, so you don’t send something awkward or irrelevant. 💁🏻‍♀️

(The idea is to schedule LinkedIn messages so you don’t forget, not to send messages blindly.)

And no: LinkedIn doesn’t show “scheduled” or “automated messages” to recipients. 🤫
What gives automation away is:

• Sending a generic wording,
• No context,
• Weird timing/unnatural follow-up messages.

So if you apply the best practices above, it will go smoothly. 🍦

How to optimize your LinkedIn messaging strategy? Best practices

Scheduling LinkedIn messages is great.
But building an actual conversation system is where things get really fun (and scalable). 😈

With Waalaxy, you can:

✔️ Build a solid contact base, develop your reputation, use your content strategy to reach your targets and convert…

✔️ Auto-import prospects from LinkedIn (LinkedIn search results, LinkedIn profiles, posts, lists, groups, etc.)

✔️ Launch multi-channel LinkedIn + email sequences. For example:

1. Profile visit.
2. Personalized connection request.
3. LinkedIn message (Day 2).
4. Email (Day 4, if found by Email Finder).
5. LinkedIn follow-up (Day 7).
6. Soft follow-up (Day 14).

✔️ Track performance with a built-in dashboard. 📊

✔️ Use tags, notes, and contact records like a lightweight CRM.

✔️ Centralize conversations and keep your Waalaxy inbox under control. Use it to target specific profiles, centralize and manage your conversations, schedule LinkedIn message reminders, qualify your prospects from your automated message campaigns, and more.

When volume increases, handling LinkedIn manually turns into chaos fast.
A structured inbox (templates, reminders, tags, scheduling) can save time: Waalaxy claims up to 4 hours per week saved with Inbox. ⏳

Conclusion: Can you schedule LinkedIn messages?

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful B2B platforms out there, and if you’re using it for prospecting strategy, relationship-building, or recruiting, follow-up is everything.

The only problem: LinkedIn doesn’t natively let you DM scheduler for everyone. 🗓️ The good news is, Waalaxy Inbox makes it easy to:

• Improve reply rates.
• Follow-up at the right time.
• Stay consistent without being annoying.
• Keep your LinkedIn pipeline organized.
• Save serious time.

Turn LinkedIn into a real conversion channel with LinkedIn messaging automation, not just a social network. ✨

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

🏁 To conclude, here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions on the subject. 👇🏼

Is it OK to send a LinkedIn message at night?

Technically, yes. Strategically… it depends. 🤷🏻‍♀️

If your recipient’s time zone (US/Canada/UK/etc.) is different, night scheduling can make sense.

But if they’re local, a late-night message can feel automated, or like you’re working at 3 AM (not always the vibe you want). 🫠

Best practice: schedule LinkedIn messages during your ICP’s normal work hours.

What are popular tools for scheduling LinkedIn messages?

There are plenty of automation tools out there. The big differences usually come down to simplicity, safety/rate limits, multi-channel options, and inbox organization.

If your goal is “schedule + follow up + manage conversations without headaches,” Waalaxy Inbox is one of the cleanest and super-easy options.

Automate LinkedIn messages with Waalaxy

There are two levels for automating LinkedIn messages:

1. Schedule one message inside a conversation: Inbox → Send at a later time → choose date/time (as explained in the tutorial in this article 😊). ✅
2. Automate full LinkedIn outreach campaigns sequences: Connection requests + messages + follow-ups (bulk messages at scale).

The goal isn’t to spam, it’s consistency. Waalaxy often frames it as being able to reach up to ~800 qualified profiles/month with about 10 minutes/day of setup and follow-up. 🔥

There you have it, now you know everything there is to know about how to schedule LinkedIn messages with Waalaxy! See you soon. 💁🏻‍♀️