For years the advice was simple: always add a note. Then LinkedIn changed the rules. A free account now gets only a few personalized invites a month, the note is capped at 200 characters, and the weekly ceiling of around 100 requests applies to everyone. Premium accounts keep their notes and get 300 characters. So the question is no longer "should I write a note?" but "which requests deserve one?"
What a note can and cannot do
A note does one thing well: it tells the person why you, specifically, want to connect with them, specifically. That works when you have a real reason: you both spoke at the same event, you read their post, their company just did something you can help with.
A note cannot rescue a request that has no reason behind it. "I'd love to add you to my network" spends a note and says nothing. A plain request from a credible profile does at least as well, and it costs nothing from your monthly quota.
When a note is worth spending
Spend a note when all three are true:
- You have a signal. A round, a new role, a post they wrote, a hire they made. Something that happened to them, not to their industry.
- You can say it in one line. 200 characters is about 30 words. "You put up six SDR roles this month, Maya. Curious how you are planning the ramp, we just went through the same thing." That is 108 characters and it does the job.
- The request is part of a sequence. The note opens a door; the message after acceptance walks through it. A note with no follow-up is a wasted note.
If any of those is missing, send the request plain and put the words in the first message instead. Once someone accepts, the message box has no character limit and no monthly quota.
What happens when the notes run out
In a campaign, the notes run out on day two or three. Then every queued request with a note is blocked until LinkedIn resets the counter. agaria surfaces that moment instead of failing silently, and lets you pick a rule once.
The options are the four sensible answers:
- Ask me each time. The queue holds and you decide per batch. Fine for a small campaign, tiring for a big one.
- Send without a note. The request goes out plain, and the sequence sends the personalized message the moment they accept. This is what we recommend for most campaigns: the note was going to be short anyway, and the real message is better without a limit.
- Wait for the quota to reset. Everything holds until next month. Right if the note is the whole point, for example a warm introduction that names a mutual contact.
- I have Premium. Notes keep going out, at 300 characters.
The choice resets whenever a personalized invite goes through again, so you are never stuck with last month's answer.
The order that works
Put the effort where it compounds: a specific note for the ten people with the strongest signals, plain requests for everyone else, and a first message ready for the moment each one accepts. The post on how agaria writes a first message covers what that message should say, and the one on pacing covers why the requests go out at a walking pace.