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Write the first message

Where drafts come from, the settings that change how they read, and when to send a connection request with a note or without one.

9 min readGuide 2 of 3 in Write the outreach

Every message in agaria is written for one person. There is no template with a {first_name} hole in it waiting to be filled, which is why the settings that shape the writing matter more than any template would.

Where a draft comes from

Before writing, agaria has already read the lead's profile, their company's recent news and their recent posts, and it holds your digital twin. The draft opens with the thing that made this person a lead, not with who you are.

Use a relevant detail from the prospect’s research to start the conversation.

Read the first three drafts of any campaign properly. They tell you whether the brief, the offer and the twin are right, and fixing them there is worth more than editing fifty messages later.

Tell it what you are selling

The Offer tab is the part people skip and then wonder why the drafts are vague. It holds:

  • Product and What it is: what you sell, in a sentence or two.
  • Value proposition: why the lead should care.
  • Benefits, one per line: what the buyer gets.
  • What sets it apart, one per line: why this over the alternatives.
  • Proof, one per line: numbers, names, results.
  • Primary CTA: the ask, for example "Open to hearing more?"
  • Fallback ask: a smaller one when the first is too much, for example "Happy to send a two-minute video".

Proof and differentiators are the two fields that change drafts the most. Give them real numbers, not adjectives.

Tone and personalization

The Messaging tab has two controls. Tone is Professional, Casual, Friendly or Bold. Personalization is None, Light, Medium or Deep, and it decides how much of the research is allowed into the message.

Deep personalization on a lead with thin research produces a stretch. Medium is the honest default for most lists.

With a note or without

LinkedIn caps a connection request's note at 300 characters, and caps how many personalized invites you get in a month.

In the Behaviour tab, Invite note chooses between them:

  • With note: if the drafted message fits in 300 characters it rides the invitation, so an acceptance means the message was already delivered.
  • No note: a bare invitation goes out and the drafted message follows as a DM the moment they accept. Bare invitations do not count against LinkedIn's monthly note quota.

Long drafts go out as a bare invite plus a DM anyway, because they do not fit.

Choose how to continue when your LinkedIn invitation-note limit is reached.

Continue with a LinkedIn follow-up

Choose a wait before the next message and give that follow-up a reason to exist: a relevant example, an answer to a likely question or a useful detail. Keep it in the same LinkedIn conversation. Agaria stops the remaining follow-ups when the lead replies.

Automate LinkedIn invitations, messages and follow-ups, stopping when someone replies.

Approve, regenerate, edit

Every draft shows its length beside Regenerate and Approve. Change a word, ask for another take, or send it as it stands. Nothing reaches a prospect without passing that line.

What to do next

Now decide how the messages are spaced: Build your sequence.