How to ask for an introduction on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is very good at telling you who knows whom. It's a worse place to make the ask itself than email, and it is worth knowing why before you send one.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 28, 2026.
The short version
Ask the first-degree connection you share, in a direct message, and move to email the moment they say yes. LinkedIn has no introduction feature. What it gives you is the shared connections list on a profile, free messaging to people you're already connected to, and a Share Profile button your connector can use in one tap. Keep the ask to a single phone screen with the name in the first line.
What LinkedIn can and cannot do here
There is no button on a LinkedIn profile that asks a mutual connection to introduce you. The product gives you four things: the shared connections list under a profile, free messaging to anyone you are already connected to, the Share Profile feature, which LinkedIn describes as a way to “introduce any LinkedIn member to someone in your network who may benefit from knowing them”, and paid InMail for people you are not connected to. The introduction request itself is a message you write by hand.
LinkedIn also reaches fewer people than it seems to. Pew Research Center puts LinkedIn at 32% of U.S. adults who say they ever use it (2024). Ever use is a low bar that counts people who sign in twice a year. Email is where work already arrives, so nothing waits behind a notification badge for two weeks. An introduction that arrives late usually arrives after the role is filled or the round has closed.
The second limit is what LinkedIn can see. Its shared connections list records who accepted whose request, which is not the same as who would take a call. Your strongest connector may not appear on it at all: a former manager who moved on before the platform mattered, or a client you have billed every quarter for four years. LinkedIn notes that “your connection may choose to hide connections they don't want to share”, in which case the option disappears from the profile altogether.
Use LinkedIn to find the person you want and to read the shared connections list. Then make the ask where the introduction will happen, which for anything that matters is an email with a forwardable paragraph in it.
Doing this with Happenstance
The step LinkedIn can't do for you is the one where you find out who really knows the person, because LinkedIn only knows LinkedIn. Happenstance searches the accounts you connect, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, so a question like “Who knows Renata Voss, and how do they know her?” is answered across all of them at once. The results are ranked and carry their evidence: how well each person knows her and which account the tie came from, so a colleague who worked with her stands apart from one who merely accepted a request in 2019.
That evidence is what turns a list of shared connections into an order of who to ask. It also covers the people who are strong ties and weak LinkedIn ties, which is most of the best paths anyone has. A question can also reach past your own connections into the networks of friends and groups you belong to. Happenstance is free. The free plan is the whole product, with usage limits on chat and web searches beyond your network. Pro raises the limits: unlimited web searches and results, higher chat limits, and CSV export.
Happenstance with LinkedIn connected covers what that source adds on its own, and warm introductions explains how paths are ranked.
What to send, and how much room you have
Nearly every LinkedIn introduction should start with a direct message to somebody you're already connected to. The invitation note covers the case where you aren't connected to your connector yet, and it is written to fit inside 200 characters so it works on a free account.
Message to a connection you share
Invitation note, under 200 characters
Notice what the note doesn't do. It doesn't ask for the introduction, because there's no room to earn it in two sentences, and a request that arrives before the connection is accepted reads as the reason for the connection. It asks for one conversation about a person, which is a smaller thing and a better opening.
For the investor version of platform mechanics, including what to write once a partner accepts, see how to reach out to investors on LinkedIn. For what your connector should send once they agree, how to make a warm introduction by email is written for their side of it.
What Happenstance can see
Email is read as headers only. Message content and attachments never reach our servers. Yes. Your connections are searchable only by you, the friends you accept, and the groups you join, and sharing is always mutual. Your public profile shows a constellation of named people you know by default, which you can turn off anytime. We never share, sell, or use your data to train AI models. Happenstance is SOC 2 certified and DTI Trust Level 2; the full list of what is stored and for how long is on the security page.
Frequently asked questions
Can you request an introduction on LinkedIn?
Not as a feature. No button on a profile asks a mutual connection to pass you along, so an introduction on LinkedIn is a message you write by hand to somebody you're connected to. Sales Navigator's TeamLink does have a request-an-introduction flow, but it reaches only colleagues at your own company and it sits inside a paid team plan.
How do you ask a mutual connection for an introduction on LinkedIn?
Message them directly, which is free for anyone you're already connected to. Name the person you want in the first line, and give one sentence on why that person specifically. Say what you want out of a conversation, and make no an easy reply. Keep the whole thing inside one phone screen.
Can I see mutual connections if someone has hidden their connections?
Not from their profile. LinkedIn says that "your connection may choose to hide connections they don't want to share", in which case the See connections option is gone from their profile. Shared connections can still show up from the People tab of search results.
Should I ask for the introduction in a connection request note?
No. LinkedIn caps that note at 200 characters on a free account and 300 for Premium, which isn't enough room to name a third person and explain why. Ask to connect for a reason of its own, then make the introduction request in a message once they've accepted.
Is InMail worth spending on an introduction request?
Rarely. InMail is a premium feature metered by credits, and spending one to ask a stranger to introduce you to another stranger is the weakest version of this. If the only path you have runs through someone you do not know, the options are to write to the person you want directly or to keep looking for a real connector.
Why do introduction requests on LinkedIn go unanswered?
Usually because the message never got read. LinkedIn isn't where most people spend their working day, and a request sitting behind a red badge can wait two weeks. The rest of the time it's because the message asked for a general favor rather than naming one person and one reason.
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