If you are looking to scale your outreach, you've likely come across Instantly.ai. This cold outreach software, launched in 2021, promises to help you find, contact, and close your ideal clients.

But before you commit to it, there are a few things to consider. 

Is it worth the investment? 

What do others have to say about it? 

And how does it compare to other tools on the market?

If you're ready to get answers to these questions, dive into our review that reveals:

• Notable Instantly.ai features
• Downsides to using it
• Real users’ opinions on the tool
• How much it costs

We’ve even added a list of 12 alternatives, just in case Instantly features do not fulfill your business needs.

Let’s jump right in!

Instantly.ai or alternatives?

Instantly.ai is cold email software and an email management platform that’s quickly become popular for email outreach. 

This cloud-based tool allows users to set up automated email campaigns with follow-ups to reach leads at scale.

Users can add leads to their campaigns by either importing a CSV file with lead information or using Instantly.ai’s native B2B Lead Finder tool.

The software also offers a Unibox, which consolidates all email conversations in one place and various options for message personalization. 

Speaking of personalization, to enhance your outreach, you can use its:

• Pre-set or custom variables
• Spintax - multiple variations of a text to avoid repetition
• Liquid syntax - dynamic text based on data

Additionally, Instantly.ai supports A/Z testing, which lets you test up to 26 different versions of email copy.

Data from Instantly.ai can be pushed to different CRMs and tools via Zapier webhooks.

However, the platform also has a built-in CRM that helps track lead statuses and enables you to make calls and send SMS directly from the platform.

Finally, the software can verify your leads' emails, reducing the chance of bounces and protecting your domain's reputation.

With the basics covered, let’s take a closer look at Instantly.ai’s main features.

Instantly.ai features

Unlimited email accounts

Instantly.ai allows you to connect and manage unlimited email accounts.

As they like to say, this enables you to:

‘’Infinitely scale your outreach.’’

However, despite being able to connect unlimited email accounts, the tool caps the number of active leads and emails you can send per month based on the subscription plan.

Nonetheless, Instantly.ai is still useful for email outreach, especially for those who need to reach a large number of leads quickly.

Why? Because you can use all connected accounts in the same campaign. 

This is possible due to the software’s inbox rotation feature. This feature alternates sending emails from different accounts. In turn, it helps you send more emails daily without triggering automation detection.

Unlimited email warm-up

Instantly.ai is one of the few sales outreach tools (or outreach tools in general) with a built-in unlimited email warm-up functionality. 

This means that you can warm up every new email address that you connect to it to ensure that:

• Fewer emails end up in spam
• Your sender’s reputation remains optimal 

B2B Lead Finder

Instantly's B2B Lead Finder is a database with 160M contacts designed to help find leads that are highly relevant and accurate.

The feature relies on a range of filters — some of which match Sales Navigator filters. These include:

• Job Titles
• Location
• Industry
• Employees
• Revenue
• Domains
• ...etc.

What's more, the feature supports keyword-based searches and lets you apply multiple filters simultaneously. This helps you better narrow your search and pinpoint the most promising leads according to your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and buyer persona.

Another useful feature of the Lead Finder is Lead Enrichment. To use it, upload a list of contacts, and the system will enrich it with additional data. 

Instantly.ai disadvantages

Instantly.ai excels in many aspects. However, certain disadvantages make it less than ideal and position other tools as superior.

For example, while you can connect multiple email accounts to the software, the same can’t be said for multiple LinkedIn accounts. 

In fact, Instantly.ai doesn’t support LinkedIn automation at all. Hence, it misses out on the opportunities that social selling and multichannel outreach provide.

Moreover, email sequences that you can create with Instantly.ai are pretty basic. You can’t set them up to adjust based on your leads’ behavior. So, if your leads don’t respond, there’s not much you can do.

Why, yes, messages can be personalized. Unfortunately, rich media content, including images and GIFs, can’t.

Analytics could also be improved to provide deeper insight into campaign performance. Additionally, there is no option to export stats to CSV or PDF.

While Instantly.ai claims you can scale your outreach infinitely, that's not quite accurate. In fact, their basic plan lets you send 5,000 emails per month only. Consequently, the mid-tier plan limits you to 100,000 emails, and the top plan caps at 500,000 emails. 

Plus, they limit the number of leads you can upload to the platform. Depending on the plan, you can either upload 1,000, 25,000, or 100,000 leads.

Finally, while the tool can enrich your leads’ information, including their emails, this functionality will cost you extra. Not to mention, there are limits to how many leads you can enrich.

This is a huge con, considering that a certain tool lets you send tens of thousands of emails a month and verify as many emails as you want at no additional cost.

But we’ll get to that shortly.

What Instantly.ai reviews say

While doing the research, we stumbled across both positive and negative Instantly.ai reviews.

As for the positive aspects, we noticed many users are praising the interface.

For instance, one of them, Jonas R, says:

‘’The automation of follow-ups and the user-friendly interface make it incredibly efficient for managing my cold outreach campaigns.’’

On the other hand, Zirva Z. has pointed out certain flows in her review:

‘’The leads aren't great, and being limited to adding only 100 at a time is really frustrating.’’

She also went on to mention that:

‘’It's not very useful unless you have a really high budget.’’

Instantly.ai pricing

Instantly.ai has 2 main pricing categories  — Sending & Warmup and Leads — with multiple sub-plans.

Sending & Warmup is the pricing plan for sending and warming up emails. 

As such, it doesn’t include access to the B2B Lead Finder and is divided into 3 individual sub-plans. 

The pricing varies and is determined based on the number of leads you can upload and emails you can send.

Meanwhile, Leads plans are meant to streamline prospecting and entail full access to the B2B Lead Finder feature. 

There are a total of 4 of these. They differ in price depending on the number of leads you can verify and include:

But remember, if you want to use Instantly.ai to send and warm up emails and generate leads, you can’t purchase a plan from a single category. Instead, you’ll need one from each.

This means that the price of using the software can quickly skyrocket. 

For instance, if you were to subscribe to their lowest-tier subscriptions, you’d pay a total of $84 for both each month. On the other hand, their highest-tier plans combined set you back an exorbitant $850 a month. 

That said, you might be better off using a tool that offers much more at a lower price.

12 best Instantly.ai alternatives

Are you interested in exploring other software on the market? If so, here are 12 compelling alternatives to Instantly.ai that may provide you with better value for your money.

1. Skylead

Well, hello - that’s us! 😊

Skylead is a leading LinkedIn automation and cold email software that puts time-consuming outreach tasks on autopilot.

It's commonly used by:

• Sales professionals and entrepreneurs who aim to free up as much as 11 hours a week for booking 3x more meetings.
• Marketing professionals seeking to distribute content and secure more backlinks.
• Recruiters on the hunt for the best talent.
• Lead generation agencies focused on acquiring high-quality leads for their clients. 

The biggest difference between Instantly.ai and Skylead is the support for LinkedIn outreach. 

As a matter of fact, our software allows you to create multichannel campaigns that combine different email and LinkedIn actions. All thanks to our Smart sequences.

The tool also lets you personalize messages with preset and custom variables. While at it, you can even engage in A/B testing to determine how to best approach leads. 

However, what truly sets Skylead apart in the personalization department is our native image and GIF personalization feature.

Finally, our tool comes with advanced reporting capabilities and even supports CSV and PDF exports. You can also integrate it with any CRM or tool you like using Zapier webhooks or API.

Now, let’s get deeper into our features that are changing the outreach game as we know it.

LinkedIn automation

Skylead is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool.

It’s the best among other types of LinkedIn automation tools (browser extensions & desktop apps) in that:

• It exists on the ‘’Cloud’’. This means that it doesn’t require an Internet connection or power to run.
• It comes with a dedicated IP address (proxy) that shields your activity, an integrated inbox, and the possibility of adding multiple accounts.
• The tool mimics human behavior, browsing through LinkedIn and scrolling just as a human would. 

Now, with Skylead, you can automate much of your LinkedIn prospecting and LinkedIn lead generation through targeted outreach campaigns.

To create one, you can use the following lead sources:

And, yes, you can connect any LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter account to the software.

Once you do, you can use Skylead to:

• View your leads' profiles
• Follow them
• Send them invites to connect
• Automate LinkedIn messages and LinkedIn inMails

However, the tool isn’t limited to performing actions on LinkedIn. So, feel free to add emails to the mix — including the email discovery and verification feature — and turn the tool into a complete multichannel outreach platform.

Email automation

Much like Instantly.ai, Skylead lets you add unlimited email accounts to help you send tens of thousands of emails a month. 

However, unlike it, it doesn’t limit the number of active leads you can have. You can input unlimited leads, allowing you to reach out to more people.

If you were wondering how it’s possible to send thousands of emails a month, well, it’s because our tool supports inbox rotation. This means that Skylead alternates sending emails from different accounts to keep you within safe limits on each.

Email discovery & verification

Speaking of safety, did you know that Skylead goes a step further to ensure it? 

Namely, our software can find and verify your leads’ emails. In turn, it reduces the chances of bounces that impact deliverability and your sender’s reputation.

And guess what? You can take advantage of this feature without breaking your campaign creation flow. 

Just add the Find & Verify Email step to your sequence for the tool to find and double-verify the existence of your leads’ emails.

The best thing about this feature is that it has one of the highest, if not the highest, email-finding probabilities on the market. 

Not to mention, it’s both unlimited and comes at no extra cost. In other words, as long as you’re subscribed to the tool, you can use it as much as you want. 

This makes Skylead more cost-effective than Instantly.ai, which requires a separate subscription to enrich emails.

Smart sequences

And that brings us to the star of the show: Smart sequences.

In essence, they are algorithms that combine the above-mentioned LinkedIn and email actions with if/else conditions. As a result, you get coherent outreach flows that unfold according to the way your prospects behave.

For instance, let’s say you tried adding a lead to your network on LinkedIn, but they haven’t accepted the invite.

If this were a simple sequence, you’d get stuck at this step and miss the opportunity to get to the lead.

But with Smart sequences, you get to maximize touchpoints by covering every possible scenario.

In this case, you can add the ‘’If Connected’’ condition to your campaign and then define the following steps.

For example, you can set up Skylead to automatically message your lead when they accept your connection request. If they don't, you can try to locate their email address, and if the tool finds it, send them an email. But if that doesn't work, you can always send an InMail to maximize getting in touch with leads.

Of course, there are a thousand more ways this can go. Smart sequence builder is your playground, so feel free to experiment with different branching paths.

Or, you can visit our tried and tested Smart sequences template library and replicate one of ours for guaranteed results!

Smart inbox

Smart inbox, although serving the same purpose as Instantly.ai’s Unibox, is far superior. That’s because it doesn’t only aid email management. It also lets you manage your conversations on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter, whether it’s messages or inMails.

But what makes our Smart inbox truly irreplaceable is the opportunity to label chats. These labels are great because they can help you keep track of ROI and conversions. That said, you can choose between a couple of predefined ones or add your own.

Image & GIF personalization

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And we agree, which is why we introduced our image and GIF personalization feature.

Believe it or not, by personalizing visuals for each recipient, you can increase your response rate to more than 63%.

That said, our image and GIF editor lets you upload any picture you like and personalize it with:

• Your lead’s name
• Their and/or your LinkedIn profile image
• Their and/or your company logo
• A custom message

The choice is yours! Either way, you’ll surely leave a lasting impression. 

In fact, just look at the astonishing 76% response rate we got using the following visual!

Advanced analytics

Speaking of results, Skylead comes equipped with advanced analytics, which are available on the Reports page. 

Here, you can see how all of your campaigns are performing or examine the stats for a single campaign.

That said, there are 3 ways to observe results:

• In a graph form, to visually compare oscillations between different metrics;
• In table-view, to observe fluctuations on a daily basis;
• Step-by-step, to see how your A/B tests are performing.

Unlike Instantly.ai, Skylead even lets you download these reports. The good news is that there are 2 different formats to choose from: CSV and PDF.

What Skylead reviews say

Skylead reviews are positive, with people praising it for what it has helped them accomplish.

For instance, Daniel Hoffmann, a Managing director at Toplevel Performance, has said that:

“Since I’ve started working with these clients and using Skylead, I have earned approximately $33.000.”

In the meantime, NewPoort's founder, Toine Boelens, has highly praised our Smart sequences and email finder and verifier:

‘’If/else conditions in Smart Sequences are also great. It's low code, so it's great because I'm not good at coding yet. I also like the Find & verify business email step, which finds email addresses most of the time. So you get, like, two ways you can get in touch with the client. ‘’

Instantly.ai vs. Skylead

Pricing

Skylead has a singular plan that costs $100 per LinkedIn seat. To test out the tool and its functionalities, feel free to take advantage of our 7-day free trial period. Moreover, our customer support remains available for a 1-on-1 onboarding call—completely free of charge!

2. Lemlist

Lemlist is a cloud-based tool primarily used for email outreach. Nonetheless, its higher-tier subscription supports multichannel outreach, letting you add automatic LinkedIn actions and calls to the mix.

In terms of LinkedIn automation, the tool can visit your lead's profiles, invite them to connect, and send them a message. Moreover, you can add conditions to your sequences to cover several outreach scenarios.

You can also perform any other action on LinkedIn. However, you’ll need to add it as a manual step to your campaign, the same as calls.

The software offers advanced personalization features, including custom images, intro lines, and dynamic landing pages. 

It's also known for Lemwarm, a built-in email warm-up tool that helps emails stay away from spam.

Now, even though Lemlist comes with an email finder and verifier, like Skylead and Instantly.ai, it limits the number of emails you can discover and verify by plan. In fact, even with their most expensive plan, you can only discover and verify up to 1,000 emails a month. If your needs exceed this, you can purchase additional credits. However, this comes at a cost of $1 per 100 verified emails.

That's not it for limitations, though. For instance, you can't connect unlimited email accounts to the tool. Moreover, although Lemlist offers a B2B lead database with over 450M contacts, the quality of leads isn't the highest.

This is somewhat compensated for with the Chrome extension for prospecting on LinkedIn. However, considering that Chrome extensions inject code into LinkedIn that may jeopardize your account, you might want to think twice before using it.

Instantly.ai vs. Lemlist

Pricing

3. Apollo

Apollo.io is a multichannel sales engagement platform that combines email, LinkedIn outreach, and cold calls in seamless sequences. 

It allows users to set up campaigns that feature both automatic and manual emails.

When engaging leads via LinkedIn, Apollo can automate connection requests, messages, and interactions with posts. 

However, its multichannel sequences—known as Playbooks—are relatively simple. Namely, unlike Skylead's Smart sequences, they don't unfold according to your lead's behavior, making them less than ideal.

Regarding integrations, the platform natively integrates with tools like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Slack. 

The software also has A/B testing capabilities, which help optimize outreach efforts. Additionally, it comes with a built-in AI writing assistant that those previously using ChatGPT for sales writing may find convenient.

Now, in terms of pulling leads into a campaign, Apollo does it through its databases of over 275M contacts. However, certain users have complained about the quality of these leads.

Like Lemlist, the platform can also scrape new leads from LinkedIn. However, this process, yet again, involves using a Chrome extension and could lead to account penalties.

Instantly.ai vs. Apollo

Pricing

4. Smartlead.ai

Smartlead is a robust email outreach tool designed to automate and streamline lead generation efforts. 

It supports unlimited email accounts and email warmups, features inbox rotation, and uses a Master Inbox for streamlined email management. 

The platform offers advanced personalization options like variables, spintax, and liquid syntax, along with split testing capabilities for up to 26 email variants. 

Smartlead also integrates with various CRMs, including HubSpot, via API and webhooks.

However, it has some drawbacks. 

Despite claiming to support multichannel outreach, LinkedIn integration for automatic steps has been discontinued, leaving only manual tasks. 

Additionally, it lacks image and GIF personalization and an email discovery feature that Skylead has.

Finally, while you can create subsequences for each campaign to make it reactive to your leads' behavior, you must break the campaign creation flow to do so. Not to mention, you can only add leads to your campaign through a CSV file or HubSpot.

Instantly.ai vs. Smartlead.ai

Pricing

Pro and Custom plans support adding additional seats, with each costing $29 a month.

5. Mailshake

Mailshake is a cloud-based tool designed primarily for sending emails and follow-ups. 

Nonetheless, it does have a Chrome extension that transforms it into a multichannel outreach tool. You can use to set up simple outreach sequences to automatically:

• View your leads' profiles on LinkedIn,
• Send them invites to connect,
• And messages.

At the same time, you can use the extension for cold-calling purposes, as it comes with a built-in dialer and call recorder. However, this option is available strictly for leads based in the US and Canada. 

Moreover, you can integrate the tool with more than 1,000 software via Zapier webhooks. In terms of native integrations, there are those with Pipedrive and Hubspot.

A/B testing is supported, too, and so is inbox rotation. Unfortunately, you can't connect unlimited email accounts to Mailshake as you can with Skylead and Instantly.ai. In fact, the highest-tier subscription limits you to a maximum of 5 accounts.

LinkedIn automation and calls are restricted to the highest-tier plan, too.

Lastly, the use of a Chrome extension for LinkedIn actions risks account restrictions.

Instantly.ai vs. Mailshake

Pricing

6. Woodpecker

Woodpecker is a tool that automates emails and follow-ups to help individuals connect with ideal clients.

What's great about it is that it lets you connect as many email accounts to it as you want, just as Skylead, Instantly.ai, and Smartlead do. The same can be said about inbox rotation.

Sequences you can create with Woodpecker are condition-based. This means they adapt according to the way your leads behave.

With Woodpecker, you can A/B test up to 5 different variations of your message copy. And if you have trouble writing, its AI writing assistant is there to help.

Moreover, the tool supports plenty of 3rd party integrations, such as the one with Dux-Soup. This integration allows its users to tap into LinkedIn outreach, not just email, but it will cost you more.

That said, not everything's ideal with this tool. 

Why, yes, the Dux-Soup integration turns Woodpecker into a multichannel outreach solution. The catch is, however, that they must subscribe to Dux-Soup’s Turbo plan for this to be made possible. This raises the cost of a subscription that's already steep and depends heavily on the number of contacted prospects.

Instantly.ai vs. Woodpecker 

Pricing

The exact cost of the Cold Email and Agency plan is determined by the number of leads contacted. It ranges between $29 for 500 contacted leads and $395 a month for 25,000. 

Although price points for these plans are the same, they differ in one thing: the Cold Email plan is designed for individuals, whereas the Agency plan is meant to be used by teams. That said, the latter supports adding additional users at the price of $27 per each.

Additionally, the Dux-Soup integration adds an extra $55 a month to the subscription.

7. Salesloft

Salesloft is a cloud-based sales engagement platform ideal for sales teams that want to automate workflows and connect with more prospects. 

Its Cadences—a form of campaign—integrate email, phone, and Sales Navigator tasks, though only emails are automated.

Nonetheless, the platform shines in email tracking and advanced analytics, offering A/B testing and customizable email templates. 

However, Salesloft only integrates with Sales Navigator, missing support for LinkedIn Premium and Recruiter accounts.

Additionally, it lacks the Smart sequences that Skylead has, which limits touchpoints with leads. 

Users have also complained about a less user-friendly interface and a buggy dialer.

Instantly.ai vs. Salesloft

Pricing

At this time, Salesloft doesn’t disclose its pricing details for either of its plans: Essentials, Advanced & Premier. Instead, upon visiting the "Pricing" page, their bot prompts you to contact their team for a tailored quote.

However, the information on the Internet suggests that users are paying anywhere from $75 to $125 per user a month.

8. Outreach.io

Outreach.io is a complete sales engagement platform designed to streamline the sales process for enterprise teams. 

It integrates email, phone, LinkedIn, and live chat into a unified workflow, allowing for seamless multichannel outreach.

The platform lets you create personalized sequences with automated follow-ups and response-based triggers. However, any actions on LinkedIn that are part of your sequences must be completed manually.

The tool integrates well with popular CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot for smooth data synchronization.

Key features include robust email tracking, detailed analytics, A/B testing, and a library of customizable email templates. 

Outreach.io also provides AI-driven sentiment analysis, call scheduling, and a pipeline calculator to estimate necessary sales expenses.

Its conversation intelligence tool, Kaia, offers real-time call transcription and insights, enhancing sales interactions and coaching.

In terms of cons, it's worth noting that the platform can be expensive for small businesses. Furthermore, no free trial is available, and the interface is complex.

Also, the platform connects to Sales Navigator accounts only and caters primarily to sales professionals. As such, it may lack features that marketing experts and lead generation agencies need, such as email discovery and verification.

Lastly, users can connect a maximum of 2 email accounts to the tool unless otherwise outlined in the contract.

Instantly.ai vs. Outreach.io

Pricing

Much like Salesloft, Outreach.io doesn’t disclose pricing details to non-users. Instead, the price is customized and heavily depends on the number of users within a team.

However, we did some research online and found that one user was quoted $130 per month per user, with a minimum requirement of 20 users.

9. QuickMail

QuickMail is an effective outreach tool that goes beyond email campaigns. 

It supports multichannel outreach, combining email, LinkedIn, calls, and SMS to help you reach your prospects where they are.

Linked outreach actions that QuickMail can perform are automatic and include:

• Profile views
• Connection requests
• Messages

Contrary to tools like Skylead, which lets you import leads directly from LinkedIn, QuickMail offers 2 import options: a CSV file or Google Drive.

The tool comes with a built-in email warm-up and an inbox rotation feature that maintains high deliverability rates. It supports A/B testing and natively integrates with popular CRMs like Pipedrive and HubSpot. Nonetheless, you can integrate any tool with it via Zapier.

While email verification is available, QuickMail relies on 3rd party tools for this. 

Similarly, Image and GIF personalization, while there, isn't native. For this, you’ll need Hyperise, which incurs additional costs.

Moreover, if you want to use LinkedIn in your outreach, you'll need QuickMail’s Chrome extension, which can put your account at risk.

You can add unlimited team members to your QuickMail account. However, you can connect a maximum of 50 email accounts and 15 LinkedIn accounts to the tool. And this is for the highest-tier subscription.

Instantly.ai vs. QuickMail

Pricing

10. Snov.io

Snov.io is a cloud-based multichannel outreach tool that lets you create automated campaigns that combine emails and LinkedIn touches. These include profile visits, post likes, messages, and connection invites.

The platform lets you add "triggers" to your sequences, similar to Skylead's if/else conditions. These make your outreach smart and adaptable based on how your prospects react. 

Additionally, Snov.io comes with a built-in email warm-up tool and a CRM. While the CRM isn’t the most advanced, it has enough functionality to be a good choice for those on a budget.

Snov.io can verify your leads' emails, but this feature isn’t unlimited. In fact, the number of emails you can verify depends on your plan. 

Furthermore, for LinkedIn automation, you’ll need to pay an extra $69 per LinkedIn account you want to add to the software.

While Snov.io's LinkedIn automation is cloud-based, the tool prompts you to use their 2 Chrome extensions: 

• One for prospecting on LinkedIn
• Another for finding leads' emails across the web. 

However, if you choose to use them, be cautious: they may put your account at risk.

Instantly.ai vs. Snov.io

Pricing

11. Salesblink

SalesBlink is one of the best Insantly.ai alternatives for cold emailing. 

It uses its AI, BlinkGPT, to craft smart email sequences with follow-ups that adapt based on your leads' behavior. 

Plus, with its email warm-up feature, your messages are more likely to land in your leads’ inboxes instead of their spam folders.

SalesBlink lets you connect unlimited email accounts and automatically rotates them while sending emails, thus keeping you within safe limits. 

Furthermore, it comes with a Unified inbox that keeps all your conversations in one place, similar to Skylead, Instantly.ai, and Smartlead.

Although SalesBlink supports adding multichannel tasks to your sequences, these tasks need to be done manually. So, it doesn’t offer true multichannel outreach. 

The tool also provides email verification, but this feature is limited. Simultaneously, it isn't available to the subscribers to the lowest-tier plan.

Instantly.ai vs. Salesblink

Pricing

The number of emails you can send with the software depends on your plan. 

For example, the basic plan lets you send up to 6,000 emails, while the top tier allows up to 100,000.

12. Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a tool renowned for its email finding and verification capabilities.

It boasts a user-friendly interface and frequently updates its database with new publicly available emails. 

One of its standout features is the ability to invite team members and grant role permissions, which makes team collaboration much easier. 

Additionally, Hunter.io offers multiple cold email templates and supports integrations with various CRMs and software via Zapier.

However, there are some limitations. For example, you can only create outreach campaigns if you connect a Gmail or Outlook account. Other email service providers are not supported. It also lacks features like A/B testing, advanced message personalization, and email warm-up.

Furthermore, the tool requires a bit of a learning curve, and the support response time can be slow. 

Finally, Hunter.io can't perform any actions on LinkedIn. This makes it less versatile compared to Instantly.ai alternatives that can.

Instantly.ai vs. Hunter.io

Pricing

How to cancel Instantly.ai subscription?

If you’re not satisfied with Instantly.ai, you can cancel your subscription and try another tool from our list.

Here's how:

1. Log into your account.
2. Go to the Billing page.
3. Under your active plan (s), find the "Cancel plan" button. Click it to confirm your cancellation.

If you have one plan only, you can use it until the end of the billing cycle.

However, if you have both a Lead Finder and Email Outreach plan and cancel only one, the cancellation of said plan takes effect immediately.

Also, if you want to cancel multiple plans, keep in mind that you'll need to cancel each one individually.

Lastly, to confirm your plan is canceled, look at the date listed next to the plan on the Billings page.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is instantly.ai?

Instantly.ai is an advanced email automation tool designed to help individuals manage their email campaigns more effectively. It offers a range of features, including unlimited email accounts, email warm-up, B2B Lead Finder, and a Unibox.

What does instantly AI do?

Instantly.ai automates various aspects of cold emailing and customer relationship management. It helps users manage multiple email accounts, warm up emails to improve deliverability, find new leads, and keep track of them. The platform also consolidates all emails into a single inbox, making it easier to manage conversations and follow-ups.

How to use instantly.ai?

Using Instantly.ai is easy. Just create an account, add and configure email accounts, and use the email warm-up feature to prepare your accounts for sending. Then, create and launch your email campaigns and manage interactions through Unibox. Finally, use the tracking and analytics page to analyze campaign performance.

Is instantly.ai free?

Instantly.ai is not free but offers various pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets. Each plan provides access to a range of features, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your requirements.

Does Instantly AI have a free trial?

Yes, instantly.ai offers a free trial for new users. This allows you to test out the platform and its features before committing to a paid plan.

How many emails can you send with instantly AI?

The number of emails you can send per month depends on the plan. For instance, the lowest plan limits you to sending 5,000 a month, whereas the Custom plan allows you to send more than 500,000.

Instantly.ai vs. alternatives: What’s the better option?

And there you have it—our deep dive into Instantly.ai and its top 12 alternatives.

As you’ve discovered, Instantly.ai has some powerful features.  But it's not perfect, mainly because of the lack of multichannel outreach support that tools like Skylead have.

That said, if your strategy relies heavily on engaging prospects across multiple channels, Instantly may not be for you.

Luckily, your perfect alternative is out there, waiting for you to discover it.

We've given you the options. Now, it's up to you to try them out.

But why not start with Skylead? 

With a 7-day free trial, you can experience the true power of email and LinkedIn automation combined.

So, come chat with us, sign up, and begin scaling your outreach — to infinity and beyond!

Automating LinkedIn messages can transform your outreach strategy. Imagine saving hours each week while booking more meetings. 

Moreover, using software that automates LinkedIn messages is like having one powerful way to accelerate your outreach and reach more customers faster. That's why, in this guide, you'll discover:

• Why LinkedIn automation matters;
• How to understand and choose the right tools for automation;
• How to generate a target list of your audience so your LinkedIn message automation has better results and leaves you with more time for other tasks;
• A step-by-step guide on how to set up messaging automation effectively;
• Best practices and tips for maximizing your success with automated messages.

Understanding the importance of LinkedIn automation

As a network, LinkedIn is a powerful platform for sales reps, marketers, founders, and other professionals. However, manually sending LinkedIn messages to reach people from your lead list can be time-consuming. 

Automating LinkedIn messages with tools like our Skylead, a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, can be a game-changer. It's proven to save up to 11+ hours of work per week by putting outreach tasks on autopilot, relieving you from the burden of manual outreach. This way, you can focus more on relationship-building and closing deals, making your work more efficient and effective.

Secondly, automation helps you stay consistent with your messaging, which is something our user, Dennis Goyal, experienced firsthand. He notes:

"The outreach became very consistent with Skylead because it was completely automated. I used to do it manually, but it was very inconsistent. Like, I was able to do it 3 days in and then got bored."

Consistency is vital to building relationships and trust. By automating, you ensure that every connection gets a timely and personalized message.

Finally, automation tools provide you with the power to track responses and engagement. This data is not just information; it's a strategic tool for refining your approach and improving your results over time. In other words, it gives you a sense of control and direction in your outreach efforts. 

So, you see? By adopting automation, you're not just saving time; you're enhancing your overall outreach strategy. This makes it easier to scale your efforts and achieve your business goals.

1# step: Choose the right tool to automate LinkedIn messages

Selecting the right LinkedIn automation tool is crucial for your success. There are various tools available, each with unique features. However, there are some dangers as well.

Pick the best LinkedIn automation tool type

Firstly, consider using a cloud-based solution, the kind that is our Skylead. They run entirely on the web, and you don’t have to keep your computer on as opposed to desktop apps or Chrome browser extensions. Moreover, if you use a Chrome extension, you risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted. 

It’s because these types of tools inject code into LinkedIn, so this network can detect it and restrict you. However, this is not the case with cloud-based solutions; you simply get your dedicated IP address to shield your online activity.

Another significant advantage of cloud-based solutions like Skylead, as opposed to browser extensions and desktop apps, is the convenience they offer. With Skylead, you can have an integrated inbox and easily manage multiple LinkedIn accounts, a feature not commonly found in other types of tools. This makes it an ideal solution for professionals who are managing multiple accounts. 

Considering price VS feature ratio

Secondly, consider the features vs price ratio. For example, if you plan to automate LinkedIn messages, then look for LinkedIn automation tools that can automate both paid and free InMails, such as Skylead. This feature is rare on the market but it’s pretty useful to get to as many people on LinkedIn as possible. 

Also, many tools don’t have email automation, so you can’t maximize getting in touch with your leads using both channels. The money you pay might be similar, but this crucial feature might be missing. 

For example, if you opt for our tool, you can add an unlimited number of email accounts at no extra cost. Skylead will auto-rotate them to send thousands of emails per month, bypassing the email and even LinkedIn limits.

The third feature to look out for is a Smart sequence. Smart sequences are algorithms that automate LinkedIn messages and emails and combine them with if/else conditions. This way, you can create a coherent outreach flow that the tool will follow and execute depending on your leads’ behavior.

The one feature you might not know you needed is Email finder & verifier, which lets you use your automated email outreach to the fullest potential. Some tools might have it but limit their usage or don’t have it at all. For example, in Skylead, you can include it into your Smart sequence, and it will double-verify as many emails as you’d like without breaking the outreach flow.  

The last feature you should consider is native image & GIF personalization. Add it to your automated LinkedIn emails to increase the response rate up to 63%. 

These are just our feature recommendations because we know and tested their benefits. However, at the end of the day, you are the one who knows what your precise outreach needs and goals are. Just make sure you compare every tool's price vs. features ratio, and make this one of your deciding factors.

2# step: Find leads and prepare your lead source

Prospecting suitable leads is integral for your LinkedIn outreach and automation success. You can reach out all you like, but if your leads aren’t appropriate for your business, you won’t have much success. 

By taking the time for prospecting, you set the stage for a successful automated outreach campaign. This ensures that your messages reach the right people, increasing your chances of positive responses.

To find suitable leads, you must first define your niche, ideal customer profile, and buyer persona. ICP represents the list of characteristics of the company ideal for your business, such as industry, headcount, location, etc. Meanwhile, the Buyer persona contains all the attributes of the decision-maker or product user within that company.

Both of these documents need to contain actionable pieces of information that you can use to find your leads on LinkedIn. In other words, apart from other info, go to LinkedIn, check out the filters, and add that information to documents. If you’re unsure how to do it, check out our step-by-step guides on creating an Ideal customer profile and Buyer persona, and feel free to use templates.

Once it is all written down, search LinkedIn for the target occupation.

Then hit People, and use additional filters, such as industry and location, to narrow your search. Once done, hit Show results and save that search URL. We’re going to need it for the next step.

However, using Sales Navigator filters, you can choose Account filters to find your ICP and search for your buyer persona within that company page. You can also use Lead filters to find the Buyer persona directly. We’ll choose the second option.

Once you use the desired filters, copy that search URL for the next step.

3# step: Create your LinkedIn automation campaign

To automate LinkedIn messages, register for the automation tool of your choice and add your LinkedIn account. We’ll use Skylead as an example. 

Once in a dashboard, navigate to the Create new campaign button.  

Next, choose your lead source, aka where Skylead will pull prospects from, and import them. This is where you can paste your search URL from the previous step. 

Just so you know, in Skylead, you can pull your leads from 10 different sources:

• LinkedIn search result
• Sales Navigator search result
• Recruiter search result
• Recruiter Talent Pool
• Recruiter Pipeline URL
• LinkedIn posts
• LinkedIn event attendees 
• Sales Navigator Lead list
• CSV file
• Or via API

Don’t forget to name your campaign, and once done, hit Next. 

In the following step, you can set up your additional campaign settings. Here is where you select the emails you'll use in your outreach so Skylead can auto-rotate them. You can also choose to track the number of clicks or opened emails.

In LinkedIn settings, you can choose to collect contact information and other options that suit your needs. When you’re finished, it’s time to move on to creating a Smart sequence. 

Smart sequence creation for LinkedIn message automation

To create a smart sequence, drag and drop the actions and conditions from the side menu and group them in a coherent flow.

Let's start by adding a connection request. Personalization is key when you automate LinkedIn messages. Use variables such as first name, occupation, and current company to make each message feel unique, or add your own custom variables. 

Make your messages even more personal to your target audience. Mention common connections or specific reasons for reaching out.

Now, we want to check if the prospects have accepted our connection requests. To do this, we'll place the If connected condition. 

If prospects accept our connection requests but do not reply, you can add your follow-up messages. Automated follow-ups ensure you stay on your leads' radar without manual effort. Space the time between them to avoid overwhelming your contacts. Typically, a sequence of three to four messages works well.

However, if the lead doesn’t reply, you can find their email and reach them via different channels. To achieve this, drop Find & verify and the If email verified step. 

If Skylead finds an email, you can send one and a follow-up. However, if everything else fails, you can automate LinkedIn InMail as a last resort. 

There is one other way to personalize messaging campaigns, and it’s image and GIF personalization. To do this, click the LinkedIn message, InMail, or email and hit Add image. Once you upload your media, customize it using variables and your and your leads' profile pictures, and save it.

Once done creating a sequence, start your campaign, and you're done.  

We have a lot of proven Smart sequence templates, such as founder approaching founder, that has a 29% reply rate. So feel free to explore and use them for your messaging campaigns.

4# step: Monitor and optimize your messaging campaigns

To automate LinkedIn messages most successfully, you have only one thing left to do - check for analytics. 

When evaluating the effectiveness of your LinkedIn message automation, it's essential to focus on and point out specific key metrics. That said, these metrics will provide you with valuable insights into the performance of your automation:

1. Open rate to check how effective is your email subject line and if you should tweak it;
2. Response rates to see how each automated message performed: If a particular message has a low response rate, consider tweaking its content or timing;
3. Conversion rate to validate the performance of the entire smart sequence;
4. Acceptance rate to see how effective your connection requests are.

You can check your analytics in Skylead by visiting the Reports page.

Here, you have 3 different ways to check for your analytics:

• The graph shows the overall performance of the campaigns and the ratio between metrics.
• Tabular shows daily metrics and spot patterns and trends, such as what days have the best outreach results, so you can fine-tune your outreach days.
• Step-by-step analysis examines each step so everyone can see what messages worked or didn’t and adjust accordingly. 

In Skylead, you can test up to 5 variants of the same message. So, if you’ve A/B tested your content, you’ll see your results in step-by-step analytics.

One of the best tips we can give to the sales team or everyone is to experiment with different strategies, lead sources, sequence steps, and timing. This way you can see what works best and what your focus should be.

3 best & proven automated LinkedIn message templates

LinkedIn connection requests example

Message template:

Hi {{firstName}}, 

I hope we can connect and see if there is a potential for a mutual collaboration 🙂

If not, I’d be happy to add you to my network.

Results:

49% acceptance rate

39% response rate

InMail template & example

Message template:

Subject line

{{whatyourProductDoes}} actually helps {{benefit}}, {{firstName}}!  🙂

InMail text

Hi {{firstName}}, 

It would be silly of me to think you’re not using a {{yourProductOrServiceType}}, but it’s a no-brainer to present something new on the market that actually helps with {{whatYourProductOrServiceImproves}} specifically. 

{{introAboutYourProductOrService&WhatSetsItApart}}

{{descriptionWhoIsYourProductOrServiceFor&Benefits}}

Let me know if this sounds interesting to you.

Anyways, our Marketing team wrote a great blog on the topic of {{yourProductOrServiceType}}. I hope it helps: LINK

Best, 

Results:

20% response rate

Real-life example:

Subject line
 
SEO Tools actually help boost your rankings, Alex!   🙂

InMail text

Hi Alex, 
It would be silly of me to think you’re not using an SEO tool, but it’s a no-brainer to present something new on the market that actually helps with improving search engine rankings specifically.

SEO Genius is an advanced SEO tool designed to provide unbiased reviews and comprehensive insights. What sets it apart is its ability to integrate AI-driven analysis for more accurate keyword research and competitive analysis.

Our tool is perfect for marketers, content creators, and businesses looking to enhance their online presence. It offers benefits like increased website traffic, higher search rankings, and actionable insights to optimize your content strategy.

Let me know if this sounds interesting to you.

Anyways, our Marketing team wrote a great blog on the topic of SEO tools. 
I hope it helps: LINK


Best, 

LinkedIn message template & example

Message template:

Hi {{firstName}}, 

Thanks for connecting! 😊 I hope we will have a chance to chat, since I’d like to discuss {{yourProduct’sAreaOfExpertise}} if that’s okay with you.

Results:

11% response rate

Real-life example:

Hi Emanuel, 

Thanks for connecting! 😊 and I hope we will have a chance to chat, since I’d like to discuss multi-channel outreach and outbound sales, if that’s okay with you.

Best tips & practices to automate LinkedIn messages

Respond promptly

While automation handles the bulk of the work, personal engagement remains crucial for success. That said, it’s important you engage with prospects who respond promptly. In other words, automation can handle the initial outreach, but taking over the conversation and nurturing it is essential for building relationships. 

That said, sales people can engage with leads by visiting our Smart inbox, which gathers all LinkedIn and email messages in one place. This way, you don’t have to navigate between different platforms. 

In it, you can label your leads, check their details, and respond to them quickly by using Saved replies.

A/B test your LinkedIn messages

To best optimize and improve automated LinkedIn messages, you should A/B test each message. 

To do so, click the LinkedIn message of choice while creating a smart sequence and adding variations.

You can test out your LinkedIn messages, personalized images, calls to action, and InMail and email subject lines.

Remember, the key to success is not just in the initial testing but in the ongoing review and adjustment of your strategy. This active engagement ensures continuous improvement and better results over time.

Integrate your LinkedIn automation tool with CRM

Selecting the right CRM tool is crucial for effective LinkedIn automation. Popular options like HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Octopus CRM offer seamless integration with almost any system. 

These tools help you manage your contacts more, track interactions, and even send leads’ data to Skylead. Just make sure to integrate your CRM with Skylead.  

When selecting a CRM for LinkedIn automation, it's essential to choose one that aligns with your business needs and offers robust integration features. This ensures that you're not just investing in a system but in a solution that will help your business thrive.

Realizing the power of automated LinkedIn messages 

Automating your LinkedIn messages carries many benefits and can transform your outreach efforts. That said: 

• By choosing the right tool like Skylead, 
• Prospecting high-quality leads, 
• Creating an effective campaign, 
• And continuously monitoring and optimizing your strategy, 

you can save time and connect more effectively with your target audience. 

Automation allows you to maintain consistency in your messaging and ensures you reach a larger target audience. 

Moreover, you can build stronger relationships and generate more opportunities with the right approach. 

So, are you ready to automate your LinkedIn messages? If so, register for our 7-day free trial, and our customer support will be there, guiding you each step of the way. 😊

FAQ: Common questions about LinkedIn automation

Can LinkedIn messages be automated?

Yes, LinkedIn messages can be automated using various LinkedIn automation tools, such as Skylead. These tools allow you to send personalized messages to multiple contacts without manual effort. They help put your outreach on autopilot and ensure consistency in your messaging.

Can I schedule messages on LinkedIn?

Absolutely! You can schedule messages on LinkedIn using automation tools. This feature lets you plan your outreach in advance and send messages at optimal times. Scheduling ensures that your messages reach your contacts when they are most likely to engage.

Can LinkedIn posts be automated?

Yes, LinkedIn posts can also be automated via LinkedIn bots. Some automation tools are specialized for scheduling and publishing posts on your behalf. This keeps your profile active and engaging without constant manual updates. 

How to set auto message in LinkedIn?

Setting up auto messages on LinkedIn is straightforward. You can use third-party tools like Skylead to create your outreach campaign. Simply add LinkedIn messages in a coherent flow and connect them with conditions. Then, start your campaign to automate the entire outreach flow.

Does LinkedIn allow automation?

No. LinkedIn doesn’t like its users to use automation. That is why they imposed limitations, such as the number of connection requests you can send per week. However, as long as you use reputable tools and not in an excessive way, you’ll avoid account restrictions and be free to automate your outreach.

LinkedIn, as the main professional network, with 1 billion users, is the number 1 tool to help you find leads. 

Using LinkedIn lead generation is great. However, there are other sources you can use and combine with LinkedIn to reach more high-quality leads. Extra targeting work always pays off.

We’ve done the work, researched, and analyzed creative ways to find these leads for your business besides our favorite targeting hacks on LinkedIn. This blog will show you lead generation sources that can be beneficial for your outreach efforts, match your ICP and Buyer Persona, and actually convert.

Let’s jump right in! 🏊

What is a lead?

A business or sales lead is a potential customer who is interested in your product or service. Salespeople use lead generation methods to find leads from multiple sources. Then, they reach out and follow up with each one continuously to warm up the lead and convert them.

Leads vs. prospects

A prospect is a qualified lead. For a lead to become qualified, they have to match your ICP, and you need to interact with them. Once they show interest in your product/service, they become qualified and can continue their journey through the sales process.

How to define and find leads 

If your goal is to find leads of high quality, cold outreach can be a powerful tool for building solid relationships. If done right, it could help you close more deals. This could depend on multiple factors, ranging from a catchy email subject line and a powerful call to action to creating a strong follow-up email after no response campaign flow.

However, before you get into outreach, your first job is to define your target audience. Here are the 3 main things to consider. 👇

1. Build your inbound strategy

To maximize results, you should consider investing time and effort into building your inbound strategy as well, as inbound and outbound work well together. 

Make sure to build your website and fill it with educational content, such as blogs, downloadable templates, lead generation forms, case studies, and documents. Your support team should always be available, and the support chat icon should be visible on the homepage.

2. Define your ICP and Buyer Persona

Both the Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona are your essential documents for defining the type of company or person you’ll target with your outreach. Before you go out to find leads, you should define both.

Just a reminder, the Ideal Customer Profile describes the company that would benefit the most from your product or service. These companies should have the fastest conversion cycle, highest LTV, and highest customer retention and be willing to refer your product or service to others. 
On the other hand, a Buyer Persona describes your perfect decision-maker. In other words, a Buyer Persona is a collection of an individual’s personal data such as age, location, likes, dislikes, goals, wishes, challenges, and motivations.

Ideally, both Buyer Persona and ICP should be based on existing customers and data, as it will help you create these documents more precisely.

3. Create your sales leads personalization document

Social selling is about building relationships and helping your sales leads reach their goals with your product or service. But before you can dive into relationship-building, you should gather personal info about your leads.

To personalize your outreach at scale, you would need to do extensive research on what they do and the content they publish or get more personal by finding their hobby. Start by creating an Excel file with columns like:

• First name
• Last name 
• LinkedIn profile URL
• Company

Then, continue by inserting information, such as:

• The topic of the content they published
• What stood out for you the most from the particular post
• School they went to
• Field of study
• Jobs they posted
• Company growth information
• Personalized message intro (the message you can create based on the above-mentioned)

In other words, create a column for everything you can find while researching. This document contains actionable data for your outreach. So, read on to see how you can use and benefit from it.

Pro tip: Before you start your outreach be sure you have your LinkedIn prepared to sell for you.

Why you need to update your lead generation strategies

LinkedIn is still our #1 platform for generating leads, right? However, by using different strategies and sources to find leads apart from LinkedIn, you will gain even deeper insights into your potential ICP or Buyer Persona. This will ultimately help you maximize your sales efforts and results.

Below, we will review a list of 30 ways to find leads online and how to use them. We’ll show you how to automate outreach, save 11 hours per week on manual work, and focus on closing deals. Sounds good? Keep reading! 🤓

30 ways to find leads

1. Find leads on company websites

To find leads on company websites, you identify target companies and visit their official websites. Then, you explore the “About us” and “Team” pages to find the decision-makers. While you’re at it, you should also check the “Contact us” page for general contact info.

Once you click, you’ll usually get to names and titles, sometimes, even with LinkedIn icons, do you don’t have to look for them manually.

After getting leads on these pages and finding them on LinkedIn, you can send connection requests for a more natural and personalized outreach.

You can also use operators like “site.com email” to find employee email addresses. Or, even better, use an automation tool to Find & verify business emails. Lastly, you can use content to engage and comment on blog posts to get noticed by content creators, start conversations, and get recommended to their colleagues, who are your target audience.

2. Find leads on live events

To find leads at live networking events, you should find relevant events first: industry conferences, trade shows, and meetups. Our advice is to register early to ensure your spot. Also, make sure to review the attendee list if it’s available. Before the event:

• Do the prep work
• Research key participants and companies
• Plan your approach to engage with attendees 

In case of a live event, you can go as an attendee, or you can have your own booth. As an attendee or guest, you should attend sessions and participate in all discussions to connect with other attendees. The main goal is to learn about industry news, meet new people, and build relationships with potential leads. 

If you have your own booth, you will have a chance to talk to interested parties, distribute marketing materials, and start meaningful conversations. You can also exchange digital cards or connect on LinkedIn immediately. 

After the conference, in both cases, you should follow up with new contacts shortly after to keep the conversation going and nurture newly built relationships.

3. Find leads on digital events

With digital networking events, such as webinars, LinkedIn events, and online meetups, the rules are a bit different. Come prepared, research everything about the event and the attendees, and plan your approach.

You should join Q&A sessions, breakout rooms, and chats to connect with attendees. After the event, be sure to reach out on LinkedIn or email and mention your interaction or a specific topic from the event. By keeping the conversation going, you’ll easily generate and nurture B2B leads.

4. Find leads via referrals

You can find leads with a little help from your existing customers. Reach out to satisfied clients, colleagues, and industry contacts for referrals.

To get the most out of your referrals, our advice is to create strong incentives or a reward-based referral program. This will encourage referrers and keep leads coming in. You should also always keep in touch with your network through LinkedIn chat or email.

When you do get the leads from referrals, our advice is to always make sure to follow up and show appreciation to both the referrer and the new contact they brought in.

5. Find leads via industry associations

Another way to find leads is to join industry associations and actively participate in their activities. Attend association meetings, conferences, and events to network with other members on LinkedIn or via email.

The trick is to pick associations relevant to your business that have active memberships and ongoing events. For example, if cloud-based companies are your ICP, you could join the Cloud Software Association.  

After that, go to their directory and search for businesses of interest. You can use numerous filters to narrow down your search.

After that, you know the drill. Go to LinkedIn, find the company of choice, go to their people section, find decision-makers, and outreach away!

6. Find leads on X

Finding leads on X can be a real game-changer! For example, you can search for your competitors and find negative Tweets or comments. Then try finding them on LinkedIn (if they have their full name and a legit picture) and add them to your CSV file for future outreach. Don’t forget to personalize your outreach and reference how you’ve found them.

7. Find leads in Facebook groups

Facebook is a perfect place to find your Buyer Persona. However, you just need to dig a little deeper to find them, and join a couple of groups here and there.

The first thing you need to do is to research and find the Facebook groups your sales leads follow. Then, join these groups and wait for approval. From there, you can find your sales leads by the posts they have published. The only thing you need to do is search the group by the keyword.

You then search sales leads by, for example, the exact pain point they experience or the goal they want to achieve. This is where you find potential interested parties for your product/service.

You can message the people who posted directly on Facebook or, better yet, connect with them on LinkedIn and begin your outreach campaign. 

8. Find leads on Instagram

Instagram is all about good visuals, hundreds of followers, but also finding leads. Yes, we’re not kidding. Go to the profiles of companies that are your competitors or have similar ICP and Buyer Persona, go to the followers section, and scroll down to find leads. 

Once you get to them, we’re using our favorite lead gen ally - LinkedIn 👇

9. Find leads on Reddit (Specific Subreddits)

If done right, finding leads on Reddit can be incredibly effective. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Find relevant subreddits
• Actively participate in discussions
• Find content that discusses problems you’re solving and mention your product without sounding too salesy (use the Search comments option for keywords)
• DM those people and ask to connect on LinkedIn

From what we’ve learned from our own experience, people will see your comment as useful and reach out to you themselves, asking for more information. This is usually a sign that you’re providing value where value is needed, so keep up the good work!

10. Find leads with gated content

You might know this already, but using gated content with lead capture forms is a smart way to get leads. The marketing team creates:

• E-books
• Whitepapers
• Exclusive webinars
• Downloadable templates 

Then, they send the list of leads to the sales team, who creates outreach campaigns. In fact, this is how we did it: We’ve offered a sales book that helped us grow our business from 2,500 to 10,000 users in just 9 months. In exchange, people leave contact information through a simple sign-up form on our website. We’ve also promoted our gated content through blog posts, social media, and email campaigns to drive more traffic and capture more leads.

Here are our tips on how to attract leads with quality gated content:

• Strong CTAs: Use clear and enticing calls to action to encourage users to access your gated content.
• Tailor your content: Tailor your gated content to specific segments of your audience to increase relevance and engagement.
• Follow up quickly: Send a follow-up email immediately after someone downloads your content to nurture the lead.
• Use analytics: Track the performance of your gated content to understand what resonates best with your audience.
• A/B test: Test different formats, headlines, and designs to optimize your landing pages and sign-up forms.
• Offer multi-step content: Create a series of gated content pieces that build on each other to nurture leads to conversion over time.
• Integrate with CRM: Make sure your sign-up forms are integrated with your CRM to streamline lead generation.

11. Find leads on review websites

Review websites can be very useful for finding leads. Here are a few review website examples:

• Capterra
• G2
• Software Suggest
• GetApp

Just go to the review website of choice, find your competitor, and then search for people who posted negative reviews. For example, here’s a person who is not satisfied with calendar software. Find them on LinkedIn and put them in your CSV file so you can include them in your automated outreach campaign.

12. Find leads using a LinkedIn X-Ray Search

LinkedIn X-ray search, a.k.a. Boolean search, is a method that allows us to research our leads on Google without using LinkedIn’s internal filters. But why would you do that if you have LinkedIn? Well:

1. You’ll get more search results
2. You’ll get to see 3rd-degree and out-of-network connections, too
3. More relevant search results, thanks to Google’s different algorithms
4. A more comprehensive search (thanks to the * symbol (Asterisk) that includes missing words in your search results.

Now, to find leads using LinkedIn's X-ray search, use Google with specific search operators. Enter "site.com" followed by relevant keywords, such as job titles or industries (e.g., "site

.com marketing manager"). This narrows down the LinkedIn profiles that match your criteria. Refine your search by adding location or company filters to target specific leads effectively.

After you’ve pinpointed your leads, you go to LinkedIn and copy-paste their info to your CSV file for future outreach.

13. Find leads in CRM databases

Up until now, we’ve been talking about finding leads elsewhere, but you should not forget to look for leads among your own clients. Or rather, the ones that ended up in the churn box. Go to your CRM database and find the email addresses of clients who went in another direction, so to speak.

Think about why they might have left and use a new feature or update to start the conversation again or rather a check-in message. Since you’ve already had a relationship with them, restarting the conversation should be easier than with cold leads. 

Our advice is to review your earlier conversations and create a separate automated outreach campaign tailored for these old/new leads.

14. Find leads via partnerships and alliances

It’s time to partner up! Start by identifying potential partners whose services complement yours or similar businesses that are not your competition. Reach out to these companies to find out about mutual benefits and opportunities for collaboration. Partnering up can open doors to new networks, which will increase your lead pool.

Here’s an example. Our partner included this image in their newsletter when we launched Product Hunt. It was a perfect opportunity to show us off to their user base and inform them about our special event.

This also works for sharing gated content and referrals through mutual B2B marketing strategies.

15. Find leads via job listings

When a company is hiring, it usually means one of these 3 things:

1. They have a bigger budget for the department
2. Something is not right in the current process
3. Or a person from the team is leaving for a certain reason.

Job postings mean a department change, and you should seize that opportunity. This is where recruiters usually spill the beans, so keep an eye on the department and industry of interest.

For example, let’s say you are selling team management software for remote teams. You can go to any job search website like Indeed and filter the jobs by industry, job type, and remote work.

This is a great place to find your ICP and go from there. In addition, if you have a LinkedIn Premium account, you can check out the company’s growth insight on LinkedIn and move on to find your decision-maker.

You can do this process on LinkedIn, as well. However, keep in mind that if your ICP is a small company, you might not be able to see their job posts unless you are their 1st-degree connection or they promote these posts on LinkedIn.

16. Find leads using LinkedIn topics

Another place to look for leads on LinkedIn is LinkedIn topics. You get to go through industry related questions, discover key contributors and find your Buyer Persona. You can also filter topics by industry and narrow down your lead search.

Once you click on a topic, you’ll see different sections and related subtopics you can access. You can go through the contributors listed on the right. Then, you can find the ones you’ll reach out to easily since you’re already on LinkedIn. Our advice is to reference their contribution to a certain topic as an opener. It’s that easy.

17. Find leads through recently funded companies

Another great way to find your ICP is to research what companies recently got funded. Since we know they’ve got money to invest, make sure their priority is growth.

So, to find these companies, you can choose one of two ways. First, you can use company data websites, such as Fundz, TechCrunch, or Crunchbase. Crunchbase makes it easier to find information as you can filter the companies using the free Funding Rounds feature.

Secondly, you can Google search for companies using Boolean search operators.

Whatever approach you pick, making the connection with the person from the company that just got the funding and building the relationship can result in a long-lasting partnership.

18. Find leads through Slack communities

Slack channels offer many possibilities, from finding leads to learning something new. The best part is that you can contact each member privately via chat.

There are different communities all over Slack, and you can explore and find the ones your Buyer persona joined. For example, a B2B content director must be following the content trends, so you will most likely find them in the Superpath Slack community under the content-b2b channel. 

What’s best is that Slack channels like RevGenius or The Trenches are very educational, supportive, and welcoming. So, apart from finding sales leads and reaching out to people who face a problem your product can resolve, you can enjoy your stay and learn about the changes in the market.

19. Find leads through YouTube comments

To find leads in YouTube comments, all you need to do is find the videos your sales leads might be watching and look in the comment section. Our advice is to find someone with a legit profile, meaning with their full name and picture. You can use this information to find these individuals on LinkedIn.

Let’s say your sales leads are SaaS founders. Consequently, you would find a video related to SaaS, such as this one. 👇

Now, scroll down to find a comment such as this one:

Now go to LinkedIn and search for the person. You can contact them there directly or save their profile in a CSV file with remarks for a perfect conversation starter.

20. Find leads via LinkedIn events

Using LinkedIn events for lead generation is a great strategy for connecting with potential leads and clients. Go to LinkedIn’s search bar, type in a keyword of choice, and select “Events” as your main category.  

To access the attendees' list and find those leads, you have to click on “Register.”

After that, you should click here 👇

Use filters to narrow down your search to match your Buyer Persona as closely as possible. The only thing left to do is attend the event and use some of the topics and information mentioned in the event to break the ice with your leads.

21. Find leads via Product hunt

Your journey on Product Hunt begins with discovering new and trending products in your industry. There are two ways to find leads here. Firstly, you can go to relevant discussions, watch out for questions from your target audience, and find them on LinkedIn.

Secondly, if SaaS is your industry of choice, you can watch for new software or releases and find makers.

Then, the only thing left to do is to find them on LinkedIn and put the data and personal reference to your CSV file for outreach later on. 

22. Find leads on Medium

Many people of all occupations share their stories and thoughts on Medium, and your sales leads could be one of them. Medium is a blogging platform with over 100 million active monthly readers and 175,000 authors who are thought leaders, journalists, and experts, so you have a deep pool of sales leads to search from.

Also, Medium is pretty easy to use. You just need to type the topic of interest in the search bar and comb through articles.

Once you find an interesting post, go to the author's profile. You will usually see their LinkedIn profile or other Social Media URLs in the About section, so it is easy to find leads right away. 

Additionally, you can see the comments and the profile of the person who posted that comment. Your sales leads could be one of them, so you can find them on LinkedIn and put them in your personalized document for further outreach.

23. Find leads on podcast guest lists

Use a simple Google search to find podcasts relevant to your industry or target market. Then, examine video titles and write down the speakers so you can find them on LinkedIn. Once you're ready to reach out to them, use personalized messages where you reference their podcast appearance and explain how your services can benefit them.

24. Find leads on Discord

Discord is a place where people can communicate with each other via either text or voice chat. Unlike Slack, Discord was initially created as an informal place to hang out with your friends or even play massive multiplayer online games.

However, Discord grew to be more. Now, it is a new hotspot where people all around the world gather to share their experiences and thoughts on all kinds of topics. Thus, many so-called servers, aka groups, have emerged, and you will be able to find the ones of your target audience.

For example, here is what the Salesforce discord channel looks like.

Once you find your niche, join that server, and you’ll get to see a list of all members you can message privately or ask to connect on LinkedIn and take it from there.

25. Find leads on forums and online communities

Online communities such as GrowthHackers or SalesHackers are another place where you can find sales leads. With plenty of topics to search from, you will be shocked by how many discussions and users you will find.

For example, the nice thing about the GrowthHackers community is that you can find the user, see their publications and topics they follow, and choose to follow them or contact them directly. You can also always find them on LinkedIn and reach out from there.

26. Find leads in LinkedIn groups

Despite the common belief, LinkedIn groups can still be useful for something - lead generation. To find leads in LinkedIn groups, you should look for relevant ones from your industry and join.

Once you join, you’ll get access to a members list. Click on “Show all.”

Then, extract the leads from the People section by copying the URL from your browser.

Now, this only works if you use Skylead to help reach out to these particular group members. Just paste the link and create a dedicated campaign for these group members only.

27. Find leads via LinkedIn posts

Lastly, you can also find leads via LinkedIn posts. For example, find a viral post on LinkedIn and go through the comment section and likes. Comb through them, find decision-makers, and put them in your personalization document. Here’s what that looks like 👇

Once you click, this is what you’ll see:

The next step is to use automation tools like Skylead to create an automated outreach campaign, and target leads from that specific post. Isn’t that amazing? Yes, we think so too. 😎 Here’s a connection request message example you can use in this case:

Hey,

I’ve noticed you liked this post on how volume creates abundance. 

Just wanted to check what your thoughts are on the subject.

28. Find leads with LinkedIn polls

You can also use LinkedIn polls to attract and find leads. Just create a poll that has a relevant industry pain point, and once you get your replies, go through those people and reach out to them. It’s that simple. Here’s an example:

In this case, since users opted for one of three answers, we have three groups of leads: the ones who said "always," "never," and "it depends." You can adapt your outreach efforts to each answer group. 

29. Find leads by discovering startups

If your ICP consists mostly of startups, you should visit websites such as ProductHunt, BetaList, AngelList, or Crunchbase. BetaList is the place for recently launched internet startups. It cleverly segments startups by industries, so you’ll find the one you need easily.

Another advantage is that you can contact the founder directly by finding their social media account on the profile listed beneath the company description or manually on LinkedIn.

30. Find leads by researching niche platforms

Not all companies are alike, and many niche businesses have buyer personas with unique jobs. So, it’s important to research and visit platforms where the target audience has a profile.

For example, if your target group is videographers or graphic designers, you would most likely visit Behance or Vimeo. On the other hand, if your sales leads are music artists, then SoundCloud is the place for you. Looking for developers? Give Github a try. 

If, for example, you are selling an invoice management tool and need to reach out to freelancers, go to Upwork. The more information you have on your sales leads, the easier it will be to start the conversation. Here’s an example:

Hey, 

I have seen the ratings on your Upwork profile, they are amazing. 

I bet you get a lot of work as a freelancer. I was just wondering what tool you use for the invoice.

The possibilities are pretty much endless here.

Leads found, now what? Streamline your outreach to optimize time

Your leads are found, so now it’s time for outreach. Using an automation tool can help save time, track your outreach results better, and give you more time to focus on building relationships with prospects. So, what’s your choice of tool? Skylead, of course - a LinkedIn automation and email outreach platform that streamlines your outreach process.

Now, remember when we said there’s a good use for the personalization document with actionable data? Well, this is where we teach you how to use it. 

To streamline the process and reach out to the sales leads you’ve found and researched, you should create a CSV file out of the gathered data. The only condition is also to paste the lead’s LinkedIn profile and/or email address. 

Skylead already offers the following native variables for message personalization based on the sales leads’ LinkedIn profiles:

• First name
• Last name
• Current company
• Years in current company
• Total career positions count
• Total years of experience
• College name
• Occupation

Nonetheless, you can insert personalized information into columns, such as a reference to a certain post, comment, or any other place you’ve found them, and create your own custom variable for more personalization. For example, let’s take a customized intro that references how you’ve found them as a custom variable. Now, here’s what your CSV file should look like.

From here, you proceed with automating the outreach process. Here’s how 👇

Create a campaign in Skylead

It’s time to launch our first Skylead campaign, and we’ll go over it step-by-step.

First, go to your Skylead dashboard and click the Create new campaign button.

The second step is to choose your campaign type - Import. 

The next step is to set up additional settings, like date, email tracking metrics, etc. In this section, you can add an unlimited number of email addresses at no extra cost. Skylead will auto-rotate them for extra safety. Once you’ve made your changes, you can proceed.

Now, all you need to do is create an action path for your outreach that Skylead will follow automatically. This is where we introduce our first-to-market Smart sequences. With them, you can combine LinkedIn and email action with if/else conditions. This will help you reach your leads while maximizing touchpoints with them. 

This is what a Smart sequence looks like in the tool:

Lastly, don’t forget to create personalized messages for the actions, such as an invite to connect, LinkedIn InMail, LinkedIn message, or email message. From our experience, adding personalized image to your outreach flow increases the response rate to 63%.

FAQs

How to find leads?

Identify potential customers through content marketing, social media engagement, and networking. Create valuable content, participate in discussions, and connect with prospects at industry events to generate interest and build relationships.

How to find B2B leads?

Use LinkedIn, industry associations, trade publications, and networking events. Leverage content marketing, email campaigns, and partnerships to attract and engage business clients.

How do I measure the effectiveness of each lead generation strategy?

To measure the effectiveness of each lead generation strategy, you need to track and analyze key metrics. Start by setting clear objectives for each strategy, such as the number of leads generated, conversion rates, and the quality of leads.

Tools like Google Analytics, CRM software, and marketing automation platforms are used to monitor these metrics. Look at the engagement levels, such as open rates and click-through rates for email campaigns or the level of interaction on social media posts. By comparing these metrics against your goals, you can determine which strategies are most effective and adjust your approach accordingly.

Can you provide examples of successful lead generation campaigns using these strategies?

Yes! A SaaS company used content marketing by creating a series of whitepapers and e-books targeting specific pain points in their industry. They promoted these resources through blog posts and social media, capturing leads through gated content forms. Another example is a B2B firm that utilized webinars and online events. They hosted industry-specific webinars, offering valuable insights and networking opportunities, which helped them gather high-quality leads.

A third example is a small business that leveraged email marketing and CRM automation. They segmented their email list based on customer behavior and engagement, sending personalized follow-ups and nurturing leads effectively, resulting in a significant increase in conversions. These examples highlight the importance of targeted content, engaging events, and personalized outreach in successful lead generation campaigns.

Ready to get those leads?

Now that you’ve seen 30 ways to find leads, it’s time for you to put your newly found knowledge to the test. Pick a couple of sources that hit close to home, and begin expanding your lead generation strategy. 

While you’re at it, remember to incorporate an automation tool into your sales strategy. After you’ve found your leads, you can check out Skylead, schedule a demo, and get a 7-day free trial to explore all the outreach possibilities we offer. Saving time on manual outreach doesn’t seem so bad, does it? Outreach away!

Alongside your profile picture and LinkedIn headline, your LinkedIn cover photo plays a crucial part in your LinkedIn identity. 

Not only does it contribute to your overall professional image, but it represents an important element in forming the first impression for your LinkedIn profile visitors. 

As such, a LinkedIn background photo requires an equal amount of attention you would dedicate to any of the other sections of your LinkedIn header. 

Therefore, in this blog, you’ll learn:

• How to change your LinkedIn cover photo for personal & company pages on desktop and mobile; 
• The size of a LinkedIn background photo for personal & company pages;
• What online tools to use to craft a perfect LinkedIn cover photo;
• Top 17 LinkedIn cover photo ideas with real-life examples for any profession to make your profile stand out on the platform. 

How do I change a LinkedIn cover photo? 

Change LinkedIn background photo for LinkedIn personal profiles 

On desktop 

This is your LinkedIn background photo. 

You can change it anytime and as many times as you wish. 

#1 Click on the pencil icon in the top right corner of your LinkedIn profile’s header. 

You will see two pencil icons, the lower one takes you to change your name, last name, headline, locations, etc., while the upper one takes you to change your LinkedIn cover photo.

#2 Click on the Pen icon to access the LinkedIn background photo editor. 

Here you can:

• Upload a new cover photo,
• Crop it,
• Apply filters,
• Adjust brightness,
• Rotate it, 
• Zoom it, etc. 

By clicking the Adjust icon you can make additional corrections to your image, such as

• Brightness
• Contrast 
• Saturation
• Vignette

On mobile

To change your LinkedIn background photo on mobile, go to your LinkedIn profile page and click the Pencil icon in the top right corner. 

#2 In the bottom, you’ll find the options to edit, add a photo, or delete the existing one. 

#4 Once you’ve uploaded the photo, you’ll get the same editing options as on the desktop. 

Change LinkedIn background photo for LinkedIn company pages

On desktop 

To change the LinkedIn background photo on your LinkedIn company page, you must either be the page’s admin or be given access to the page with editing permissions. 

Then, go to the LinkedIn company page you’re managing, and click the Pen icon here. 

You will get a dropdown menu to:

• Upload a new cover image (check out LinkedIn cover photo size recommendations in this blog’s next section)
• Adjust the current cover image;
• Or, delete the current cover image. 

Once you upload a new LinkedIn banner for your company page, or if you click to adjust the current one, the LinkedIn cover image editor will give you options to:

• Upload a new cover photo,
• Crop it,
• Apply filters,
• Adjust brightness,
• Rotate it, 
• Zoom it, etc. 

 Also, by clicking the Adjust icon you can make additional corrections to your image, such as

• Brightness
• Contrast 
• Saturation
• Vignette

What is the size of a LinkedIn cover photo?

In 2024, a LinkedIn cover photo size for personal profiles should be a maximum of 1584 x 396 px and a minimum of 1192 × 220 px, up to 8MB, and in JPEG, GIF, or PNG file formats. 

When it comes to LinkedIn cover photo size for company pages, LinkedIn recommends a size of 1128 x 191 px, which is at the same time the minimum size, up to 8MB, and in JPEG, GIF, or PNG file formats. 

Also, another thing to bear in mind is that LinkedIn cover photos are cropped differently on mobile and desktop devices. So, make sure to view your profile on both kinds of displays when setting up a new LinkedIn background photo. You don’t want important parts of your banner to be hidden or simply look bad. 

Luckily, there are many online tools to help you make an ideal LinkedIn cover photo, and you don’t even need to be design-savvy.

Where can I find LinkedIn cover photo templates? 

Nowadays, many online design tools have templates specifically for LinkedIn - such as posts, profile images, and background photos that require very little editing to look good. 

Otherwise, if you wish to put in more effort, there are websites with free or paid stock images, or you can consider hiring a designer or someone design-savvy to do it for you. 

Start with these.

In our next section, you will find 10 ideas on different types of LinkedIn cover photos depending on the message you wish to get across with it. 

Top 17 LinkedIn Cover Photo Ideas For Any Profession

As mentioned above, your LinkedIn background photo should complement your profile picture and headline and offer clarity on what your business is all about to your profile visitors already through the LinkedIn header section. 

However, this doesn’t mean that you have one solution only. 

Here’s a list of 17 LinkedIn cover photos that represent good practices with real-life examples.

Highlight your customers’ goals on your LinkedIn background photo

An excellent way to draw attention to yourself is to highlight your client’s most common pain point or ask a question that you know they’ll answer affirmatively. 

Of course, it should relate to your service and a pain point your product or service can solve. 

Make sure you communicate these messages clearly and include an important award or some kind of social proof (if any). 

Showcase the people you serve on your LinkedIn cover photo

Featuring your customers is beneficial because people who visit your LinkedIn profile know right away if they potentially fall into that category. 

Additionally, people are more drawn to images of real people, faces, and their expressions, so a LinkedIn cover photo of this kind will make them want to investigate further. 

A LinkedIn background photo that showcases your clientele or your target clients doesn’t need to be their actual photo, of course. You can get a stock image that features people who are good examples of the types of people you serve. 

Use the location or the location of your business on your LinkedIn banner

OR

Highlighting the location of your business makes sense if what you do is restricted to a specific area or it’s particularly significant for it. 

These types of LinkedIn cover photos don’t have to be necessarily limited to industries such as tourism for example. Still, they can be applied to any business or industry that acts locally. 

On the other hand, displaying the city where you work or where you came from or that is particularly dear to your heart independently from the location of your business can ‘humanize’ your LinkedIn profile a bit. 

Just because LinkedIn is a professional network whose members are encouraged to connect, network, and chat in the name of business, that doesn’t mean you should hide that you are a human before anything else. People are more likely to work with those whom they can connect with, rather than robots. 

Put your hobbies or interests on your LinkedIn cover photo 

Speaking of ‘humanizing’ your LinkedIn profile, there’s no better way to do it than sharing something that interests you outside of your work schedule. 

You could use your LinkedIn background photo to tell others about your hobbies, volunteering activities, or any kind of extracurricular activities. Opinions on sharing personal pictures on LinkedIn vary, given the platform’s professional nature. However, if the sharing is genuine, not excessive, and comes from a desire to build authentic connections, we say go for it. 

No matter if you’re on LinkedIn to network, get clients, or find a job, everyone likes to see there’s more to you than just your professional, online self. 

Display objects or tools relevant to your job on your LinkedIn background photo

Featuring an object such as a photo camera if you are a photographer can seem a bit ‘unsurprising’ but it doesn’t need to be! Just look at how creative, yet informative the above LinkedIn cover photo is. 

Without even reading through this LinkedIn user’s profile, you can understand what he does for a living and what technologies he knows (JavaScript, React, NodeJS). 

Furthermore, he adds a personal touch to his LinkedIn background photo by mentioning the things he loves, believes in, and does outside his regular working hours. 

This type of LinkedIn cover photo is excellent for freelancers and people who are searching for a job, as it says straight off the bat what your professional strengths are. 

Use a LinkedIn cover photo of you doing your work 

A picture of yourself doing your work can be a great choice if your job is actually some kind of service that can be presented clearly in a photo. 

On LinkedIn, usually, these types of LinkedIn cover photos are typical for motivational and public speakers, or for those who want to highlight them speaking in front of larger audiences. 

It doesn’t mean that it will not work for other industries as well, just put your creativity to use and make sure you have someone to take a good shot of it. 

Clearly state what your job is on your LinkedIn banner 

OR

This is a pretty straightforward, nothing-too-crazy yet effective way to make it very clear to your LinkedIn profile visitors what you do for work. 

As you may see from the above examples, you can describe what you do (example #1) and how you do it, or simply list your professional roles (example #2). 

This way, it is very clear what your business is about to whoever lands on your LinkedIn profile. 

Showcase your product or service on your LinkedIn background photo

This is a pretty straightforward, yet effective way to tell your profile visitors what you are all about in general or at the moment. Furthermore, it is a great way to promote a book, podcast, service, you name it.

As you may see from our examples, displaying your product or service could be accompanied by a catchy Call-To-Action. 

Display your career path on your LinkedIn cover photo

If you find your career path to be the most valuable part of your curriculum or your valuable unique selling point, here’s a creative and smart idea of how your LinkedIn profile visitors can learn all about it. 

This LinkedIn member decided to display his path from a college to the company for which he currently works. However, this creative idea can be applied in many ways depending on what you wish to highlight in your LinkedIn background photo. 

Use your company’s LinkedIn cover photo for your personal LinkedIn background photo

OR

Some companies have LinkedIn cover photos designed specifically for their employees. This can be the simplest way to tell your profile visitors where you work right off the bat. 

Featuring a LinkedIn background photo with just your company’s logo or some other kind of visual representation of your company can be a good choice if you feel strongly about the brand. 

Furthermore, your company’s LinkedIn cover photo can contain a mission statement, values, or any message that your brand wants to get across. 

Put an inspiring quote on your LinkedIn banner

An inspirational quote on your LinkedIn background photo can refer to something you personally believe in, or it can have to do with your brand. 

If combined with an attractive design, this type of LinkedIn cover photo can be pretty effective and inspiring to people visiting your LinkedIn profile to investigate your services further. 

Put a picture of an office space or a building for corporate, executives, legal, & similar to your LinkedIn cover photo

OR

The above example is a good LinkedIn cover photo of people working in corporate, upper management, legal, and anyone who finds their business space to give off the impression of professionalism, a specific status symbol, high-level service, or similar. 

Furthermore, if your office is a well-known building, or it has been there for ages so that it even become part of the city's history, displaying it in your background might give your LinkedIn profile visitors a sense of familiarity. 

Make your LinkedIn banner a collage 

Finally, you can make a collage visually representing your interests, product or service, target audience, yourself while doing your work, or pretty much anything you wish to showcase on your LinkedIn cover photo. 

However, keep in mind that crafting appealing collages is not as easy as it might seem – they should be informative without becoming cluttered or chaotic. Therefore, unless you are a skilled visual artist, you might want to hire a designer to do it for you. Collages are pretty effective, so it could totally be worth it. 

Summary 

Before diving into choosing your ideal LinkedIn cover photo, consider your focus — clients, yourself, workspace, or tools. 

Which emotions do you wish to convey? Empowerment, trust, professionalism? 

What kind of LinkedIn background photo would enhance your professional image while aligning seamlessly with your brand? 

This strategic approach ensures your LinkedIn presence resonates effectively with your target audience while automating your LinkedIn lead generation activities through Skylead. All features are available for a 7-day FREE trial starting today! Don’t miss out!

Chat GPT infiltrated many aspects of our lives, whether we like it or not. 

While some are panicking about Chat GPT taking over their jobs, others found ways to use it to be more effective in their everyday tasks. 

You’ve probably already heard that Chat GPT, among other fields, proved itself to be very useful for lead generation, sales, and cold outreach overall. 

Basically, as a language model based on artificial intelligence, Chat GPT can be a powerful tool for writing highly personalized sales templates that get replies and help you book meetings. 

But, pretty much like with people, it only works if you know how to “converse” with it, that is, to give precise and correct prompts.

In this blog, we will show you how to use Chat GPT for sales, or, more precisely: 

• Converse with Chat GPT to get the most effective cold templates for sales;
• Give feedback to Chat GPT for sales to adjust the answers to be more effective;
• Create hyper-personalized sales messages by uploading your leads’ LinkedIn profiles;
• Put together messages to use in sales automation tools;
• And will give you ideas on when (and how) to use Chat GPT for sales to save time and create messages that get replies.
  
  
  

Basics of using Chat GPT for sales 

Not everyone knows how to communicate with Chat GPT, which is the key factor in successfully using this very advanced chatbot. 

Basically, the better prompts you give, the more satisfying results Chat GPT will bring back.

However, bear in mind that the prompt you give doesn’t need to be final. 

Once you give the initial prompt to Chat GPT, you can always adjust its answers in 3 ways: 

• by giving another prompt(s) a try;
• by feedbacking the answer and giving additional prompts to make Chat GPT adjust the answer;
• by editing the answer manually to fit your need, especially if it needs a small tweak. 

Additionally, you can use Chat GPT for sales in combination with a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, such as Skylead, to create sales messages for emails, InMails, regular LinkedIn messages, any follow-ups, or even create entire outreach branches in Smart sequences in case your lead doesn’t answer [see the image below].

Furthermore, Skylead allows you to A/B test LinkedIn connection requests, subject lines for emails and InMails, and any message body copy, so you can consider more than one input when using Chat GPT for sales. 

Skylead’s advanced reporting system allows you, aside from other analytics, to review A/B testing step by step and make data-driven decisions on what sales message worked best for your target leads. 

Now, let’s go ahead and show you a practical example of how to use Chat GPT for sales. 

How to give prompts to Chat GPT for sales messages 

In this chapter, we will show you how to use Chat GPT to write a cold email. 

For the best results, we always advise our users to give precise instructions on the types of sales messages they want Chat GPT to write. 

Also, sometimes you need to emphasize that you need Chat GPT to generate both a cold email and a corresponding subject line, and sometimes by simply asking it to write an email, it will suggest the subject line as well. 

Chat GPT is not perfect, and it cannot read your thoughts (thank God!), so always strive to be as precise as possible when giving prompts. 

The more detail you provide, the more satisfying the result will be. 

So, let’s go ahead and see different ways to converse with Chat GPT for sales. 

Way #1 Copy & paste information and give a prompt.

So, to start, assemble the following on a sheet of paper: 

• The characteristics of your ICP and Buyer Persona(s) within;
• Pain points of your Buyer Persona and how your problem solves those pain points;
• Unique selling proposition of your product or service. 

Then, you can copy and paste the relevant information, such as the desired length of your email, your Buyer's Personas goals and pain points, how your product solves them, and/or your product's USP. 

So, this was my initial prompt.

This is what I got. 

I personally found this email to be a bit too salesy and kind of “dry”. And this is exactly what I mentioned as a feedback. 

So, there’s no need to write an entirely new prompt. You can give honest feedback to Chat GPT. 

Here’s what I’ve got. 

As you may see, you can go on and on like this. 

You can give feedback to Chat GPT on any part of the sales message you get or even edit the initial prompt until you find the most satisfying results. 

Here’s where you can edit your prompt. 

I will again remind you that, sometimes, it’s easier and better to edit the email manually or even mix and match different parts of different sales messages generated by Chat GPT. 

Way #2 Copy & paste information and give a prompt to use messages in a sales automation tool.

You can apply the same principle (or any other below) to prepare sales messages to use in sales automation software. 

Just make sure you tell chat GPT which variables (placeholders) you would like it to use so that the sales automation tool you’re using can personalize your outreach at scale. 

I used the same prompt as above, just changed the instructions part. 

Here’s the prompt. 

This is what I got. 

I liked the answer, but I noticed it was above 80 words. (again, always check cause Chat GPT is not perfect!)

So, I gave feedback and got another result. 

(Also, by clicking the “Regenerate response” button, you can probably go on and get new solutions for on and on.)

Way #3 Upload your lead's LinkedIn profile and give a prompt.

You can upload your lead’s LinkedIn profile and give the same instructions as above to write a more personalized message. 

#1 Go to your lead’s LinkedIn profile and download it in PDF format. 

Upload it to your drive, then open the document, and click Share > Anyone with the link. 

You cannot just copy & paste someone's LinkedIn URL because Chat GPT is not "on LinkedIn", and what's on social media is not considered publicly available information for Chat GPT.

Copy and paste the link into Chat GPT, and give instructions. 

This is what I’ve got. 

I wasn’t very happy with the result, so I asked Chat GPT to give me a few other solutions. 

And another one. 

And another solution. 

Remember that you can also combine the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ways to give prompts for more precise instructions. 

That is, upload your lead’s CV and then write their pain points, goals, and your product's unique selling points in the prompt. 

Way #4 Use LinkedIn posts to personalize icebreakers in your cold emails.

A great way to instantly connect with your leads and increase your response rates is to make a reference to their LinkedIn post that resonated with you and that (ideally) you can tie to your product or service. 

Just copy and paste the post to Chat GPT and give a prompt to use it in the introduction of your cold email. 

The reason why you cannot just copy and paste the link to the blog to Chat GPT is that the Chat GPT can only use publicly available information, and therefore it cannot access LinkedIn and other people’s profiles. 

Here’s what my prompt looked like. 

This is what I’ve got. 

I have to be honest; I was pretty happy with it right away. 

Way #5 Use Chat GPT to fight the most common objections.

The simplest way to use Chat GPT to fight the most common objections handling situations to cold emails is to upload the email you’ve sent, your lead’s objection, and give instructions to Chat GPT to answer it. 

You can copy/paste the majority of the information. 

Here’s what my prompt looked like. 

This is what I got from Chat GPT.

I felt as if it was selling right off the bat a bit, so I gave another prompt. 

Way #6 Use Chat GPT to write follow-ups after no response.

Following the previous example, you can also ask Chat GPT to write a follow-up email after no response. 

The easiest way to give a prompt to Chat GPT is to copy/paste the email and give instructions. 

Of course, if you need something more specific, make sure you include details too. 

My prompt was very simple this time. 

This is what I got. 

I didn’t like the answer because I wanted my lead to answer or start a conversation with me instead of pushing for a sales pitch. 

How to give prompts to Chat GPT for sales subject lines 

Whether writing an email or InMail, subject lines are the key factor to a higher open rate. 

In this blog, we will show you 3 ways how to use Chat GPT for sales subject lines. 

Way #1 Copy & paste your cold email and give a prompt. 

Copy and paste the email to Chat GPT and ask it to suggest subject lines. 

Here’s what my prompt looked like. 

This is what I’ve got. 

You can go ahead and play with it just like we did in the previous examples. 

I asked Chat GPT to make the subject lines shorter, for example. 

Way #2 Insert keywords and important information and give a prompt.

Describe your product (you can also copy and paste information regarding your ICP and Buyer Persona that you think should be included in your subject line) and give a prompt to Chat GPT. 

Here’s my prompt. 

Here’s what I’ve got. 

Frequently asked questions

How can one integrate Chat GPT with CRM software to streamline the sales process further?

Integrating Chat GPT with CRM software can be achieved through APIs or webhook integrations. This allows automated data exchange, enabling Chat GPT to personalize communications based on CRM data, improving the sales process by offering tailored interactions and insights.

What are the limitations of Chat GPT in understanding and responding to complex sales scenarios or objections?

Chat GPT's limitations include difficulty in understanding nuances, emotional cues, and highly complex scenarios specific to certain industries. Its responses might lack the depth that comes from human experience and intuition, potentially misinterpreting intricate customer objections or specialized queries.

Can Chat GPT be used to generate not just initial outreach messages but also to automate ongoing communication based on recipient responses?

Yes, Chat GPT can be used for more than initial outreach; it can automate ongoing communication by analyzing recipient responses and generating follow-up messages. However, this requires sophisticated setup to interpret responses accurately and respond appropriately, maintaining a balance between automation and personal touch.

Summary 

As you may see, your options for using Chat GPT for sales are infinite. 

Our only advice is not to be afraid to experiment and to give new prompts and feedback until you are completely satisfied with the result. 

Also, keep in mind that you can always manually adjust any solution Chat GPT suggests. 

And if you wish to test out 7 days for free how to combine Chat GPT with Skylead, a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, check out this link. 

Everyone is talking about the Social Selling Index and with good reason. LinkedIn SSI score came into our lives to explain and answer our questions like why my posts have fewer impressions, what I am doing wrong in my outreach, and how my LinkedIn profile can get more integrity in the eyes of the algorithm. Moreover, social selling leaders have 45% more sales opportunities than the ones with a lower LinkedIn SSI score.

That said, if you haven’t already, it’s best to jump into this story and boost your LinkedIn SSI score immediately. However, if you don’t know where to start or what to improve first, don’t despair. We are here to give you tips and pointers from our first-hand experience on improving your LinkedIn SSI score and making this platform work to your advantage.

What is the LinkedIn SSI score? 

Social Selling Index is LinkedIn’s measurement of how effective you and your profile are at building your brand. In other words, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and establishing relationships.

Users with a higher LinkedIn SSI score are better positioned to become thought leaders, do LinkedIn lead generation and therefore more likely to succeed in closing the deal. This is LinkedIn’s way of awarding those with high social selling skills.

Where to find LinkedIn SSI score? 

SSI is available to everyone, whether using a free or paid LinkedIn account. (If you are not sure where to find it, copy and paste this 👉 www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi in your browser’s search engine. Go ahead and check it. This is your first step towards knowing what you are doing right and what needs a little extra push. 

This is what you can expect. 

Founded on the above four sections, LinkedIn SSI score shows your success as a salesperson and how effectively you are using the platform. 

Each of the segments can grow up to 25 points, with the total score anywhere between 0 and 100. This implies that all four sections are equally valued when measuring your Social Selling Index on LinkedIn.

Tips to increase LinkedIn SSI score

Tip #1: Complete your LinkedIn profile

If you want to boost your personal brand and Social Selling Index, you need to first complete your LinkedIn profile.

Yes, your personal brand starts with a neat and complete LinkedIn profile. The way you communicate with your leads, the way you nurture them, the type of content you post, they all add up. But first and foremost, your profile. 

It’s just like in the real world. It takes only a few seconds for someone to form the first impression. And they get attracted or rejected by your looks, not your brains. Sorry, it’s just the way it works. 

That said, there are many steps that you can follow to improve the Social Selling Index pillar #1 “Establish your professional brand”. Here is what we did and saw an immediate increase in SSI:

• Upload a professional profile picture that gives the impression of you being a reliable, yet approachable expert in the field.
• Write a catchy LinkedIn headline that sums up what your career is all about.
• Dedicate time to a summary that will make your profile stand out and grab the visitors’ attention. 
• Fill out your professional achievements, but don’t overwhelm us. It’s like sending a CV to a recruiter. Only career highlights, please. 
• List your fortes. 
• Ask for recommendations (from people you worked and had a close bond with). 
• Endorse others and others will endorse you. The law of reciprocity rocks.  

While striving to fully complete your LinkedIn profile, always have in mind the keywords you would like to be connected with and searched by. Just like you are optimizing your content to show up on Google, you are optimizing yourself to show up in your leads’ search engines. 

If you’re still unsure how to set up your entire profile, check out our masterclass. 👇

Tip #2 Find the right people

Speaking of search engines, who is showing up in yours? 

As mentioned above, LinkedIn was created to suit business needs. Not personal. Read that again. 

Don’t invite people to connect because you like their looks. There are other platforms designed for that. 

For you to improve the LinkedIn SSI score pillar #2 “Find the right people”, focus on expanding your network according to the following parameters: 

• People you already know in person.
• Users that are from the same industry, are industry thought-leaders, or share an interest in the same industry as you. 
• LinkedIn members from adjacent industries.
• Audiences that you think (or even better: you researched) would be interested in your product or service. 

Fortunately for all of us, LinkedIn has developed plans, each of them with different perks, depending on what you’re expecting from the platform. 

LinkedIn Premium Business, for example, has the same filtering options as LinkedIn basic. However, it does give you unlimited profile search and views, together with 15 Paid and 800 free monthly LinkedIn InMail credits. 

On the other hand, Sales Navigator, designed in particular for salespeople, has numerous other options that will make your life easier while searching for that perfect lead. Aside from Sales Navigator advanced filters, it has Lead Lists, Saved Searches, and 20 Paid and 800 free monthly InMail credits. 

You can improve the quality of your network and leads by: 

• Checking out LinkedIn groups of your interest.
• Reaching out to people attending a certain LinkedIn event.
• Using the Boolean Search to narrow down your audience with more precision. 

Tip #3 Engage with insights

Don’t just stand there looking good. Say something. Post on LinkedIn and share your vision with the community. Don’t be afraid to speak up, as the world is full of people thinking differently. Luckily for you, there is plenty of fish in the sea and you will for sure find like-minded users. If that’s what’s worrying you. 

For the LinkedIn algorithm to like you and for your Social Selling Index pillar #3 “Engage with insights” to grow, you need to: 

• Post engaging and valuable content.
• React and comment on other people’s posts.
• Reshare what you find worthy of resharing. 

LinkedIn SSI score is not the only one benefiting from your engagement with insights. 

LinkedIn pushes people who give value to the platform by sharing their insights, encouraging constructive criticism, and starting meaningful conversations. These users come up in the search results more often and get more exposure in comparison to inactive users. 

That said, make every post count. From our experience, here is what made a difference:

• Providing value, 
• And offer a solution to a pain point our network is struggling with.

By engaging with insights, you are telling people who you are and what you stand for. Consequently, you will start being surrounded by like-minded people. 

A LinkedIn post can be an excellent source of leads. People who react and comment on a certain topic from your or your target industry are apparently interested in the subject. And are all gathered at one place. Whether picking them manually or scraping all of them by using a Sales Solutions, such as Skylead, making a reference to a certain post is a serious game-changer when it comes to acceptance rates. 

Tip #4 Expand network and create relationships

You can have 500+ connections and not stand for a particularly “engaging” member of the LinkedIn community. 

If you just had a LinkedIn profile long enough and behaved professionally you are likely to have gathered quite a lot of connections. There you go. But that doesn’t help the LinkedIn algorithm nor it grows your LinkedIn SSI score. 

For you to improve pillar #4 “Establish relationships”, do the following: 

• Approach other users with a valid reason, be genuinely curious about their career path, ask business-related questions, be ready to reciprocate, and know when to stop (read: don’t spam them).  You can use the following LinkedIn connection message template:

Hey {{firstName}}, 

I loved your {{topic}} post and followed every advice. So far, I have achieved {{achievedResult}}. Thank you so much! I would love to connect and exchange some experiences! 

• Comment on other people’s posts or on the comment someone else left. The only way to provide value and show integrity is to give your honest opinion instead of repeating what others said. 
• Introduce your connections. If you see that someone works in the same or adjacent industry, or they might benefit from each other, speak up. Not only will your connections appreciate it but they are more likely to return the favor. 
• Be responsive. Answer to messages, Invites to Connect, and post comments in a timely (and respectful) manner. 

Briefly, you cannot go wrong with making a pleasant social interaction. In addition, what we found worked like magic was incorporating personalized images & GIFs in the outreach. It even increased our response rate to 63%.

Tip #5 Analyze LinkedIn SSI score and improve

Once you start improving your SSI, the job is not done. You need to keep track of your Social Selling Index score, analyze it and see what area you need to improve. From our experience, experimenting with different social selling strategies and monitoring your SSI changes usually does the trick. 

Frequently asked questions

How frequently does LinkedIn update the SSI score, and can changes in my activities impact my score immediately?

LinkedIn updates the Social Selling Index (SSI) score daily, reflecting changes in user activities almost in real time. Engaging consistently in recommended activities—like making connections, sharing content, and interacting on the platform—can positively impact your score, demonstrating the dynamic nature of SSI.

Are there any known limitations or criticisms of the LinkedIn SSI score as a metric for evaluating social selling effectiveness?

The LinkedIn SSI score, while useful, is not without criticisms. Some argue it may not fully capture the quality of social selling efforts or the depth of relationships built. It's a quantitative metric that might overlook the qualitative aspects of networking and sales effectiveness.

How can companies or teams collectively improve their LinkedIn SSI scores, and does LinkedIn offer insights or tools for group performance enhancement?

Companies can improve their collective LinkedIn SSI scores by encouraging consistent, strategic activity on the platform, including content sharing, engaging with connections, and endorsing skills. LinkedIn does offer analytics and insights for company pages, which can guide teams in enhancing their overall social selling performance.

To sum up

In real life, you make sure you look professional, your network at events, you are kind and genuinely interested in other people, and you stand behind your values and opinions. Hopefully. 

That’s LinkedIn in a nutshell. Just online. 

If finding the right people and nurturing relationships is something you would like to take to another level, then start a 7-day Free Trial and see how Skylead can save you 11+ hours a day while generating 10 times more leads.

Nowadays, to get qualified prospects, you need a detailed plan and a few prospecting tools. 

A detailed plan will make your lead generation smoother and increase conversion rates. At the same time, B2B sales prospecting tools help you speed up specific discovery and lead management tasks that would take up so much of your time otherwise. 

The most widely-known prospecting tool is, for sure, LinkedIn, the #1 professional social media aimed at connecting companies from all over the world and encouraging them to make meaningful business-to-business connections. Even though LinkedIn prospecting is the best way to find new leads, there is still a lot of manual work, such as finding the leads’ contact information. 

That said, here are 18 other B2B prospecting tools you should consider using. They are meant for sales teams doing in-house prospecting activities or for a prospecting company offering it as a service.

Why use B2B prospecting software & sales prospecting tools? 

B2B prospecting software is designed to automate otherwise time-consuming prospecting activities, giving you more time to nurture qualified leads and close the deal. 

In other words, these tools give you the following:

• A way to get to your potential customers faster, 
• More time as they streamline the most tedious research tasks,
• A way to create personalized emails or LinkedIn messages so you can reach more people genuinely.

All B2B prospecting tools listed below are software as a service (Saas), which means they are entirely delivered over the Internet and are accessible from anywhere on the planet. 

This makes them suitable for anyone interested in sales and marketing automation - from cold email campaigns and messaging on LinkedIn, to email finder, data generator or any other step in the outbound marketing process and lead management overall. 

18 best B2B prospecting tools you need in 2024 [Including free tools]

1. Skylead - LinkedIn prospecting tool

Skylead is one of the best sales outreach and prospecting tools on the market. To clarify, it is LinkedIn automation and cold email software as service (Saas). It helps you find your B2B leads’ data, maximize touchpoints with your leads and, therefore, reach your qualified prospects faster. 

How? Firstly, Skylead supports Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Recruiter URLs. So salespeople can search for your new prospects via these platforms and import them directly into your Skylead outreach campaign. Or you can import your sales leads via CSV.

Secondly, Skylead can find your qualified leads’ B2B contact data with native Email finder & verifier. This feature is unique on the market because you don’t need any 3rd-party tool or the need to connect with leads on LinkedIn first.

Moreover, Skylead combines LinkedIn connection requests, connection messages, free and paid InMails, and the View and Follow steps with cold emails into Smart sequences. This way, you can use multichannel outreach and maximize getting in touch with every lead.

Lastly, Skylead offers its users the Boost mode to bypass LinkedIn connection limits and send over 500 invites per week. 

Skylead has an All-in-one pricing plan of $100 per seat/month. You can, though, test out all of Skylead’s features by signing up for a 7-day Free Trial. 

2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator - Sales prospecting tool for lead generation 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is Premium built for salespeople to discover and connect with the most qualified leads for their business. 

With Sales Navigator filters, you can see all targeted members’ LinkedIn profiles, but you can access a series of sales-oriented features. These features are perfect for handpicking high-quality prospects, getting company data, segment target accounts for different outreach, and so on. 

It’s best when used with a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software such as Skylead. To clarify, you can import leads through a Sales Navigator search result or Lead list. Once you do, you can create the outreach sequence with the highest number of touchpoints with your leads. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has 3 pricing plans:

• Core - $109 per month + VAT
• Advanced - The pricing depends on your contract details, the number of seats, and your chosen features;
• Advanced plus - You need to request a demo with LinkedIn for this information.

3. Hubspot - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

Another tool that is widely used for prospecting and lead management is Hubspot. They offer a free CRM solution to help anyone track their prospect lists and outreach stage. 

This free CRM helps you take complete control of your sales process, starting with creating your prospect lists. Once you import new prospects, Hubspot’s enrichment feature will get you essential company insights. 

Hubspot also has a paid version within its Sales Hub product. Its pricing goes for $500 a month per minimum of 5 users and includes the following main features:

• Creating email sequences and email campaigns;
• ABM tools & tools to automate lead generation; 
• Workflow integration with other apps;
• Target accounts dashboard;
• Identifying logged-in website visitors to send personalized emails or live chat replies;
• Streamlining new lead assignation to your sales representatives;

4. Zoominfo

Zoominfo is a B2B database and a Chrome extension used by salespeople, marketing, and talent acquisition professionals. Accordingly, it has 3 pricing plans:

• SalesOS - offers sales teams company data, such as insights, buying intent signals, and accurate emails and employees’ phone numbers.
• MarketingOS gives contact information, advanced company insights, and digital marketing solutions for display advertising. What’s more, marketers gain access to plugins, website chat, and forms management for lead generation. 
• Lastly, TalentOS provides recruiters with advanced candidate search with accurate contact information, candidate alerts, and different engagement apps and integrations.

That said, to get pricing for each plan, you must leave your contact information and jump on a call with their sales representative. In addition, the word on the street is that Zoominfo makes contracts with companies, not single users, which implies the pricing height. So if a minimum of 3 seats per contract is not for you, you should consider using other solutions.

Keep in mind that it's not entirely necessary to buy contact data from companies such as Zoominfo. Instead, you can use Skylead's "Email finder & verifier" feature as part of your outreach workflow. This way, you can gather all B2B contact data such as company name, business email & domain.

5. Contactout - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

Inspired by Zoominfo, Contactout is a subscription-based, Chrome extension database suitable for occasional searches and long-term use.

Namely, it has a free plan that allows you to search up to 40 emails and 3 phone numbers and works for basic LinkedIn profiles only. Contactout’s free plan can also be an excellent way to test the database before committing to a paid pricing plan. 

Speaking of pricing, Contactout has 3 paid plans, billed annually:

• Sales plan costs $79 per user a month. In addition, it offers 6000 emails a year, 600 phone numbers, CRM integration, and connection to other apps through Zapier.

• The Recruiter plan goes for $199 per user a month. This plan offers 12000 emails and 600 phone numbers a year. In addition, it can find prospects’ personal or business emails. Moreover, like the one before, this plan offers CRM integration and a chance to link Contactout with other apps. 

• Lastly, a customized plan, Team, offers everything in the Recruiter pricing plan plus volume discount and team collaboration. However, you need to contact their sales reps to get a quote on this one. 

6. Lusha - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

Another solution similar to Zoominfo is Lusha. This B2B prospecting tool helps you find prospects that belong to your ideal customer profile and respective decision-makers. 

Lush does this by accessing your LinkedIn account and using Chrome extension to scrape your leads’ contact information like company name or email. However, remember that Chrome extensions are not the safest since they inject code into this social media platform. In other words, LinkedIn can easily detect this code and get your LinkedIn account restricted.

Lusha has 4 pricing plans billed annually, with the following main features:

• Free - 5 credits to enrich contacts and get phone numbers or email verifications.
• Pro - Lusha charges $29 per user a month. It offers 480 credits and the ability to manage prospect lists.
• Premium - Lusha estimates this plan at $51 per user a month. It offers 960 credits, 25 contacts enrichment per bulk, and prospect list management. 
• Scale - custom plan. It offers everything from the previous plan plus: 1000 contact enrichment in bulk, CSV enrichment, intent signals, CRM integration like Salesforce, and so on. However, Lusha requires you to schedule a call with their sales reps.

7. Clearbit - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

This is another database sales prospecting tool that lets you automate finding high-quality leads. Even though it helps sales teams find potential customers and enrich the data, Clearbit is more of an inbound lead generation solution for marketers. 

To clarify, Clearbit turns your website visitors into a sales pipeline by automating autofill on website forms. Moreover, Clearbit ties anonymous visitors with accounts and can immediately enrich your contacts. 

In addition, Clearbit gets more high-quality leads to your sales team by capturing intent. It does this by automating adding accounts and key buyer contacts to your CRM (Salesforce or Hubspot) from websites such as G2. 

Lastly, it offers marketers a unified dash for Google, Facebook, or YouTube ads and can perform exclusion for people who don’t belong in your ideal customer profile. 

Clearbit has 3 pricing plans:

• Free - includes finding 100 emails through Chrome extension and enriching 50 domains and emails per month. 
• Business - includes data enrichment, lead scoring, form optimization, advanced personalization, and conversion targeting. 
• Powered by Clearbit - includes IP de-anonymization, company name and contact data, and free data credits.

However, you need to schedule a call with their salespeople to get to the price. This way, they can give you a custom quote based on the number of credits you need. 

8. SalesIntel

Another database classified as a pretty good outbound sales prospecting tool is Salesintel. They provide 95% accurate and human-verified account and contact data so you can search through and find your ICP or a decision-maker.

They have 17 million contacts and 22 million company records and have 65% coverage of SaaS decision-makers. This is a nifty tool because you only need to insert the firmographic or demographic filters and let SalesIntel do its job. After you find your leads, you can import them to your outreach tool and send LinkedIn, multichannel, or email sequences. 

SalesIntel has one pricing plan that offers:

• Unlimited emails and phone numbers if you prefer cold calling; 
• Account and contact enrichments;
• Unlimited saved searches;
• Sales intelligence Account firmographic and technographic filters;
• Buyer intent.

However, you’d need to contact their sales reps to get a custom quote. 

9. Seamless AI - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

Like SalesIntel, this outbound B2B sales prospecting tool is a simple database solution to find new leads. Sales professionals use Seamless AI to get real-time data verification, such as social media profiles and company insights, and use email finder. 

Salespeople can also use sales intelligence, aka buyer intent, to increase their prospecting efforts and determine their ICP’s needs. This way, they can write the right messaging and even follow-ups before the cold outreach. 

Lastly, Seamless AI offers data for social media advertising via lookalike audiences and retargeting to drive inbound B2B leads. 

Seamless AI has 4 pricing plans:

• Free - up to 50 credits for emails or phone number search, AI Writer, and real-time search engine.
• Basic - everything in Free, plus 250 monthly credits for finding emails or phone numbers and live training webinars.
• Pro - everything in Basic plus daily credit refresh, integrations, job changes, buyer intent data, priority support, and dedicated success manager.
• Enterprise - everything in Pro plus custom credits per user and phone support. 

10. Leadfeeder - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

Leadfeeder is a prospecting software that helps ABM managers step up their lead generation game. To clarify, Leadfeeder has an IP enrichment API feature that can transform IP addresses into firmographic data in real time. 

In other words, once a lead visits your website, Leadfeeder can recognize the companies and filter out the ones that are not interested. In addition, it can filter visitors by country, industry, or pages they visited. You can then use the Leadfeeder Contacts feature to identify decision-makers from that company. Or you can personalize your chat to send particular messages depending on their behavior. 

Once you generate leads, you can integrate Leadfeeder with your CRM, such as Salesforce. This way, you can send potential customers along with the notification to your salespeople and help out their prospecting efforts.

Lastly, with the Leadfeeder, you can monitor the existing customers’ behavior. This way, if you see any anomaly, you can alert sales professionals, improve their sales process and prevent potential churn.

Leadfeeder has 2 pricing plans:

• Free - no time limit, data from the last 7 days only, up to 100 companies identification.
• Paid - starting at $199 per month and is paid annually. It includes 2500 credits, 3 seats, website visitor company identification, and other features listed above. 

11. Aeroleads - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

If you primarily cold email outbound campaigns, then AeroLeads is for you. AeroLeads ease up your sales process with the email verification feature that can find business and personal emails. In addition, this tool can even find phone numbers if you prefer cold calling. 

Only keep in mind that you’d need to use their Chrome extension to extract these emails from LinkedIn, Aeroleads search, and other websites. In addition, you can send your LinkedIn prospect to your CRM via plugin, thus sending a notification to your sales team. 

Aeroleads has 4 pricing plans:

• Free - 50 monthly credits, where credit means a record of sales leads and 100 verified emails. In addition, you get contact data such as company name, phone number, or title, email campaigns, integrations, and prospects discovery from LinkedIn, Crunchbase, etc.
• Take off - goes for $49 a month. It offers everything in the Free plan, plus 2000 monthly credits and 2000 verified emails. 
• Climb - costs $149 for 5 users per month. It offers everything in the Free plan, plus 8000 monthly credits and 8000 verified emails. 
• Cruise - costs $499 a month for an unlimited number of users. It has everything like in the Free plan, plus 30K monthly credits and 30K emails verified.

12. Rocketreach

This is one of the best sales databases with 700M profiles and 35M companies that you can search by title, industry, and company details. In addition, with Rocketreach, you can find social media profiles and discover company connections from any platform.

Lastly, Rocketreach supports workflow integrations with CRM or any other app. 

Rocketreach has 3 pricing plans:

• The Essentials plan costs $53 per user per month with 125 monthly lookups, which is used like a credit in other B2B prospecting tools. 
• Pro is priced at $107 per user monthly with 300 monthly lookups.
• The Ultimate plan costs $269 per user a month, with 833 lookups per user. 

13. Salesloft

This is a sales engagement platform that can help you use a single app to: 

• Track your prospecting process, 
• Discover what stage your leads are in,
• Find out the next steps you need to take
• Calculate the closed deal value and LTV.

In addition, Salesloft makes it easy for you to make calls, create emails, follow-ups, and meetings through the platform, and it will automatically sync with your CRM. 

Moreover, Salesloft can Identify sales leads’ buyer engagement on your website and in your communication so you can act on situations fast. 

Lastly, you can create a library of email templates, and Salesloft will keep track of the number of emails sent, clicks, and replies. This way, you’ll know what follow-ups or cold email templates are a winner. 

Salesloft has 3 pricing plans:

• Essentials - You get automated workflows, sales pipeline performance data, insights, guidance, and conversation sales intelligence (call recordings and transcription integrated into your workflow).
• Advanced - Everything in the Essentials plan, plus sales pipeline visibility (from prospecting to the conversation).
• Premier - Everything in the Advanced plan, plus automatic forecast roll-up, submissions, and AI-driven next steps of the prospecting processes. 

However, you need to schedule a call with their sales team to get the pricing for each. 

14. Datanyze

The next tool that can help your prospecting process is Datanyze. Essentially, it's a Chrome extension to help you gather the sales lead info from LinkedIn and other company websites. 

In addition, Datanyze provides ideas for icebreakers by what is happening in a prospect's world, curated from personal social media feeds, current weather, etc.

Datanyze has 3 clear pricing plans:

• Free (limited) - You get 10 monthly credits to test the platform for 90 days. 
• Nyze Pro 1 - You get 80 credits per month. Additional credits are charged $0.363 per credit.
• Nyze Pro 2 - You get 80 credits per month. Additional credits are charged $0.344 per credit.

15. Voila Norbert - B2B prospecting tool 

Voila Norbert is an extension-based email finder tool that, in addition, offers email verification and enrichment services. In other words, if you want to collect data beyond emails, Voila Norbert can find the prospect’s location, job title, and social media profiles. All you need to start is a prospect’s name and company URL. 

With a 98% success rate and ease of use, Voila Norbert can find any email provider including Gmail. And this is why it ranks among the best sales prospecting tools for lead generation. 

This tool doesn’t have a free plan. However, it provides the first 50 emails free of charge. Speaking of costs, Voila Norbert has 4 basic pricing plans. Every plan includes 50 bulk workers and API usage, and:

• Valet ($49 per month) offers 1000 leads per month;
• Butler ($99 per month) provides 5000 leads per month;
• With Advisor ($249 per month), you get up to 15000 leads per month;
• Counselor costs $499, and it offers 50K leads a month.

However, verification and enrichment services are charged separately: 

• One verified email costs $0.003, 
• and email enrichment costs $0.04 per email. 

16. Hunter - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

Another software on our best sales B2B prospecting tools list is Hunter. This is a Chrome extension tool that can find emails by company or name and verify them. It can also perform a domain search to find out who to contact within the company. 

Even though they are an email outreach platform, they are still most used for email discovery. However, Hunter can automate sending cold email campaigns and follow-ups from your Gmail and Outlook accounts.
Lastly, you can integrate Hunter with any other tool and, for example, send your high-quality leads to your CRM.

Hunter has 4 pricing plans:

17. Evaboot - Sales prospecting tool with free plan

Evaboot is a Sales Navigator scraper. To clarify, it is a Chrome extension-based tool that finds emails using Sales Navigator and adds additional data such as name, company size, and job title. Then, you can later export data via CSV and use it elsewhere. 

It can automatically clean the names, job titles, and company names of any emoji or symbols. Moreover, it can detect leads that are not your Buyer Persona and remove them automatically.

Evaboot has 3 subscription plans:

• $49 a month for 2K export and email credits each;
• $99 a month for 5K export and email credits each;
• $199 a month for 50K export and email credits each.

However, if these plans do not suit your needs, you can always pay their one-time fee for different amounts of emails you want to find and export. Lastly, when you install their extension, you get one-time 1000 credits free to export leads. 

18. GetProspect - B2B prospecting tool with free plan

Last but not least, we have GetProspect. This is a simple email finder solution that scrapes the contacts from LinkedIn using the Chrome extension.

Moreover, they have a B2B contact database, which you can access, find leads via 15 filtering options, and get real-time data and email verifications. 

Lastly, you can link and sign up with your Gmail or Microsoft emails and try the tool for free.

GetProspect has 5 pricing plans, paid monthly or yearly: 

• Free for 50 emails and 100 verifications;
• $49 for 1K emails a month and 2K verifications;
• $99 for 5K emails and 10K verifications;
• $199 for 20K valid emails and 40K verifications;
• $399 for 50K emails and 100K verifications;

Frequently asked question

How do these tools ensure data privacy and comply with regulations like GDPR?

B2B prospecting tools prioritize data privacy and compliance with regulations like GDPR by implementing secure data handling practices and providing features for consent management.

What integration capabilities do these tools have with existing sales and marketing platforms?

These tools often feature robust integration capabilities with popular CRM, sales platforms, facilitating seamless data flow and activity tracking across sales ecosystems.

For businesses with global outreach, how do these tools handle and segment data across different regions and languages?

For global outreach, many B2B prospecting tools offer functionalities to segment and manage data by region and language, enabling businesses to tailor their strategies to diverse markets.

Wrap up and advice

Choosing the right B2B prospecting tools can be challenging. However, it doesn’t have to be hard - our advice is to start the research by defining what you need. 

If, for example, you need an email finder only, then use tools such as Voila Norbert or GetProspect. However, if you need an entire database, check Salesintel or Contactout.

Lastly, if you find yourself in a situation where you need all the above and the multichannel solution, then choose Skylead. Simple as that. Just define what you want and then go for it.

Speaking of Skylead, wish to try it out for free? Then sign up for a  7-day free trial, and we’ll help you get onboard in no time. 😊 

The topic of how to cancel a LinkedIn invitation is rarely discussed, simply because people tend to leave invites pending for… Well, forever.

However, everyone should monitor their pending invites, especially if you are in sales or a recruiting business, as the integrity of your LinkedIn profile can get damaged. Yes, it’s that serious.

So to keep your integrity intact and help you reduce the number of pending invites in the first place, in this article, we’ll cover:

• Why do you need to cancel your LinkedIn invite;
• What you need to know about the cancellation process;
• How to cancel LinkedIn invitations that are pending for a long time;
• Why your LinkedIn invites aren’t getting accepted;
• How to create engaging invitations that will increase your acceptance rate.

Why should you cancel your pending invitations?

You should cancel LinkedIn invite because of 3 reasons:

• There’s a risk of getting your account restricted;
• Your LinkedIn experience can get damaged;
• LinkedIn won’t allow you to send new ones unless you clear the list.

Let’s clarify these statements.

Firstly, and most importantly, if you do not cancel your LinkedIn invite for a long time, you risk piling them up. It would be fine if LinkedIn didn’t have an eye out for suspicious activities. And, yes, LinkedIn does consider this suspicious. 

In other words, if you do not withdraw your pending invites after a month or two and leave them piling up, LinkedIn can restrict your account. Moreover, you won’t be able to send any other connections until you clean out your pending invite list. 

Secondly, if the connection doesn’t accept the invite for a while, the chances are they either are not interested, or they aren’t within your business industry. 

To clarify. The quality of your network on LinkedIn plays a significant role in experiencing benefits while using this platform. So, one of the things that will boost your career is taking the effort and making a strategy to connect only with people related to you and your business, and cancel LinkedIn invites sent to those who are not.

Lastly, a word on the street is that if you have too many pending requests, LinkedIn won’t allow you to send new ones. Some people say they reached a whopping 3000 pending invites before LinkedIn restricted them from sending more invites. LinkedIn didn’t publish the precise number of how many pending requests you can have officially. However, to avoid this scenario some people experienced in the past, be sure to clean your list regularly.

What you need to know before proceeding to cancel LinkedIn invite?

Before you withdraw any of your LinkedIn invites, you should know a couple of things first.

You can’t cancel LinkedIn invites in bulk.

If you wish to cancel LinkedIn invites in bulk, you cannot do so within LinkedIn itself. However, keep on reading as we will explain how you can do it in bulk using a certain tool 😉 .

About the notification your pending connections receive.

If you send a LinkedIn connection request to a person, they will see the notification as soon as they log into their account. However, in case you cancel LinkedIn invite before the user sees it, they wouldn’t even know that you’ve sent it.

In addition, canceling an invite will stop the recipient from receiving further LinkedIn notifications or emails to remind them of the request.

When can you cancel your LinkedIn invite?

You can cancel LinkedIn invite you’ve sent accidentally or that you regret sending, as long as the LinkedIn member hasn’t accepted your invitation.

In case the LinkedIn user accepts your connection request, there is always an option to remove them from your connections.

If you withdraw your request, you will have a tiny restriction.

After you cancel your invite, you won’t be able to resend it to the same recipient for up to 3 weeks.

How to cancel LinkedIn invite in 5 simple steps?

In case you’ve sent the requests you wish to withdraw or are pending too long, here’s how you can do it.

Cancel LinkedIn invite via desktop

First, go to Linkedin, and click on My Network in the header bar.

Once you do, you will see the list of invites other people sent you. Hit See all # in the top right corner. 

If you don't have any invites you need to approve on this page, the section will look slightly different. In this case, just click the Manage button.

Here, you can see all the invites people sent you. To find the ones you sent out, go to the Sent tab and click the Withdraw button to cancel the LinkedIn invite.

Lastly, LinkedIn will double-check if you wish to withdraw your invite with the notification. Continue the cancellation process, and you will be done.

Canceling invites via Android 

You can withdraw invitations using your android phone too, and the process is not that different than the one using your PC. 

First, go to your Network page, and click the Invitations button.

Next, click the Sent tab, and withdraw the invites you wish.

How to cancel LinkedIn invite on iOS

The process is somewhat different on iOS devices. So if, for example, you have an Apple phone, here is how you can cancel LinkedIn invite.

First, go to Notifications at the bottom of the screen. Then, click the Invitations button at the top. After the pop-up opens up, click View invitations you sent.

From there, choose the LinkedIn invites to withdraw and cancel them one by one.

Let Skylead do the withdrawal for you

Canceling LinkedIn invites, one by one, can work if you have just a few pending. However, what should sales managers or recruiters do when they have thousands of invites pending? Should they all cancel the thousands of invites manually? No.

Remember when we said you could not cancel LinkedIn invites in bulk on LinkedIn? The point still stands - you cannot withdraw them all at once… Within the LinkedIn platform, that is.

However, you can use an automation tool for LinkedIn and Email outreach, such as Skylead, to do it for you.

In other words, you can use our LinkedIn outreach tool and set how many pending connections you wish to have before Skylead starts removing them automatically to keep your account safe and healthy. 

Why your LinkedIn invitations aren’t getting accepted

Speaking of connecting on LinkedIn, the best case practice is to connect with people related to you, your position, and your business industry. Naturally, if you are a salesperson or a recruiter using LinkedIn for lead generation, you’d go with your target group.

In the end, no matter who you wish to connect to and why, the goal is the same – to get the right message across and be accepted. However, there are numerous reasons why your LinkedIn invitations aren’t getting accepted or stay pending for a long time. So, to help you increase your acceptance rate, let’s first cover the possible reasons why this metric is not high at the moment.

1. Incomplete LinkedIn profile

Sending invitations actively to users without previously setting up your profile is a huge mistake.

There are many profiles on LinkedIn that look like this, and you don’t want yours to be one of them. 

Start from yourself - would you accept an invite from this kind of profile? No, you wouldn’t. 

If you have no photo, no description of any kind, and no experience details, no one on LinkedIn will take you seriously. Why would they want to connect with you without knowing who you are, right?

So if you send a request to someone with a profile like the one above, go back and cancel LinkedIn invite yourself. Then focus on setting up your LinkedIn profile first.

2. Someone is really not interested in accepting the invite

One reason may be that the user does not wish to connect with you and just prolongs declining your invite. I know - it’s like ripping off the band aid, but it had to be said. 

3. Outreaching unknown people without context or common connections

This depends on the person, but some LinkedIn users don’t accept unfamiliar people. To clarify, those people sometimes see nothing they have in common with you, which makes them skeptical.

In this case, it’s good to have or reference a mutual connection, so they do not ignore your request.

4. Sending generic message requests 

This mistake is the one that most LinkedIn users make. They think that writing something generic like “Hey, I’d like to connect with you” is enough to have their request accepted. Yeah, right!

These requests may be accepted in some cases, but not by a person who gets a lot of invites daily. Such people tend to get tons of messages that resemble yours and mostly ignore them. So, why would they make an exception for you?

What’s more, with this kind of message or no message at all, there is a chance the recipient can click the Ignore button and then the I don’t know this person option. With too many “I don’t know this person clicked“, you risk getting your account restricted by LinkedIn.

5. First touch selling 

The chances of successfully selling something via the LinkedIn invitation request are close to zero. 

You have probably received tons of invitation messages where someone is trying to sell insurance to you.

It is not the way sales work. Nowadays, it’s all about social selling.

In your invitation message, you should explain why you want to connect with the user you’re outreaching, but not by trying to sell something. First, focus on personalizing, building normal human connections, and providing value before they buy anything you’re selling.

How to create engaging LinkedIn invites and boost acceptance rate

We cannot stress this enough. Before you even start creating and sending out your invitations, you need to optimize your LinkedIn profile first.

Almost every LinkedIn user will check your profile before they decide whether they should accept or ignore your invitation. That’s why it’s in your interest to give them a strong reason to accept your invitation, get value from you, and create a relationship.

After you’ve taken care of your profile, you’re ready to start inviting other users to connect. Here is our advice on how to do it more efficiently.

Prepare the ground for an invitation

It’s easy to connect with your colleagues or someone you know because those people know you personally.

However, even if you don’t know someone, you can try to remove that obstacle by becoming more familiar with that person. In other words, it’s good to start engaging with the posts of those potential connections. 

Start liking their posts, create meaningful comments, and try to make a connection with them before sending an invite. 

This will pave the way for you to build a relationship, and those users will start to perceive you as someone who is a valuable connection. Consequently, you won’t get in a position to cancel a LinkedIn invite that has been pending for a long time.

Personalize your invite messages

Before sending an invitation, make your messages as personalized as you can. It is a must if you want to improve your acceptance rate.

Sending personalized messages helps you leave a good first impression. Also: 

• Addressing users by their names, 
• Referencing something familiar to them, 
• And avoiding generic phrases 

play an important role in creating a strong relationship between you two.

Start by answering how you came across their profile and what made you want to connect. Don’t worry - the time you invest in LinkedIn prospecting your potential connection always pays off here.

Since you’re limited to 300 characters, you can use it to be more direct and honest. 

Discover 20 ready-to-use connection invite templates with up to 78% acceptance rate.

Mention common interests

Adding many LinkedIn users who aren’t from your niche can decrease the quality of your LinkedIn feed and make it full of irrelevant content. That’s why connecting with someone that you share interests with is a great approach.

Mentioning the shared interests in your invite will show those users that you’ve invested some time into getting to know about them and their work. Moreover, you can mention the topic you wish to discuss with them. A message with these two elements will skyrocket your acceptance rate for sure. So, you won’t have to be in a position to cancel LinkedIn invite that has been pending for a long time. 😉

For example, start your message by commenting on your mutual job position, an event you both attended, or a post you both liked a while back. 

Involve a little humor 

It’s essential to have a professional tone of voice when you write your connection invite. However, “professional” doesn’t mean not having some sense of humor. You can always add a subtle joke here and there to make your invite stand out.

Moreover, using humor in your outreach is a nice pattern interrupt and has an immediate effect. Here is our example.

Check out our list of 35 position-related jokes ready to use in your outreach. 

At the end of the day

We hope this article helped you understand why your requests have been pending for a long time and learn the tricks to improve the acceptance rate. 

Remember: you must keep track of the request you sent and clear the list on time. This is just so you don’t land on the LinkedIn radar for suspicious activity and get restricted.

If you invest time in your connection message and LinkedIn profile, you won’t ever need to be in a situation where you have to cancel a LinkedIn invite. However, if you do, you can always use Skylead to automate your LinkedIn outreach process and make adjustments so it removes your pending request along the way.

Using Skylead makes it easy to get tons of new connections, personalize all your messages based on the interests of the people you want to connect with, and it only takes a few minutes to automate many of your LinkedIn lead generation processes.

Skylead does all the sales tasks for you while shortening the time you originally needed to make connections on LinkedIn. Try out Skylead, and let’s skyrocket your business together.

CRM software and tools are definitely here to stay. There is no doubt that, with the global CRM market growth projection of $128.97 billion worth in 2028, the substantial popularity of the best CRM software is yet to come. 

And with the reason. Firstly, CRM offers a wide range of benefits, including centralized data and automation of tedious sales processes. Above all, a well-implemented CRM software can reach ROI up to $45 for each $1 spent. 

We all wish to jump on this train. And some of us already did. But in the sea of CRM software, how would you know which one is the best for you? Whether you are starting out or considering changing your CRM software, we’ve got your back.

Therefore, in this article we will cover some of the best CRM software, why they are the best, and how to integrate them with other tools.

Furthermore, we will cover what CRM software is, if you need it and if you should buy it. Let’s get to it!

What is CRM?

Customer Relation Management, aka CRM software, is a tool that helps companies collect, organize and manage data and streamline processes related to customers’ lifecycle. 

In other words, sales terms, CRM software helps teams visualize their pipeline and organize or perform tasks related to the buyer journey. Furthermore, it pinpoints the location of specific prospects in the sales funnel, their status, the next activity the sales team needs to perform, and potential value. 

CRM software substitutes various spreadsheets and documents companies use to keep up with prospects’ or customers’ data. It stores all information in one place - such as messages, meetings, pain points, buyer persona type, and, in some cases, calls with customers - everything you need to know about specific leads to help you build a relationship and close deals. Lastly, CRM software shows how effective your sales strategy is and if something in your process needs improvement.

Customer-wise, CRM software provides information about each customer, their history, and any pending tasks related to nurturing and upselling. 

Why is CRM one of the most valuable assets a company can acquire?

Why CRM? To clarify, let’s check out a couple of statistics first: 

59% of companies tested say that CRM helped them improve Customer Retention and Satisfaction Rate by 47% and reduce lead costs by 27%. (FounderJar)

According to Salesforce, 81% of sales representatives emphasize the importance of having a view of data across the complete customer journey.

97% of sales professionals tested think that technology and CRM software are either essential or crucial for business. (LinkedIn)

Looking at the previous statistics and many more across the internet, CRM software is an essential tool for sales teams, and for good reason. To clarify, they are not just any tool on the market - they make building the relationship and social selling easier tasks and help the sales team be more customer-oriented - which is the core point of today’s sales. 

Best CRM software can…

1. Centralize and label your data

CRM keeps track of all leads’ data. In other words, CRM’s centralized storage offers salespeople all the information on every individual prospect or customer at hand so they can build relationships and close deals faster. 

In addition, since the prospect base can be distinct, the best CRM software also labels and sections your customer data. To clarify, you as a salesperson must know at any given time where your prospects are in the pipeline, on what note you ended the conversation, are they warmed up, or what is the next step towards closing the deal. CRM software does this for you by analyzing and labeling existing data in the system with various parameters you set. Therefore, you can be more customer-oriented by creating different messages depending on the buyer lifecycle and more personalized outreach.

2. Automate the process

With almost every piece of data being actionable, the best CRM software can automate some tedious parts of the process for salespeople, so they can focus on nurturing prospects through the pipeline. For example, appointment scheduling, assigning leads to different sales reps, or updating and importing the prospects’ data. 

3. Offer analytics to close more deals and increase customer satisfaction

We can’t stress enough how important it is to conduct data analysis. Luckily, creators of the best CRM software out there share our opinion. Hence, every CRM has an analytics or reports page to help sales teams make data-driven decisions. 

In other words, CRM can help you see how many deals you won or lost, what tactic you used, deal value, and much more. Thanks to this, salespeople can adjust their approach, close more deals and improve customer satisfaction and retention.

4. Remind salespeople of pending tasks 

Sometimes we as people, amongst other work, forget to write a follow-up email or two, or simply a meeting slips out of our mind. It happens. However, forgetting such tasks can cause a lost prospect or a customer. However, CRM software offers a solution to this problem, and it is an option to alert you of actions needed for every customer in the pipeline to make sure these mistakes never happen. 

To buy CRM software or to create a spreadsheet? That is the question.

Our experience says to buy. CRM software offers many useful features that you can use to streamline and automate processes and save you much more time than the spreadsheet one.

However, if you are just starting out, perhaps you don’t have the necessary budget or have a small company, you might want to consider creating a CRM in a spreadsheet for yourself. It can help you understand how CRMs work and how your business can benefit from them. 

Additional tip: If you want to level up but are not ready to pay for the CRM itself, try out some CRM software with free plans, such as Bitrix24, Really Simple Systems, or EngageBay.

Nevertheless, if you or the company scales up, do not dwell on these spreadsheets or free plans (unless you want to), as you might miss out on the amazing features that some of the best CRM software have.

In case you wish to buy CRM software, here are the ten best CRM software currently on the market (people’s choice).

10 best CRM software for sales

CRM software is an essential tool for every sales team. However, as prospects differ, so do the salespeople. In other words, not every CRM suits every business's needs. So, how would you know which one is the best for your business needs?

Thus we present you with the top 10 list of highest-rated, best CRM software for the sales team from various listing websites. For this article, we are going to calculate the current average rating from the most popular review sites:

• G2 
• Capterra
• Software Advice
• GetApp
• Software Suggest

Furthermore, we will list who they are most suited for, advantages, disadvantages, pricing, and additional information to help you find the best CRM software for you. Let’s get started.

Salesmate - Best CRM software for cold calling

This CRM software is great for small and medium businesses who are cold calling. In addition, Salesmate has a relatively easy-to-use interface and quick access to the features you require.

Salesmate can be integrated with Gmail or Outlook. Furthermore, each sales member can centralize prospect data, including email messages, and share them with other team parties. 

Salesmate also offers reports that enable business owners and managers to track sales reps’ productivity and achievements. Team leads can also listen to calls by using the call recording option.

Advantages:

Salesmate has an option to generate tasks for you automatically. If, for example, someone fills a form on your website, that lead can directly go into Salesmate, and it automatically creates the task to follow up with that lead. 

Secondly, there are calling and texting features so the sales reps can contact leads. Thus, it eliminates the need for adding other tools and saves budget, in a way. 

Disadvantages:

A couple of reviewers reported a periodical system lagging. Furthermore, since every text message and call minutes have an additional price, the amount billed each month increases by that sum. This can be a problem for some users, as the amount can escalate if not properly and regularly managed. 

Price: 

• Starter: $15 per user / month or $144 billed annually
• Growth: $30 per user / month or $288 billed annually
• Boost: $50 per user / month or $480 billed annually

Listings rating: ⭐ 4.64

HubSpot CRM - Best CRM software for teams that are developing

There is no doubt that HubSpot surprised everyone with free access to the CRM software. However, the free version does come with its limitations. 

In a free account, you get:

• Contact management
• Deal pipeline
• Quotes
• Meeting scheduling
• Live chat
• Reporting dashboard

If you wish for anything else, you need to upgrade to a paid version. 

HubSpot CRM is perfect for individuals or companies that are just getting started with CRM software. Furthermore, it is useful for other medium-sized businesses that outgrew that phase.

Advantages:

HubSpot overall offers various nifty features, including sales playbooks, sequences, workflow automation, and reporting. In addition, this CRM can process up to 1,000,000 contacts and users for free and offers unlimited storage. Their Starters pricing plan is pretty fair and is somewhat beginners friendly, as opposed to other CRMs on the market. 

Disadvantages:

If you wish for additional features, pricing for professional and enterprise packages is pretty steep. Furthermore, it does not directly support Dynamics 365, and pipeline and managing deals are not that intuitive. 

Pricing: 

• Starter: $50 per 2 users / month or $540 yearly
• Professional: $500 per 5 users / month or $5400 yearly
• Enterprise: $1200 per 10 users / month, billed yearly

Listings rating: ⭐4.504

Salesforce Sales Cloud - Best CRM software for sales experts 

This is a complex and useful CRM that allows sales professionals to manage and build relationships with their prospects and customers. Salesforce Sales Cloud helps you optimize your workload, maximize your budget, and offers real-time data all in your favor so you can close more deals. 

This CRM is not for beginners. In other words, they offer features galore that can be useful to sales experts already using CRMs for a couple of years, but if you are a beginner, you might want to test out and use other systems for a while before jumping to Salesforce. 

Advantages:

Salesforce’s various and unique features are actually its advantage. Furthermore, they offer mobile app for Android and iOS to let you do the work on the go. 

Salesforce also possesses the visual workflow drag-and-drop feature and lets you create, do and change tasks fast. In addition, Salesforce Sales cloud integrated with Slack so you can engage with prospects and customers in real time. 

Disadvantages:

Salesforce is not beginner friendly and it is billed annually.

Pricing:

• Essential: $25 per user / month, billed annually
• Professional:: $75 per user / month, billed annually
• Enterprise: $150 user/month, billed annually
• Unlimited: $300 per user / month, billed annually

Listings rating: ⭐4.5

Zoho CRM - Best CRM software companies interested in contact and pipeline management only

The core functionality of Zoho’s CRM is contact management, pipeline management, and purchase control. Its dashboard is customizable, and it allows users to brand it according to their business brand. 

Advantages: 

One of Zoho's biggest advantages is that it allows you to reach people who use Twitter and Facebook. Furthermore, Zoho CRM tracks their actions and categorizes them as contacts so you can connect with them. 

Disadvantages:

Zoho is a kind of CRM with mixed feelings - its interface is a bit outdated, it doesn't work well with extensive outreach, features are sometimes not communicating between each other, and billing annually are perhaps the reasons why Zoho is so low on the list. 

Pricing: 

• Free Edition: Free up to 3 Users.
• Standard Edition: 20€ per user / month or 14€ per user / month but paid annually  
• Professional Edition: 35€ per user / month or 23€ per user / month but paid annually
• Enterprise Edition: 50€ per user / month or 40€ per user / month but paid annually
• Ultimate Edition: 65€ per user / month or 52€ per user / month but paid annually

Listings rating: ⭐4.292

Monday Sales CRM - Best CRM software for workflow

Before, Monday was a project management software, but now with its product development, it is much more. Now-developed Monday Sale is CRM software that centralizes your entire workflow and customer data. It allows tracking every aspect of the sales cycle, from lead generation to after-sale customer nurturing.

This CRM is best for small and medium-size businesses, and it is completely customizable.

Advantages: 

Monday offers various templates that you can use for your workflow. In addition, the Monday.com dashboard is clean and straight-to-the-point, so you can easily spot any issues in your sales cycle.

Disadvantages:

Their pricing plan is confusing since they require a minimum of 3 seats, and you cannot use it as an individual (you can, but you need to pay for 3 seats). Furthermore, Monday Sell has issues with tablet and mobile device apps, and workflow automation needs additional manual work.

Pricing:

• Individual: $0 free forever (up to 2 seats), billed annually 
• Basic: $8 / seat / month (3 seats minimum), billed annually 
• Standard: $10 seat / month (3 seats minimum), billed annually 
• Pro: $16 seat / month (3 seats minimum), billed annually 
• Enterprise: Contact Monday.com for a custom quote

Listings rating: ⭐ 4.675

Zendesk Sell - Best CRM software on a budget

Formerly Base, Zendesk Sell is a CRM software perfect for small and medium-sized businesses. It provides access to all channels the sales team uses for communication including SMS, voice calls, and emails. 

With Zendesk Sell, it is pretty easy to gain a full insight into the specific lead, thanks to features such as funnel tracking, customizable lists, templates, and conversion rate tracking. 

Advantages:

One of the best features Zendesk Sell has is a calendar-reminder system. In addition, Zendesk Sell can be linked with Microsoft Office and possesses one tool that automatically detects duplicate leads and task sequencing.

Disadvantages:

Zendesk users reported problems such as slow loading time, mistakes in automated data entry, and issues with customer support. In addition, subscriptions are billed annually, and users need to pay more for certain features.

Pricing:

• Starter: $19 per user / month, billed annually 
• Professional: $49 per user / month, billed annually 
• Enterprise: $99 per user / month, billed annually 

Listings rating: ⭐4.216

Copper - Best CRM software if you use Google Workspace

This is a CRM software with the main emphasis on Google Workspace. It has a well-designed UX/UI. What’s interesting about this CRM is that it contains in-app voice transcription, allowing you to take bullet points from the call right away.

Like other CRMs, Copper offers detailed reports and suggests improvements in workflow, while alerts keep you focused on the most important tasks. Furthermore, Copper is a nice CRM if you are a beginner or if you wish to change your current CRM.

Advantages:

The main advantage is that Copper integrates completely with Google Workspace - Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Sheets. In addition, the onboarding process is seamless and the system itself is simple to use.

Disadvantages:

Firstly, you are not able to attach files to emails you send in Copper. Secondly, workflow automation is a bit confusing since Copper uses rule-based workflow automation, and it may be time-consuming at first. Furthermore, another thing you might need to spend time with is filtering and extracting data.

Lastly, there is a lack of flexibility outside Google Workspace. To clarify, companies that use different email providers will not be able to integrate them with Copper. 

Pricing:

• Basic: $29 per user / month or $300 annually
• Professional: $69 per user / month $708 annually
• Business: $129 per user / month (with annual commitment) $1.428 annually

Listings rating: ⭐4.53

Pipedrive - Best CRM software for multiple pipelines and customization

CRM software, Pipedrive, handles all the essential sales CRM features. It is intuitive, and you can easily separate priority deals and create different strategies for each lead. 

Advantages:

Firstly, Pipedrive lets you build multiple sales pipelines and customize stages which are great for sales reps or team leads who manage various pipelines at once. 

Secondly, Pipedrive’s star feature is that you can create web forms and LeadBooster chatbot, a custom chatbot to pop up next to a webform. Pipedrive then automates the process and puts lead directly into your pipeline. 

In addition, Pipedrive’s powerful AI understands leads’ behavioral patterns and can give you hints on how to close deals with them. 

Disadvantages: 

Pipedrive can’t send a follow-up message or birthday greetings based on a date at this moment in time. In addition, users noticed some lagging issues and poor mobile app experience. Lastly, customizable reports are not available.

Pricing:

• Essential: $15 per user/month or $12.50 per user / monthly billed annually
• Advanced: $29 per user/month or $ 24.90 per user / monthly billed annually
• Professional: $59 per user/month or $49.90 per user / monthly billed annually
• Enterprise: $119 per user/month or $99 per user / monthly billed annually

Listings rating: ⭐4.446

Salesflare - Best CRM software (people’s choice)

The best CRM software on our list is Salesflare. It is a CRM software primarily for startups and small businesses, but many agencies and enterprises use it. Salesflare is intuitive and easy to use and can be integrated with more than 400 other productivity tools like Trello, thanks to Zapier.

Salesflare offers automation features, such as an automated address book, timelines, file repository, and sending emails based on triggers. It can also provide task suggestions automatically. 

Advantages:

The good thing about Salesflare is that they provide dedicated support no matter the plan you choose. In addition, for all technical advice, you can even talk to developers. 

Furthermore, they have a mobile app, various team access levels, and a great data gathering system. Lastly, Salesflare will automatically log phone calls or meetings, and gather contact information from email signatures, and even social media profiles.

Disadvantages:

Fortunately, there aren't many disadvantages when we talk about Salesflare - the users seem pretty content. There are, however, a couple of suggestions from them: it would be nice to have email drip functionality, and email reporting needs improvement.

Pricing:

• Growth: $29 per user / month (billed annually) or $35 billed monthly
• Pro: $49 per user / month (billed annually) or $55 billed monthly
• Enterprise: $99 per user / month (billed annually) or contact their support for custom plan

Listings rating: ⭐ 4.73

EngageBay - Best CRM software for enticing your sales team

Cloud-based CRM, EngageBay is a software that integrates sales, marketing, and finances on a single platform. The core function of this software is complete automation. Furthermore, it offers contact management tools specially designed to be simple to use. In addition, it can track web activity, email response, and analytics. 

EngageBay easily Integrates with Gmail, Office 365, or any other service, with integration capabilities through Zapier or other similar integrations to further streamline your sales efforts.

Advantages:

The possibility to make a call from this CRM is a big plus, as well as an option for transcripts. In addition, what separates EngageBay from other systems is the possibility to gamify sales processes and thus keep your sales reps motivated. 

Disadvantages:

A couple of lesser disadvantages came up with EngageBay. There is less troubleshooting documentation, email templates are limited, and the Chrome plugin doesn’t trigger an event, so automation needs to be done manually.

Pricing:

• A free plan is available, limited to 1,000 contacts emails 
• Basic: $12.99 per user / month, $11.69 per user / month annually 
• Growth: $24.99 per user / per month, $22.49  per user / month annually
• Pro: $49.99 per user / month, $44.99 per user / month annually

Listings rating: ⭐ 4.636

How to use CRM software with other tools? 

We all know that only one tool won’t do if you wish to optimize your sales workflow as much as you can unless that one tool has everything you need, which is pretty rare. 

So, in addition to CRM, you might be using sales engagement, meeting scheduling, or LinkedIn prospecting tools. So the question arises - is it possible to integrate them all? Short answer - yes.  

Long answer? Let us show you how you can do it.

For example, let’s take our LinkedIn Automation and Cold Email software, Skylead. This tool enables you generate leads on LinkedIn, outreach them and take action depending on their behavior, all on autopilot. As Skylead fills your pipeline, it leaves you more room to concentrate on important matters such as building relationships and closing more deals. 

In addition, you can connect Skylead with your CRM of choice by using webhooks. A webhook helps you transfer data to other applications immediately, when certain action happens. For example, as soon as the lead responds in a Skylead campaign, a webhook is triggered, and will automatically send lead’s data to your CRM. 

Moreover, webhooks are the most common way to integrate tools directly into your CRM and push data about the leads in one place. You can create them by using tools such as Zapier. Check out our detailed step-by-step guide on integrating your CRM with Skylead using Webhooks here.

Apart from using webhooks, you can also push your prospects’ information to your CRM by using Skylead’s global BCC option. To use it, simply insert the email address you get from your CRM in Skylead’s Global BCC option. This option is available only if your CRM of choice doesn’t offer direct sync with your email but through BCC.

Example

Say, you are using the Pipedrive Essential plan. In this plan, you don’t have an option to sync your email with Pipedrive directly unless you upgrade. However, you can use their Smart BCC function to send all emails to Pipedrive. 

Here is how it works: Go to Pipedrive Email Sync settings and find the Smart Email BCC address - your company account’s specific BCC address provided by Pipedrive.

So, to send every email to the Pipedrive inbox, you need to insert this email address in the BCC field of every email manually. However, you can do this automatically if you use Skylead for your outreach. 

Firstly, go to your Skylead settings and click on the Integrations tab. 

Then, scroll down to the global BCC option, take the email address from Pipedrive, and place it into the field. 

In this way, for every outreach campaign you run in Skylead using the email step, you will be able to see separate emails in your Pipedrive inbox. Moreover, Pipedrive will automatically connect them with matching leads and deals in your pipeline. 

The best CRM software in conclusion

With so many CRMs on the market, it can be daunting to go through every single one of them. But if we take software listing websites into the account you can more or less see the situation on the market. 

So, let our list be your guide to narrow your choices, or figure out what other solutions are out there. Thus, here is the short overview of the best CRM software currently on the market.

Wish to use an advanced outreach tool in combination with your CRM software and close even more deals? Then, try out Skylead for free - an outreach that thinks for you!

What would you say is the first thing that catches your prospects' attention in their inbox? That is right, email subject lines. They are undoubtedly the most integral part of your cold email outreach. In just seconds, the faith of your outreach success is determined.

How? Well, if you do not create catchy email subject lines, you risk getting your email deleted, your open rate becomes much lower, and you will be disregarded as Spam. Consequently, this ultimately leads to a lower number of warmed-up leads and closed deals. Furthermore, effort and time spent will go to waste.

Don’t panic. We’ve got your back.

In this article, we are explaining what the subject line is and why it is important for your email outreach. Furthermore, we are digging deep into catchy email subject examples, why they work, and help you create your golden subject line that catches your prospects’ attention immediately.

What is an email subject line and why is it important?

Let’s start with the basics. When you open up email inbox, you can notice the 3 following components of the email message:

• Senders’ name,
• Subject Line, 
• And Preview text. 

Email subject line is a text line next to the sender’s name, describing the title of the email message. In other words, it is an indication of what the message is about and why you should read it. 

Email subject line communicates value, sets expectations, and entices recipients to discover more about the topic by reading the email message. 

Getting your email subject line just right will make you stand out in the sea of other emails and increase the open rate. In sales terms, this means increasing the chances of getting your message across and warming up leads so you can close more deals.

Another thing worth mentioning is the importance of the Preview Text.

A preview text, aka preheader text, is a line next to the subject line that shows the beginning of your email message. In some cases, preview text can be custom-made if you use newsletter software or similar tools, but in most cases, it shows a preview of your message. That is why it is important to perceive them in synergy rather than separate components to make your outreach as effective as you can (but we will talk more about this below).

How to write catchy email subject lines: Tips to get started

Email subject lines’ first and foremost purpose is to get your prospects to open up your email. In other words, you need to catch their attention and entice them towards this action. 

Therefore, make email subject lines mean something. Let’s go through a couple of steps to get started. 

1. Determine the type of subject lines

As a salesperson, especially when doing a cold outreach, your job is to set the tone of the email subject lines. There are many ways to do it - making bold, sweet, or commanding statements - but first, you need to figure out the email content. After that, write down the email core meaning, and choose the type of tone which best fits your outreach message, personality, and prospects’ preferences. 

The usual subject line types for sales are:

2. Straight to the point 

Be clear and concise about your email subject lines whenever you can. The reason is that often prospects prioritize the emails by their subject line and order of reading/replying. For this reason, the email subject line should communicate what the message is all about and its importance. 

Avoid vague subject lines, such as “While I wait for your response”, that doesn't show anything about the email content as it will end up at the bottom of the priority list, and prospects will eventually forget it.

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t get crafty with it. You can create wordplay such as “Let’s Taco ‘bout your performance”, create a theme as “Let’s schedule a coffee chat”, or even use the power words to enhance your catchy email subject lines.

3. Power words in email subject lines

Specific words can trigger an emotion in us on a conscious or subconscious level. Let's take the word “happy” for instance. After reading it, you suddenly felt a slight uplift in your mood, didn’t you? What happens with the word “Sad”? You felt slightly down there, correct? 

Words are indeed powerful. So using specific words in subject lines can do the same for your prospect. To be more precise, using Power words can really catch your prospects’ attention and activate an emotion. Furthermore, if you put the Power word at the subject line beginning, it will draw even more attention.

Here are power words example list to catch your prospects’ attention and get them to open up your email:

Note: The important thing is to set expectations with power words, but be careful not to overpromise, as this will only annoy your prospects. And do not go overboard with them.

4. How long should email subject lines be 

On average, email subject lines should ideally be 4 to 7 words. If you need more words, aim for a subject line no longer than 9 words, which is the upper limit. Furthermore, contemporary inboxes can reveal up to 60 characters on average, depending on the email provider. 

Also, keep in mind that some people check their emails on mobile devices, which show only 41 to 50 characters. This roughly translates to 7 to 8 words. Therefore, to lower the number of characters, you need to remove any filler words, such as just, hi, thanks, going to, etc.

Note: If you plan to reach out to your prospects using LinkedIn InMail, you should know that the subject line character limit is 200 characters. Check out our complete guide on how LinkedIn InMail works and 13 InMail templates for a better response rate.

5. Use subject lines and preview texts in synergy

As we mentioned earlier, the preview text is a line of text found next to the subject line. It shows the first couple of words of your email message. In addition, it can show custom text if you use a newsletter software tool. 

Preview text is just as important as the subject line - it is your chance to deepen the message and make it more effective to get your prospects to open up an email. 

Preview text is usually 35 to 90 characters long, depending on the email provider. To make a subject line and preview text work together, it is best to perceive a preview text as a collection of details that didn’t fit the subject line. Here is an example:

Subject line: 🎁 A discount gift for you

Preview text: Happy Women’s Day! Up until the end of March, you get a discount of […]

Note: To convince a prospect to keep on reading the email and perform the desired action, make sure you get your opening paragraph and a Call To Action right.

Email subject lines best practices [and some worst ones to keep away]

Now that we’ve set the email subject lines basic steps, let’s go through the best practices and what you need to avoid.

Subject lines best practices 

1. Personalization

Did you know that personalizing subject lines can increase the open rate by 22.2%? The increase in open rate happens because personalization creates a sense of familiarity in leads. Especially if you found those leads by prospecting on LinkedIn. Furthermore, it comes across as genuine and that you care for them. 

Personalize your email subject lines using the following demographic, psychographic, and firmographic data:

• Interaction with your brand
• Their location
• Years in the company
• Current company
• Interests and values

To gain a full understanding of how powerful personalization in outreach can be, check out our blogs on how to increase the level of personalization in outreach and how to personalize image and GIF to improve response rate.

2. Use emojis In email subject line

In modern days times, emojis can be a nifty tool to spice up your subject line. They are a friend in need to get your point across, make your email stand out in the inbox, and they cost only one character (speaking of saving the space in the subject line :).

To back this up, take a look at the following statistics:

Emojis in subject lines had an open rate of 56% higher than those without them.

Not bad, ha 🧐?

3. Include numbers

Catchy email subject lines that include numbers achieve 45% higher open rates. This way, prospects will perceive your subject line as more precise and attract their attention. Use numbers to state how many tips you send them, time stamps, or statistics to increase the value.

4. Email subject lines specifying time

Providing your prospects with the right information that is in correlation with time will attract their attention as it represents information that is a “current trend”. Nicely timed subject line will increase an open rate, as well as response rate depending on the email body.

Example: 

Here is how to boost your April’s website performance

5. Hint the valuable content

One of the perfect ways to increase the open rate is to give your prospects a sneak peek into the body of the email. This catchy email subject lines’ teaser can be in the form of content that prospects will value, such as images, infographics, and guides with top 5 tips.

Example:

Why Sales Needs To Get Out There And Use Social Selling More (Webinar)

6. Subject line testing

You need to test your email subject lines to be sure you got them just right, and there are a couple of ways you can do it.

A/B testing

Every audience is different, and in some cases, one subject line that worked previously won’t be that effective anymore. And then, there is the following fact:

A/B testing can increase email open rates by 49%.

That is why you need A/B tests as much as possible. In order to do this, take 3 to 5 subject lines and send out those cold outreach emails to check which one has the highest open rate.
For example, in Skylead, you can test different subject lines for your outreach campaigns on autopilot and see which one works best for you.

Online email subject line testers  

Online email subject line testers are nifty tools to have at hand if you are not sure about the effectiveness of your subject lines. Whether you wish to test the emotional tone of voice or the overall effectiveness of your subject lines, you can use tools such as Send Check It, EMV Headline Analyzer, or GradeMyEmail.

Email subject lines DON’Ts

1. Hi there

Avoid phrases such as Hi there, Greetings George, or Hello. The reason is they aren’t specific enough and do not show any hint of what the email message is all about. Instead, draw your prospect’s attention by clearly stating the purpose.

2. Misleading prospects

Being deceptive and promising your prospect one thing in the subject line and showing them another will annoy them. Consequently, you will lose trust and respect instantly. Not to mention, you will fail to close the deal with the prospect forever. Therefore, avoid click baits, or RE: and FWD: entirely just to get them to open up an email.

3. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS OR BUNCH OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

See how that was unnerving and frenzy-like? Using letters in Caps Lock or with multiple exclamation points is a synonym for spammers these days. It also looks aggressive and distasteful, and you do not wish that for your brand, trust us. Furthermore, if you use this kind of email subject line, you risk getting your emails in the Spam folder. However, Caps Lock and exclamation points are not prohibited - you can always use one from time to time to emphasize your statement, but please do not go overboard.

4. Avoid spammy words

Similar to all-caps-lock words and multiple exclamation points, spam words can also ruin your outreach efforts. These words have been all over the internet for many, many years (not to mention billiards in the 80s) and are now considered repulsive and plain out pushy. 

Here are a couple of examples to watch out for:

• Act Now
• Cash 
• Cheap
• Credit
• Double your ROI
• Earn Extra cash
• Millionaires
• Free
• Fast money
• Get it today

Catchy email subject lines examples and templates

Follow up email subject lines

1. Had a {{Topic}} idea for you since we last spoke 

Example:

Had a social selling idea for you since we last spoke

2. Been thinking about what you said 

3. Should I give up on you and close the file? 

4. I forgot to mention in our meeting that…

5. The final and easy step…

6. Tuesday meeting at 10PM

7. Sending info I promised 👉

8. I spoke with {{ReferredName}} and they said…

Example:

I spoke with Mark, and he said…

9. Down to business - How we can help

10. Need any help?

11. {{firstName}} I need your advice

12. Have 5 minutes for a quick call?

13. I don't expect you to open this email but…

General cold outreach email subject lines

1. ❤️ how you contribute to {{DesiredResult}}

Example:

❤️ how you contribute to closing the deals faster

2. {{firstName}} let’s connect

3. Are you completely happy with {{CompetitorName}}?

4. Get lifetime access to {{SoftwareName}}

5. What are your insights from {{Event}}?

6. The most exciting opportunity for {{Industry}} companies in 2024

Example:

The most exciting opportunity for insurance companies in 2024

7. Saw your amazing post - Interested in creating shared content?

8. Exclusive for {{CompanyName}}: 3 tips to get conversion faster 

9. Congrats on {{Achievement}} 🥳

Example:

Congrats on becoming CEO 🥳

10.  Join forces? 👊

Urgent email subject lines 

1. Do you have these numbers and analytics yet?

2. Hot conversion data insight for {{CurrentMonth}}, 2024

3. Resource on {{Topic}} that’d go great in your {{Topic}} post

Example:

Resource on Email Statistics that’d go great in your Outreach post

4. Omg {{firstName}}...

5. It doesn’t look good

6. 10 must-know trends to keep up on the market

7. Your Free Trial is ending!

8. Save 30% before the New Year

Email subject lines that entice curiosity

1. Everyone’s favorite {{Occupation}} trick is…

Example:

Everyone’s favorite Sales trick is…

2. 🤫 Real secret to {{Task}} or {{Benefit}} is…

Example:

🤫 Real secret to outperform outreach is…

3. About your approach…

4. I have a question about how {{DoingRelevantTask}}

Example:

I have a question about how you handle budgeting

5. Does Thursday work for you? 

6. New year, a new strategy to {{Goal}}

Example:

New year, a new strategy to achieve 50+ conversions a month

7. Are you taking advantage of your detailed reporting?

8. How we accomplished {{DesiredResult}} in 2 months

Example:

How we accomplished 6x more sales in 2 month

9. {{RelevantTopic}} trends that are the talk of the town

Example:

Sales strategy trends that are the talk of the town

10. Save 5 hours a week with {{Task}} on autopilot 

Example:

Save 5 hours a week with outreach on autopilot

11. 56% of {{JobPosition}} use this trick to improve conversion

12. A cheat-sheet for better conversion — Interested?

13. {{Topic}} resources that can help you at this time

Example:

Cold outreach resources that can help you at this time

14. 4 tips to help increase sales during hard times 💪

15. It’s that simple 😃

16. Few in the {{IndustryType}} know about these hacks

17. Pick one out of these 2 strategies

Email subject lines that address pain points

1. How to survive {{PainPoint}}

Example:

How to survive working 10 hours a day

2. 5 easy steps to beat {{PainPoint}}

3. How to deal with {{PainPoint}} 

Example:

How to deal with LinkedIn algorithm

4. 5 Ideas for {{PainPoint}}

5. A resource to help you with {{PainPoint}}

6. How happy are you with {{Department}} performance?

Example:

How happy are you with Sales performance?

7. Steal this strategy from us - It will work for {{PainPoint}} 😁

8. 7 tips for turning {{PainPoint}} around 

9. Proven solution to {{PainPoint}}

10. Tired of {{PainPoint}}? Let’s have a chat

Subject lines that relieve pain and offer solution 

1. The fastest way to reach your Q2 target 💹

2. Here is the shortcut to {{Benefit}} 🙌

Example:

Here is the shortcut to tracking performance easier 🙌

3. Help is on the way - best strategies for LinkedIn lead generation

4. Problem with closing the deals? Here is how to fix it easily

5. Save up 5 hours of work per week

6. {{ProductOrSolution}} empowers companies such as {{CompanyName}} 

7. Ready to implement {{Tool}} to eliminate {{PainPoint}}?

Example:

Ready to implement Skylead to eliminate wasting time on manual outreach?

Personalized email subject lines

1. {{firstName}}, I was researching {{CompanyName}} and…

2. {{ReferredName}} said to reach out to you… 

Example:

Your colleague Steve said to reach out to you…

3. {{ReferredName}} think you’ll love us too

4. {{firstName}} I loved your post on LinkedIn about {{Topic}}

Example:

Sandy, I loved your post on LinkedIn about how to modernize sales

5. Does this work for you {{firstName}}?

6. {{firstName}}, a quick question regarding your performance

7. {{firstName}}, I notice you try to achieve a 50% increase in sales

8. Opportunity for {{CompanyName}}

9. Partner up with {{CompanyName}}

10. {{firstName}}, I have a story for you

11. {{TheirCompetitorName}} VS {{CompanyName}}

12. {{firstName}} perform {{Task}} better from Now on 💪

Example:

Andy perform outreach better from Now on 💪

13. New managing employees strategy for {{CompanyName}}

14. Loved the blog you wrote for {{CompanyName}}🔥

15. {{firstName}} I missed you at {{Event}}

16. What is your expert opinion on {{Topic}}, {{firstName}}?

Example:

What is your expert opinion on social selling, {{firstName}}?

17. {{firstName}} is there a lot on your plate r/n?

Humorous email subject lines

1. 🌮 Can we Taco ‘bout your growth?

2. ⚽ I wondered why the ball was in my court, then it hit me

3. I tried an elevator pitch - it was great on so many levels 🆙

4. 🐝 You are likely an indecisive bee. Might I call you maybee?

5. 🤝 Connect with you in present or future? It’s kinda tense

6. 🪐 Should I organize a space for our meeting and planet?

7. ⛵ Need a {{Topic}} strategy arc? I Noah guy.

Example:

⛵ Need a Sales strategy arc? I Noah guy.

8. My coffee is mugged and waiting for your call 😅

9. I'm gonna make him an offer you can't refuse…

10. May the Force be with you, and {{YourCompanyName}}🌌

11. {{ReferredName}} said to say hello to his little friend 🙋

12. “You can’t handle the truth!” Or can you?

13. Shaken, not stirred. 🍹 A {{Resource}} you asked for.

Example:

Shaken, not stirred. 🍹 A Guide To Outreach you asked for.

14. I like {{ProductOrAService}} as my wine - sweet and victorious. Do you? 🍷

Frequently asked questions

How can one effectively A/B test different subject lines to find the most effective one for their audience?

A/B testing for email subject lines involves sending two variants to a small segment of your audience to see which performs better, then using the more successful one for the broader audience. Monitoring open rates for each variant provides actionable insights. You can automate A/B testing by using the LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software with such a feature, like Skylead.

Are there specific strategies for crafting subject lines that improve click-through rates, not just open rates?

To improve click-through rates, subject lines should create curiosity or offer value that compels the recipient to discover more inside the email. Personalization and urgency can also encourage clicks by making the email feel more relevant and time-sensitive to the reader.

How do the recommended subject lines perform across different industries, such as tech versus creative fields?

The performance of subject lines can vary by industry due to different audience expectations and content relevance. Customizing subject lines to reflect the specific interests and language of your target industry is crucial for maximizing engagement.

Summary 

Strong and catchy email subject lines are mesmerizing and alluring to your prospects. They are links between your leads and your message. For this reason, it is important to make it as perfect as you can so you can increase the open rate, nurture the prospect and ultimately close the deal. And when you pass through the importance of it all, creating email subject lines and testing them can be fun indeed. 

Here is a quick throwback of what you should and shouldn’t do when writing the email subject lines.

Now it’s your turn. Go and rock out those subject lines! 

Wish to use Skylead for your outreach campaigns and A/B test your emails? We would be glad to hear from you and chat. Say hi by scheduling a Demo with us.

Blank email interface. Insertion point flickers on your document. You can feel it staring back, almost judging you for not knowing what to write anymore for your cold email outreach. You tried everything - it’s not working, and you don’t understand what you are doing wrong.

Once again, without any inspiration, you scribble what your company does, offer a product, and mass blast it. 

You wait. A couple of days later, history repeats itself. There is no response.

You think to yourself ’’This is too hard’’, or worse ’’This is not working for me’’.

As Darth Vader, you start breathing heavily. Take off the mask and get wind of the list of cold email mistakes you're probably making, what impact they have on your email metrics, and how to fix them to improve email campaign performance.

Do not worry. These mistakes happen to everybody.

The most important cold email outreach metrics

Before we dive deep into these email mistakes, let’s recap the metrics you need to track that will tell you a lot about your overall campaign performance.

Understanding and tracking the email metrics is crucial when deciding if your outreach campaign was victorious. It’s like putting a billboard up in the city and not knowing how many people saw it or bought your product afterward. Thanks to technology, now you can.

To be more precise, to measure email performance, you need to knowhow many emails were bounced, opened, responded to, and how many people converted via cold email outreach. Once you have that mastered, you can start creating engaging cold email campaigns.

#1 Cold email metric: Bounce rate

Bounce Rate in email outreach is the total percentage of email messages that have not been delivered successfully. This can happen if for example an email address is invalid or there is a technical issue with the email provider.

How to calculate email bounce rate

Example: 

Let’s say that during your email campaign you sent 1000 email messages. Out of those, 98 weren’t successfully delivered. The calculation would go like this:

Bounce Rate = 98 / 1000 x 100 = 9.8%

#2 Cold email metric: Open rate

Email open rate is the percentage used as an indicator of email campaign health. The higher it is, the better. 

This metric doesn’t tell you a lot about the email convertibility as a whole. However, it can indicate why it wasn’t opened, whether or not your subject line, or preview text (first several words of your email body) are appealing or can imply broken email deliverability. 

How to calculate email open rate

Example: 

Taking the numbers from the previous example, say, you have 1000 sent out, 98 out of those bounced and 565 were opened. The calculation will go like this:

Open rate = 565 / ( 1000 - 98 ) x 100 = 62.63%

#3 Cold email metric: Response rate

It’s nice to have a high Open rate, but it is even better to have a high Response rate, as well. As per its name, this metric indicates the number of individual emails in the cold campaign that leads responded to. This metric shows the quality of your email’s content. Ultimately, a good response rate means that you’ve managed to get the lead’s attention.

How to calculate email response rate

Example:

Continuing the example thread. Now you have 902 unique emails that have been delivered. Out of those, only 133 leads responded. The calculation goes like this:

Response rate = 133 / 902 x 100 = 14.75%

#4 Cold email metric: Email conversion rate

Conversion is an activity when a lead completes a desired goal, such as signing up for Demo or starting the Subscription. That said, conversion rate for email outreach is the percentage of prospects who took the desired action from your email campaign. 

To find out more about conversions, their types, and other KPIs, check out 5 Must-Know KPI Metrics to Grow Your B2B Business [Bonus Metrics Included].

Needless to say, the conversion rate is the ultimate metric to figure out if an email campaign was successful.

How to calculate email conversion rate

Example: 

Out of 902 successfully delivered emails, you have 36 conversions in total. Calculation is the following:

Conversion Rate = 36 / 902 x 100 = 3.99%

Now let’s see what email mistakes you are making that negatively impact these metrics and how to correct them.

Cold email outreach mistakes to say goodbye to

Successful email outreach is a lot tougher than ever these days. With so many emails cramping up the leads inboxes, it is hard to remember and know what best works for your targeted prospects, let alone see the mistakes that slither in without you even noticing. ‍

That’s why we created this ultimate guide to the most common email mistakes, how they affect the metrics, and how to fix them. First, let's break the email mistakes down into the following four categories to make it easier. There are Email Mistakes:

1. Affecting Deliverability 
2. Regarding Content
3. Related To Attitude Towards the Prospect
4. Affecting Sales Process

I Email mistakes affecting deliverability 

1. Acquiring poor quality leads

Let’s address the elephant in the room: many came across a situation where you are weighing options whether you should go for a cheaper alternative or not when buying prospects’ data. Unfortunately, the cheaper option almost always leads to devastating results in the end.

Starting, the leads’ contact information you get from unverified vendors might be completely untargeted for your outreach. You can get every mistake right on this list, but if your ICP is not targeted, the entire email outreach will fail. 

Or, maybe the prospect’s name is incorrect, and you might address them wrongly which will definitely affect the response rate and you will lose this lead. Forever. 

But there is a worse case scenario above all: if emails are invalid or non-existent, they can crumble your email outreach efforts because it increases the bounce rate and risks getting your domain blacklisted. 

Think of it as the butterfly effect: the bigger the bounce rate is, the more it damages your domain health and increases the danger of getting your emails in the spam folder or domain blacklisted. It also decreases your open rate, response rate, and conversion rate in the long run.

What to do?

Buy the data from well-established and verified data vendors or gather the right information as first-party data yourself. 

Another solution is to find a reliable partner for data research or introduce your sales team with a sales engagement tool for outreach that has email discovery and verification features. 

2. Adding a big number of links or sending the broken ones

Everyone wishes to tell the prospect as many things as possible about our product or service. We want to show them the blogs, ask for a meeting, attach a whitepaper file and add alternative comparison pages for them to see. While this confuses the prospect regarding CTA (which we will mention below), it also overcrowds the email itself, making email providers raise their robot heads as bloodhounds. Too many links or files in your email will trigger a warning to the email provider and increase the possibility for your emails to twirl down to the Spam folder. 

Furthermore, if you send a broken link to prospects, they will think of you as an unprofessional or worse spammer, and it will decrease the response and conversion rates, as they will lose interest in you.

What to do?

Try to keep the number of links to a minimum as you can (preferably without any links), and of course, check the links before sending. 

Additional tip: If in your signatures you have linked icons, check every one of them. As those links count as well, and sometimes they get broken, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

3. Sending too many messages per day

We all wish to send as many emails as possible for a short period. But this is a big mistake, especially if your email address is new. Sending too many emails per day can result in your messages ending up in the Spam folder. This can be one of the causes of your open rate dropping. 

What to do?

Slowly warm up your email address by sending a low number of emails, and then gradually increase the volume over some time. The warm-up of a new email address or domain can last from 30 to 90 days. 

II Email mistakes regarding content

4. Being too casual or too formal

Balance is everything. Sales representatives sometimes go overboard trying to get their prospects to laugh, which only ends up being too cringey. We do not say GIFs or jokes are bad, we even use them in outreach, and thread them to the context of the message. So know what thy boundaries are. 

Then on the other side of the scale, we have an overly formal approach. The truth is that everyone wishes to be respected, so a formal approach is good, but if you go overboard, you will sound like a robot.

What to do?

Find the balance between the two scales. You can even send personalized GIFs or Images to show creativity and genuine interest, but keep it tasteful.

When it comes to an overly formal approach, you can loosen up a bit. 

5. Subject lines mistakes

Coming up with the subject line cannot be an easy feat. It has to be attractive, short, explain everything but still leave the prospect interested in clicking on it. As challenging as it is, there are still some mistakes people make when it comes to these:  

• Spammy or clickbait subject lines - Big no. It will only enrage your prospects.
• Subject lines not specific enough for the market – This can cause lower open rates as the prospects will not relate to the email at all.
• Subject lines in caps lock - It’s good to be excited, but you don’t need to shout at your leads to get the attention.

What to do? 

These mistakes influence every important email metric starting open rate, so make sure to avoid them. Think about how you would attract the leads’ attention and bind the subject line as a whole with the email body. Even better, try to make the subject line as a prequel to your Preview text of the email and make it a united lead magnet.

6. Message copy not relevant to the market

As mentioned for the subject line, you need to keep a close eye on your email content's relevance to the market, as well. Writing an email not relevant to the industry can result in a lower response rate and conversion rate.

What to do?

Go full private detecting on this one. Research the industry, find the pain points. Go even further - find prospects' companies and information about them. Show them you understand the industry problems and what solution you offer instead.

7. Self-centered messages to prospects

Writing messages that are more focused on you instead of your prospects’ companies can come across as being too aggressive or assertive, resulting in lower response rates.

What to do?

Instead, be aggressive in knowing your lead: Showcase the research you did on them, ask for the call to know more about their pain points and see how your product or service can aid them further. 

People resonate with what’s in it for them. Talk about them, gain their interest through email. 

Example:

8. Adding too much CTAs or not at all

As mentioned above, if you wish to show the prospect the blog posts, ask for a meeting, add alternative comparison pages for them to see, and top it off with a YouTube video - Stop. 

All these are a type of call to action, and piling them in one email will only confuse the prospects regarding CTA. 

On the other hand, if you do not use CTA at all, you will lose the purpose of your cold outreach, so the prospects won’t have action in their mind to fulfill. 

What to do?

The goals of outreach campaigns are different for every purpose. Define one short CTA, and stay away from the unclear ones.
For more information on CTA in sales emails, check out our Detailed Guide On Crafting The Powerful Call To Action.

9. Not enough value

Often, our value proposition is not deep enough, doesn’t hit the bullseye, and is too generic. This directly affects the response rate, and you will lose the prospect as you weren’t compelling enough. 

What to do?

Once again, put on your detective glasses and go into deep search of a particular prospect’s main pain points. You need to know and understand them. 

If you can explain their situation better than they can, they will automatically assume you have the solution and gain interest.

Example:

10. Unnecessary text length

If your cold email message is too long and has numerous paragraphs, take a step back. 

Let's say you are reaching out to CEOs or other higher-up positions. They usually have a lot on their plate, so you probably know the one virtue they lack is time. Please make sure to not waste it. 

What to do?

If you can draw the line through any piece of your text without losing the value, remove it. 

Let's say you have sentences such as: 

• I know you are busy but... 
• I’m following up... 
• I’d love to give you a demo… 
• Do you perhaps know when would be the best time...

You won't lose the value if you cut them off. So instead, tell them something short, sweet, and essential about their business in particular, straight to the point:

• I see that your company struggles with VALUE...
• Would Wednesday at 10 AM work for you...

III Email mistakes related to attitude towards the prospect

11. Questioning the prospects integrity and authority

Now we have a mistake example, which is little farther down the cold email outreach sequence. Let’s say you have a correspondence with the lead from medium or large company who you are not sure if they are a decision maker or not.

Asking a straightforward question ’’Are you the right person?’’ or responding ’’I guess you are just not the right person to reach out to’’ after they do not reply is a big no-no. 

Simply do not ask a straightforward question if someone is a decision-maker. If not a decision-maker, they would feel invalidated.

Or maybe they indeed are, but your outreach was just not that compelling enough to respond to, or they might think ’’If I'm not, would you treat me with the same respect?’’ Either way, this is how you will decrease your conversion rate. 

What to do?

If you really wish to know if someone is the right person to reach out to, then you can say something like this: 

When you bought this {{Product}} in the past, who was involved in the process?

12. Being authoritative over or submissive under the prospect 

There are three ego states in the body: child, adult, and parent ego state. If you command someone to do something, you talk to someone from the parent's ego state, and they will automatically go to their child's ego state. 

An example would be ’’Let me know the time that works for you’’.

How would you feel if you got this sales email?

Would you want to rebel against that sentence? Your prospect would want to rebel too. 

Another example would be if you start your email with just a prospect's name, it will trigger a child's ego state, and they will think they are in serious trouble. You would want to increase the chance of somebody responding, so when cold outreaching, your goal should be to trigger ONLY their adult ego state. 

What to do?

So what to avoid in communication exactly?

1. Commanding to prospects to do something (Child ego state trigger)
2. Putting accountability on them for not responding (Child ego state trigger)
3. Invalidate their objections (Child ego state trigger)
4. Sentences like: 

• Just checking in...
• I know you are busy but…
• Would you have the time… (Parent ego state trigger)

Overall avoid triggering their Parent or Child ego state. Instead, trigger an adult ego state. 

For example, instead of saying:

Would you have the time…

You can offer an up-front contract. For example, write the exact time and date of the meeting and ask for consent. Additionally, provide an agenda for your call. 

13. Judging or making the prospects feel bad

Even though you think you will never do this to your prospects, this type of mistake is one of the most common ones. 

The first example is being harsh regarding the leads' choice to use similar products. Even though you are not saying anything bad about the leads themselves, you are indirectly insulting the decision they made. This easily translates to insulting them.

What to do?

Instead of judging the prospect for using a competitor and bragging why your product is better, say something like this:

Oh, you are using an XY competitor? That’s great! So you are familiar with the type of product itself. What differs our product from them is…

Also, do not allow your words to make your prospects feel bad. Put the onus on you, not on your prospect. 

Example: 

IV Email mistakes affecting sales process

14. Not setting up follow up messages sequences

Not having your follow-up game is the next in line of common lead generation mistakes (both for lead generation on LinkedIn and off). If the prospect doesn’t reply, do not give up. 

Follow-up emails always get a better response rate than the first email. In this study, there is an illustration of difference as follow-ups got 18% response rate higher than the first email, 13% to the fourth, and 27% to the sixth email *.

What to do?

Set up follow-up emailing sequences for the prospects who did not respond. Even if they do not respond to these follow-ups, insert them for other purpose sequences. Never give up, and never give in. 

15. Not tracking email campaigns’ performance

As we mentioned in the beginning, tracking is everything when it comes to your sales effort, especially if we talk about cold outreach.

If you do not know what you are tracking, how would you know if the channel is effective?

What to do?

So be sure to set and track the following: 

• Bounce Rate
• Open Rate
• Response Rate
• Conversion Rate

On the other hand you can use a LinkedIn automation and cold email software such as Skylead to track it for you. Analyze the chosen tool thoroughly and start tracking your performance. 

Honorable mentions

We cannot finish this blog, without mentioning a couple of short email mistakes which are essential to correct.

16. Poor Grammar - you have so many grammar checkers and tools available on the internet nowadays to remove sloppiness in communication.

17. Using initials - signing your email message using your initials such as J.K. can come across as unprofessional. Use your full name and surname in your signature. 

18. Not personalizing the email - Nowadays, in the cold outreach, you need to step up your personalization game, especially if you did the prospecting on LinkedIn first. To learn all about outreach personalization check out Cold Outreach: Increase The Level of Personalization [+Templates]

Summary

Cold email outreach is still a powerful tool for lead generation and conversion if done right. Take time to study all of the mistakes mentioned above, let them be your guide, and double-check. 

Here are all the email outreach mistakes to serve you as a checklist: 

1. Acquiring Poor Quality Leads

2. Adding A Big Number Of Links Or Sending The Broken Ones

3. Sending Too Many Messages Per Day

4. Being Too Casual Or Too Formal

5. Subject Lines Mistakes

6. Message Copy Not Relevant To The Market

7. Self-Centered Messages To Prospects

8. Adding Too Much CTAs Or Not At All

9. Not Enough Value

10. Unnecessary Text Length

11. Questioning The Prospects Integrity and Authority

12. Being Authoritative Over Or Submissive Under The Prospect 

13. Judging Or Making The Prospects Feel Bad

14. Not Setting Up Follow Up Messages Sequences

15. Not tracking email campaigns’ performance

16. Poor Grammar

17. Using initials 

18. Not personalizing the email 

Now get too cold email writing - You’ve got this. Godspeed!

Wish to use email and LinkedIn in your outreach and successfully track their performance? See Skylead in action - Start your 7-day Free Trial.

White Label refers to fully supported products or services made by one company but sold by another. 

The seller then customizes it with their brand, logo, and identity. This way, it makes the customers associate the product with the seller instead of with the company that originally made it. 

It is a win-win situation for both parties. Companies from which the product originates earn quite a sum from their white label partners, whereas the sellers offer the same products for more money with fewer expenses of production and maintenance. 

Already by hearing this, it is clear that white labeling a product has more pros than cons for both sides. 

However, let’s go ahead and go in-depth about the advantages for those who choose to white label. 

You Get The Luxury of Choice 

Whatever the product or service you want to white label, there are for sure plenty of options out there. Yours is only to do the thorough research and decide which one will suit your and your client’s needs best, and therefore sell well. Instead of wasting time creating a single product that, at the end of the day, might not even be as developed and successful as some of the ones on the market, just pick the one that has all the right features for you. 

However, choose smart. You want the third-party product to make your brand look even better. If something is not working, your clients will associate poor service with you, not with the company of origin. 

It Saves You Time & Money 

Anyone who has ever developed something from scratch knows how much effort is required to create a quality, functional product. It takes time, investment, knowledge, and later on the constant support and improvement to keep the product at a certain level. Of course, on the condition that it works! You have no guarantee of ROI. 

If you white label a product, all of these are already taken care of. And as the product develops, so does your version. 

This directly implies our third benefit. 

White Labeling Allows You To Take Advantage of Expert Work

It might sound awful, but it’s true. You will not be the one paying high-end developers who need to envision it, realize it, and then fix all the bugs. Yes, in a way you will be contributing through the price you agreed upon with the company of origin, but for sure you will not be having as many headaches as they do. They are the ones who need to take care of all the aspects that make one product unique and fully functional. Not only. It is on them to make the product go through beta tests, revisions, troubleshooting, and other fine-tuning processes. 

You just need to sit back and enjoy their quality work under your name. 

It Takes The Pressure Off 

If something goes wrong, in the majority of cases, the third-party tool owners will most likely be the ones solving the problem. Not only do they usually offer the service of Customer Support even for the white labeled version, but are fixing actual bugs and malfunctions in the product itself. Your job is only to handle the clients. 

However, when mistakes do happen, take into account that there is always room for a genuine human error. It is easier to blame someone else when something similar could have happened to you too, if you were the company of origin. Don’t let it become a bad partnership. 

White Labeling Increases The Customer Loyalty 

Introducing a new service that is already well-developed (by someone else, even better!) and functioning will offer your existing customers something to become even more attached to you. You will now be most likely handling several aspects of their business. 

Yours it’s only to make sure that the product you white label is reliable. 

It Attracts New Customers 

Once you start offering a new product or service, it will for sure attract new customers. It actually might not even be a bad idea to provide the service to clients who are interested only in that product, just to test it out without risking losing any of the existing clients due to poor satisfaction. In a way, it’s a win-win situation. If they like it, the new clients might expand their demand to other aspects of your business. If not, you will still have your old customers and know how to do things better for them.

White Labeling Skylead 

If you've ever thought of incorporating outreach into your Lead Generation Agency, or you are doing lead generation on LinkedIn we might have the right tool for you. 

Skylead is an all-in-one LinkedIn Automation & Cold Email Software that provides you with everything you need without having to involve any third-party tools. 

What does that mean? 

To begin with, Skylead does LinkedIn automation from a LinkedIn, Sales Navigator and Recruiter search, by importing leads through a CSV file, or it can target leads who reacted to a certain LinkedIn post ("Post-Engagement Campaign"). In other words, Skylead automates LinkedIn prospecting.

Furthermore, Skylead has an Email Discovery & Verification feature that finds your leads’ business emails even without being connected on LinkedIn. This allows you to do a cold email campaign or to combine an Email with a LinkedIn Outreach. 

The third option at your disposal is reaching out to your leads’ via their publicly available emails on LinkedIn, collected by Skylead. 

As you may see, Skylead is at the same time an Automation Tool, Email Finder, and Scraping Tool for as low as $100 per month per account. 

This is not all. 

Currently, Skylead is the only tool on the market that has Smart Sequences, groundbreaking algorithms that allow you to use multichannel outreach and personalization to their maximum potential. 

You can create scenarios based on your leads’ behavior and combine LinkedIn Messages, LinkedIn InMails, and Emails, with other LinkedIn features such as View, Follow, Invite to Connect, and in this way create the highest number of paths to your prospects. 

Whatcha waiting for? 

Find out more about all the benefits of white labeling Skylead by scheduling a demo call with our specialist. 

We look forward to explaining all the perks you’ll get by partnering up with us!