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!

If much of your job revolves around lead generation, chances are you’ve heard of Smartlead — a tool that automates and streamlines email outreach.

Released in 2021, the software has risen above the noise, and nowadays, many salespeople, marketers, and agencies use it.

But is it the best outreach automation tool on the market?

Lucky for you, this article is your one-stop shop for all things Smartlead. We’ll break down its features and pricing and see what real users have to say about it. But most importantly, we'll introduce you to 11 alternatives so you can compare and choose the perfect tool for you!

Let’s get into it!

Smartlead or alternatives?

Smartlead is a cold email outreach software that promises to, and we quote:

❝Convert cold emails to consistent revenue❞

This means it’s aimed at anyone who uses cold outreach to generate leads and scale their business on autopilot, but primarily:

• Lead generation agencies
• Marketing agencies
• Sales professionals 

Smartlead is a cloud-based software. 

The software allows its users to create email campaigns with automatic follow-ups by importing CSV files with leads’ information. Alternatively, since the tool natively integrates with HubSpot, they can import leads directly from it. The integration works both ways, meaning that campaign data can be pushed into HubSpot as well. 

Moreover, Smartlead can integrate with any other tool or CRM via Webhooks or API.

The tool is unique for its unlimited email warmup feature and dedicated IP servers that boost deliverability. It also supports inbox rotation and has a Master Inbox that keeps all emails in one place.

In terms of message personalization, users can enrich their emails with:

• Variables;
• Spintax - different variations of words/phrases/sentences (e.g. Hey there | Hello | Hi);
• Liquid syntax - a template language that adjusts content dynamically based on the available information (e.g. {{#if first_name}} Hey {{first_name}}, {{else}} Hey Mr {{last_name}} ).

The platform also supports split testing with up to 26 different email variants.

Now that we've got the essentials down, let's look at Smartlead's features more closely.

Key Smartlead features

Inbox rotation

Smartlead doesn’t limit the number of email addresses you can connect to it and use in your campaigns. This is particularly beneficial for agencies or businesses running outreach campaigns for multiple clients. Once added, the tool automatically rotates these email addresses to maximize the number of emails sent.

Unlimited email warmup

New email addresses need to be warmed up before using them for outreach. Smartlead’s unlimited email warmup feature is powered by AI and takes care of this by:

• Sending warm-up emails to a pool of other Smartlead users;
• Sending different numbers of emails every day;
• Opening emails and saving them from spam;
• Replying to these.

The result? Positive sender reputation and fewer emails flagged as spam.

Subsequences

Smarlead elevates email outreach through Subsequences — additional email sequences that you can create based on recipient behavior.

Subsequences can be set up to complement any campaign. They are condition-based and activate only once the chosen condition is fulfilled.

Leads can be added to a subsequence depending on the following conditions:

• If they are categorized a certain way,
• If their reply contains specific words/phrases,
• In case they haven’t replied,
• If they bounced,
• If they are connected to you on LinkedIn.

This adds another layer of personalization to communication and helps improve engagement and conversions.

Unibox

Juggling multiple inboxes for different campaigns can get overwhelming. The premise behind Smartlead’s Unibox is to eliminate this chaos by providing a single location to manage all email conversations. This streamlines the workflow and allows for easier responding and lead categorization.

Smartlead disadvantages

Smartlead may seem like a great tool. Nonetheless, it does have its limitations.

For instance, while Smartlead claims to support multichannel outreach, it’s superficial at best because you can only add manual tasks to the campaign flow. The tool will remind you to complete these when the time comes. But, since manual work is involved, wouldn’t you say this beats the purpose of using an automation tool?

For a brief moment, Smartlead users could add certain automatic LinkedIn steps to their campaigns. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible for reasons their customer support team referred to as ‘’private.’’. 

That said, if you were hoping to use it for LinkedIn lead generation, feel free to explore some of the alternatives we'll discuss later.

Additionally, while the tool lets you personalize messages, it lacks the feature for image & GIF personalization. To this date, you can only insert visuals into the email copy.

Another major con is the software’s inability to discover and verify your leads’ email addresses. So, to get the email addresses of people you want to reach out to, you need to use another tool. This implies an additional cost.

Moreover, to create a Subsequence, you first need to create a simple sequence with no conditions. Subsequences are created separately based on the condition you choose. So yes, you’re breaking the campaign creation flow to do it. This is not only inconvenient but also time-consuming — especially when running multiple campaigns simultaneously.

Lastly, since Smartlead can only pull leads from a CSV file or HubSpot, it’s rather limited compared to tools that can scrape leads from multiple sources (e.g., LinkedIn search, LinkedIn posts, Sales Navigator lead lists, etc.).

Smartlead pricing

Smartlead offers 3 different month-to-month payment plans. Yearly subscriptions are also available and come with a 17% discount compared to their monthly counterparts.

That said, here is the breakdown of Smartlead pricing plans.

Pro and custom plans support adding unlimited users, although each is charged an additional $29 a month.

What others say about Smartlead

Smartlead has plenty of mixed reviews.

For instance, Antonio said:

‘’We've had 5 sets of emails having a sudden drop in deliverability from 40-90% to 10-20% in a matter of days (on successful campaigns), and according to their Slack community, a lot of people experienced identical issues.’’

He went on to mention that Smartlead’s customer support is slow. In fact, it often takes them between 24 and 48 hours to respond!

Another reviewer, Nick G., praised the interface but stated:

‘’I signed up because they had a LinkedIn feature, but they removed it.’’

11 best Smartlead alternatives

Smartlead has some useful features. However, its drawbacks and steep pricing make it an incomplete solution. 

Considering the stated, you are better off choosing another tool, and here are our top picks!

1. Skylead

Hi, that’s us! 🙂

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and cold email software that helps salespeople, marketers, founders, and recruiters use outreach at scale. 

It’s an All-In-One solution that has all the tools you need under one roof — and price.

Unlike Smartlead, it supports real multichannel outreach (LinkedIn outreach and email outreach), allowing you to reach more leads on more channels.

Moreover, it’s cloud-based and comes with a 3-layered protection. This means that the tool:

• Assigns a dedicated IP address to users that shields their activity;
• Mimics human behavior to prevent experiencing restrictions on LinkedIn.
• Randomizes delays between different actions.

Similar to Smartlead, Skylead supports A/B testing. This feature allows you to experiment with different messaging, subject lines, and connection requests.

It also has a Smart inbox that keeps your messages from all platforms in one place. Additionally, you can label your conversations and thus track how many people have converted each month.

Finally, you can integrate the tool with any software or CRM using Webhooks or API. And, yes, that includes HubSpot.

If you find all this fascinating, wait till you see what else Skylead’s got! 😀 

So, let’s break it all down!

LinkedIn automation

As one of the best LinkedIn automation tools ever, Skylead takes over your manual outreach on the platform and lets you get in touch with more leads faster.

With it, you can view your leads’ profiles, follow them, invite them to connect, and send them a message or an inMail, both free and paid. On autopilot, nonetheless, to save yourself +11 hours a week!

Skylead helps you cut back on manual outreach activities, but it also saves you time when importing leads. 

Namely, it connects to all LinkedIn Premium subscription plans and can pull lead information from:

• LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter search results
• Sales Navigator lead lists
• Recruiter Talent Pool and Pipeline URLs
• LinkedIn posts
• LinkedIn events
• Your CSV file  

Unlimited email outreach

As a true multichannel outreach tool, Skylead supports not only LinkedIn outreach but also email outreach!

It lets you connect and use an unlimited number of email addresses at no extra cost. And yes, the tool also auto-rotates between them to help you send tens of thousands of emails a month. 

But do you know what makes our unlimited email outreach feature better? The fact that you can combine it with LinkedIn outreach in one seamless sequence. This multichannel approach helps you maximize touchpoints with your leads and reach those you thought were unreachable before.

Moreover, our native and custom variables let you personalize your communication even further. With them, you can craft reply-inducing emails and follow-ups. 

Email discovery & verification

Skylead can discover your leads’ email addresses and turn seemingly lost opportunities into potential conversions.

The software won’t only find your leads’ emails, though. It will double-verify them to decrease the chance of your emails bouncing and improve your sender's reputation. What’s more, you can include it as a step, and Skylead will do it without breaking the outreach flow.

Some other tools have this capability as well. However, many of them use a Chrome extension for this purpose, which isn’t safe.

Moreover, Skylead’s success rate in finding and verifying emails is one of the highest on the market, if not the highest!

Finally, this feature comes at no extra cost, and there’s no cap on how many emails the tool can find and verify. This is something no other tool can say!

Smart sequences

Think of our Smart sequences as an improved version of Smartlead’s Subsequences. 

But why improved? 

Because, with them, you don’t have to break your outreach campaign creation flow to cover different outreach scenarios. In other words, you can do it as you work on building your campaign.

Smart sequences let you combine different if/else conditions with LinkedIn and email actions and find the best route to your leads based on their behavior. 

They are reactive and operate in real-time, meaning that, for example:

1. If a prospect accepts a connection request, a message can be sent.
2. Meanwhile, if they don’t, Skylead can find and verify their email address and reach them out via email.
3. If they open that email but don’t reply, an automatic follow up email can be sent.
4. If no response comes after the follow up email, the tool can contact the lead via LinkedIn inMail.
5. An inMail can also be sent if the tool doesn’t manage to verify the leads’ email or the lead doesn’t open the initial email.

Feel free to experiment with different conditions and actions, though, as the scenarios you can create are limitless!

As you can see, Smart sequences ensure that your outreach is highly personalized and responsive to your prospects' actions. In turn, they make your campaigns more effective and increase the chances of conversion.

Image & GIF personalization

Want to make a lasting impression on your leads? Our image and GIF personalization feature is the answer. 

Thanks to it, you can create dynamic images and GIFs that personalize themselves for each recipient. You can include their name, their and/or your LinkedIn profile photo, company logo, and even write a custom message. 

It might seem like a small touch, but hey, it can increase your response rate by up to 63%!

Advanced analytics

Feel like analyzing your campaigns to determine what works and what doesn’t?

Skylead lets you do that in 3 different view modes available on the Reports page:

• Graph - Lets you compare the ratio between different metrics (e.g. open rate, click rate, reply rate).
• Table -  Makes it easy to spot day-to-day variations in metrics and identify trends.
• Step-by-step - Breaks down each step of your sequence, showing you exactly how recipients are engaging at every stage. This is especially useful for A/B testing.

Smartlead vs. Skylead feature comparison

Pricing

Skylead comes with a singular price of $100 per seat. Unlike Smartlead, which has tiered pricing with limited features at lower levels, it offers everything you need in one plan. This makes it more cost-effective.

2. Instantly

Instantly.ai is a cloud-based email outreach tool.

Like Skylead and Smartlead, it lets you connect an unlimited number of email accounts, and it rotates through them while sending emails to avoid triggering spam filters. This is complemented by its unlimited email warm-up feature, which improves senders’ reputation.

For those seeking personalization, Instantly offers message personalization with variables. Furthermore, the integrated Unibox consolidates your conversations into a single inbox, making them easier to manage and respond to.

However, Instantly is not a multichannel outreach tool, so it might not be the greatest if you are looking for a Smartlead alternative that has it all.

Also, while it offers basic reporting, the insights are somewhat limited, which might not suffice for users requiring in-depth analytics. 

Finally, email verification is available but comes at an extra cost on top of already steep pricing.

Smartlead vs. Instantly feature comparison

Pricing

Instantly offers 2 pricing plans with sub-plans that vary in features available.

3. Apollo

Apollo is a powerful multichannel sales engagement platform that lets users create sequences that combine email, LinkedIn outreach, and cold calls.

With it, you can set up campaigns that include automatic or manual emails. 

As for engaging your leads via LinkedIn, the software can automatically:

• Send connection requests
• Messages
• Interact with your leads’ posts.

However, bear in mind that Apollo's multichannel sequences are simple. They don’t support branching paths or complex conditions, making them unsuitable for those who prefer their outreach to be more automatic and advanced.

In terms of integrations, the tool natively integrates with platforms like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Slack. Moreover, it has A/B testing capabilities that help optimize your outreach. 

You can also leverage its AI to craft personalized messages. Nonetheless, this feature isn’t that advanced. In fact, it’s equivalent to using Chat GPT for sales copywriting, which you can do while using Skylead as well.

Apollo has a database of over 275M contacts that you can pull directly into your campaigns. Additionally, it can also scrape new leads from LinkedIn.

However, a major con is that it does so through a Chrome extension. Chrome extensions inject code into LinkedIn that the platform can easily detect and penalize you for. Therefore, we don’t recommend you use any tool that relies on one.

Smartlead vs. Apollo feature comparison

Pricing

• Free
• Basic: $59/mo per seat
• Professional: $99/mo per seat
• Organization: $119/mo per seat (billed annually)

4. Lemlist

Lemlist is a cloud-based email outreach tool that also includes a Chrome extension for prospecting and outreach on LinkedIn. 

Although primarily focused on email outreach, Lemlist supports multichannel campaigns like Skylead. As such, it allows you to add connection invites, profile visits, and messages to your sequences. Additionally, it integrates with AirCall for cold calling.

One of Lemlist's standout features is its advanced personalization options. To make your outreach more effective, you can use its custom intro lines, images, and landing pages.

Lemlist also offers Lemwarm, a warm-up and deliverability booster designed to keep your emails out of spam.

While the tool can find and verify emails, the highest plan limits the number of finder and verifier credits to 1,000. You can purchase additional credits, but keep in mind that $1 will only get you 5 verified emails.

Once again, since a Chrome extension is involved in LinkedIn outreach, we say you think twice before using it.

Smartlead vs. Lemlist feature comparison

Pricing

5. Woodpecker

Woodpecker is a cloud-based cold emailing software that can be expanded into a full multichannel campaign platform with add-ons. These add-ons support LinkedIn actions and calls through integrations with Dux-Soup and AirCall.

One of Woodpecker’s key features is the ability to connect unlimited email accounts with auto-rotation to maintain high email deliverability. It also offers email verification to ensure your leads’ emails are valid. Nevertheless, this feature isn’t as advanced as Skylead’s.

Woodpecker lets you A/B test up to five different email variants. Additionally, it comes with an AI assistant that can generate copy for your outreach, making the process more efficient.

While Woodpecker supports multichannel outreach, the integration with Dux-Soup adds extra cost to the software. Moreover, they limit the number of prospects you can contact by price. This means that if you need to contact many leads, the cost of your subscription can quickly skyrocket.

Smartlead vs. Woodpecker feature comparison

Pricing

Woodpecker offers 2 plans: Cold email and Agency. Both plans are priced identically, starting at $29 for contacting up to 500 leads. The difference between them is their intended use. The Cold Email plan is designed for individual users, while the Agency Plan allows multiple users to be added, with each additional user costing $27. 

Custom plans are available as well but require booking a call with the sales team.

Moreover, the added Dux-Soup subscription raises the cost. Depending on the plan, you’re looking at paying anywhere between the additional $14,99 and $99,00 a month.

6. Reply.io

Reply.io is a multichannel outreach tool that handles tasks across multiple channels, both automated and semi-automated. It also has a Chrome extension for finding and verifying emails.

In terms of automated actions, it can send emails and like recent LinkedIn posts. 

Meanwhile, actions such as profile views, connection requests, LinkedIn messages, and InMails can be both automated and semi-automated, depending on your setup.

However, keep in mind that Reply.io lets you create simple drip campaigns only with no conditions. This is a downside compared to Skylead’s Smart sequences.

The tool directly integrates with Pipedrive and HubSpot, but it also supports integrations via Zapier. 

For those who’d like to save additional time, the software has a collection of email and sequence templates. You can adjust them as you like and even split-test pre-made message copies against your own.

As for disadvantages, Reply.io’s smart inbox isn’t that advanced, unlike Skylead’s all-in-one inbox. To be precise, you can only use it to manage emails. To view and reply to LinkedIn messages and inMails, you’ll have to visit the platform directly.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, using Reply.io’s Chrome extension to find and verify your leads’ emails is risky. So, why use it when safer alternatives like Skylead exist?

Smartlead vs. Reply.io feature comparison

Pricing

• Free
• Starter: $59/mo per seat / 1 mailbox
• Professional: $99/mo per seat/ 5 mailboxes
• Ultimate: $139/mo per seat/ 15 mailboxes
• Custom Agency Plan: Starts at $166/mo per seat

7. Mailshake

Mailshake is a cloud-based software that you can use to send personalized emails and follow-ups at scale. It also features a Chrome extension that lets users tap into multichannel outreach by automating LinkedIn actions such as:

• Connection requests, 
• Profile views, 
• And messages.

As part of its multichannel outreach capabilities, Mailshake includes a Dialer for cold-calling prospects in the US and Canada. The Dialer lets you make calls and record phone conversations to analyze and improve campaign performance. 

Mailshake offers unlimited email warmups and A/B testing and integrates with Salesforce, Pipedrive, and HubSpot. It also supports over 1,000 integrations via Zapier webhooks.

The software is far from perfect, however. 

For instance, it doesn’t support inbox rotation. 

Simultaneously, LinkedIn automation and cold calling are only available with the highest-tier subscription. 

Finally, since a Chrome extension is involved in the process, if you use it, you risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted.

Smartlead vs. Mailshake feature comparison

Pricing

• Starter: $29/mo per seat
• Email Outreach: $59/mo per seat
• Sales Engagement: $99/mo per seat

8. Saleshandy

Saleshandy is another cloud-based tool designed to streamline cold email outreach. 

Its key features include email sequences, email scheduling, and email tracking. The software also supports split testing, allowing users to test up to 26 different subject lines, messages, and CTAs.

You can connect unlimited email accounts to Saleshandy. Unfortunately, while the software has inbox rotation, it lets you use a maximum of 50 emails in one campaign with the highest subscription. In contrast, Smartlead and Skylead have unlimited inbox rotation.

When it comes to prospecting, the tool has a pool of over 700M verified leads that you can search through and include in your outreach. It also features a Chrome extension that finds prospects’ emails on LinkedIn and even phone numbers at a higher cost. However, as we said many times before, using an extension can compromise the safety of your LinkedIn account.

Finally, while Saleshandy excels at email outreach, it doesn’t support reaching out to prospects via LinkedIn or other non-email channels. Therefore, you are better off choosing a more complete Smartlead alternative.

Smartlead vs. Saleshandy feature comparison

Pricing

Saleshandy comes with 4 different pricing plans and multiple sub-plans.

9. Snov.io

Snov.io is a cloud-based solution that lets you automate sending cold emails. Nevertheless, it also offers 2 Chrome extensions:

• One for finding prospects on LinkedIn;
• Another for finding their email addresses on the Internet.

One of its highlight features is the advanced email warmup tool. The tool initiates realistic email conversations, marks emails as important, reads them, and even moves them from spam to inbox to improve the sender’s reputation.

Similarly to other software on the list, you can connect unlimited email accounts to Snov.io. The software also supports inbox rotation, like Skylead, which improves deliverability. And thanks to its built-in CRM, there’s no need to pay for additional software.

Its advantages aside, Snov.io isn’t perfect primarily because:

1. It can only be used to reach prospects via email.
2. Its Chrome extension for prospecting may compromise the safety of your LinkedIn account.

Smartlead vs. Snov.io feature comparison

Pricing

• Trial: $0
• Starter: $39/mo per seat
• Pro: $99 / $189 / $369 / $738/mo per seat
• Managed Service: Starting at $3,999/mo per seat

10. Klenty

Klenty is a tool built to automate cold email campaigns, track emails, and warm up email addresses.

Nonetheless, it also supports multichannel outreach, allowing you to send SMS and WhatsApp messages, make calls, and/or perform basic LinkedIn actions like:

• Visiting profiles,
• Sending connection requests, 
• Messages,
• And inMails.

Klenty adjusts its approach to outreach smartly — through Playbooks. Playbooks are similar to Skylead’s Smart sequences in that they cover different outreach scenarios to meet prospects where they are in their journey.

Additionally, Klenty can find and verify prospects’ emails based on their name and company domain.

Despite its many features, Klenty lacks one of Skylead’s most prominent ones: image and GIF personalization. 

It may stand out among some other tools due to its comprehensive capabilities. However, the fact that it uses a Chrome extension for LinkedIn outreach sets it back immensely.

Smartlead vs. Klenty feature comparison

Pricing

Klenty offers quarterly and annual plans that are 20% cheaper.

• Startup: $60/mo per seat / billed quarterly
• Growth: $85/mo per seat / billed quarterly
• Pro: $125/mo per seat / billed quarterly
• Enterprise: Contact sales

11. Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a cloud-based platform that can seamlessly integrate with your workflow due to its native integrations with many tools and Google Sheets. 

It supports email outreach and offers readily available variables. These help you craft highly personalized emails that increase the likelihood of getting replies.

Hunter.io also has excellent email enrichment capability. In fact, it’s almost as successful in finding and verifying emails as Skylead. 

Unfortunately, the downside is that its email discovery and verification are not integrated into the outreach flow. This means you need to discover and verify emails first before creating a campaign. 

Additionally, Hunter.io is limited to email outreach only and does not support LinkedIn outreach.

Smartlead vs. Hunter.io feature comparison

Pricing

• Free: €0
• Starter: €49/mo for 3 email accounts
• Growth: €149/mo for 10 email accounts
• Business: €499/mo for 20 email accounts
• Enterprise: Contact sales

You can connect additional email accounts to the software. However, each will cost you an additional €10 per month. 

Furthermore, each plan comes with a set amount of email verification credits. Again, you can purchase more, but this will also cost extra.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. What is Smartlead AI?

Smartlead AI is a cold email outreach software designed to automate and streamline the process of sending personalized emails. It helps users manage email campaigns, warm up new email addresses, and track campaign performance.

2. What is Smartlead AI used for?

Smartlead is used for automating email outreach to generate leads and scale business operations. It allows users to create personalized email campaigns with automatic follow-ups and integrates with CRM systems like HubSpot. It is primarily used by lead generation agencies, marketing agencies, sales professionals, and recruiters.

3. How to cancel a Smartlead subscription?

To cancel your Smartlead subscription, firstly, log into your account. Then, navigate to the "Plans & Billing" section under "Settings," and click on “Subscription.” This is where you should see an option to cancel it. Click the button and follow the on-screen prompts to confirm the cancellation. For assistance or complete account deletion, you can also contact their customer support team.

Smartlead vs. alternatives: Which tool wins the race?

While Smartlead offers a range of features suitable for various outreach needs, its lack of multichannel outreach support and pricing makes it less than ideal. Thus, tools like Skylead, Lemlist, and Apollo, with their multichannel outreach features and more affordable pricing plans, make for compelling alternatives.

However, bear in mind that the software that works for one might not work for another. So, when deciding on the right tool to use for your outreach, choose the one based on your:

• Goals
• Budget
• Features you need

Of course, if you were to ask us which tool is the best, we’d say Skylead. And yes, we know we seem biased, considering it's ours. 

But why not give us a chance to prove to you that it really is the best Smartlead alternative? 

Take advantage of our 7-day free trial period, and we promise to sweep you off your feet so much that you never again consider using another software!

Gone are the days of going through business cards, calling prospects left and right only to close a deal. Over the years, numerous sales outreach tools have emerged, all aimed at streamlining prospecting and lead generation.

Yet, because there are so many of them, today's sales reps are often at a crossroads, wondering which tool they would benefit the most from.

To help you choose, we've tested the top cold outreach solutions on the market and are sharing our two cents. 

So, if you are looking for the perfect outreach software for sales, brace yourself—the ultimate breakdown of tools is coming!

Sales outreach tools overview

What are sales outreach tools?

Sales outreach tools are software or platforms designed to facilitate and streamline the sales outreach process. These tools automate repetitive tasks, such as sending connection requests on LinkedIn and follow-up emails, leaving you with more time to focus on researching and nurturing your leads to conversion.

To clarify, with sales outreach tools, sales teams can:

• Get to more prospects faster,
• Maximize touchpoints through multichannel outreach,
• Personalize communication,
• Segment prospects according to their stage in the sales funnel,
• and close more deals.

Types and subtypes of sales outreach tools

Generally speaking, sales outreach software can be:

• Cloud-based, existing entirely on the Web and running without reliance on Internet connectivity or power. Such software allows you to manage multiple LinkedIn accounts and/or email accounts and conversations, as it typically comes with an integrated inbox. This is also the safest type of outreach tool for sales. Namely, cloud-based tools assign their users a dedicated IP address to shield their online activity. Additionally, they frequently mimic human behavior and randomize the delay between different outreach activities. As a result, they are hard to detect and thus work to keep your LinkedIn or, say, email account restriction-free.

• Chrome extensions. They lack a dedicated IP address and require your browser to be on to function. Moreover, these extensions, if used for LinkedIn prospecting or outreach, automatically inject code into the platform. In doing so, they make it apparent that you're using automation, which could lead to getting your LinkedIn account restricted.

• Desktop apps require downloading and can only operate while your computer is on. They don't offer dedicated IP addresses, support multiple accounts, or run in the background. However, they are generally safer than extensions because they don't inject code into LinkedIn.

Depending on the type of outreach they are used for, we also have:

Benefits of using outreach tools for sales

Why are sales teams increasingly turning to outreach tools? Because of the evident benefits of doing so. For example,  McKinnsey’s research confirms that about a third of all sales tasks can and should be automated.

And we agree, but here are other benefits we’ve discovered using sales outreach tools. 

Firstly, there's the increased productivity. With an outreach aid that automates manual tasks, sales reps can shift focus to high-value activities like nurturing leads. 

Secondly, sales outreach software can often integrate with various platforms. As a result, you get a centralized hub for all sales activities. This reduces the time spent switching between tools and streamlines the entire sales process—from prospecting to conversion.

Lastly, we cannot discuss the benefits of using a sales outreach solution without mentioning scalability. With features like A/B testing, sales teams can optimize their outreach strategies based on data-driven insights. This leads to improved results, as teams can quickly identify what works best and scale with their winning approach accordingly. As a result, you get an influx of leads and customers, all without a drop in performance. 

26 Best sales outreach tools

You're sold on using sales outreach tools but aren't sure which one(s) to choose. We've spent extensive time testing top-tier software, so you don't have to! Now, let's review our top picks to bring you closer to the answer!

#1 Skylead - Best overall sales outreach tool for smart, hyper-personalized multichannel outreach

That’s us! Hi! 🙂

Skylead is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, the first on the market to introduce smart sequences. It's the outreach software for sales teams looking to book 3x more meetings and save +11 hours weekly on manual work.

Pros

Skylead is an all-in-one sales outreach tool, meaning it has everything a salesperson might need — in one place! That said, it comes with solutions for:

• LinkedIn automation
• Unlimited email automation
• Email discovery & verification
• Image & GIF personalization

Its highlight feature is smart sequences, a revolutionary algorithm that allows you to take full advantage of multichannel outreach. With smart sequences, you can combine LinkedIn and email outreach actions and if/else conditions. The sequence unfolds based on the prospect's behavior, adapting as it goes to find the fastest path to them. 

Speaking of email outreach, Skylead lets you connect unlimited email accounts at no extra cost. Moreover, the software supports inbox rotation, which means that you can send tens of thousands of emails per month with it.

Skylead also consolidates all your communications into one smart inbox, allowing you to manage LinkedIn messages, inMails, and emails seamlessly. Furthermore, it lets you organize chats with labels to keep track of conversions and measure ROI.

The software also stands out due to its native image & GIF personalization feature and variables for personalizing messages. We've run the numbers, and as it turns out, these two combined have increased our response rate by 63%!

Skylead can pull prospects from LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter accounts, making LinkedIn lead generation a breeze.

In addition, this outreach solution lets sales reps in on in-depth analytics and allows for A/B testing different email subject lines and messages. Thanks to these, you'll surely find something that strikes a chord with your target audience! 

Finally, if you want to push lead or campaign data to your CRM, you can! Skylead integrates with any software via webhooks or API.

How safe is Skylead?

Very! In fact, one of the greatest things about Skylead, in our opinion, is its 3-layer protection. The software protects its users from experiencing LinkedIn account restrictions by:

• Being human-like,
• Randomizing delays between actions,
• Assigning a dedicated IP address.

Skylead also comes with a handy email discovery & verification feature that ensures deliverability, thus reducing bounce rates. Using it, you don't have to worry about the safety of your domain! Skylead will provide you only with a list of double-verified email addresses that actually exist. Not to mention, it boasts one of the highest, if not the highest, email finder probability rates compared to other sales outreach tools on the market.

Cons

It's not that it's ours, but we truly haven't found any "real" cons to using Skylead. Why, yes, Skylead doesn’t have a video customization feature. Nonetheless, our users can use Sendspark's AI-powered Dynamic Video Functionality to personalize videos on top of images. Moreover, all Skylead users can get 50% off their first month with Sendspark. Just create your account on their platform and use the promo code ''SKYLEAD50'' to claim the offer.

Also, at the moment, there isn't an option to build a campaign from LinkedIn group members. Nevertheless, you can always use a workaround to target these individuals, and it involves LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters. Just select the desired group from the filters, copy the search result URL, and paste it into Skylead. Et voilà!

What others said about Skylead

Allen F. shares our enthusiasm for the platform and mentions how Skylead revolutionizes your campaigns! He is particularly fond of the library of campaign templates that are easy to tweak. He even says you can have your first campaign running in about 15 minutes! 

Alex S. has also had nothing but good things to say about Skylead. He even went so far as to say that this product has literally changed the way he works! He praises the interface and notes how building detailed LinkedIn sequences with the tool is incredibly easy.

Pricing

Skylead offers an all-in-one solution priced at $100 per seat a month. However, if you’re interested in white-labeling the software, contact the sales team for pricing details.

Rating

• Capterra: 4.8 (17)
• Product Hunt: 4.9 (57)

#2 Expandi - Best for automated LinkedIn profile engagement

Expandi is another cloud-based sales outreach platform designed for LinkedIn and email automation.

Pros

We discovered that, much like Skylead, Expandi comes equipped with smart sequences. These allow for multichannel outreach and support additional LinkedIn actions that engage users’ profiles, such as auto-post likes and auto-endorsements.

Expandi automates sending personalized LinkedIn messages, emails, and free inMails. Compared to Skylead, the tool allows for the creation of campaigns from LinkedIn group members. There are also a variety of templates to choose from, many of which can be extremely useful. 

Cons

While playing around with Expandi, we noticed that it lacks a native image and GIF personalization feature. Although we were able to personalize images thanks to their integration with Hyperise, we had to pay extra for it. 

The software also doesn't support sending paid inMails, making it somewhat limited, in our opinion.

Finally, the tool cannot discover and verify email addresses unless publicly available on someone's LinkedIn profile. This makes it an incomplete tool for seamless email outreach.

What others said about Expandi

Overall, the reviews are somewhat similar to our conclusions. For example, Adi R. notes that Expandi is easy to use, intuitive, and good for automating tasks. However, he isn't overly happy about having to perform certain tasks manually since the tool doesn't handle them.

Pricing

• Business: $99/mo per seat + $69/mo per seat for image & GIF personalization (via Hyperise)
• Agency: Custom

Rating

• Capterra: 4.4 (31)

#3 Zopto - Best for automating likes & greetings on LinkedIn

Zopto falls into the category of cloud-based multichannel sales outreach tools.

Pros

Zopto has a smart sequences feature, which is fairly new to the market. We tested it out and noticed that we can form outreach flows from different LinkedIn and email actions and conditions.

Speaking of LinkedIn actions, in addition to automating standard ones (e.g., View profile, Follow, Invite to connect, etc.), the tool can also automate likes, endorsements, and even greetings (birthdays, anniversaries, job changes). 

Cons

Despite its email enrichment capabilities, Zopto is limited to discovering 5,000 contacts a month, as compared to Skylead, which has an unlimited email discovery feature. Additionally, the latter has a higher success rate in finding verified emails.

Furthermore, while we were successful in adding LinkedIn inMails to our campaigns, we were saddened to find that Zopto only supports sending free inMails.

One of Zopto's main selling points is Zhoo, its AI assistant. Yes, it sounds innovative, but it's essentially just a ChatGPT 4 integration used for generating emails and messages. We found it more cost-effective to use a different sales outreach tool and simply pay for a ChatGPT Plus subscription. 

But do you truly need one? It depends. Our sales team has compared GPT-generated sales copy against our own and saw better results with the latter. However, we're not opposed to using ChatGPT for sales—it can be quite helpful, especially when the inspiration is lacking.

As Zopto’s final con, when we wanted to analyze our campaign results, we found no option to export a report.

What others said about Zopto

Eldar L. mentions that Zopto makes creating and running several campaigns at a time easy. Nevertheless, he finds it inconvenient that the tool lacks detailed analytics. And he’s right. We noticed statistics are only presented as pie charts, which, frankly, don't offer much clarity on the campaign's performance.

Pricing

• Basic: $197/mo per seat
• Pro: $297/mo per seat
• Agency & Enterprise Basic: Starting at $156/mo per seat (minimum 2 users)
• Agency & Enterprise Pro: Starting at $237/mo per seat (minimum 2 users)

Rating

• Capterra: 4.4 (65)

#4 Lemlist - Best for ensuring email deliverability

Lemlist is a cloud-based email outreach tool. However, when we tested it, we noticed that it has a Chrome extension for LinkedIn prospecting and outreach.

Pros

Lemlist is primarily an email outreach tool that sales teams can use to set up unlimited email campaigns. It also supports multichannel campaign creation, making it possible to incorporate LinkedIn actions and calls (through AirCall integration) into your outreach flow.

This tool allows for advanced personalization thanks to custom intro lines, images, and engaging landing pages. 

Lemlist also has Lemwarm, a warm-up and deliverability booster designed to prevent your emails from ending up in spam.

Cons

We don't like how Lemlist uses a Chrome extension to scrape information from LinkedIn. Chrome extensions inject code into LinkedIn that this platform can easily detect and penalize you for. Therefore, it compromises the safety of your LinkedIn account.

Also, Lemlist can indeed find and verify leads’ email addresses. However, it’s worth noting that the highest plan includes only 1,000 credits. If your requirements exceed this limit, you’ll need to pay extra to have the tool find and verify additional emails.

The last thing we didn’t like is that we needed to pay per email account, compared to Skylead, which supports adding unlimited email accounts at no extra charge. With it, you just need to pay per LinkedIn account.

What others said about Lemlist

Darpan C. thinks Lemlist is a complete email outreach tool. He loves the interface, variables, and A/B testing capabilities. Nonetheless, he believes analytics could be more extensive.

Pricing

• Email Starter: $39/mo per 1 email account
• Email Pro: $69/mo per 3 email accounts
• Multichannel Expert: $99/mo per 5 email accounts
• Outreach Scale: $159/mo per 15 email accounts

Rating

• Capterra: 4.6 (375)

#5 Reply - Best sales software for semi-automated multichannel outreach

Reply is a multichannel, cloud-based outreach software. Nonetheless, it also has a Chrome extension for finding and verifying emails and outreach automation.

Pros

We’ve discovered that Reply can handle tasks across multiple channels, both automated and semi-automated.

When it comes to automated actions, it can:

• Send emails
• Like recent posts (LinkedIn)

Meanwhile, actions like:

• Profile views,
• Connection requests,
• LinkedIn messages,
• And inMails.

…can be both automated and semi-automated, depending on how you set them up.

Setting a campaign with Reply is straightforward: you decide on the steps, then add your prospects. However, keep in mind that these are simple campaigns without any conditions, unlike the smart sequences you’d find with Skylead.

It's also worth mentioning that Reply supports A/B testing for email copy and offers pre-made email and sequence templates, like Skylead. Alternatively, you can create simple sequences from scratch or have Reply’s Jason AI generate them for you. Reply also lets you track your campaign performance step-by-step.

The tool supports integrations via Zapier but natively integrates with Pipedrive and HubSpot.

Cons

Reply’s smart inbox allows users to manage their emails efficiently. However, it doesn't support the management of messages received from other platforms like Skylead does.

At the beginning, we mentioned that Reply has a Chrome extension for finding and verifying email addresses. While this may seem like a pro, it's not particularly useful, especially when enriching emails via LinkedIn. As already said, Chrome extensions inject code into LinkedIn, which the platform can detect, making them unsafe to use.

What others said about Reply

Terry L. loves Reply's multi-step campaign builder that can automate the email-sending process and semi-automate LinkedIn actions. Although the platform was buggy initially, he admits the team quickly resolved issues.

However, Terry wasn’t the only one to report issues with the platform. Multiple users had the same complaints. Some have even said that the support team isn’t equipped to handle them.

Pricing

• Free
• Starter: $59/mo per user / 1 mailbox
• Professional: $99/mo per user / 5 mailboxes
• Ultimate: $139/mo per user / 15 mailboxes
• Reply Unlimited: Contact sales

Rating

• Capterra: 4.6 (96)

#6 Snov.io - Best for email enrichment

Snov.io is a cloud-based email outreach tool. However, it comes with two Chrome extensions: a LinkedIn prospect finder and an online email finder.

Pros

While testing Snov.io, we've concluded that its email finder and verifier produces fairly accurate data. 

The tool also has an email warm-up feature, like Lemlist, which automatically initiates realistic email conversations on your behalf. Furthermore, it marks emails as important, reads them, and moves them from spam to inbox to enhance your sender’s reputation.

We also liked that drip campaigns are easy to set up, and you can play around with different variables and email templates while doing so. Like Skylead, the software lets you connect as many email accounts as you want and supports mailbox rotation.

Snov.io also has a built-in CRM, which saves you money by eliminating the need to pay for additional software.

Cons

Since the tool uses a Chrome extension to find prospects on LinkedIn, it isn't the safest to use.

Furthermore, we couldn't get the most out of our outreach with it simply because we were limited to emails only.

Alas, if you're looking to discover a large number of emails or contact many leads, this tool might not be the best fit. Their top-tier subscription offers 100,000 email finder credits and lets you reach out to 100,000 recipients. However, we found it overly expensive —  especially when compared to Skylead, which allows for unlimited email discovery and sending at a cost 5x lower.

What others said about Snov.io

Yevhen B. praises Snov.io’s drip campaigns and the ability to track open, click, and reply rates. Nonetheless, he says that the interface can overwhelm new users and that the email enrichment process can be slow.

Pricing

• Trial: $0
• Starter: $30/mo per seat
• Pro: $75 / $142 / $277 / $554/mo per seat
• Managed Service: Starting at $3,999/mo per seat

Rating

• Capterra: 4.6 (207)

#7 Closely - Best sales outreach tool for campaign tracking

Closely is another cloud-based multichannel sales outreach tool with a Chrome extension for finding emails on LinkedIn and data scraping.

Pros

We liked its intuitive dashboard. From there, it’s easy to navigate to the multichannel campaign builder, where you can combine different LinkedIn actions and emails into a single campaign.

Closely makes campaign tracking effortless thanks to its streamlined stats page. It also makes it possible to export stats to a CSV file. In the meantime, if you wish to send the data to another software, you can do it via webhooks.

Cons

As opposed to Skylead, the lead source for email outreach campaigns can only be a CSV file with leads’ information. Speaking of CSV files, while the tool enables you to export statistics in this format, it does not support PDF exports like Skylead does.

Yes, the software can automate profile views, post likes, endorsements, connection requests, and messages on LinkedIn. Still, the crucial outreach component is missing: inMails.

We also noticed you can have no more than 2 multichannel campaigns running simultaneously. Plus, these campaigns, despite involving LinkedIn and email actions, don’t include smart sequences. 

Lastly, since a Chrome extension is involved, the safety of your LinkedIn account can be compromised when using the tool.

What others said about Closely

Muhammad Abdullah A. believes Closely is easy to set up, like us. The only problem is he can’t use it to contact his 1st LinkedIn connections.

Pricing

• Personal: $99/mo per seat / 1 LinkedIn & 1 email account
• Growth: $219/mo per seat / 3 LinkedIn & 3 email accounts
• Pro: $339/mo per seat / 5 LinkedIn & 5 email accounts
• Custom: Contact sales

Rating

• Capterra: 4.5 (148)

#8 Waalaxy - Best tool for beginners to multichannel outreach

Waalaxy is a cloud-based software aimed at automating sales teams’ LinkedIn and email outreach.

Pros

Waalaxy is great for beginners to outreach who don’t have much technical knowledge. With it, you can create a multichannel campaign from a:

• LinkedIn search URL
• Sales Navigator search URL
• Recruiter search URL
• LinkedIn post URL
• Sales Navigator lead list
• CSV file

The tool also supports A/B testing and message personalization, courtesy of variables. Plus, it has customizable pre-filled message templates and an AI writing assistant.

Additionally, we found pushing leads from Waalaxy to a CRM using Zapier webhooks straightforward.

Cons

Unlike Skylead, which offers customizable sequence templates and the opportunity to create a sequence from scratch, Waalaxy limits users to a few pre-built options. 

Waalaxy charges extra for the inbox, too, which makes it less cost-effective. 

It also lacks a native email enrichment feature.

Finally, the free version of the tool uses a Chrome extension. Naturally, we don’t recommend using it if you want to keep your LinkedIn account restriction-free.

What others said about Waalaxy

Shekh Riazul I. swears Waalaxy's UI is extremely easy to use and navigate. Nonetheless, the software sometimes has a hard time detecting the account. He also frequently has to wait for the Dashboard to load.

Pricing

• Free
• Advanced: €112/mo per seat
• Business: €160/mo per seat

Rating

• Capterra: 4.6 (207)

#9 Instantly - Best for straightforward email outreach

Instantly.ai is a cloud-based software for email outreach at scale.

Pros

Instantly allows you to connect unlimited email accounts and supports inbox rotation, like Skylead, which helps safeguard and protect your domain.

Moreover, Instantly features an unlimited email warm-up function to guarantee email deliverability. The tool also enables you to personalize your emails with variables and schedule them as needed.

We couldn’t help but notice how straightforward Instantly is. And if you aren’t interested in leveraging LinkedIn outreach, this might just be one of the best tools.

Cons

Instantly isn't designed for multichannel outreach.

Why, yes, the tool can verify email addresses. However, verification credits aren’t part of the subscription plan. As such, they incur an additional cost.

What others said about Instantly

James O. states that Instantly helped him increase his outreach at a low price compared to other sales tools. However, he thinks the software is a bit limited in terms of salesflow customization, and we agree.

Pricing

Sending & Warmup Plans

• Growth: $37/mo per seat
• Hypergrowth: $97/mo per seat
• Light Speed: $358/mo

Leads Plans

• Growth Leads: $47/mo per seat
• Supersonic Leads: $97/mo per seat
• Hyperleads: $197/mo per seat
• Light Speed: $492/mo per seat

Rating

• G2: 4.9 (2,066)

#10 HubSpot Sales Hub - Best for building personalized email sequences

HubSpot Sales Hub is HubSpot’s powerful, cloud-based outreach solution for sales teams.

Pros

The tool is great for building personalized email sequences. With it, you can automate emails and follow-ups. However, you can also set reminders to send emails or inMails manually, make calls, or send invites to connect on LinkedIn.

In addition, the software lets you run multiple A/B tests on your email sequences.

Cons

Building multichannel campaigns with HubSpot Sales Hub isn’t possible at this time.

At the same time, this isn’t a complete sales outreach software. You could use it if you’re a complete novice to outreach. But why not subscribe to Skylead and integrate it with HubSpot instead?

What others said about HubSpot Sales Hub

Fernando P. finds HubSpot's interface and customer support great. He loves having all leads and customer journeys under one system. Still, he notes the tool could be improved with AI so as to provide more valuable insights.

Pricing

• Free: $0
• Starter: $20/mo per seat
• Professional: $100/mo per seat
• Enterprise: $150/mo per seat

Rating

• Capterra: 4.6 (452)

#11 Dripify - Best sales outreach tool for its ability to integrate with various software

Dripify is a cloud-based tool for LinkedIn outreach designed to help sales teams close more deals.

Pros

Dripify is a great tool for anyone interested in social selling on LinkedIn. 

The software can connect to LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter Lite accounts. It can extract leads from LinkedIn Search or CSV files.

Its notable feature is drip campaigns, which rely on a sequence of different actions, conditions, and delays. It’s also praised for its ability to integrate with numerous software thanks to webhooks.

Cons

To us, multichannel outreach is the best type of outreach. However, seeing as Dripify supports only LinkedIn automation, it’s clear that, in contrast to Skylead, it isn’t a complete sales outreach tool. 

In addition to lacking email automation capabilities, Dripify doesn’t come with an email finder and verifier. Furthermore, you can’t bring your A-game to personalization with it since no image personalization feature is there.

At the same time, Dripify doesn’t support campaign creation from LinkedIn posts or Sales Navigator lead lists. And while you can automate it to send free inMails, the same doesn’t apply to paid ones.

Finally, Dripify’s team doesn’t provide one-on-one onboarding, so you’re left to figure out the tool’s functionalities on your own.

What others said about Dripify

Don F. believes Dripify is a solid communication platform for keeping in touch with LinkedIn connections. In his opinion, the tool's only con is its inability to launch multichannel campaigns.

Pricing

• Basic: $59/mo per user
• Pro: $79/mo per user
• Advanced: $99/mo per user

Rating

• Capterra: 4.7 (230)

#12 SalesLoft - Best sales outreach solution for building and managing pipelines

SalesLoft isn’t your typical sales outreach tool. It’s a cloud-based sales engagement platform.

Pros

The platform combines multiple tools that help salespeople increase and manage pipelines. As such, it goes beyond outreach. Nevertheless, SalesLoft's cadences (campaigns, if you will) that combine email, phone, and Sales Navigator steps make it one of the best sales outreach tools. 

We have found the tool’s email tracking, analytics, and A/B testing a boon! We were also happy to find out that the software comes with nifty email templates that can be customized for added personalization. There’s also an option to save new ones!

Cons

The tool only integrates with Sales Navigator, so we couldn’t create multichannel sequences. Also, this tool doesn’t support LinkedIn Premium and Recruiter accounts.

Furthermore, unlike Skylead, Salesloft lacks smart sequences. Consequently, its users are unable to maximize touchpoints with leads, resulting in less personalized outreach flows and lost opportunities for lead generation.

What others said about SalesLoft

James W. is absolutely sold on the customer support that the SalesLoft team provides. However, he admits the platform can become slow.  

Many people have also mentioned that the SalesLoft dialer isn’t up to par. Additionally, they've pointed out that the tool is quite expensive.

Pricing

• Essentials: Available upon contact
• Advanced: Available upon contact
• Premier: Available upon contact

SalesLoft doesn’t publicly disclose its pricing because it’s tailored to each company based on its size and requirements. We’ll respect their decision and won’t say how much we’ve paid during our short time with them. However, the word on the street is that people are paying anywhere from $75 for the essentials version up to $125 for the premium plan.

Rating

• Capterra: 4.4 (213)

#13 Yesware - Best sales software for Gmail & Outlook outreach

Yesware is a sales outreach platform that integrates directly with Gmail & Outlook through a Chrome extension.

Pros

Yesware, like Skylead, allows for:

• Multichannel campaign creation (you can connect your Sales Navigator account to the tool),
• Automated follow-ups in case of no reply,
• Email & attachment tracking (open rate),
• Advanced email performance analysis.

Additionally, it supports:

• Scheduling meetings and calls,
• Setting follow-up reminders.

The platform also has email templates available to personalize as you see fit. We also like how it lets you save your own templates.

Cons

Based on our personal experience with the tool, we can tell you that Yesware doesn't track email deliverability rates.

In addition, its primary focus is email outreach, while LinkedIn outreach takes a backseat. This is clear because the tool only works with Sales Navigator accounts. LinkedIn Basic, Premium, and Recruiter users can’t do much with it—other than automate their cold emailing.

Also, when setting up a multichannel campaign with Yesware, you are limited to two Sales Navigator actions: sending a connection request and an InMail. The tool doesn’t perform these actions automatically, either! Instead, it simply alerts you when it's time to complete them manually.

What others said about Yesware

Kim R. believes Yeware is decent, easy-to-use software. She is happy with the customer support provided and likes its real-time reporting and analytics features. Yet, she thinks it’s expensive and not so easy to integrate with other programs. Also, she found some features too complex. 

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $19/mo per seat
• Premium: $45/mo per seat
• Enterprise: $85/mo per seat
• Custom Plan: Contact sales

Rating

• Capterra: 4.3 (175)

#14 Hunter - Best sales outreach tool for finding and verifying professional emails

Hunter is a well-known cloud-based prospecting, data enrichment, and email lead generation software.

Pros

Hunter is the outreach tool for you if you're a sales professional looking to find verified prospect data — in seconds! In doing so, it boosts email deliverability and protects the sender’s reputation.

With Hunter, we found out that setting up an email outreach campaign is straightforward. Meanwhile, readily available variables help you craft emails that feel highly personal and induce replies.

Finally, Hunter seamlessly fits into your workflow through native integrations with different tools and Google Sheets. Alternatively, you can send over data to a software of choice using Zapier webhooks or API.

Cons

Hunter is strictly an email outreach tool, which means it lacks features for social selling.

Although the tool can find and verify your leads' emails, these features are not integrated into the outreach flow as they are in Skylead. In other words, the tool needs to discover and verify emails first. Only once it returns results can you start an email outreach campaign.

Lastly, the tool can’t extract emails from social media profiles.

What others said about Hunter

Pedro A. believes that Hunter is one of the best sales outreach tools for email scraping. He's noticed a high accuracy in finding and verifying European email addresses. He thinks it'd be great if Hunter made it possible to enrich a person based on their LinkedIn URL, though.

Pricing

• Free: €0
• Starter: €34/mo / 3 email accounts
• Growth: €104/mo / 10 email accounts
• Business: €349/mo / 20 email accounts
• Enterprise: Contact sales

Each plan comes with a limited number of email verification credits. You can purchase additional credits, but keep in mind that the cost will depend on your subscription plan.

Rating

• Capterra: 4.6 (614)

#15 Mailshake - Best outreach tool for setting up simple drip campaigns

Mailshake is a cloud-based sales engagement platform with a Chrome extension for LinkedIn automation and an AI email writer.

Pros

Mailshake has an intuitive sequence builder that you can use to automate sending cold emails and follow-ups. Unlike other tools, where sequences stop when the prospect responds, Mailshake has the option to continue its campaign even if the lead responds. In other words, other tools like Skylead have an option to manually get leads back to a campaign once they respond. However, if you wish that the sequence just continues despite your leads’ response, you’ll like this option.

You can also use Mailshake to automate profile views on LinkedIn, along with invites to connect and messages.

Clearly, Mailshake supports multichannel outreach, and it even makes it possible to add calls into the mix, courtesy of the built-in dialer. Although, this is a manual task.

Cons

LinkedIn automation, which isn’t even complete, and cold calling are exclusive to the highest-tier subscription.

Additionally, Mailshake automates LinkedIn actions through a Chrome extension, compared to Skylead, which is a cloud-based automation tool. That said, it may not be the safest option for your LinkedIn outreach.

What others said about Mailshake

Engin A. is impressed by how easy this sales outreach platform is to use. He is also satisfied with the onboarding process. However, he says that Mailshake can prove expensive for medium to large teams.

Meanwhile, more than one person has noted you have to be very careful about daily sending limits for email accounts connected to Mailshake, as Gmail tends to flag emails sent in bulk as spam. That’s why Skylead has inbox rotation—a feature that has caused many Mailshake users to turn to Skylead!

Pricing

• Starter: $29/mo per user
• Email Outreach: $59/mo per user
• Sales Engagement: $99/mo per user

Rating

• Capterra: 4.7 (108)

#16 SalesBlink - Best sales tool for AI-powered email outreach

SalesBlink is a cloud-based sales outreach tool for cold emailing.

Pros

SalesBlink lets you take advantage of its AI, BlinkGPT, to create smart email sequences with follow-ups adjusted to the outcome. What’s more, thanks to the software’s email warm-up feature, your emails are sure to land in your leads’ inboxes, not spam.

SalesBlink allows you to connect multiple sender accounts and automatically rotates them while sending emails to ensure you stay within limits.

Finally, the tool makes managing conversations effortless, keeping them all in a unified inbox.

Cons

We found it inconvenient that the tool limits the number of emails you can send depending on your subscription plan. With the highest subscription, you can send up to 100,000 emails. However, if you don’t want to pay the highest subscription for this, sales outreach tools like Skylead and Instantly, which allow you to send unlimited emails, may be better suited.

Moreover, while you can add multichannel tasks to your sequences, you have to complete them manually. Therefore, no real multichannel outreach is supported. Email sequences are smart, unfolding based on your prospect’s behavior. Nevertheless, Skylead is superior in this regard as well, as it comes with smart sequences and support for multiple channels.

What others said about SalesBlink

SalesBlink is Alfred R.'s go-to tool for email outreach, and he proudly talks about it! The absolute best for him is its AI assistant, which saves him immense time. The only downside he could think of is that you can't add a lot of information when describing a business to the AI, which tells us that the AI feature is not that complete.

Pricing

• Scale: $29/mo per account
• Growth: $99/mo per account
• Business: $199/mo per account

Rating

• Capterra: 4.7 (131)

#17 Saleshandy - Best outreach tool for A-Z testing

Saleshandy is a cloud-based software for email automation and prospecting.

Pros

The software has an up-to-date pool of over 700 million verified leads that you can search through and include in your outreach. It also has a Chrome extension that finds prospects’ emails on LinkedIn (phone numbers also, but at a higher cost).

Its highlight features, such as simple (not smart) email sequences, email scheduling, and email tracking, streamline your cold email outreach, enhance deliverability, and help you generate more leads.

What really caught our attention, though, were the A/Z tests. The software allows users to test up to 26 different subject lines, email bodies, and CTAs.

Cons

Saleshandy doesn't support reaching out to prospects via LinkedIn and channels that aren’t email. While you can identify leads’ emails on this social networking site, be cautious; using its Chrome extension might compromise the safety of your LinkedIn account.

There’s an add-on for email verification, too. However, it costs extra.

What others said about Saleshandy

To Shamim Ahmed A., Saleshandy is one of the best and most affordable sales software for email outreach. He praises its many features, such as unlimited email warm-up, email automation, and analytics. Still, he hopes the warm-up feature will be further improved in the future.

Pricing 

• Cold Emailing Plans: From $36/month for the Outreach Starter to $299/month for the Outreach Scale Plus per account.
• B2B Lead Finder Plans (emails only): From $47/month for the Lead Starter to $299/month for the Lead Scale Plus per account.
• B2B Lead Finder Plans (emails + phone numbers): From $79/month for the Lead Starter to $599/month for the Lead Scale Plus per account.
• Agency Plans: From $99/month for the Agency Starter to $899/month for the Agency Scale Plus per account.

Saleshandy’s email verification add-on will cost you an extra $60 for 30,000 recipients.

Rating

• Capterra: 4.5 (125)

#18 Woodpecker - Best sales outreach tool for coming up with email copy quickly

Woodpecker is a cold email software with add-ons that turn it into an all-in-one sales outreach platform.

Pros

Woodpecker is natively an email outreach tool. Nonetheless, it supports creating multichannel campaigns with LinkedIn actions and calls through built-in integrations with Dux-Soup and AirCall.

The platform allows you to connect unlimited email accounts and auto-rotates them to keep email deliverability high.

Woodpecker can also verify your leads’ emails and lets you A/B test up to five different email variants. It even comes with an AI assistant that generates copy for your campaigns. However, as we said previously, we tested out AI-generated copies, and the results weren’t much better than our own. In some cases, the results were even worse.

Cons

Woodpecker relies on 3rd party tools for its multichannel outreach, which incurs additional costs.

Additionally, its email verification probability isn’t as high as Skylead’s or Hunter.io’s.

What others said about Woodpecker

Woodpecker is a standout software in Michael L.'s eyes due to its ease of use and great support. While not as advanced as some other sales outreach tools, he states it fares well in the cold emailing department.

Pricing

• Prospects: From $15/mo per account
• Cold Email: From $29/mo per account
• Agency: From $56/mo per agency

Rating

• Capterra: 4.5 (32)

#19 Wiza - Best for extracting lead information from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator & Recruiter

Wiza is a Chrome extension that is used to scrape prospect information from LinkedIn.

Pros

Wiza is compatible with LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter accounts. It’s notable for its instant email verification capabilities. At the same time, it allows you to export lead lists from LinkedIn to CSV or sync them to your CRM.

On top of extracting verified work and personal emails from LinkedIn, Wiza can also extract work and cell phone numbers that are publicly available on LinkedIn.

FIY, the software will use up your verification credits only if it manages to find valid prospect information.

Cons

We can’t say that Wiza is a real sales outreach tool, even though some categorize it as such. Instead, it’s a prospecting tool that can only inform your outreach strategy.

Also, since this is another Chrome extension on the list that injects code into LinkedIn, it could lead to your banning on the platform.

What others said about Wiza

As per Prerana B., Wiza is convenient, fast, and accurate. She also likes how the tool can scrape leads' information from LinkedIn. On the flip side, she finds it a bit expensive. However, while Prerana praises Wiza for its email discovery and verification capabilities, we’ve found Skylead to have a much higher email enrichment success rate.

Pricing

• Free: $0
• Email: $99/mo per user
• Email + Phone: $199/mo per user

Rating

• Capterra: 4.6 (20)

#20 GrowMeOrganic - Best sales outreach tool for automating hyper-personalized follow-ups

GrowMeOrganic is a cloud-based outreach solution for cold emailing. It also features a Chrome extension that can extract verified emails and phone numbers from LinkedIn.

Pros

GrowMeOrganic is great for automating cold emails and follow-ups based on your prospects’ behavior. We liked that the tool has a native image personalization feature and can track open, click, reply, and conversion rates.

GrowMeOrganic is compatible with email accounts from all providers.

Cons

Another Chrome extension, another major downside. To preserve your LinkedIn account, you are better off choosing another tool, at least for prospecting and email enrichment.

GrowMeOrganic also lacks support for LinkedIn outreach. As such, it misses out on the opportunities the greatest platform for social selling holds.

Furthermore, we noticed it’s impossible to download a PDF report. Only CSV and XLS exports are available.

What others said about GrowMeOrganic

Raghavendra D. has been using GrowMeOrganic for a while and says it's an excellent tool for sales automation. She finds its LinkedIn and Google My Business email scraper incredibly useful! Nonetheless, she doesn't like that this is a Chrome extension, nor do we. She’d like it better if there were an option to search for leads directly through the platform.

Pricing

• Starter: $49/mo / 1 user
• Growth: $99/mo / 5 users
• Pro: $199/mo / unlimited users

Rating

• Capterra: 4.2 (10)

#21 Lusha - Best for prospecting around the Web

Like Wiza, Lusha is primarily a cloud-based prospecting tool, although salespeople can also use it for email outreach.

Pros

The greatest thing about Lusha is its Chrome extension, which can extract prospects from anywhere. It also has a built-in B2B prospecting tool with filters that can get you up to 1,000 leads in one go.

Furthermore, you don’t have to resort to another software for your outreach; you can automate Lusha to send emails! Rather than relying on your time zone when doing so, the tool, like Skylead, lets you set different time zones for different email sequences. In other words, it reaches out to your leads when the time is right...for them!

Cons

Lusha uses a Chrome extension to extract prospects from different sites. If you are prospecting on LinkedIn, it could threaten your account’s existence.

Moreover, this tool is only compatible with Gmail and Outlook accounts. If your email account is with a different provider, you won’t be able to use it for your outreach. Also, you can only connect one email account to Lusha, and it must be the one you used to register on the platform.

Lastly, its built-in database of B2B leads includes 45 million contacts in North America and 21 million in Europe. If your target audience is based on other continents, this may result in missed outreach opportunities.

What others said about Lusha

Ben B. reports that Lusha speeds up his prospecting and lead generation and offers great value for money. The only problem is that the quality of data found could sometimes be better.

Pricing

• Free: $0
• Pro: $49/mo per seat
• Premium: $79/mo per seat
• Scale: Contact sales

Rating

• Capterra: 4.1 (360)

#22 MeetAlfred - Best sales automation tool for X outreach

MeetAlfred is a cloud-based sales outreach platform designed for LinkedIn, email, and X outreach.

Pros

MeetAlfred is different from other multichannel sales outreach tools in that it also integrates with X (formerly Twitter). As such, you can use it to automate different activities on three fronts: LinkedIn, email & X.

The tool’s campaign builder allows for adding infinite steps — from profile views and invites to connect to follow-up messages, inMails, emails, and X DMs. At the same time, it lets you set up delays between steps and personalize your messages with customizable templates and variables.

We also found it convenient how you can connect the tool to your Facebook and Instagram accounts. Although MeetAlfred can't be used to message prospects on these platforms, you can use it to create and schedule posts.

Cons

Unlike Skylead, MeetAlfred doesn’t have smart sequences. It also doesn’t support campaign creation from Recruiter search, nor does it support sending paid inMails.

Consequently, the software’s integrated inbox only shows your LinkedIn/Sales Navigator messages. If your campaign includes emails and DMs, you must manually check for new ones.

What others said about MeetAlfred

Martin P. considers MeetAlfred a perfect sales tool for someone with experience using this type of outreach software. He is fond of its simple interface and lots of customizable templates. Nevertheless, he believes it might be difficult for beginners to use.

Pricing

• Individual: $59/mo per user
• Business: $99/mo per user
• Agency: Contact sales (includes 10 users)

Rating

• Capterra: 2.8 (13)

#23 LeadConnect - Best outreach solution for following up on LinkedIn

LeadConnect is a Chrome extension used for prospecting and outreach on LinkedIn.

Pros

LeadConnect connects to LinkedIn Basic and Sales Navigator accounts and pulls leads’ information from a LinkedIn search or a CSV file. 

This tool lets you send personalized connection requests along with up to 6 automated follow-up messages.

Additionally, thanks to its native integration with HubSpot, pushing leads and conversations to the latter is as simple as a single click.

The tool also works with Findthatlead, Hunter.io, and Anymailfinder to discover your prospects’ email addresses. This is especially handy, as it gives you another channel to contact users who haven’t responded: email.

Cons

You can only use LeadConnect to contact users via LinkedIn. The tool doesn’t support sending inMails and emails, either. 

The platform works only with LinkedIn Basic and Sales Navigator accounts. It cannot be used by anyone subscribed to LinkedIn Premium or a Recruiter plan.

With LeadConnect, you can only automate connection requests and LinkedIn messages. This makes it fairly primitive compared to Skylead and its multichannel smart sequences.

Plus, given that LeadConnect is a Chrome extension, it could lead to account restrictions.

What others said about LeadConnect

In Sheryl S.'s opinion, LeadConnect is a great sales outreach platform for growing her LinkedIn network. She also mentions that it's quite easy to use. The only issue is that when there are a lot of prospects to discover, she sometimes has to refresh the URL.

Pricing

• Free Forever: $0
• Professional: $ 25.95/mo per account
• Grow: $ 45.95/mo per account
• Ultimate: $ 85.95/mo per account

Rating

• Capterra: 4.4 (98)

#24 Evaboot - Best tool for scraping leads from Sales Navigator

Like Wiza or Lusha, Evaboot is a Chrome extension for Sales Navigator prospecting.

Pros

Evaboot allows users to build lead lists from Sales Navigator in seconds and export them to CSV. 

In addition to scraping leads, the tool can also find and verify professional emails. 

Cons

Evaboot is only compatible with Sales Navigator, rendering it useless for LinkedIn Basic, Premium, or Recruiter subscribers.

Furthermore, this is a Chrome extension that, as you already know, can harm your Sales Navigator account.

We’ve tested the tool and can also tell you that their email discovery feature frequently provides inaccurate information or no information at all.

Lastly, this isn’t an email automation tool or any other type of outreach software. Yes, you can use the information gathered to contact leads. However, you’d need to subscribe to another sales outreach tool to do so.

What others said about Evaboot

Ky K. says Evaboot is easy to use and effective at what it does. The slight downside is that it doesn't allow him to select the number of leads to export.

Pricing

Rating

• Capterra: 4.9 (13)

#25 Dux-Soup - Best LinkedIn automation tool for sending free and paid inMails

Initially a Chrome extension for LinkedIn automation, Dux-Soup now also offers a cloud-based sales outreach solution.

Pros

Dux-Soup can automate the following LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter actions:

• Endorsements
• Follows
• Profile visits
• Personalized connection requests
• Personalized messages to 1st connections
• inMails (free & paid)

With it, you can mix and match different actions to create unique drip campaigns that stop once your prospects’ respond. 

We like that you can also customize time delays between individual steps and monitor campaign statistics once the campaign is live.

The software natively connects to Pipedrive, Hubspot, and SharpSpring. Nonetheless, you can also connect it to another CRM using Zapier webhooks.

Cons

Dux-Soup has a cloud-based solution for LinkedIn outreach, but it’s only available under their most expensive subscription plan. Those on lower plans have to rely on their Chrome extension for automation, which could compromise their LinkedIn accounts. Not to mention, the tool can only run while the browser is open.

Moreover, the software can’t be used for email outreach or any other type of outreach.

What others said about Dux-Soup

Leilani S. finds that Dux-Soup simplifies prospecting on LinkedIn. Her favorite feature is the X-ray tool, which enables her to discover LinkedIn profiles via Google. However, she notes that the software occasionally disrupts her workflow by randomly refreshing her page.

Pricing

Individual & Team Plans

• Pro Dux: $14.99/mo per seat
• Turbo Dux: $55/mo per seat
• Cloud Dux: $99/mo per seat

Agency Plans

• Pro Dux: from $337.50/mo for 30+ seats
• Turbo Dux: from $412.50/mo for 10+ seats
• Cloud Dux: from $371/mo for 5+ client seats

Rating

• Capterra: 4.0 (14)

#26 Salesloop - Best for expanding your LinkedIn network on autopilot

Pros

Salesloop is designed to work with all types of LinkedIn accounts: Basic, Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter.

The software allowed us to build campaigns using LinkedIn search and by uploading lead lists in CSV format. Should you decide on the latter, you can enrich your messages with custom variables for an added dash of personalization (on top of pre-set ones).

To make campaign tracking easier, Salesloop lets you download CSV reports.

Cons

Currently, the software supports LinkedIn automation only, although email and X (Twitter) integration are supposedly in the works. It also misses out on smart sequences and, instead, relies on simple campaigns for its automation.

Additionally, Saleloop doesn’t integrate with any CRM natively. We were also disappointed to find out you can’t connect it to other tools via webhooks or API.

Lastly, unlike Skylead, which is one of the best sales outreach tools to support image & GIF personalization, Salesloop doesn’t currently offer this feature.

What others said about Salesloop

Krishan Kant S. is grateful for Salesloop because it improves his productivity and increases business performance. On top of that, it brings about financial benefits. He doesn't think the tool has any flaws.

Pricing

• Solo: $49/mo per 1 user
• Team: $199/mo per 6 users ($39 per user with a minimum of 3; tailored plans for more than 6 users)
• Managed Service: $2,000/mo

Rating

• G2: 3.5 (3)

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Are sales outreach tools the same as CRM?

No. Sales outreach tools are designed to automate the initial contact with potential customers through various channels (e.g., email, LinkedIn, phone). On the other hand, CRM software is all about tracking interactions, managing sales pipelines, and storing information about leads and customers.

Can you use sales outreach tools without a CRM?

You can definitely use sales outreach tools without a CRM, especially if your business is small or just starting to build its sales process. Nonetheless, pairing these tools with a CRM is a smart move as your business grows and interactions with customers increase. This combo ensures a smooth workflow.

How do sales outreach tools ensure data privacy and security?

Sales outreach tools use various methods to safeguard sensitive information. This includes data encryption and compliance with GDPR. Many tools also manage consent and preferences to comply with privacy laws. Furthermore, trustworthy vendors have clear privacy policies and security protocols displayed on their websites.

Select the perfect tool and seal your sales deals easier than ever!

Here's the thing: the sales game has seriously leveled up from the old-school days. Today, we've got a whole arsenal of sales outreach tools at our disposal. Sure, choosing the right one from the bunch can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. But that's what you've got us for! If you feel indecisive after all this talk about the top software on the market, choose Skylead. 

Start your 7-day free trial now and close more deals than ever—way faster!

When talking to prospects, sales reps know that the art of selling revolves around many skills. However, the most important one, hands down, is objection handling.

Prospects might give you many reasons why they don’t need your product/service, from “it’s too expensive,” “I don’t have time,” to “I’m happy with your competitor.” Ouch! We know–it might hurt, but your job is to overcome these obstacles.

But how to turn a “no” into a “yes”? To teach you how to do it, we are drawing from years of our own sales experience to show you:

• Types of objection handling
• A 7-step guide to master handling in sales
• Top 17 objection-handling situations with winning rebuttal examples

What is objection handling in sales?

Objection handling is the process of addressing concerns or doubts raised by a prospect. It uses empathetic listening and other communication techniques to provide solutions or reassurance, with the goal of maintaining a positive relationship and moving closer to a more successful outcome or sale.

Objections may come up for various reasons:

• Poor LinkedIn prospecting 
• Failing to find your Ideal customer profile or Buyer Persona from LinkedIn lead generation. 

Of course, it could be none of the above. You could have done everything right, yet objections may pop up to create very common outreach obstacles like:

• Inadequate price
• Lack of authority
• Competitors

Why is objection handling important?

Imagine a world where no objection is handled - there would be no deals or revenue at the first mention of a problem or concern. It’s important for salespeople to address these objections properly so the prospect will move through the sales pipeline and convert. But why do objections show up in the first place?

An objection usually appears because there is not enough trust. It’s important to build trust by addressing your prospects’ issues on time, which helps nurture your relationship with them. This can ultimately lead to multiple sales in the future.

Our best advice is not to avoid objections but to use them as a tool to build a stronger relationship with your prospect. You can regularly check up on your prospects' sales journey and find out if there’s any doubt to address by asking questions such as:

• Do you have any concerns about X?
• Is there anything you are worried about regarding X and why?
• Is there any obstacle that would be a deal-breaker and would stop you from using [product/service]?

Types of sales objections

Before we get into the how let’s go over the three common types of objections sales reps encounter on a daily basis in outreach. 👇

Solution-oriented sales objection

When the prospect has a problem, and your product/service can solve the problem, but they’re unsure whether to go for it or not, that is called a solution sales objection type. Andrea, our Head of Sales, says that this is the most common type of objection, and in this case, your job is to persuade the prospect that your product/service is the perfect solution for them.

No-problem sales objection

Next, we have the so-called “no-problem” sales objection type. In this situation, the prospect doesn’t perceive the problem as a big deal–in fact, it doesn’t concern him as much. This is a situation where you have to create a sense of urgency and subtly present your product/service as the only solution.

How did this happen? Well, our Account executive, Pavle, says that this objective type might pop up when you show the prospect all features and benefits immediately or without actively listening to what they see as a more important issue. 

Problem-oriented sales objection

The hardest one to overcome is the problem-oriented sales objection—the case where the prospect has legitimate issues and doesn’t see how your product/service solves them. 

If this is the case, we advise you to first determine if your product can actually help. If it doesn’t, it’s better to be honest with the prospect. This way, you’re actually building a positive relationship that might turn into a good recommendation or a potential future collaboration. However, if it does help, make sure to offer your product and depict it as the logical solution to their pain point.

7 steps to overcome sales objections

Now, let’s look at the tested and trialed steps our sales team always uses when addressing doubts and objections with prospects. 👇

1. Actively listen to prospects

Our Andrea says that to be a successful salesperson, you must learn how to listen rather than reply. Active listening can be described as the most important skill a salesperson should have. 

Most of the sales processes nowadays happen remotely and online, so salespeople don’t have the luxury of reading into body language or even tone of voice. The only thing they have is their digital written replies, which is why listening carefully can improve your relationship with the prospect and ultimately lead to a conversion.

2. Repeat what you hear

Since there’s usually no physical interaction between you and your prospect, it’s important that you phrase your questions and answers in a way that replaces a specific reassuring tone of voice and microexpressions on your face. So, when a prospect voices an objection, make sure to repeat it back to them for two reasons:

1. To make sure you understand their issue correctly which can help you change their mind later.
2. To make them feel valued and heard by you, which builds trust further.

3. Validate concerns

This step comes after you’re sure you understand your prospect’s worries. From this point, you can continue building trust with them by empathizing and showing them you understand their viewpoint. By validating their concerns, you can lead them to the part where you unobtrusively introduce your product/service as a proper solution.

This is how validating concerns looks like in real life:

I understand that implementing a new tool can lead to a rocky adaptation period. Luckily, our all-star support team is here to help ease the transition and get you to operate as before but better.

4. Ask open-ended follow-up questions

When an objection comes in front of your potential sale, your main job is to keep the conversation going. To keep them engaged, be sure to ask follow-up questions. However, you should avoid questions that can be answered with “no” or “yes”. 

Instead, focus on open-ended questions that allow your lead to keep communicating their thoughts and worries so you can address them as soon as possible. The more information they give you, the more material you will have to turn the objection around into a sale.

Can you walk me through some of the challenges you're currently facing in managing your {{process/Task}} and how you see the perfect solution to improving your situation?

5. Use social proof

When in doubt, use social proof to change your prospect’s mind. The best way to persuade them is to showcase a customer story, case study, or data addressing their pain points.

Here’s an example of a case where your social proof addresses their objection or pain point:

6. Give them time to think before your next follow-up

In objection handling, there will be situations where your prospect will ask you to give them some time and space to think about their options or to restart the conversation in the future. Your job here is to give them enough time and space but not too much. If you leave them for too long, they might lose track of you and your product/service, and this is why a follow-up that restarts the conversation is an absolute must!

So, be sure to set a time that isn’t too far in the future, and make sure to let your prospect know that you will answer any questions and discuss any news regarding your product/service.

7. Address objections before the prospect does

Ultimately, a good salesperson is the one who can predict and cover potential objections and worries before the prospect mentions them. If you’re working in a certain field and with prospects from a certain industry, you most likely are already familiar with the type of worries that might come up, so it’s good to sew in subtle objection-handling cues into your sales pitch.

Top 17 objection-handling situations with rebuttal examples

Now that we’ve covered why it’s important, the types of objections out there, and our 7-step guide on how to handle and overcome objections, it’s time to look at the 17 most common objections. Our superstar sales team came together to tell us all about the reasons they had to work around over the years. Let’s begin handling objections. ⬇️

#1 I already have a solution

This one is the most common objection, and it usually involves your direct or indirect competitor. The way to work around this is to find your prospect’s pain point that their current solutions don't solve. Depending on how the prospect ends the sentence, your response may vary, so let’s see all the potential scenarios.

Rebuttal examples

Tease out why they think the solution is good for them, and gather the pain points based on which you can book a meeting. If their feature is really better, leverage the one your product has and think it’s better for the prospect’s business.

Tease pain points to continue the conversion. Pausing may imply that they are not satisfied with something. Then it’s your job to figure out which part the competitor isn’t covering so you can sweep in and solve the problem.

Needless to say this is the best answer you can get, as the prospect immediately pointed out the pain point. Ask more questions, empathize with them, and then underline the value of your product/service to move the conversion process forward.

#2 I am not the right person

From Becc Holland’s experience, the CEO and founder at Flip the Script, sometimes, in cold outreach, you will talk to people who are not the decision-makers. From our experience, if you build a good initial relationship with them, they could point you to, or even connect you with the decision-maker, so don’t dismiss them right away!

Rebuttal examples

Make sure to listen or read carefully if they are indeed the right person or not.

If they are but say they aren’t just to chase you away, structure your objection handling response like this:

After you ask for consent to pitch and they give it to you, pitch a unique selling point and value proposition to try to close the deal or schedule a demo call. 

In case they're not the right person, structure your response like this:

If you find the decision maker, you can always reference the person you spoke with first. If you don't succeed, you can reach back to the first person and ask for additional advice or to point you to the right person.

However, if you can’t reach the decision-maker, reach back to the first person and give them an update. Be honest, admit you might have made a mistake, and ask for advice again. The first person will probably want to make things right and reach the decision-maker themselves.

#3 I don’t have time

As an SDR, your job is to prove to your prospects that you are worth their time. For example, by using short sentences you’re showing you respect their time. You will also catch their attention by showcasing the experience of similar people, and then ask for a fragment of their time to pitch or aim to schedule a call for another time. 

Rebuttal examples

With this question, you are providing the value and solution right away and showing you are respecting their time. They may or may not have the time right now, but you teased enough to schedule a call another time and soon. Ask them again if they have that 5 minutes right now, or if they do not, when you should schedule a short call.

With this statement, you get the chance to pitch right away, so try to be as brief as possible, and finish by asking for another call.

#4 The budget is a little tight at the moment

Price objections are the type of sales objections you want to hear, as it shows the prospect thought of buying your product/service, but had to reconsider because of the price. These prospects usually need a little nudge value-wise and they’ll convert.

Rebuttal example

If the answer is yes, you have the opportunity to offer a discount code to push them towards the closing process. If not, ask more questions to find out the real reason, then leverage it to remove it with personalized value.

#5 You are more expensive than your competitors

Similar to the previous one, this objection has the money issue involved, but with an added spicy competitor comment. Try to stay calm as this is solvable 90% of the time. You overturn this by showing how they can win with your product as opposed to losing with the cheaper alternative.

Rebuttal example

The moment you start justifying the price, you’re bargaining with the prospect. Rather than addressing the price issue alone, our Andrea says that you should link the price to the higher value that your product offers. If they still don’t understand, then they probably do not match your Ideal Customer Profile.

#6 I need to check with the boss, or my boss doesn’t like this product, but I do

Sometimes, the person you are pitching to will not have the authority to make final decisions. However, you should not lose interest in pitching to this person, as they might be the ones who will use the product in the end. If you make a good impression, they might pitch it to their boss, and the conversation and the conversion will continue.

Rebuttal examples

Andrea says that you shouldn’t never allow anyone else to deliver your sales pitch to the decision-maker. Instead, aim to schedule a call with them to provide value. Be careful not to make the person not in charge feel inferior, though. So, instead offer them help and support in the pitching process. If they don’t want to schedule the call, offer to send the necessary info.

Give them the exact metric of the value your product offers so that the person can use that as leverage to schedule a call with their boss.

#7 Reach out to me next month/year

Sometimes the prospects will be busy with their heavy workloads. In this situation, you should approach by explaining that you understand. Also, highlight the fact that your product/service can actually help them and improve their work experience.

Rebuttal example

Reassure them that this is not a buying conversation. You just want to show them how valuable your product is and what it can do for them right away.

#8 Send info over the email

This is a common objection when cold calling or after a demo. In most cases, this means that the prospect has already made up their mind. By asking you to send more information, they hope to cut the conversation short. Don’t let that get to you. 👇

Rebuttal example

Agree to send the information, but not before asking questions about their business to understand their pain point better.

#9 I’m not interested in your offer

Ouch! This objection is also a pretty common one, but again, you should not let it throw you off your game. You should ask yourself this: How are they not interested if they didn’t even hear your offer? The truth is that this objection usually means that they are busy. Turn it to your advantage by restructuring your introduction to focus on the expertise.

Rebuttal example

Try to keep the conversation going, just so you can demonstrate expertise using their pain point. This way, your prospect can see that you have relevant experience to back up your claims and that you know your worth. A true objection handling win! 💪

#10 Pitching back

This is an objection that became pretty common nowadays. It’s when B2B companies pitch you back, usually on demo calls. Translation? They are not interested in your product/service - they are just using the chance to show you their own. The audacity, right?

There is nothing wrong with presenting your solution, but if they only agree to the call to pitch you back, that’s just sneaky.

Rebuttal example

Proposing a collaboration will definitely catch them off guard, and there is a chance that their decision-maker will see the value you offer.

#11 Your product doesn't have {{feature}}, and we need it.

This objection could be a tricky one, but try to suggest an alternative solution used alongside yours. In case this need is a must for them and your product can’t solve it, then your prospect might not be the one for you. Before you write them off, try this 👇

Rebuttal example

#12 We're happy with the way things are now.

Sometimes, this could be the case. But that doesn’t mean you should believe them right away. Ask more questions to get into potential problems they might be facing. If the answer is still no, move on. ⏭️

Rebuttal example

#13 Your product is too complicated.

In this case, make sure to ask questions and find out if a specific feature or the entire product is too complicated for them. In both cases, you should clarify any concern they might have and add that your customer support team will, by utilizing inbound call center software and other channels like chat, help them set everything up smoothly if they choose to buy. 

Rebuttal example

#14 I don't see what your product could do for me.

This objection usually means there’s some information that needs to be presented. So, your job here is to confirm their goals and pain points, and then explain how your product/service fixes these issues for them.

Rebuttal example

#15 {{Painpoint}} isn't important right now.

In this case, there might be two reasons the prospect is stating the objective. First, they might want to let you down easy, or you need to ask more questions to find out why this isn’t important right now, so you can explain why it’s a great time to rethink their priorities. Try to create a sense of urgency and work from there.

Rebuttal example

#16 I'm happy with {{competitor}}.

What do you do if the prospects say they’re happy? You don’t buy it! First you find out why they are content with the way your competition works for them. Second, try to identify potential weak points and subtly underline how your product solves them.

Rebuttal example

#17 We need to use that budget somewhere else.

If this objection shows up, your main goal should be to make them believe that the budget should be redirected, or rather, invested toward your product/service. This is where social proof comes in as your best friend, so don’t be afraid to throw around some numbers.

Rebuttal example

Frequently asked questions - FAQ

How do you tailor objection handling strategies for different industries or sectors?

Tailoring objection handling strategies to different industries or sectors requires an understanding of the unique challenges and needs of each market. For instance, objection handling in the tech industry often involves addressing concerns about integration and compatibility with existing systems, whereas in healthcare, the focus might be on compliance and patient privacy. Sales reps should research industry-specific pain points and prepare tailored responses that resonate with their audience.

Can objection handling techniques be applied to digital sales channels, like social media or email marketing, and if so, how?

When it comes to digital sales channels like social media or email marketing, objection handling techniques need to be adapted for the medium. Since direct interaction is limited, sales reps can use targeted content to preemptively address common objections. For example, FAQs, customer testimonials, and detailed product information can help overcome objections before they are even raised. Engaging with comments or inquiries promptly and thoughtfully on social media can also mirror the empathetic listening aspect of objection handling in a more public forum.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your objection handling efforts?

Measuring the effectiveness of objection handling efforts involves tracking sales metrics such as conversion rates, the number of objections encountered versus those successfully addressed, and customer feedback. Sales teams can conduct regular reviews of sales calls and meetings to identify patterns in objections and assess how well they are being handled. Customer feedback, through surveys or follow-up conversations, can provide valuable insights into whether objections were adequately addressed. Over time, this data can inform training and strategy adjustments to improve objection handling and, consequently, sales outcomes.

Ready to handle these objections with ease?

We know the answer: Yes, you are! With the knowledge we’ve gathered, you can up your sales game and handle objections like a pro. If you face an objection that gives you sales nightmares, you can always come back to this blog for inspiration on how to handle it. 

Remember to collect all information and to approach each objection handling situation like you’re there to help them. That’s the only way you can build a solid relationship with your prospects. 🤝

So, before we let you go outreach away, we think you should also give Skylead a try and automate the outreach process while you’re at it. You’ll save lots of time, which you can use to build and nurture strong relationships with prospects. 
The best thing about it is you can sign up for a 7-day free trial and check how the tool works with your own eyes. You won’t regret it, plus those objections will be easier to handle now that the tool is handling half of your workload. 👀

Did you know that businesses that use a multichannel outreach strategy witness an increase in customer engagement by 287%?

Most of us live, work, and shop in the online world, so nowadays, outreach is no exception. Whether in sales or marketing, you target people out of the blue and try to catch their attention, book more meetings, and ultimately close more deals via email and other communication channels.

Implementing a strong outreach strategy can help with lead generation, turning those leads into satisfied customers, and nurturing relationships with them later on.

But how to turn those cold targets into warm leads and convert them into clients? It’s time to learn about the best outreach sequences. Our marketing team has done the research, so you don’t have to, and we’ll go over:

• What are outreach sequences
• 5 types of sequence messages
• 4 best outreach sequence examples
• Outreach sequence best practices

We’ve got a lot to cover, so grab your reading glasses, and let’s begin. 👓

What are outreach sequences and how do they work?

An outreach sequence is a planned series of actions and follow-ups carried through one or multiple communication channels that aims to connect with potential leads, customers, or clients. The goal is to build relationships with leads, generate interest, or drive a specific action.

For example, if you’re outreaching via email, the first email would be introductory. If there’s no response, you keep sending follow-ups that contain more information and value with each message.

Depending on the target audience, their interests and preferences, and the overall strategy, you can create outreach sequences using:

• Email
• Social media (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
• Phone calls
• Direct mail

The best outreach sequences aim to add multiple touchpoints with prospects and combine different channels. This means that each message in a sequence is personalized and tailored to address the prospect's previous action in a sequence.

How to create the best outreach sequences?

The main characteristics of the best outreach sequence are their structure and the strategy behind the intended communication. The goal is to gradually build your outreach sequence and drive engagement with your target audience. 

Here are key steps of this process:

1. Identifying goals - Pinpoint your outreach objectives, find your target audience, and understand their wants, needs, and challenges before crafting a tailored outreach sequence.
2. Sequence building and design - Create a series of messages and follow-ups using one or more channels that seamlessly guide them toward taking action.
3. Make sure to personalize messages according to previous research and actions.
4. Timing and frequency - Your main goal should not be too pushy or intrusive, so make sure to space out messages correctly and adjust the frequency accordingly. 
5. Execution - Reach out to your leads manually. However, our advice is to automate outreach sequences for the best results and efficiency. Personalize and schedule, and then let the tool do the work for you, saving you hours of manual work.
6. Analyzing and optimizing - After the sequence begins running, your job is to track engagement and look at metrics closely (open rates, click-through rates, response rates, and conversion rates) to determine whether your sequence is working or not. Make sure to keep optimizing for better outreach results.

Now that we know the basics of the outreach process, let’s look at our tool Skylead, so you can see firsthand how to create and automate the best outreach sequences. 👇

Automate your outreach sequences

How to automate your outreach sequences? Glad you asked. Introducing Skylead’s first-to-market smart sequences. As a LinkedIn automation and email outreach software, we strongly believe in the multichannel approach. That's why you can combine both of these channels in our sequence builder. Our smart sequences help:

• Save up to 11+ hours of manual work per week.
• Book 3x more meetings.
• Reach a higher number of quality leads in less time.
• Increase response rates with our in-app hyper personalization feature, and more.

What makes Skylead’s Smart sequences special is that you can combine LinkedIn and email action with if/else conditions.  This will help you get to your prospects one way or the other while maximizing touchpoints with leads. You can use all Skylead prime features inside these sequences to help with a more streamlined outreach. This includes:

• Email finder & verifier - Helps you find your leads’ double-verified business emails without breaking the outreach flow, at no extra cost, and with no 3rd party tools.
• Image & GIF personalization - Adds an extra visual touch to your outreach, making each message tailored to your leads’ interests and personal information. Plus, it increases the response rate.
• A/B testing - You can test up to 5 variants of copy to determine which approach works best for which leads. 

Now, let’s create a campaign together to see how it works. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3…

Skylead Smart sequences

1. First, click the “Create new campaign” button.

2. Second, choose a lead source. This is where Skylead pulls all your gathered leads from.

3. Third, adjust your campaign settings and hit the “Create sequence” button.

To create a smart outreach sequence, drag and drop the desired actions and conditions and create a coherent outreach flow. Here’s what a simple smart sequence looks like 👇

Now that you have a tool that does all this, plus a little bit more, you’re one step closer to building one of the best outreach sequences out there. But before you start creating your outreach flow, let’s look at sequence message types and review tested and proven sequence examples. 

5 Types of sequence messages with examples

1. Educating Messages

When talking to prospects who are still not ready to buy, register, or become clients, you can create and send educating messages. These messages aim to help prospects learn about your product/service and show them how your product can fix their pain points and challenges. The goal is to establish trust and encourage leads to take the desired action.

Here’s an example of a LinkedIn and email educating message:

LinkedIn connection request

Hi {{firstName}},

Ever felt like you needed magic to solve {{painPoint}} at {{Company}}? ✨

{{product/service}} makes these challenges disappear. 

You can:

1. Increase {{metric}} by {{number}}%

2. {{benefit}}

We’re here if and when you’re ready to experience the magic.

Until then, best spells!

Email message

Subject: Would you like magic to solve your {{painPoint}}? ✨

Hi {{firstName}},

Ever wished for a magic wand for {{painPoint}} at {{companyName}}? 

Meet {{solutionName}}—not magic, but close.

Here's what makes {{product/Service}} magical:

1. Eliminates {{painPoint}} and gets your team back on track to success

2. Increases {{metric}} by {{number}}%

Curious? Let’s talk so you can:

• See the magic in action
• Receive bite-sized insights & case studies
• Test-drive with zero fuss at zero cost.

What’s your choice?

Cheers!

2. Messages that build interest

Engagement messages are the most common in cold outreach. Sequences built with engagement messages aim to invoke a reaction from your prospect. Your goal with these messages should be to keep them engaged and get them to build interest in your product/service gradually.

Here’s an example of a LinkedIn and email messages that build interest:

LinkedIn connection request

Hi {{firstName}},

Ever imagine transforming {{challenge}} into an art form? 

Here at {{product/Service}}, we are blending technology and creativity to craft masterpieces.

Curious to paint a brighter future together? Let’s connect!

Email message

Subject: Art Meets {{challenge}} 🎨

Hi {{firstName}},

Imagine turning {{challenge}} into art. That's what we do with {{product/Service}}. I’m {{yourName}}, and I’m mixing tech and creativity to craft solutions that aren't just effective—they're inspirational.

We offer {{solution1}} and {{solution2}} to {{benefit}}. 

How about a quick chat to sketch out possibilities?

3. Competitor analysis messages

If you plan to talk about the competition, the trick is to give them a simple competitor analysis and show them how they’re getting these results. Then, emphasize how your product/service can help achieve said benefits. Then finish off with a simple and clear CTA that leads the prospect to a particular action, like scheduling a meeting, booking a call, sending a demo link, etc.

Here’s an example of a LinkedIn and email competitor analysis message:

LinkedIn InMail message

Subject: Ready to Outshine {{competitorTool}}? 🚀

Hi {{firstName}},

Ever wondered why {{competitorName}} leads in {{industry}}? Our audit reveals their key strategies:

{{Describe their approach to key strategy 1}}.

{{Describe their excellence in key strategy 2}}.

Here’s what you can do to get a quick win over them:

{{Your Offer - Task 1}} to elevate your {{result}}.

{{Your Offer - Task 2}} to boost {{specific outcome}}.

Interested in outpacing {{competitorName}}? 

Let's discuss actionable insights in a brief call.

Email message

Subject: We cracked {{competitorName}} {{industry}} strategy 🚀

If you consider {{competitorName}} a competitor, then you'll definitely want to check out this short audit.

{{Analyze competitor's publicly available workflows or strategies and emphasize what they are doing right.}}

Proposition:

If you wish to surpass competitor name and get a bigger market share, you'll need to: 

{{fWhat you offer - task 1}}

{{fWhat you offer - task 2}}

And this is precisely what we can help you with!

If you want to rise above your competition, let's schedule a quick call and see how we can get you there.

4. Follow-up messages

If your prospect didn’t respond to your first message, all you need is a follow-up after no response. A follow-up is a crucial part of an outreach sequence, and it’s necessary in order to give your prospect a gentle reminder of your existence and to lead them further down the buyer’s journey.

The goal is to keep in touch with your prospects and give them the right kind of motivation to respond to you.

Here’s an example of a LinkedIn and email follow-up message:

LinkedIn message

Hi {{firstName}},

Just following up on my previous message about how tackling {{challenge}} can feel like a steep climb. Imagine {{product/service}} as your personal helicopter, offering a swift lift to the top, bypassing those obstacles effortlessly.

Still curious to fly above the challenges? Let’s schedule that demo and start soaring together.

Looking forward to your response.

Email message

Subject: Ready to Soar Above {{challenge}}? 🚁

Hi {{firstName}},

Just touching base following my previous message about transforming your approach to {{challenge}}. Think of {{product/service}} as your on-demand helicopter, ready to take you to the top without the climb.

Are you ready to explore how we can elevate your journey with a brief demo?

Eager to see your ascent!

5. Re-engagement messages

Sometimes, prospects lose interest, change their email addresses or they would like to revisit your conversation in a few months. In these cases, you can do two things: in the first, send a re-engagement message to restart the conversation. In the second case, use Skylead’s Find & verify business email feature to get to your prospect's new email address and then send the re-engagement message. Convenient, right?

Here’s an example of a LinkedIn and email re-engagement messages:

LinkedIn message

Hi {{firstName}},

Long time no chat! 🕰️ {{product/Service}} has evolved since we last spoke, unlocking new ways to tackle {{challenge}}.

Curious about the updates? Let's dive back in with a quick demo or chat.

Looking forward to reconnecting!

Email message

Subject: A lot has changed at {{product/Service}}! Let’s catch up ☕

Hi {{firstName}},

It's been a while! Since our last conversation, {{product/Service}} has grown, offering new {{benefit}} for {{challenge}}.

Up for a brief update? A quick chat or demo could spark new ideas.

Best outreach sequence examples

Enough theory. Let’s get to the actual social proof – a section where we show you our best outreach sequences that have been tested and optimized to perfection to produce great outreach results. 

Given that we believe that multichannel outreach is the way to go, we’ll show you 4 of our sequence templates, which are sure to bring results. All you need to know about them is that our Head of sales, Andrea, closed 50+ meetings while using them! ✨

1. Reach out to leads who reacted to a LinkedIn post of an industry expert

In this outreach sequence, we’ve used a combination of educational and conversion messages. Let’s look at the stats:

• 76% acceptance rate
• 35% reply rate
• 85% open rate

The sequence works because we used both LinkedIn and email and exhausted all communication channels to get to our prospects in any case. If you’re trying to reach people who reacted to someone’s LinkedIn post, the presumption is that you’re probably not connected to them. 

We’re using InMails because, from our experience, people generally respond better to them. If you can send them for free, without spending your InMail credit, even better. The Find & verify email feature is here to reach prospects by email if they’re not as responsive on LinkedIn. Email is important in outreach. In fact, 77% of B2B buyers prefer to be contacted by email. 

To see template messages, click here.

2. Target specific group members

This particular sequence landed many new users, and our sales team got to book more meetings than usual. We’ve used follow-up, engagement, and conversion messages and utilized both communication channels. Here are the results:

• 53% acceptance rate
• 27% reply rate
• 73% open rate

Targeting specific group members means that we are looking for decision-makers and we want to reach them faster. You can do this by using Sales Navigator search results with the Group members filter. In the sequence we’re using the If connected condition for LinkedIn to cover all leads from our lead source. Then, if they’re not responsive on LinkedIn, we find their double-verified email address and try reaching them there.

To see template messages, click here.

3. Approach people who checked out your website

Marketers, behold! A sequence that will target people who stumbled upon your website and need a little nudge to take action. If you're using a 3rd party tool on your website that can tell you what company visited your website, you can easily find those people on LinkedIn and reach out. Let’s get right into the stats:

• 43% acceptance rate
• 23% reply rate
• 71% open rate

In this sequence, our sales team used educational and engagement messages to spark additional interest and give social proof and more information to prospects already interested in your product/service. We also opted for a multichannel approach that works every time!

To see template messages, click here.

4. Educational sequence with a focus on email

This sequence is part of our free trial period and is also available to all Skylead users. Our sales team made this template to show you how to engage with your target audience and get them hooked to your product/service with carefully crafted messaging and tone. 

We’ve used educational and engagement message types, focusing on email, but also using LinkedIn as the other communication channel. Here are the stats:

• 63% acceptance rate
• 41% response rate

To see template messages, you need to register for a 7-day free trial with Skylead.

Outreach sequences: Best practices

After testing and experimenting with different approaches, we’ve formed a list of best practices we always keep in mind when creating outreach sequences. Let our experience serve as a guide for you to create the best outreach sequences. 👇

Use a multichannel approach

What if we told you that 58% of people check their emails first thing, and 14% check social media? This statistic just proves that using two or more communication channels is a must in outreach. We’ve said it once and will say it again: the multichannel approach is the best way to go for higher response rates and faster overall results.

Automate outreach

Businesses that automate outreach campaigns can improve their response rate by a whopping 250%. If your goals are reaching a larger audience or you just want to save time on manual outreach and focus on building and nurturing relationships with prospects, outreach automation is the best solution for you. Plus, a great perk is faster and better results, too. 😉

Add a catchy subject line

Did you know that creating a catchy subject line is directly linked to a higher open rate? A good subject line combined with pre-header text is what helps prospects decide whether they will open and read your email.

Our best advice would be to keep it short, simple, and around 55-60 characters (under 30 characters if you want to stand out in mobile inboxes). Regarding emojis, our research suggests that you should use 1 emoji per subject line. Also, do not put emojis instead of words to avoid confusion. 

Personalization

In this day and age, if you want to stand out online, you need to personalize your approach. If you create tailored messages, emails, and follow-ups and then add visual elements to the mix (Skylead’s Image & GIF personalization), you’ll surely get a higher response rate. In fact, up to 63%, to be exact.

Keep it short

No prospect wants to read a huge message with a standardized template approach. If you plan on creating an effective outreach sequence, you need to be concise and to the point. Otherwise, your message will get lost in your prospects’ inboxes with no trace.

However, if you don’t get a yes the first time around, creating a strong follow-up message after no response can up your chances of success. In this case, the same rules apply - keep your messages short, but with each one, add more value and personalized elements.

Relevant value proposition

Each message you craft and send in an outreach sequence should bring value to your prospect. Once you gather information about your target audience, make sure to find relevant touchpoints and spread them evenly across your sequence. With each message, there needs to be more value. You need to tell your prospects that your offer is precisely what they need.

Pro tip: Andrea, our Head of sales, says that in sales emails, it’s never about you. It’s about the prospect and their problems that can be solved only with your solution and your solution.

Include social proof

In outreach, it’s all a numbers game. This means that adding certain bits of proven information, results, or statistics will spark more interest with prospects. Link a case study, or add 1 or 2 sentences to your outreach message to add social proof to your outreach.

Call-to-action (CTA)

Our sales team told us to tell you that when creating calls to action, you need to think about creating the perfect environment for your prospect to take the desired action. Naturally, your entire message should build up to this closing moment, the so-called CTA. To avoid confusion, use just one prompt instead of a couple. Keep their focus through the message body and then add the CTA.

From our experience, a good CTA should be:

• simple
• straightforward
• clear

Determine the timeframe of the sequence

In outreach, as in life, timing is everything. Determining the duration and the spacing between messages is equally important as the messages. If you send messages too often, they’ll be considered spam, but the sequence won't be successful if you don’t contact them often enough. It’s all about balance, so make sure to space out your outreach messages anywhere from the standard 2 to 5 business days.

A/B testing for optimization

Not sure if your content is good enough? No worries. A/B testing, also known as split testing, is here to help with constant campaign improvement. We advise you to incorporate frequent A/B tests into your outreach sequence strategy to get better results faster. Make it a habit to always look into better ways of reaching out to prospects.

Frequently asked questions

How does one tailor outreach sequences for different industries, such as tech versus healthcare, to ensure relevance and higher engagement rates?

Tailoring outreach sequences for different industries involves researching industry-specific pain points, language, and trends. For tech, emphasize innovation and efficiency; for healthcare, focus on compliance, patient care, and privacy. Customization increases relevance and engagement by addressing specific needs and interests of the target audience.

Can the effectiveness of an outreach sequence vary by geographical region, and if so, what adjustments should be made to cater to different cultural preferences?

The effectiveness of outreach sequences can indeed vary by geographical region due to cultural and time differences. To adjust, incorporate local time, business etiquette, language nuances, and cultural norms. Understanding regional communication preferences and holidays can also enhance the personalization and effectiveness of the outreach.

What are the long-term impacts of using these outreach sequences on brand reputation and customer relationships, especially in cases where recipients might perceive the outreach as spammy?

Long-term impacts of using outreach sequences on brand reputation and customer relationships depend on execution. If perceived as spammy, it can harm reputation and deter potential customers. Conversely, personalized, value-driven outreach can enhance brand perception, foster trust, and build lasting relationships, highlighting the importance of customization and relevance.

Ready to put these best outreach sequences to use?

Of course you are! Now that we covered everything you need to know about creating the best outreach sequences, it’s safe to say that if you follow these instructions, you are well on your way to success with your outreach efforts. So, let’s review what we’ve learned so far:

• Using automation tools in outreach saves time, boosts results, and gives you more time to focus on building better sequences and nurturing relationships with leads.
• Using a multichannel approach, which means two or more communication channels, is key to a faster and more effective outreach.
• Personalization is the key to higher response rates.
• Catchy subject lines are directly related to higher open rates.
• A clear CTA leads to better click-through and response rates.
• Strategic timing in outreach sequences improves overall results and affects all relevant metrics.
• By combining relevant content with personalized communication, we build trust and interest.

So, what’s the next step? Well, all you need now is the right automation tool to assist you in creating the best outreach sequences and building successful campaigns that bring jaw-dropping results. This is where Skylead comes to the rescue. You can register for free, start your 7-day free trial, and begin creating the best outreach sequences out there! Let the outreach begin! 💥

If you've ever wondered if there is a way to speed up lead-generation activities, we have a proposition - try automated lead generation.

Yes, that's right. Automation has been around for a while, especially for lead generation and management. And no wonder it's so effective since this way, you can find the most qualified leads and scale up your business. But, more importantly, you can generate your leads daily. 

That said if you wish to use lead generation automation properly but need to figure out how - fear not. We will guide you on how to automate every sales and marketing lead generation task.  

What is automated lead generation?

Automated lead generation is a process of using technology to perform time-consuming sales and marketing lead generation tasks on your behalf. To do this, you have different kinds of automation tools at your disposal. For example, you can use software to automate sending emails or LinkedIn connection requests.

Automated lead generation offers benefits such as:

• Reducing human error and thus improving your workflow;
• Saving time by performing manual tasks and decreasing workload;
• Providing insights into the performance of lead generation activities so you can use optimization and improve;
• Consistency in the workflow so you can generate leads daily;
• Leaving room so you can focus on building relationships and lead nurturing.

That said, there are plenty of automation tools on the market to choose from. However, let’s first distinguish the types of sales and marketing lead generation activities to discover what tool you should use accordingly. 

Types of automatic lead generation

There are 2 types of automatic lead generation, but they best work when used in synergy. 

Inbound lead generation automation

Inbound lead generation is a marketing strategy for attracting leads to your company. For example, a marketing team can create content valuable to the best leads for your business. The purpose of the content is to compel a lead to first take specific actions that will eventually lead to sales.

In addition, since leads nowadays focus on researching independently, inbound lead gen focuses on helping rather than selling. In other words, it shows the way toward your brand content pieces such as blogs, ebooks, and guides.

That said, inbound lead gen automation means streamlining the said tasks using automation tools. For example, you can use the following types of tools to automate your inbound tasks: 

• Chatbot - to provide answers to questions;

Pop-ups & forms - to offer personalized content, lead magnet or surveys on the website.

Outbound lead generation automation

Outbound lead generation is about finding and reaching out to your ideal leads directly without waiting for them to reach out to you. To clarify, rather than waiting for leads to find your website and reach out like inbound lead gen, you are the one who makes the first move. 

That said, to automate your outbound lead generation tasks, you can use the following types of tools:

• Email marketing and outreach tools - for outbound marketing and sales to automate sending emails, newsletters, or themed email sequences;
• Prospecting tools - for marketing and sales to find outbound leads and contact information;
• Social media automation tools - for sales to automate outreach on social media;
• Advertising tools - for marketers to automate buying digital advertising space.

B2B lead generation automation VS B2C lead generation automation

Business-to-Business (B2B) lead generation automation is a process of using software to generate potential leads who work in a company to offer them your services.

On the other hand, Business-to-Consumer (B2C) lead generation automation uses software to streamline and generate leads who are individual customers. 

Even though they have different potential customers, both B2B and B2C companies use the same lead generation automation for a similar purpose. Here is how different companies use types of automation tools for their purpose.

How to automate lead generation [Step-by-step guides]

Automated outbound lead generation guide

1. Define your ICP and buyer persona

Your outbound lead generation needs a good basis to get quality leads that convert. That’s why sales teams start off their lead generation process by creating Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona. This way, you can generate the best leads and guide them through the sales funnel. Not to mention, these documents will help you with the lead scoring. 

The best practice for the creation of both of these documents is to analyze your current customer data and gather users who:

• Have the shortest buying cycle;
• Have a high retention rate; 
• And who would advocate for your product or service.

2. Find contact data

Once you establish your ICP and Buyer Persona, it’s time for prospecting.  

Almost all sales teams use LinkedIn prospecting to find the best leads for their sales funnel. Moreover, there are a lot of proven LinkedIn lead generation strategies out there to find quality leads. However, when it comes to gathering the leads’ contact information, it’s best to automate the process and find tools that will help you do just that. 

3. Craft a compelling message

Whether you wish to use LinkedIn outreach or any other medium, consider your messaging carefully. Cold outreach is hard when you know nothing about the person. That said, it’s important to include research into the lead generation process and figure out what your leads are all about.

In other words, comb through their LinkedIn profile, and find the About section, posts they published, or what they shared. This way, you can personalize your communication and be more genuine in showing an interest in solving their problems.

Another tip for successful messaging is to mention your unique selling point tailored to their exact pain point.  

That said, if you need help crafting such a message, you can always use Chat GPT for sales messages. 

4. Send cold emails

It’s easy to let the cold email mistakes slither into your outreach. However, you reduce the chances of some of these mistakes by using automated lead generation tools to send cold emails. 

Only keep in mind that 70% of salespeople stop at one cold email. However, incorporating follow-up messages into your sequence increases your chances of hearing back by 25%. So be sure to send follow up emails as well. 

5. Automated LinkedIn lead generation

LinkedIn and email outreach have been part of the sales funnels for years. And with hundreds of leads we reach every week via LinkedIn, it’s time-consuming and nearly impossible to get desired results - unless you use different automated lead generation tools.

That’s why various LinkedIn automation tools are there to help you streamline different outreach actions on LinkedIn. For example, our very own Skylead can automate sending connection requests, messages, and free & paid InMails. In addition, you can combine these actions and create scenarios based on your leads’ behavior; but we’ll talk more about that later on.

6. Lead automation: Nurture the leads

Once you start conversing with your leads, you need to keep track of them. This is where CRM, like Hubspot or Pipedrive, comes into play. To clarify, Customer Relationship Management is a software that helps you automate gathering all the information about your sales leads in one place, such as:

• Notes about the sales leads,
• Lead scoring,
• Information about the company,
• Deal value,
• Position in the sales funnel,
• Next task to perform,
• Conversation link, and so on.

This way, you can check where your leads are in the funnel and what level of nurturing they need.

Automated inbound lead generation guide

1. Set up your lead generation website

The first step towards automated lead generation is creating a website to connect all your automated lead generation tools. We can write an entire blog on creating a website, but we’ll mention 3 most important things.

Firstly, good practice here is to create a website that will provide the best user experience with UX/UI design that converts. 

Secondly, your content marketing team must prepare visuals and texts for the website. The text needs to provide information about your product or service but in a way that describes how it solves the problem and removes pain points your high-quality leads have. 

Lastly, it would be best to create an SEO plan to rank your website better. 

2. Create a lead magnet

The second step is for your content marketing team to create a lead magnet. 

A lead magnet is a guide, eBook, or mini-course you publish on your website for leads to download. In exchange, you ask your leads to leave their information, such as name, surname, and email address.

This is one of the lead generation strategies, so you can gather the emails and send your leads newsletters. Or you can let your sales team reach them out.

However, keep in mind that you cannot ask for leads' emails just for anything. The lead magnet you create needs to offer valuable information and practical knowledge tailored to your leads' needs.

Once you create a lead magnet, you can automate the process by connecting your forms to Hubspot or Monday CRM. This way, you can automatically create a deal. Moreover, if your CRM and outreach tool are connected, you can push the leads to your campaign. 

3. Set up your landing page

To generate high-quality leads organically or via ads, you need a landing page that provides the best user experience. In other words, it needs to contain concise information tailored to your high-quality leads. So the best practice here is to have dedicated feature pages and what problems they solve. 

The information you provide needs to have a converting design and info so your visitors wish to take action. In addition, your landing pages need to be as SEO prepared as possible.

Lastly, speaking of action, your landing page should contain a contact form or any lead magnet you wish to promote to gather quality leads.

4. Capture leads with a chatbot

Another way to generate leads via your website is to use a chatbot. It allows you to turn your website visitors into leads and qualify them for future sales or marketing activities. 

For example, you can set your chatbot to pose a list of questions before leads can contact the support team. This is a perfect automation system for lead scoring and qualifying. 

For example, with some chatbots, you can set up to automatically gather information, such as email addresses, company sizes, or other information relevant to collecting qualified leads. Once it does, like with lead magnets, you can automate creating a deal in your CRM and pushing the leads to your outreach campaign. 

5. Get traffic to your page

Once you’ve done everything we’ve mentioned above, you need to get leads to your website to generate them. There are two ways you can get traffic:

• Paid - you can launch paid campaigns via Google ads, Bing ads, or social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn. You can target new leads or retarget your previous visitors.
• Organic - Creating blogs or videos that follow SEO standards so they can rank better organically and get you as many visitors as possible.  

6. Lead management automation: Nurture the leads

When you start getting leads to your website, you need to nurture them to some sort of conversion. Therefore, look no further than using pop-up forms or chatbot conversations personalized to their web behavior.  

You can personalize your automated messages and offer relevant content by, for example:

• Pages they are visiting, 
• If they are returning customers, or 
• Exit intent. 

7. Use marketing automation for lead generation

Once you gather your leads’ emails, it’s time to use marketing automation and outreach them. You can create email campaigns to offer personalized content on a mass scale based on your leads’ behavior. 

For example, you can send certain messages depending on whether they opened an email. In other words, you can create an entire sequence with different scenarios to offer tailored content that will lead to conversion. 

The good practice here is to start with valuable educational content, then offer a solution to the particular problem, and then present your product or service. In other words, never start the first message with your pitch. 

Best lead generation automation tools

We will name a few best lead generation automation software and their Capterra scores. However, feel free to research other tools and check review websites should you feel the need to do so. 

1. Skylead

Yup. As we previously mentioned, that's us. 🙂 

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and cold email software that streamlines the most time-consuming marketing, recruiting and sales outreach tasks. In other words, these tasks include sending:

• LinkedIn connection requests 
• Messages,
• InMails,
• And emails 

to all your leads you imported into Skylead via LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Recruiter, your CRM (using API) or CSV file.

Moreover, this software as a service allows you to also:

• Find and verify your leads’ email addresses,
• And use text, Image and GIF personalization in your communication.

What makes Skylead special are Smart Sequences and their if/else conditions. To clarify, Smart Sequences are action paths you create using the activities mentioned above and combining them with if/else conditions. This way, you can create countless scenarios that Skylead uses to outreach your leads according to their situational behavior. 

That said, here is an example of one Smart Sequence.

Moreover, you can connect Skylead with any tool, such as CRM using webhooks or API and push or send data. 

Use cases

You can use Skylead for various reasons. However, we will mention a few depending on the team you might belong to.

Pricing

Skylead has an all-in-one pricing plan of $100 per user/month.

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,8 / 5 

2. OptinMonster

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This is another lead generation tool considered one of the best marketing strategies you can use on your website. Marketing teams use it for ecommerce lead capture. However, B2B marketers frequently use it for their lead generation efforts as well. 

OptinMonster is a software that offers automated lead generation forms presented as pop-ups, slide-in windows, and gamified spin-to-win wheels. Moreover, you can place these pop-ups or forms on any landing page. 

That said, these automated forms help you gather contact information to build an email list for your email campaigns, display personalized content, and nurture your visitors through their customer journey.

Features

OptinMonster’s main advantage is that it turns your website visitors into paying customers, webinar attendees, or newsletter subscribers. That said, many B2B marketing teams use these forms to increase any conversion rate, thanks to:

Page-level targeting 

You can display pop-ups, forms, and notifications based on the user’s interaction with different landing pages.

Exit-intent technology 

OptinMonster monitors visitors’ movements and detects when they plan to exit from the page without leaving their contact information or purchase. This way, you can increase conversion rates. Or, as a part of your content marketing strategy, gain additional newsletter subscribers, webinar attendees for future email campaigns.

Lightbox pop-up

This pop-up or notification appears thanks to triggers, and once it does, your visitors need to make a decision. What’s best is that there are no distractions, as your other website content can be faded in the background. 

Onsite retargeting 

You can show returning visitors something new every time they return to your website. Simply create pop-ups to show new promotions or offers based on their previous interactions on your website. 

List segmentation 

You can reduce website abandonment and churn by providing personalized content for your leads from the email list and website. What’s more, you can integrate OptinMonster with any CRM app, such as Hubspot or email automation software, to further adjust your messaging. 

Pro tip: Create a synergy between your marketing and sales teams. Once you generate leads through OptinMonster, you can push them automatically to your Skylead sales or marketing campaign through API. 

Pricing

OptinMonster has 4 pricing plans:

• Basic - $16 per month
• Plus - $32 per month
• Pro - $49 per month
• Growth - $82 per month

In addition, they offer around 40% off per month if you opt-in for an annual subscription.

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,3 / 5 

3. Moosend.com

In general, Moosend is an email automation tool that helps you create and send personalized newsletters to your leads. It’s most suitable for small businesses specializing in e-commerce. However, this automation tool can be used for B2B email campaigns as well. 

Features

One of the best things about Moosend is that you can create newsletters or pop-up banners with a simple drag-and-drop. 

In addition, they leverage AI to analyze the data from your website, such as your subscriber behavior. This way, you can send more personalized messages or email notifications and maximize customer experience and retention.

That said, similar to Skylead, you can use this marketing automation tool to create a sequence with if/else conditions such as “if the purchase was made” and so on. This way, you can check for your subscriber’s actions and send suitable follow-up messages.  

Moosend offers a vast library of templates to create newsletters or landing pages for email marketing campaigns. Whichever you choose, you’d be glad to hear that every template comes with device optimization functionalities. 

Next, you can group leads from your email list and send separate messages. You can divide the leads based on keywords, if they clicked on the link in the previous email, etc. 

Like OptinMonster, Moosend can help you gather new leads and increase your lead generation efforts. In other words, it offers customizable forms like pop-ups to promote your lead magnets, like webinars, and create email lists. 

Lastly, you can integrate Moosend with your CRM, such as Hubspot, or other apps to streamline your related tasks.  

Pricing

Moosend has 2 pricing systems:

• Pro - This plan is suitable for small businesses because it goes from as low as $9 per month for up to 500 subscribers. On the other hand, this plan goes as high as $5840 a month for up to 1M subscribers. 

• Enterprise - The second plan is for agencies, and you need to contact Moosend directly to get a custom quote. 

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,6 / 5 

4. Mailchimp

Another email automation software on our list is Mailchimp. This marketing automation tool started off as software for marketers to help them create newsletters in the e-commerce environment. However, it developed to be much more - a well-rounded automated lead generation tool. 

Features

Email marketing

Firstly, Mailchimp offers an email automation tool for sending newsletters or other messaging material to your subscribers. You can create your own message design or use the template. 

Regarding targeting, you can segment your leads based on their behavior, such as: 

• Campaign activity, 
• Location, 
• If the last email opened, 
• App activity, etc.

Lead gen

Mailchimp offers a couple of features that are perfect for B2B lead generation. 

Firstly, they have their own website builder to create beautifully-designed landing pages for your new leads. In addition, you can make it from scratch or from the numerous templates they offer.

Secondly, they offer sign-up and pop-up forms for your website to generate potential customers. Moreover, you can also integrate their free appointment scheduling tool so potential leads can book calls with your sales team. 

Lastly, Mailchimp offers a campaign manager that combines social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, into one dashboard. This way, you can target potential leads with similar interests as your current contacts. Or you can retarget visitors while they are browsing through the web or their social media. 

Automated customer journeys

Last but not least, Mailchimp has a function to enhance user experience with Customer Journey Builder. In other words, you can automate activities, such as emails and follow-ups, according to your leads’ behavior and nurture them to conversion. 

Moreover, you can integrate Mailchimp with any app, including your CRM of choice or LinkedIn outreach solution for omnichannel presence.

Pricing

Mailchimp offers 4 plans with the following highlighted features:

• A free plan is for up to 1K emails sent. It includes forms, landing pages, and pre-built email templates.
• The Essentials plan starts at $13 a month. This plan includes up to 5K emails sent, 3 audiences, and simple automated customer journeys.
• The Standard plan starts at $20 a month. It includes up to 6K emails sent, 5 audiences, enhanced customer journeys, newsletter templates, predictive analytics tool, and campaign manager.
• The Premium plan costs $350 per month. It includes everything from other plans plus 150K emails sent, and advanced segmentation and targeting.

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,5 / 5 

5. Tidio

As mentioned before, one of the best lead capturing ways is using a live chat or chatbot. And Tidio is one of many on the market. 

In other words, it can automatically collect and qualify leads based on their website behavior. For example, they can visit a pricing page, and if you offer a custom quote, a chatbot can ask if a person is interested in it, and they can leave the information.  

Moreover, you can set Tidio to answer FaQs, offer news, or upsell your users. This way, you’re leaving time for your support team to focus on burning problems while improving your customer experience. 

Pricing

Tidio offers a couple of pricing plans, respectively:

• Free
• Communicator: $19 per user/month (Includes live chat with an unlimited number of conversations and up to 5 operators);
• Chatbots: $19 per user/month (Includes from 1K to 40K triggers);
• Tidio+: $329 a month (Including both live chat and chatbot).

Capterra score: ⭐ 4,8 / 5

Automated lead generation examples

Here are examples of lead generation automation you can apply in your business right away. 

1. Lead capture framework

a. Create a lead magnet

Craft valuable content like ebooks, masterclasses, templates, and webinars. In addition, remember that the content you create needs to resonate with your leads so they are willing to leave you their contact information. For example, you can offer a sales book with templates and cold outreach strategies. 

Once you create your work, you can gather the info with automated lead generation forms. Moreover, you can link the forms to CRM for the sales to take over, or an email outreach tool so your leads can go straight to your email outreach list.

Lastly, to promote your lead magnet, you can publish ads to generate a large pool of leads. Or use pop-ups to promote the content throughout the website depending on users’ behavior.

b. Set up chatbots

Use chatbots to automate qualifying leads and gather their contact information. 

You can set chatbot scenarios to offer the lead magnets or some free service depending on users’ website behavior. Or, if a person wants to contact your customer support, develop a list of qualifying questions. This way, the chatbot can send them to a database such as your email list or CRM. Moreover, your support team will get context about the leads. 

2. Framework for finding leads

You can automate finding outbound leads by using prospecting tools such as: 

• LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator to scrape publicly available info and profile URLs;
• Tools to identify your website visitors, such as Lead Forensics;
• Scraping tools for Facebook group members;

This way, you can build your lead list, send them to your CRM and prepare for email or LinkedIn outreach. 

3. Outreach framework

a. Inbound outreach

Once you’ve got your inbound leads’ info, reach out. You can prepare a special cold outreach campaign using Skylead. In other words, create your sequence and craft your messages so they slowly turn the leads into paying customers.

For example, you can use Skylead to reach out to your leads via email. In other words, import your leads via CSV file or using LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter. Moreover, once you start your campaign, you can push leads from your email list or CRM using API.

If you found your leads using LinkedIn but wish to send them emails, you can use Email Discovery & Verification feature as a step. This way, Skylead finds and verifies leads’ email addresses. So, you don’t have to use a separate tool to scrape email addresses. Instead, you have it all here in Skylead.

Then, create your Smart Sequence depending on their behavior (e.g., whether they opened an email or clicked the link). For example, your Smart Sequence can look something like this:

Lastly, write your sequence messages, and personalize them. Moreover, you can write up to 5 subject lines and the body variants to test and see what messaging drives the most results. 

b. Outbound outreach

You can use Skylead to reach your outbound leads as well. To do this, repeat the steps above:

• Import leads;
• Create a Smart sequence;
• Personalize your Emails, LinkedIn connection requests, messages, and InMails. 

However, remember that you will get the best results if you opt-in for multichannel outreach. That said, feel free to use LinkedIn steps such as Invite to connect, Follow, View, Message and InMail.

4. Customer and lead nurturing framework

You can automate lead nurturing by integrating your CRM with the outreach tool and exchanging the data between the two. This way, you can label leads, or send them to outreach campaigns. 

In addition, you can use Skylead for your customer-nurturing program. That said, you can send automated outreach campaigns for: 

• Churn customers if you have any special upgrade or to offer a discount;
• Current customers to send them personalize content, upsell, or offer help as their dedicated account manager;

Frequently asked questions

What are the ethical considerations when automating lead generation on LinkedIn?

When automating lead generation on LinkedIn, it's vital to maintain transparency and respect user privacy. Avoid spamming and ensure all automated interactions provide value to potential leads. Ethical automation respects LinkedIn's terms of service, focusing on building genuine connections rather than exploiting the platform.

How can businesses ensure the quality of leads when using automation tools?

To ensure the quality of leads when using automation tools, you should define clear target parameters and continuously refine your ideal customer profile. Utilizing advanced filtering options and personalized outreach messages can significantly increase the relevance and quality of automated lead generation efforts.

Can automation tools integrate with other CRM platforms, and how does this affect lead management?

Many automation tools like Skylead are designed to integrate seamlessly with CRM platforms, enhancing lead management processes. This integration allows for the automatic update of lead information and activities, providing a unified view of the sales funnel and enabling more efficient tracking, nurturing, and conversion of leads.

Skyrocket your leads and conversions with automation

80% of marketing automation users experience an increase in the number of leads, and even 77% an increase in conversion. That is no small number to ignore. 

That said, we hope this article helped you understand how you can automate your lead generation activities.

However, before you do, create a good-quality basis for the automation, such as your website, content strategy, and LinkedIn profile. Only then will you be able to pave your way for successful lead generation automation. 

After all, once you go automation, you will start looking at your other tasks and ask yourself:

Automate your outreach! Sign up for Skylead’s 7-day free trial.

Want to know what people think of your sales efforts? Why not put it to the test? Or better yet, split test!

We all know that in sales, results are everything. When creating email copy, call-to-action prompts, or sales email subject lines, hitting just the right combination of words is what will ultimately determine your end results. But how can you know what your audience finds more appealing? Split testing, a.k.a. A/B testing, is the answer!

We’ve been in sales for more than 5 years, and we’ve done A/B tests more than we can count or remember. From this experience, knowledge was born, and thus, we present a split testing guide that will help you get the desired results and make informed decisions about your next sales move. If not done right, split testing can give misleading results. So, if you feel stuck on the A/B testing puzzle and you work in sales, in this article, you will find:

• Benefits and advantages of split testing
• How to split test 
• What to split test
• Split testing process
• Split testing best practices.

Grab your pens, and let’s get to work! 🖊️

What is split testing in sales?

By definition, split testing, commonly referred to as A/B testing, is a method where different versions of content are simultaneously sent to a split audience with the goal of identifying the most effective one that prompts desired actions.

This approach is crucial for tasks such as writing sales copy, sending invites to connect on Linkedin, testing follow-up strategies, and more, as it helps with data-driven decisions, all while saving money, time, and potential leads.

Split testing in sales compares two versions of a sales asset to determine which one brings more results, boosting conversions and sales results. In outreach, you can A/B test your approach on all communication channels. Apart from that, you can even test different elements to determine what approach works best for lead generation and prospecting.

Why should you Split test?

1. Split testing is a simple analysis.

One of the best things about split testing is its simplicity. It is easy and straightforward, and if done correctly, an A/B test can significantly improve your sales efforts. Also, using the right tool can help save more time by partially automating the process to get even better results, but more on that later in this blog. 

2. A/B testing is multifunctional.

Almost anything can be A/B tested. For example, in Skylead, our LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, you can test up to five variations of:

• LinkedIn connection messages
• InMails
• Emails
• Messages 

What's more, you can test smaller factors within these messages, such as message copy, subject lines, body, signature, links, or call-to-actions. 

Note: From our experience, we can advise you not to test everything at once. Why? Because you won’t be able to determine what influenced the results. It’s better to test one element at a time. Plus, be sure to continuously refine and retest the successful options.

3. You can increase conversion rates.

By A/B testing different elements of a certain campaign or website, sales reps can see what works best when the goal is converting leads into customers. Testing multiple approaches and choosing the most effective one can lead to higher conversion rates and a better lead generation strategy.

4. You can make data-driven decision-making.

Why wonder and guess when you can know for sure? Split testing provides the kind of data-driven certainty that helps with making informed decisions because numbers don’t lie.

5. Your leads will have a better user experience.

If we use the split testing data to better understand our target audience, you can easily give your leads what they want, strengthening relationships and making their experiences more user-friendly and enjoyable. A/B testing ultimately leads to customer loyalty, further boosting your brand’s reputation, thus bringing more customers your way.

6. It is cost-effective.

In sales, optimization is everything, and split testing is a pretty cost-effective way to gather more useful data about your sales or marketing approach. The math is simple: you get to use A/B testing to figure out if the changes work for you or not before making any larger investments. In the long run, split testing saves a lot of time and funds.

Now that you know why you should split test, here’s a list of some things you can test out. 👇

What can you A/B test?

In sales, there’s a variety of elements to optimize performance and increase conversions. Here’s a complete list:

1. Email outreach (subject line, body, CTA)
2. LinkedIn outreach (connection request, LinkedIn message, InMail - subject line, message, personalization)
3. Pricing strategies (different pricing models or discount offers)
4. Product presentations and demos (presentation style, product demonstration tactics)
5. Value propositions (different phrasings, product presentation, service's value propositions)
6. Offer bundling (product or service bundle combinations)
7. Social proof and testimonials
8. Upselling and cross-selling techniques.

How to do split testing

Split testing sounds pretty good right now, doesn’t it? Want to use it right away? Here’s how to do it, step-by-step 👇

Split testing - 6 general steps

1. Identify goals

Conversion goals are the most important metric to look at when planning to split test. It should be enough to help you determine if the variation (or option B) is better than the original. These goals can be link clicks, call bookings, or product purchases.

2. Collect data

Some outreach tools often give insight into what areas you can and should optimize. This allows you to gather data faster and figure out where you can improve.

3. Determine what part of outreach you wish to A/B test

By looking at metrics, you can easily find parts of your sales process that should be A/B tested. For example, a bad open rate often implies a poorly written subject line. To get started, choose a metric, find an element that causes it, and test it. 

4. Create test variations

When split testing, you can use specialized software to make the desired changes to any element you wish to test out. This might be creating a different version of your LinkedIn invite to connect message copy, a different email subject line, or something entirely different. 

5. Split your sample audience

Once you’ve created one or multiple variations of the test, you should split the audience sample in half (or more, if there are more variants) and decide which will see variant A and which will see variant B (or more) of your split testing experiment. Some tools, such as Skylead, usually do it for you randomly and equally to ensure a fair comparison result.

6. Run, analyze, and optimize

Once the split test is running, your only assignment is to track and measure the results of each version you’ve created. You can, of course, use tools to track conversion rates and overall engagement metrics, so you can study them later on and optimize away.

The final step of split testing is analyzing the results of your experiment. Now it’s up to you to make a decision about which version to adopt. Easy as 1, 2, 3. 💥

How to split test different parts of the sales process

Sales reps who are involved in outreach use A/B testing to find out whether their outreach efforts are being recognized by prospects or not. You can use these tests for multiple parts of your sales process. This could include anything from testing sales emails and subject lines, product presentations, and demos to follow-up strategies and customer segmentation. Let’s review some of them in detail. 👇

Split testing outreach 

Email outreach 

Nowadays, outreach has mostly shifted to the digital world, which means email outreach is the star of almost every sales show or at least a significant part of it. ⭐

If we use email as our starting point for split testing, we could test multiple elements of our cold email. For example, if outreach isn’t giving enough results, like open rates, we should use split testing to try out different variants of our subject line. If there are not enough link clicks, we should think about testing the CTA that leads to that link or the email body, etc.

So, to recap, in email outreach, we can test 👇

1. Subject lines - Creating a catchy subject line is what makes or breaks your open rates. A/B testing is the perfect way to determine what works for your sample audience or not. When testing subject lines, make sure that you’re testing just that and not any other element. Skylead lets you test up to 5 different variants at once.

2. Email body - If your subject line is attention-grabbing, but people aren’t really responding to your email as you want them to, the thing you should split-test is the email body. Use the same subject line and the same CTA, but switch things up with the content and figure out what tone works best for your target group. You can experiment with different lengths, the use of emojis, writing styles, etc.

3. CTAs - Your audience responds to clear instructions, so the call to action should be, as Andrea, our Head of Sales, would say, the last thing they read and the first thing they do. If you believe that the CTA is the problem with your sales emails, you should write a couple of variants and test only the CTA element to know what works best for your niche audience.

4. Personalization (Image & GIF) - Nowadays, people won’t focus solely on text. But if you add visual elements, that’s a different story. In fact, we’ve tested it out thoroughly and learned that adding personalized images, GIFs, and even videos to your email outreach can boost the response rates significantly - up to 63%! If you know this element works well in cold outreach, you should A/B test what works best for which audience segment. 

LinkedIn outreach 

Over the past few years in sales, prospecting has shifted to the digital world, and what better place to find potential prospects than LinkedIn - a professional social media platform with over 1 billion users and 63 million decision-makers? If you narrow down your audience to a smaller sample, you can use split testing to determine what social selling techniques work best for your LinkedIn outreach efforts.

With the help of LinkedIn automation tools, you can make the A/B testing process much easier. Plus, if the tool has great metrics tracking, your analysis, and the ultimate decision will be clear. And now, here are all the elements you can split test when it comes to LinkedIn. 👇

1. Connection requests - This is your opener on LinkedIn, and it should be short enough to keep their attention but also significant enough to inspire an immediate reply. Hitting just the right note could be challenging, especially with cold outreach. This is where split testing comes in handy, as it can easily determine what your opening approach should be. You can experiment with sending blank invites to connect, personalized or generic. You can even try outreach templates if you’re new to the A/B testing game and use them as a starting point. 

2. LinkedIn messages - Once you’ve established a connection with your prospect, your follow-up message game on LinkedIn should keep their attention throughout the conversation and inspire them to take action. It could be anything from booking a meeting, a demo, a call, or clicking on a link. Experiment with the tone, length, and emojis; again, make sure not to change everything at once.

3. InMails - When it comes to the people that are seemingly out of your reach on LinkedIn (meaning they’re not a 2nd or 3rd connection) InMail messages are there to help establish that connection. Out of network doesn’t mean out of reach. But sure enough, if a complete stranger approaches you or, in this case, sends an InMail message out of the blue, you’re bound to wonder why this person is contacting me. Sure enough, split testing is here to help you determine what subject line or message works best for these types of connection attempts.

4. Personalization - As for email outreach, using personalization on LinkedIn, where everyone is busy and their inboxes are flooded with all kinds of demands (especially in the case of decision-makers), can be what sets you apart from your competitors. Using images, GIFs, and videos can warm up prospects and turn them into customers in no time! We know, we’ve done the tests ourselves! Again, you can use Skylead to test which visual elements make your target audience more responsive to your sales pitch.

Now that you know what and where to split test, the question is what tool you should use. We’ve been dropping hints all along, but yes, you can use Skylead, a LinkedIn automation and cold email outreach software that offers an A/B testing feature. You can use it to test different elements of your email and LinkedIn outreach. 

1. To get started, create your outreach campaign. 👇
2. 
   

2. Name your campaign.

3. Then select your lead source or where Skylead will pull the leads from.

4. Adjust your campaign settings and hit the “Create Sequence” button. ⚙️

This is how you create your Smart Sequence - an algorithm that allows you to combine if/else conditions with different actions. This way, Skylead will follow the outreach flow you create and find the fastest route to your prospect.

Here’s an example of a multichannel Smart sequence in Skylead 👇

Then, let’s say you want to A/B test your email subject lines. Click the email message step and add two subject line variations with the same email message by clicking the Test B button. Remember, you can add up to 5 variants of the subject line in Skylead.

Lastly, once your campaign is done, go to the reports page, scroll down to your sequence steps, and check the results. Et voilà! Here is your winning subject line. 

Here’s an overview of all the things you can split-test with Skylead. ⬇️

Note: With Skylead, you can combine LinkedIn and email outreach for multichannel messaging and personalization. 

Other outreach elements you can split test

1. Pricing strategies 

You can use A/B testing to find out which pricing model works best for your target audience. You can even go one step further and experiment with discount offers and find out what leads to more sales and higher revenue.

2. Product presentations and demos

As a salesperson, you should always switch up the style or content of your product demonstration. You can use split testing to find the most compelling way to showcase your product’s value to prospects, which will ultimately lead to more conversions and better overall results. 

3. Value propositions

You can easily see how your target audience reacts to different phrasing and product presentations or service value prepositions. Just split them into two groups and let the A/B testing begin!

4. Offer bundling

Sometimes, offering just the right combination of products or services can lead to a potential prospect turning into a satisfied customer. The right bundle can significantly affect and increase sales.

5. Social proof and testimonials 

You can use A/B testing and its magic to see how changing the way customer testimonials are presented influences the trust and buying decisions of your prospects. 

6. Upselling and cross-selling techniques

You can use split testing to experiment with different upselling methods or cross-selling techniques. Maybe there’s a better offer you can make for your prospects that will make them more responsive to your sales pitch.

6 Split testing best practices

Before we let you go to split test your sales efforts, we need to point out some best practices we’ve tried ourselves thoroughly while A/B testing and from our own sales actions. ⏬

1. Test one element at a time

We’ve said it before, and we will say it again. Testing too many elements at a time will give misleading results. If you, for example, change the CTA and the email body at once, you won’t get clear results on which change your audience reacted to. We know there’s a lot to test, but your priority should be determining what might be the weakest part of your approach and starting there.

Testing one element at a time ensures reliable results. Plus, there’s really no rush. Once you start optimizing, you’ll make significant changes one A/B test at a time, and the results will be inevitable.

Note: From our A/B testing experience, we advise you to test both (or more) variants simultaneously.

2. Determine the test time frame

Many salespeople make the mistake of not giving the split test enough time to produce valid results. If you give up too early, again, the results you get will be inconsistent and might be misleading.

So, remember, give the A/B test enough time to produce useful data and give valid results. After that, you can make data-driven decisions and be certain that the changes you’ve made are valid. Give your A/B test 2-6 weeks to give results, depending on the sales cycle and industry. 

3. Test time delays

Not testing different times in between messages can also have an impact on the data. Make sure to create different scenarios and time frames because they can affect the response/conversion rates significantly.

4. Ask for feedback from real users

Split testing will produce a lot of useful data because numbers don’t lie. But these numbers won’t help you understand why certain actions were taken. This is why you should communicate with your users and get real feedback from them using a survey or a poll. Surely enough, this information can help with future optimization and understanding your audience better.

5. Use tools to test and analyze your data

A/B testing can and should be done with the help of automation tools. Why do anything manually in this day and age if you don’t have to? Tools like Skylead can help with A/B testing and give you accurate analytics that you can interpret easily and make your decisions based on real-time data. 

6. Test and optimize frequently

You should look at split testing as an ongoing process. It should be done often and well. When in sales, it’s important to constantly improve. For constant better results, frequent optimization is key.

6 Split Testing Mistakes

Not focusing on the right area

You can run tests on almost all elements of your sales approach, but if your focus is in the wrong place, you’re just wasting time and resources for nothing. You need to look at things from your prospect’s perspective and determine what could be the issue. Some metrics can help you understand where the issue may be (open rates, response rates, bounce rates, etc.)

Testing without a hypothesis

Testing random elements will only waste your time. Make sure to test with a clear intent and purpose. A well-defined hypothesis means a structured split test and gives you the ability to better understand the outcome, making reading results significantly easier. Here’s how to establish a good A/B testing hypothesis:

1. Spot the problem - Make sure to look at your problem areas. Ask yourself, “Why aren’t people reacting the way I want them to?.” Pick one element at a time, like the subject line or the CTA. Once you’ve spotted the problematic element, you can move on to the solution. 
2. Propose a solution - Now think about “How can I fix the problem?” It could be a different subject line or CTA. Maybe a new demo video for your sales pitch? Whatever it may be, you can test multiple options thanks to split testing. This way, you’ll know what drives desired actions, and you can learn for your future approach. 
3. Create the hypothesis - Once you’ve established what needs to be changed and how you have your hypothesis. A clear hypothesis will help you split test with more success.

Stopping the split test too early

If you get impatient and stop the split testing too early, you might get distorted results based on temporary fluctuations. You can spot solid patterns based on true user behavior only after a certain period of time. 

However, running tests for too long can also alter A/B testing results. If external factors change, such as seasons or market trends and conditions, these results can be useless. Make sure to split test for the appropriate amount of time, not too short and not too long. Give your test group enough time to form patterns, and then move along from there with changes that fit your results.

Running complex tests

When we say complex, we mean testing with no clear intent and all over the place. If you find that your email isn’t getting enough responses but has a high open rate, for example, we can determine that the subject line is leading prospects to open your email, but if they’re not responding, it could be either the CTA or the email body.

Therefore, you don’t switch up the body and the CTA at the same time - you choose one of the two elements and test different variants for a sufficient amount of time. When the results come in, and you figure out that it wasn’t the email body, for example, only then do you split test the call to action. Complexity in A/B testing won’t bring clear results, so make sure to keep it simple.

Not considering external factors

It could be a huge mistake to ignore external factors when looking at a split test. A lot of things can influence your prospects: holidays, current market conditions, trends, or even changes with competitor tools/products or services. Make sure to include all of these factors before you interpret the results. You don’t want to jump to incorrect conclusions.

Ignoring the results

In some cases, it won’t be easy to believe split testing results. But why? Sometimes, clear A/B testing results don’t align with sales rep expectations. This is where you need to put your ego and beliefs aside and trust the data. If your split test was done right, there’s no need to ignore the results. It will only do you and your business harm. 

Frequently asked questions

How does one calculate the statistical significance of A/B testing results to ensure that the outcomes are reliable and not due to random chance?

To calculate the statistical significance of A/B testing results, one typically uses a statistical test. For example, these tests can be the chi-square test for categorical data. Or, it can be the t-test for numerical data comparing the performance metrics of both variants to see if the difference is greater than what could be expected by chance.

What are the common pitfalls to avoid when interpreting the results of split testing? What about the cases with close outcomes between variants?

Common pitfalls in interpreting split testing results include not running the test long enough to gather sufficient data. Secondly, ignoring external factors that may influence results (like seasonality). Thirdly, making changes based on results that are not statistically significant.

Can split testing be effectively applied to other aspects of sales and digital marketing, such as outreach, social media content and advertising strategies, and if so, how?

Yes, split testing can be effectively applied to other aspects of digital marketing and sales, such as social media content, outreach messages and advertising strategies. By testing different messaging, posting times, and formats, marketers and salespeople optimize their strategies for better engagement, higher conversion rates, and more effective sales tactics.

Ready to put your sales efforts to the test?

We sure are! As we’ve determined, A/B testing is a powerful tool, and if used right, it can significantly improve your sales efforts. You can easily find the weakest link in your outreach through analytics and use split testing to determine what works better. This way, you can continuously optimize your approach to get solid results each time. 🔎

Let’s recap.

Automating the process is also a must, in which case you need to use just the right tools. Let Skylead assist you in your outreach optimization. You can register for a free trial and discover all the benefits of LinkedIn and email automation with our A/B testing option, of course. Let the testing begin! 🏃

LinkedIn automation tools are the future of sales, and let me tell you why.

LinkedIn is a professional social media platform with over 875 million users. It is used for Business-To-Business lead generation because the conversion rate is 3x better than any other social media platform. Moreover, the audience on LinkedIn has 2x buying power.

So, no wonder many sales teams use LinkedIn prospecting as their basis for targeting. After all, without LinkedIn, many sales executives would have a hard time generating B2B leads. Even marketers around the world use LinkedIn campaigns for B2B lead generation. Not to mention recruiters who started to use LinkedIn to find top talents for their companies.

So, as the usage of LinkedIn lead generation progressed, people started to search for a solution to ease their LinkedIn marketing and sales efforts. In particular, they wanted to find something that would perform their operative tasks, such as the process of LinkedIn outreach. That’s when LinkedIn automation tools were born.

Since then, LinkedIn automation tools are changing the LinkedIn outreach and prospecting game as we know it. Moreover, they started to define the future of sales, marketing, and recruiting with every new feature developed.

So, do you wish to find and use the LinkedIn automation tool for yourself? Yes? Well, let me help you out with that. 

In this article, we cover the most popular and best LinkedIn automation tools, their pros and cons, and their features. Furthermore, we will emphasize the safest LinkedIn automation tool and what to consider when deciding which one to use. 

Grab your popcorn and enjoy.

What Is LinkedIn Automation?

LinkedIn Automation is a technology that tools use to perform different LinkedIn activities you would usually do manually. In other words, this technology automates the tasks meaning it performs them on your behalf. These activities include LinkedIn profile views, sending connection requests, follow-up messages, or LinkedIn InMails.

LinkedIn automation serves for LinkedIn lead generation purposes. For example, you can build your LinkedIn network, make new connections, and outreach them on autopilot, or automate sharing gated posts.

In outreach terms, LinkedIn automation essentially recognizes your lead source, for example, a LinkedIn search URL. It analyzes the LinkedIn pages, performs actions according to your settings and interacts with the selected LinkedIn users. Moreover, some LinkedIn automation tools can take your list of LinkedIn accounts and search for publicly available information. 

Best LinkedIn automation tools can even send personalized messages, and images according to individual leads information available on LinkedIn. Also, they even use messaging sequences to send follow up LinkedIn messages if the lead doesn’t respond.

Lastly, some tools can send bulk messages to all leads at once. However, this is something you need to be wary of when it comes to safety. Don’t worry, though. We will talk about how the best LinkedIn automation tools do it below. 

Why Use A LinkedIn Automation Tool?

LinkedIn automation tools streamline the most time-consuming LinkedIn activities, such as sending thousands of connection requests and messages. This way, you can invest time in more important tasks. In addition, these tools test and analyze your performance and show you what you need to improve. 

In other words, LinkedIn automation tools are software that helps you automate your LinkedIn activities. There are many more benefits other than what we mentioned above. So let's go over the  6 most important ones. 

LinkedIn Automation Tools Save Your Time

By streamlining the most time-consuming LinkedIn activities, these tools really do save your resources. That said, they can save you 5+ hours of work per week, depending on which one you choose.

They Give You A Detailed Reporting

You can perform manual outreach by yourself. However, keep in mind that you would need to dig into reporting yourself, as well. In other words, this can take you hours to gather and analyze the metrics. LinkedIn automation tools will do all this on your behalf.

You Have The Option To A/B Test - Everything

Depending on which LinkedIn automation tool you choose, you will have the option to A/B test your outreach efforts, such as: 

• Follow-up messages; 
• Message sequences; 
• InMails; 
• Subject lines; 
• Connection requests. 

Then, you can see which works best and apply those to future outreach efforts.

These Tools Help You Personalize Your Outreach

LinkedIn automation tools can also help you send personalized messages at scale. In other words, these tools use custom variables so you can get in touch with more leads naturally. 

In addition, by using personalized images and GIFs, you can increase the response rate by 63%.

Run Multiple Campaigns At The Same Time

If you have different ICPs or Buyer Personas, you can run multiple outreach campaigns at the same time. This way, you can be more productive, as you don’t have to wait to finish with one target audience to outreach another.

Focus On Building The Relationship

By streamlining the most operative tasks, your focus can be directed elsewhere. In other words, you now have time to focus on more crucial tasks such as:

• Social selling;
• Building the relationships;
• Talk with your target audience for a longer time and nurture them;
• And close more deals. 

Types Of LinkedIn Automation Tools

Every LinkedIn automation software has its functionality base to set different LinkedIn activities on autopilot. In other words, these tools can be:

• Cloud-based (e.g. Skylead);
• Chrome Extensions (e.g. Dux Soup);
• Desktop apps (e.g. Linked Helper)
• Web browsers.

A cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool means it is managed and processed thanks to a dedicated IP address. This IP address, also known as the proxy hosted on the internet, shields your activity. Moreover, all your data is not stored on local servers or your personal computer but on the internet. 

The software can run even when your PC is off. In addition, you can choose your IP address from your or another country. What’s more, only cloud-based software can have multiple accounts and integrated inboxes. 

Lastly, cloud-based LinkedIn automation platforms mimic human behavior. In other words, it clicks and views pages on this professional network platform as humans would. Thus, it makes the tool undetectable. So you can outreach new leads and send new connection requests carefree.

Extensions, desktop apps, and web browsers don’t have a dedicated IP address, nor do they have the option to mimic human-like behavior, which causes sending of bulk messages. Moreover, they do not have the possibility of managing multiple LinkedIn accounts. Lastly, you must have your PC turned on to keep your campaigns running. 

Sometimes you cannot find information on how a LinkedIn automation platform functions. In that case, you can ask their customer support team to answer this question.

Should I Use A LinkedIn Automation Chrome Extension? 

No. Even though LinkedIn automation tools based on chrome extensions are cheaper, you shouldn’t jump right into using them. These Chrome extensions are not safe since they inject the code into the LinkedIn platform. This way, LinkedIn can easily detect automation and get your LinkedIn account restricted permanently.

Web browsers and desktop apps are a bit safer than extensions because they don’t inject the code into the LinkedIn platform. However, they do not offer additional features that cloud-based tools do.

Why You Should Use A Cloud Based LinkedIn Automation Tool

If you wish to avoid LinkedIn restrictions and make the best of automation software, choose a cloud-based solution. They don’t inject any code into LinkedIn, like extensions, nor do they require you to keep the PC turned on. They also mimic human behavior, so LinkedIn can't detect them.

Besides functioning like humans and being the safest LinkedIn automation tool, cloud-based solutions offer integrated inboxes and multiple-account management systems.

What To Consider When Choosing A LinkedIn Automation Tools

When choosing among LinkedIn automation tools, you need to be aware of all the best features for your LinkedIn outreach. So here is what you need to consider to choose the best LinkedIn automation tool for yourself.

Cloud-Based Solution

As mentioned, other types of LinkedIn automation tools either inject the code into LinkedIn, or they do not offer other perks, such as an integrated inbox. So: 

• To get the best out of these tools,
• Avoid getting detected or bulk messaging, 
• And to get your money’s worth, 

You should consider using only a cloud-based solution.

Create Drip Campaigns

Why use LinkedIn automation just for scraping publicly available information when you can do much more with it? That’s right - some LinkedIn automation tools only have the data scraping option and do not have the possibility to set up your outreach campaigns. 

So, when choosing such a tool, first answer the question of what you want to do with it. If you wish to use it more than just as a data scraper, consider the tools that have drip campaigns feature. Or, even better, choose the tools that offer Smart Sequences - an algorithm that follows your leads’ behavior and acts accordingly.

Use Of Hyper-Personalized Messages

If you were thinking that using LinkedIn automation will remove any chance to send personalized messages, think again. Most of the best LinkedIn automation tools are going to great lengths to make this possible for their users - and they did.

For example, if you wish to personalize the text of your follow-up messages or InMails, you can use native variables such as:

• First name;
• Last name;
• Occupation;
• Company;
• Etc.

Moreover, with some tools you can even create your custom variables.

Automatic Stop When Prospect Replies

You don’t have to be afraid of tools not stopping to send messages once your lead responds. The best LinkedIn automation tools will stop sending follow-up messages or emails as soon as the lead responds. This way, you can take over the conversation or send them back to another campaign. So, keep this in mind when researching the right tool for you.

Image & GIF Personalization

You can hyper-personalize your Images and GIFs with some tools, as well. After all, such personalization is proven to increase the response rate by 63%. So it is indeed worth considering. 

Once we go through our list of the best LinkedIn Automation tools, you will see which ones have native variables and Images & GIF hyper-personalization. So, stay tuned.

Reporting & Insights

LinkedIn automation tools analyze your target audience behavior and provide you with detailed reporting instantly. They can show you the metrics like response rate, the number of profile views, or connection requests accepted. You can even calculate the conversion rate if you label your leads, but we will speak of this later.

The idea is to make data-driven decisions faster and easier with any tool. You just need to choose the one with the best analytics for your needs.

Inbox To Communicate With Prospects

If you’re already using multiple tools, you probably know how difficult it is to navigate between the platforms to communicate with clients. Therefore, one feature you really need to consider is an integrated inbox. 

For example, our tool Skylead has a Smart Inbox feature that gathers all communication platforms, leads and messages in one place. So you don’t need to navigate between different software anymore.

Integration With Other Tools

If the CRM is part of your workflow, then you don’t have to sacrifice CRM integration when choosing the LinkedIn automation tool. Simply find the LinkedIn automation software that offers such a feature.

CRM integration is useful as it allows data transfer between your CRM and LinkedIn automation tool. Thus you don’t have to download CSV files from one software and upload them back to another. 

Some software algorithms offer CRM integration through Zapier webhooks or API. Or both. Whatever option you choose, a Zapier webhook or API, remember that integration is a necessity for productivity, not a luxury. So make sure to consider tools that can provide you with such integration.

Multichannel Outreach

LinkedIn automation tools are perfect for lead generation. Some would argue that LinkedIn outreach is enough. However, let’s be honest. Sales teams do their best work when they multichannel their outreach. Moreover, LinkedIn’s connection request limitation made multichannel outreach a must on accident, as people needed to find an alternative way to reach more leads per week. 

So, to maximize getting in touch with your leads, search for a tool that is not only LinkedIn automation but Email outreach software too. 

Send Thousands Of Email Per Month

Speaking of multichannel outreach, if you want to reach more leads and bypass the email limit, exploring a tool that offers that capability is essential. For example, Skylead allows you to add unlimited email addresses to one campaign and send thousands of emails monthly without damaging your domain. In other words, it enables you to contact your leads more effectively and achieve your goals.

Best LinkedIn Automation Tools [+Free Options]

Now you know everything you need to choose such a SaaS product for yourself. So let’s jump to the list of the best and most popular LinkedIn automation tools.

Skylead

Yes, that’s us. Hi! 🙂 

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation tool & Cold Email software and the first all-in-one solution on the market. It offers founders, sales teams, recruiters, marketers, and alike to streamline and multichannel their outreach efforts. 

With this tool, you save 11+ hours of work per week. This way, you have a lot of time to focus on building relationships and closing the deals.

Skylead is a cloud-based solution, and you know what that means - you get extra features and don’t have to keep your PC turned on to work. In addition, you can integrate Skylead with your favorite CRM via webhooks using Zapier, or you can transfer the leads between the two via API.

Furthermore, it is completely safe to use since it mimics human-like behavior. In addition, it executes each action a different number of times every day to keep your account safe and healthy.

Lastly, Skylead’s reporting system and A/B testing will help you analyze your campaign metrics. Thus, you can see what works best for your target audience clearly and make data-driven decisions. 

That said, let’s get into the main features.

Smart Sequences 

Skylead is the first-ever tool to start using Smart Sequences - a groundbreaking algorithm that executes steps in the order you set, depending on your leads’ behavior. To clarify, Smart Sequence is a combination of different activities you can perform on LinkedIn or using Email. 

What makes the Smart Sequences Smart is the If/then condition. To explain it, let’s create a smart drip campaign together. Say we want to invite a person to connect. Now, they can behave differently depending on whether they accept the invite or not. That is where the If/then condition comes in handy. 

If the person accepts the connection request, you can instruct Skylead to send a regular message, per the example above. If they don’t accept, you can send an InMail or even Email to multichannel your outreach.

In regular sequences, if the prospect doesn’t accept your connection request, the rest of the sequence stops. With Smart Sequences, the flow continues thanks to the conditions. 

Even if Skylead doesn’t manage to reach out directly, you still have View and Follow steps to send them a subtle reminder. 

Another benefit of Smart Sequences is you don’t spend countless hours reaching out to each lead manually. Skylead does it all for you, making your outreach 5x more effective than any other LinkedIn lead generation tool. 

Lastly, you can have as many touchpoints in the Smart Sequence as you’d like, and Skylead will do it all for you in real time. Or, if you don’t wish to create a Smart Sequence by yourself, you can use some of Skylead’s pre-tested templates.

Email Outreach

Apart from LinkedIn, this all-in-one tool offers email outreach. Email helps you get to the leads that are not that active on LinkedIn. Moreover, this channel has astonishing ROI, according to studies. 

Furthermore, having an Email and LinkedIn outreach combo - a multichannel outreach in your sales strategy is a must in 2024. It will give your prospects a well-rounded lead generation experience, but more importantly, it will show them that you care and wish to help them remove any pain points they experience. 

What will surprise you is that Skylead is the only tool from this list that allows you to connect unlimited email accounts. In other words, you can send thousands of emails daily without damaging your domain and at no additional cost.

In addition, whether the leads respond to your outreach from LinkedIn, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Recruiter, or Emails, you won’t have to jump from platform to platform to respond to them since Skylead has an Integrated Smart Inbox. 

You know where your prospects answered from, and what their status is at any moment thanks to the Smart Inbox well-defined icons, labels, and overall user-friendly interface. 

Email Discovery & Verification

When we said all-in-one solution, we really meant it. In addition to LinkedIn and Email outreach, Skylead also offers Email Discovery & Verification steps, so you can find your leads’ email addresses and reach them out over email.

Skylead is the only LinkedIn automation and Cold Email software with both limitless Email Discovery & Verification features. Other tools can only discover but not verify business emails. Or they can collect publicly available emails, but only if you have that lead in your LinkedIn network.

Image & GIF Hyper-Personalization

Once you finally get through to that lead, you want to make an impact, don’t you? That’s when Skylead’s Image and GIF Hyper-Personalization come into play! You can offer products and services less conventionally, wish your clients happy holidays, or schedule a casual meeting. 

Skylead will personalize for you by pulling the person’s profile picture, company logo, and other information from the profile. So you don’t need to waste time creating countless versions of the same image.

Skylead is the only tool to have native, in-built Image and GIF personalization. In other words, you don’t need to pay extra for it, unlike other tools from the list.

Pricing

All the previously mentioned features are native, meaning Skylead doesn’t outsource any of them. Plus, they all come with your monthly subscription of only $100 per account with no limitations in number of uses.

Skylead works with LinkedIn Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or Recruiter accounts. Moreover, it supports CSV-imported campaigns.

Lastly, Skylead offers video and article tutorials, sales hacks, plus live customer support chat, should you need any help. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

One tool that is familiar to all sales teams around the world is LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This LinkedIn's subscription plan is widely used for prospecting, sales funnel, or social selling as it has its own inbox.

Even though it is for sales, you can view it as a recruiting or marketing lead generation tool since both teams can use it to generate leads, gather information, and perform outreach. 

Pros

Unlike LinkedIn Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator has advanced filters. You can choose among 44 Lead and Account filters, depending on whether you wish to find your ICP or Buyer Persona. 

Moreover, with LinkedIn Sales Navigator you: 

• Get 50 paid InMails;
• Can create different lead lists;
• Set alerts for the leads;
• Set your Sales Navigator account leads preferences;
• Use an in-built Buyer Persona advance filtering.

Cons

Even though Sales Navigator is perfect for prospecting, it is not ideal for outreach on autopilot. However, other LinkedIn automation tools, such as Skylead, can integrate with it, thus, you can get the best from both worlds. Simply grab the search URL or your saved lead list URL, and paste it into Skylead. And just like that, you have imported your lead for the outreach.

Pricing Plans For LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has 3 pricing plans: 

Sales Navigator Core, Advanced and Advanced Plus plans. The price for these plans vary depending on the VAT and the country. However, the prices + VAT are respectively around $93, $167 and $173 per month. Lastly, you can get up to 25% discount for your Sales Navigator account if paid annually. 

Phantombuster

PhantomBuster is an extension-based solution for data extraction. It acts as a sales and marketing tool that automates the scraping of publicly-available data from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and other platforms. 

Pros 

PhantomBuster is not a LinkedIn automation tool with the full package. However, it does come in handy and saves you a lot of time when you wish to scrape particular leads from LinkedIn or anywhere else.

It is a nice addition to outreach tools, as it saves your automated scraped data in CSV file and JSON formats. Therefore, you can download them and upload them elsewhere to create outreach campaigns. 

Moreover, it offers email enrichment features. In other words, with PhantomBuster, you can find email addresses. However, you cannot verify them and may risk a bounce rate for your outreach and get your domain damaged. 

Cons

Although PhantomBuster offers automation for some LinkedIn actions (sending LinkedIn connection requests or messages), it doesn’t have Smart Sequences. In other words, you cannot create your advanced workflows. Lastly, it doesn’t offer email outreach automation, and it is an extension, so it is not the safest tool to use. 

Pricing Plan 

PhantomBuster offers 3 different pricing options. They depend on the time the software runs during a 1-month period, and the number of automated actions:

• Starter plan - $59
• Pro plan - $139
• Team plan - $399

TexAu

TexAu is a data scraping tool with chrome extension and the desktop app. This is a direct alternative to PhantomBuster and can automate activities like sending LinkedIn connection requests messages, and engaging posts on autopilot.

Pros

TexAu can scrape data from almost anywhere, including Facebook and LinkedIn groups, Google and LinkedIn search results, LinkedIn profiles, YouTube, Quora, and Twitter.

Moreover, this software offers email enrichment. In other words, it can analyze LinkedIn accounts and find and verify business emails. 

Cons

People on review websites reported having difficulty setting up proxies. What’s more, there are frequent bugs and a lack of tutorials for beginners. Lastly, TexAu doesn’t have Smart Sequences and the integrated inbox like other tools from the list.

Pricing Plan 

Like PhantomBuster, TexAu gives 3 pricing plans depending on the time software executes the activities, email enrichment during the day, storage, and more. Here are their pricing plans:

• Cloud Starter - $29 a month
• Cloud Growth - $79 a month
• Cloud Agency - $199 a month

If you decide to subscribe annually to this service, you’ll get 2 months free. 

Dux-Soup

Next in line, we have Dux-Soup with basic automation of LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Recruiter, and CSV-type outreach. Dux Soup is useful for beginners or a one-person team because of its simplicity and free account option. 

Pros

With Dux Soup, you can create Recruiter-based campaigns and reach out to all candidates from LinkedIn that seem a good fit for your business. 

Cons

Dux Soup doesn’t have some other more advanced features such as Image & GIF hyper-personalization, post engagement campaigns (only for posts published by the account’s user), and free InMails. It also lacks Smart Sequences, and Email Automation. Lastly, it is a chrome extension, which means it is not the safest tool to use.

Pricing Plans

Dux Soup has 3 pricing plans available.

Individual pricing plan:

• Starter Dux - Free
• Pro Dux - $14.99
• Turbo Dux - $55

Team pricing plan:

• Pro Edition: $135
• Turbo Edition: $495

Agency plan:

• Pro: $337.50
• Turbo: $412.50

In addition to a monthly cost, Dux Soup also charges support help with Zapier webhooks and tailored technical process setup.

Linked Helper 2

Unlike Dux Soup, Linked Helper is a LinkedIn automation tool based on a desktop app. Unfortunately, this still means that it has no dedicated IP address and the possibility of running multiple accounts. In addition, your PC needs to be on  to be able to work in the background.

Pros 

As Dux Soup, Linked Helper 2 offers the creation of a LinkedIn Recruiter-based campaign to help all recruiters out there manage potential candidates.

All processed contacts are stored in Linked Helper’s internal CRM. You can view the history of contacts through all your campaigns, search by tags and add notes. Linked Helper’s internal CRM comes in handy even when you wish to interact with contacts manually.

Cons

Linked Helper doesn’t have some other more advanced features that many other LinkedIn automation tools already have. These features include Image and GIF hyper-personalization, post engagement campaigns options, Smart Sequences and A/B testing. Additionally, it does not have Email Automation. 

Pricing

For as low as $15 per month (or $8.25 a month if you choose an annual subscription), you will get some basic Lead Generation options such as LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and outreach based on CSV file outreach. However, they limit these pricing plans by messages and connection requests you can send per day. 

Linked Helper also offers a $45 pricing plan with an unlimited number of connection requests.

Zopto

This LinkedIn automation software is a cloud-based solution for social selling. Zopto is compatible with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Premium, and Recruiter accounts. In addition, it also supports Twitter engagement automation.

Pros

Firstly, Zopto offers an email enrichment feature. In other words, it can find business emails, like Skylead, PhantomBuster and TexAu, and verify them. Secondly, it has a posts scheduling feature and can gather data such as the list of LinkedIn group members. Lastly, Zopto offers A/B testing and integrated inbox features.

Cons

The downsides of Zopto are that it doesn’t have Email Automation. In addition, it offers a simple drip campaign. In other words, Zopto doesn’t offer the quality and long-term, automated outreach solutions you get with Smart Sequences like Skylead. It has only a 4-step message workflow without any conditions.

Pricing

Zopto costs $215 per month. This is a higher price in comparison to other solutions in the market, having in mind advanced features VS price ratio.

MeetAlfred

MeetAlfred is a cloud-based software with automated social media features. It focuses on social selling via your LinkedIn profile. In addition, it can schedule posts on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Pros

All processed contacts are stored in MeetAlfred’s internal CRM. This means you can easily access and manage all your 1st-degree connections information and filter the contacts by company, industry, type of LinkedIn account, Twitter, and much more. 

MeetAlfred also offers integrated inbox and Email Outreach features. However, it can only send emails to 1-degree connections, unlike Skylead that can find and send emails to anyone.

Cons

MeetAlfred doesn’t have Smart Sequences, email discovery, and verification that are advanced features. Secondly, it doesn't have native GIFs and Image personalization features. There is, however, an integration with Hyperise as Expandi, which will make your monthly subscription fee $108 in total if you choose the middle package.

Pricing

MeetAlfred offers 3 pricing plans: $49 for single users and limited features, $89 for Sales Navigator users, and $699 for large sales teams.

Dripify

This cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool works with Premium, Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite, and Free LinkedIn accounts. 

Pros

Dripify allows the creation of sales funnels on LinkedIn by automating some actions as a part of their sequence with conditions. These actions include viewing profiles, sending regular messages and connection requests, and skill endorsement. 

In addition, you can integrate other software, such as HubSpot, through Zapier. Lastly, it supports A/B testing and has a Recent activity feature on its reports page.

Cons

Dripify indeed offers Smart sequences. However, be aware that you need to pay more expensive pricing plans to have it. In addition, you don’t have the option to automate the InMail step, and there are only 3 sequence templates available.

Secondly, Dripify has no email automation feature. Thus, you can’t multichannel your outreach and get leads that do not spend that much time on LinkedIn.

Thirdly, you cannot send more than 75 connection requests a day. In addition, there is activity control. However, you need to be an advanced user to get it. 

Dripify also doesn’t offer Image & GIF hyper-personalization, nor can you create custom variables with CSV campaigns.

Lastly, Dripify doesn’t have an email discovery and verification feature. So, if the email is part of your outreach, this tool is not for you.

Pricing

Dripify has 3 different pricing plans:

• Basic - $59
• Pro - $79
• Advanced - $99

Expandi

Expandi is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool with both LinkedIn and Email Outreach options. 

Pros

Expandi published its Smart Sequence feature a year after Skylead did, making it the second tool on the market to do so. They offer additional actions such as skill endorsement and following companies. 

Like Skylead, Zopto, and Linked Helper, Expandi has the option of creating LinkedIn Recruiter-based campaigns. 

Lastly, Expandi can integrate with any other tool via Zapier webhooks. 

Cons

Expandi offers the option of an Image & GIF hyper-personalization feature. However, they outsource this feature to Hyperise. That’s why it adds $69 per month to a regular Expandi subscription of $99 per month. It comes down to a total of $148 per month. Please note that the mentioned Hyperise package is limited to 5 templates and 5000 impressions (counted each time an image is viewed).

Apart from this additional cost, another downside is that Expandi doesn’t have Email Discovery & Verification. These features are essential for a domain safety and verified multi-touch approach. However, Expandi can scrape publicly available email addresses from the leads’ LinkedIn profiles once connected to them. Although, these emails are almost always personal ones.

Lastly, many users on review websites report that this tool has become too buggy to use lately. 

Pricing

Expandi has one pricing plan of $99 per month.

WeConnect

WeConnect is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool like Skylead, Dripify, Zopto, and Expandi. 

Pro

WeConnect has A/B testing, a convenient feature for those who are still researching their perfect outreach strategy or wish to test different outreach messaging. In addition, you can send messages to LinkedIn group members on autopilot. 

Whether your prospects come from LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator, you’ll be able to see them, as WeConnect has an integrated inbox. Moreover, it has auto endorse and post-engagement features, as well as API and Zapier integration. 

Cons

Sadly, WeConnect doesn’t offer advanced features like Post Engagement Campaigns, Image personalization, or Smart Sequences. Also, it doesn’t have Email Automation or Email Discovery and Verification features. However, you can find all these features and more in Skylead.

Pricing 

If you need some basic Campaign Creation options, such as from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, or CSV, without the features and conveniences other tools have, then WeConnect can be the right option for you for $49 per month.

Octopus CRM

This is another LinkedIn automation tool that is extension-based. As it is designed for LinkedIn automation only, Octopus CRM users can solely perform LinkedIn outreach once they connect their LinkedIn profile.

Pros

One of the main features is that Octopus CRM allows you to send bulk messages to first-degree contacts. 

In addition, its reporting page has very detailed analytics for the features it offers. The report page includes various activities, such as the number of connection requests sent or the current Social Selling Index. 

Lastly, Octopus CRM supports Zapier and HubSpot integration.

Cons

Firstly, as it is a browser extension, this LinkedIn automation bot is not the safest to use. Secondly, it doesn’t have Smart Sequences, nor does it have an InMail message step.

Lastly, Octopus CRM supports all LinkedIn subscriptions. However, you need to pay the highest subscription plan if you use a Recruiter account. 

Pricing

Depending on the features available, Octopus CRM offers 3 pricing options:

• Starter - $9.99
• Pro - $14.99
• Advanced - $21.99
• Unlimited - $39.99

Salesflow

SalesFlow is a cloud-based solution with an integrated inbox with its own CRM and Zapier integration. It is adequate for anyone who wants to leave the campaign running to professionals with the modest features available. 

Pros

Unlike Zopto, which offers a 4-step message sequence, in SalesFlow, you can send as many LinkedIn messages and follow-ups as you wish. Moreover, you can either create campaigns from Sales Navigator or LinkedIn search results and send their template messages. 

Cons

Unfortunately, SalesFlow doesn’t offer email automation, discovery, verification, and Smart Sequences features. Hence, there is no possibility of complete multi-channel outreach. Furthermore, it doesn’t have any Image personalization features, so you cannot go all personalized on your prospects. 

Lastly, it doesn’t support Recruiter campaigns, nor it sends an increased number of connection requests.

Pricing

SalesFlow has 3 plans depending on the features available: 

• For Business - €89
• For Team - €71 / €57 / Custom, depending on the number of users
• Done for you -  €429

LinkedFusion

Another LinkedIn automation tool worth mentioning is LinkedFusion. It is a cloud-based solution with an integrated inbox that perfectly works with any LinkedIn profile. 

Pros

With LinkedInFusion, you can personalize messages with a few variables like name, company, and location. It also supports campaign creation from the CSV file.

You can also connect it with any other app through Zapier. What’s more, it has Google Sheets and Hubspot native integration, plus it offers native integration with most CRM software. 

Lastly, LinkedFusion offers many LinkedIn tutorials that explain advanced growth hacks. 

Cons

LinkedFusion doesn’t have Smart Sequences, and some users reported the existing sequences are confusing. Furthermore, even though it offers image personalization, it does so through Hyperise, so you need to pay extra per month. 

Lastly, its pricing plan limits how many connection requests you can send per day.  

Pricing

LinkedInFusion has 3 pricing plans in store. They depend on other features and the number of connection requests, and messages you can send per day:

• Professional - $65
• Grow - $95.95
• Ultimate - $135.95

Lead Connect

Lead Connect is an extension-based tool that supports LinkedIn basic or Sales Navigator campaigns. It also allows CSV type of campaign. 

Pros

Lead Connect has a pretty simple drip campaign with only a few steps available. On the other hand, it offers various templates. However, the number of templates depends on the pricing plan. 

Speaking of integration, you can link Lead Connect with HubSpot. In addition, you can even get the email discovery feature thanks to the integration with other tools such as Hunter.io. Although, you need to pay more for it. 

Cons

Lead Connect doesn’t offer Smart Sequence like Skylead or Expandi. In addition, it doesn’t support Recruiter integration and needs Zapier to integrate with other CRM software. Lastly, it doesn’t support image personalization or images of any kind, for that matter. 

Pricing Plans

LeadConnect offers 4 subscription plans based on the number of templates, connection requests, and messages you can send per day:

• Free
• Professional - $22.95
• Grow - $40.95
• Ultimate - $77.95 

Waalaxy

LinkedIn automation tool, Waalaxy, is extension-based software. This means it’s not the safest to use since it injects code into the LinkedIn platform and acts like a bot.  

Pros

Waalaxy supports Recruiter, Sales Navigator, and LinkedIn accounts. It can create a campaign from a LinkedIn group member search or from the Who viewed your LinkedIn profile feature. It also has auto engagement and endorsement features. 

Furthermore, it uses voice cloning technology to personalize your voice message using LinkedIn, Twitter, and Voicemail. 

Cons

As it is extension-based, Waalaxy is not the safest tool to use, and you need to keep your tab open to work. Moreover, many users on review websites have reported having their LinkedIn account banned once they started using this tool.

In addition, it doesn’t have image & GIF personalization, and it only has 3 text variables: company, first and last name. So personalization is at its minimum. 

Waalaxy doesn’t support A/B testing, so you cannot optimize your campaigns like in Skylead. Also, they do not offer Smart Sequences, and you can’t build your campaigns, as you are limited to their templates. Lastly, they restrict the number of connection requests you can use per month. 

Pricing

Waalaxy has 4 different pricing plans depending on basic features availability:

• Business - €99
• Advanced - €69
• Pro - €35
• Free

Salesloop

As a fairly new cloud-based solution on the market, Salesloop works with almost any type of LinkedIn account.  

Pros

Salesloop offers a simple 2-step drip campaign with no conditions. It works both with LinkedIn Premium and Sales Navigator. In addition, you can create a campaign with a CSV file with a few text personalization variables.

If you are not automation savvy, they also offer a done-for-you deal, but you need to pay a steep price for it.

Cons 

Salesloop doesn’t have Smart Sequences. Furthermore, the drip campaign doesn’t support many LinkedIn activities. In other words, it supports invite-to-connect and follow-up message steps only. Lastly, it has no email automation, and doesn’t integrate with any CRM.

Pricing

Salesloop has three pricing plans with monthly subscription:

• Solo - $49
• Team - $199
• Managed Services - $999

IFTTT

This tool is not for lead generation. However, it is extension-based, and you can automate your LinkedIn activities, such as publishing content, sharing a link, or an update. 

It is created mainly for the automatization of activities on countless platforms, including WordPress, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Evernote, and others.

It doesn’t automate LinkedIn messaging. 

Pricing

The pricing of IFTTT is fairly simple:

• Forever Free (includes LinkedIn automation)
• Pro - $2.6 
• +Pro - $5.04

Frequently Asked Questions About LinkedIn Automation

We’ve noticed some questions regarding LinkedIn automation tools burning online with no answers. At least not the precise ones. So, let’s change that.

Is LinkedIn A Lead Generation Tool?

LinkedIn is a social media platform used by professionals. Marketers, salespeople, and recruiters also use it to find and generate new leads via LinkedIn campaigns. It is not a lead generation tool per se but rather a place where you can generate leads using different LinkedIn automation and generation tools.

Can You Automate Lead Generation?

Yes. For example, you can find the leads’ data through LinkedIn prospecting. Then, use automation tools to scrape the contacts and create a sequence to reach out to them on autopilot. In other words, with LinkedIn automation tools, you can automate parts of LinkedIn lead generation activities.

How Do You Automate In LinkedIn?

By using LinkedIn automation tools, you can automate LinkedIn lead generation tasks. The activities you can automate range from data scraping to sending connection requests, follow-up messages, InMails, follows, and profile views. Simply log into your LinkedIn automation tool, and set the activities you wish for the algorithm to perform. 

What Is An Automation Tool In LinkedIn?

The automation tool for LinkedIn is software used to perform different activities on LinkedIn that you usually do manually. In other words, these tools automate the list of LinkedIn activities such as profile views, following other LinkedIn users, sending connection requests, regular LinkedIn messages, or InMails.

Is Linkedin Automation Illegal? 

No. LinkedIn automation isn’t illegal. However, since LinkedIn doesn’t like its users to use automation, it carefully analyzes accounts’ activities. If it registers unusual activity, LinkedIn can get your LinkedIn account restricted. So be careful about what LinkedIn automation tool you choose and what is considered a cause for restriction.   

Does LinkedIn Allow Automation Tools?

No. LinkedIn doesn’t like its users to use automation. That is why they imposed limitations, such as the number of connection requests per week. They even analyze users’ behavior and can get your LinkedIn profile restricted. Better choose a tool like Skylead that operates safely.

Is There A LinkedIn Bot?

LinkedIn automation tools (also known as LinkedIn bots) are software that uses bots to automate your activities on LinkedIn. Sales teams and recruiters around the world use LinkedIn automation tools to automate tasks such as sending connection requests, messages, and InMails to get in touch with the leads.

Ready To Automate Your LinkedIn Outreach?

Now that you are familiar with the most popular LinkedIn automation tools, which one would you choose?

…Skylead! 

Jokes aside, our advice is to go with the tool that gives you the most options you need for your business. Trust us, the more you start feeling comfortable with your automation tool of this professional network platform, the more creative you will want to become with lead generation to stand out from your competitors.

If you are unsure what features to make a priority in LinkedIn automation tools, here’s our top 7 list. 

Now, go and automate your LinkedIn outreach and reach those ambitious goals!

Let’s chat! Drop by and say hi to our customer support team and let them help you sign up for Skylead’s 7-day free trial. We can’t wait to meet you.

At first mention, cold outreach tends to have a bad reputation. 

It's no wonder, as no one likes unsolicited emails, LinkedIn messages, or calls. 

However, real cold outreach is not useless or annoying. On the contrary, it helps your and your clients' businesses grow and builds strong, lucrative, and long-lasting relationships. 

It starts with thoroughly researching the ICP and Buyer Persona, defining a precise outreach strategy, writing sales messages and follow-ups in advance, predicting objections and preparing for objection handling, and much more.  

That's why, in this blog, we will dive into a detailed explanation of:

• What cold outreach is;
• How sales, marketing, and recruiting can benefit from it;
• Best practices for successful cold outreach;
• And will give you a list of resources with ready-to-use cold sales message templates. 

What is cold outreach? 

Cold Outreach is a form of outbound marketing. It implies contacting prospects with whom you had no prior relationship and introducing them to your product/service. It can be conducted via LinkedIn, email (cold emailing), phone (cold calling), or by combining these channels (multichannel outreach). 

Companies with a business-to-business work model mainly use cold outreach. For optimal results, each cold outreach campaign should be based on a well-thought-out outreach strategy. This strategy should aligns with the company's needs, goals, and possibilities. 

Cold outreach VS warm outreach 

Cold outreach, as mentioned above, implies reaching out to prospects with whom you had no prior relationship and who most likely have little or no awareness of your product/service. 

On the other hand, warm outreach implies contacting prospects who know about your product/service and have expressed interest in it. The communication channels can be the same as cold outreach strategies - via LinkedIn, email, call, or combining several communication channels. However, the approach is, of course, different. 

Cold outreach strategies in marketing, sales, and recruiting 

Cold outreach is a form of outbound marketing and sales. It is a traditional form of marketing in which a company initiates contact with a potential customer. 

Since cold outreach is mainly implemented by companies with a B2B work model, these potential clients are other companies that could benefit from their products/services the most. 

The most common forms of outbound marketing are:

• cold outreach (cold emailing, cold calling, cold messaging on LinkedIn),
• billboards,
• events,
• advertising through TV or radio,
• print,
• online,
• in-person contact, etc. 

This chapter will discuss the role of cold emailing, cold calling, and cold messaging on LinkedIn as a cold outreach strategy in sales, marketing, and recruiting. 

Cold outreach strategy in marketing 

Network with industry peers 

LinkedIn networking with industry peers positively impacts the exposure of your business. Furthermore, it brings meaningful connections, and provides additional insights into different marketing trends and practices. 

What once was reserved for in-person business events only today is happening on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a social media platform aimed at building B2B relationships that gathers over 810 million professionals worldwide. In other words, it allows you to find and network with all your industry peers from all over the world in one place. 

Connect with thought leaders and influencers

Word of mouth is the best marketing tool, especially from industry experts. 

LinkedIn is also an excellent place to connect with thought-leaders and influencers. This way you can talk about your product/service reach your target audience through their content or mention. 

Also, you can get in touch with their followers through the Sales Navigator filter Connections Of. Or, use a LinkedIn automation tool, such as Skylead, to scrape LinkedIn members who reacted to specific posts and reach out to them.

Invite top speakers to participate at your event 

Whether a startup or an established business, having high-profile speakers at your event (webinars, in-person conferences, seminars, etc.) puts your company in the spotlight. It is an excellent way to gather people from your industry and potential customers in one place. 

Additionally, top-level speakers usually have a broad audience and many followers on social media. As a result, they could attract professionals from an industry branch you didn't consider initially. This gives you a significant insight into the direction your business can take.

Submit your content to be published on external resources / Generate backlinks for your website 

Create cold outreach campaigns to get in touch with platforms or other brands that could go hand-in-hand with yours.(obviously, skip your competitors!). In return, be open to hosting their content or exchanging backlinks. 

Having your content published or backlinked on other places rather than just on your gives your brand significant exposure, whether a startup or an established business. Furthermore, it places you and your team members as field experts. 

Send out press releases 

A new software release, reaching a business milestone, announcing a new product/service, or anything worth mentioning should be publicly announced. Use cold outreach to get in touch with online magazines relevant to your industry and get extra publicity. 

Cold outreach strategy in sales 

Simply put, sales represents the group of activities that lead to exchanging goods or services for money or other assets. 

Not long ago, the entire sales process, from lead generation to the pitch, was reserved for face-to-face contact. Then, unsolicited calls to prospects without prior contact, known as cold calling, became a crucial part of sales teams' cold outreach strategies. This way, teams managed to reach geographically more distant clients. 

Today, with the internet becoming available to almost everyone, sales reps are using more and more social media networks to understand their customers and to reach out to them. However, the social selling process is far more complicated than that.

There are over 63 million decision-makers on LinkedIn. You can now offer your product/service to the entire world, but so can everyone else. That's how social selling was born. It is a sales and marketing strategy that prioritizes relationship building with potential clients and makes the act of selling its consequence rather than a goal. Social selling has many processes, but it usually starts with cold outreach. 

Cold outreach strategy in recruiting 

Due to the global talent shortage, recruiters must develop an employer branding strategy to present their company in the labor market and a cold outreach strategy to approach ideal candidates and attract them to work for their company. 

Furthermore, LinkedIn developed a series of platforms designed to help recruiters find the most qualified candidates for their companies - LinkedIn Recruiter.

What is cold email outreach? 

Cold email outreach is an outbound prospecting technique that uses email to approach prospects to establish professional relationships and sell your product. Therefore, a cold email is any unsolicited email sent to someone who knows nothing or very little about your product with the goal of selling it. 

B2B Cold email response rates 

A generally accepted average cold email open rate is 21.33%, while an average response rate is 1% to 5%. 

As you may see, the difference between an open rate and a reply rate is significant. The email open rate depends on your email subject line and your reply rate of how good you are at writing sales messages and follow-up emails after no response.

One of the many benefits of using Skylead, a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, is the possibility to find and verify your prospects' email addresses. The verification process is critical, as it ensures higher deliverability (chances of your cold email landing directly in your prospect's inbox instead of spam) and safeguards your domain from restrictions. 

Furthermore, every day Skylead team strives to educate our users and beyond on sales and anything sales-related, how to put our tips, tricks, and templates for better open and reply rates, and finally, conversion rates into good use through our tool. You can find sales email templates and LinkedIn templates in our resources or subscribe to our newsletter for the latest industry and software updates and ready-to-use sales templates. 

Cold outreach on LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is a social media platform that, besides connecting professionals from around the world, gives you significant insights into your prospects' needs, desires, and pain points through their LinkedIn profiles. 

Unlike other social media focusing on people's private lives or B2C communication, LinkedIn is majorly oriented towards the B2B business model. 

It offers detailed insights into your ideal customers, such as your prospect's name, company name, contact information (email, website, phone number), professional communities they like, and content with which they engage. 

Despite LinkedIn being majorly mentioned as a platform for salespeople, sales teams, and marketers, it's important to highlight that it's pretty valuable for recruiters and people looking for new job opportunities. 

When fishing for the best talent to join your company, the process is the same as social selling. On the other hand, potential employees rely on LinkedIn before applying to a position that might interest them. They can draw conclusions from the company's employer branding campaigns, growth insights, etc., just like sales reps and marketers do for their potential clients. 

What is multichannel cold outreach?

Multichannel cold outreach implies combining channels of communication, usually LinkedIn outreach, email outreach, and cold calling to get prospects to engage in the process of social selling. It can also be performed through your multichannel contact center.

Multichannel outreach is the most effective approach for starting a conversation with your ideal prospects because you are creating more than one touchpoint with your prospects and, at the same time identifying their preferred channel of communication for further conversations. 

Benefits of cold outreach

• Cold outreach is cost-effective. You don't need a specific budget to invest in ads, event planning, advertising, etc. 
• It's scalable. If you use automation tools, hyper-personalized cold emails and follow-ups can reach thousands of people in a few clicks. 
• You can include personalized images, gifs, and videos to make your cold emails or LinkedIn messages more attractive. 
• You can reach potential clients and industry peers from all over the world. Cold outreach allows you to expand your business and networking efforts outside a specific geographic area.
• Consequently, cold outreach offers broader brand exposure. Cold emails and cold LinkedIn outreach can reach anyone on the globe. Additionally, LinkedIn provides specific features to promote your business through its feed, online events, sponsored InMails, communities, etc. 

Cold outreach: Best practices

Understand your prospects' needs 

LinkedIn is a gold mine of qualified prospects and information on those prospects. So, check out:

• the content your prospects share or like,
• the communities they participate in,
• their professional and educational background,
• and their interests.

You can learn all of this by visiting their LinkedIn profile. 

Personalize 

Once you've understood your prospects' affinities, needs, and goals, it's time to put this information into practice. Personalizing your outreach goes far beyond calling your prospects by their names. Some successful sales reps import CSV files (with email lists or LinkedIn URLs) into automation tools. They also personalize entire paragraphs to each prospect for the best results.  

For example, let’s say you have an email list of your ideal prospects. Create a column where you write a personalized intro for each of them where the rest of the sales message copy stays the same for every prospect.

Once you upload this .csv file to Skylead, the column “intro” will automatically turn into a variable {{intro}}. Use it like this. 

Each prospect will receive a combination of the personalized intro as in the csv file with the rest of the message. 

Address the pain points 

Your best pitch lies in proving that your product/service solves your prospects' pain points most quickly and directly. Make that clear in your sales messages, from the intro to CTA. 

Connect on a human level

However, addressing the pain points doesn't mean selling repeatedly. Keep in mind that your prospects are humans and that you should always try to connect on a human level. Sales reps who genuinely show that they care and want to help their potential customers improve their businesses have higher conversion rates. 

Build relationships before selling 

As part of social selling, cold outreach is all about building relationships with prospects. People are more likely to buy products from people they trust and with whom they feel comfortable opening up. 

Don't quit - follow up 

Don't give up after the first try. Decision-makers to whom you're trying to get are busy. They receive numerous LinkedIn connection requests and cold emails and, believe it or not, often forget to reply. So sending a follow-up email is always a good choice. 

Qualify your prospects  

Qualifying a prospect means determining whether or not someone interested in your product/service is a good fit for it. Therefore, a qualified prospect is a potential client whose pain points your product/service solves in the most direct way. By qualifying your prospects, you will have higher customer lifetime value while lowering churn rates. 

A/B test your cold outreach

One cold outreach template won't fit all prospects. That's why it's smart to A/B test message templates of all kinds. A/B test is a randomized experimentation process where two or more versions are sent to different target users simultaneously to determine which one makes results and influences the desirable business action. It's the only way to know what really works for your target prospects. 

For example, in this case, we tested 3 different copies of Invite to connect on LinkedIn to see which one would have the highest acceptance rate and/or reply rate. 

Here’s how you see the results of A/B testing in Skylead. You also have instant insight into the messages you were testing. 

Automate your cold outreach

It's 2024, and we're far past manual outreach. LinkedIn automation tools progressed and are now an indispensable part of any sales, marketing, and recruiting process. Skylead, for example, optimizes your time by finding the fastest way to your prospects, makes sure your cold emails land directly in your prospect's inbox, which affects your deliverability, gives you real-time reports and campaign status, and supports all sorts of integrations with CRMs (i.e., Hubspot, Salesflare, Zoho) newsletter tools, databases, etc. through Zapier and API. 

What is a good cold email 

A good cold email must show that the sender has thoroughly researched the recipient (prospect) and their company to understand their needs, desires, and pain points. Furthermore, it also includes a concrete and straight-to-the-point explanation of how your product/service can help improve a specific aspect of their business. 

The characteristics of a "good cold email" are the same for recruiters and candidates writing to hiring managers to search for job opportunities. 

For example, if you're a recruiter reaching out to the ideal candidate, you should show that you've researched that person and why you consider them the right fit for the position. The "spray and pray" approach doesn't work, not it makes your company look good. 

The same goes another way around. If you're a candidate searching for an opportunity, make sure you've done thorough research on a specific company's product/service. Even if you're an expert in your field, the hiring manager is less likely to consider you if they notice you don't particularly care about the company itself and that you just go and apply for random jobs. 

Cold outreach email template 

Now, let's look at some proven cold email formulas (and cold email templates) that increase your reply rates and generate results. 

The most basic structure of cold emails, whether a first email or a follow-up, consists of an email subject line, email body copy, call-to-action (CTA), and email signature. 

As mentioned above, the email open rate majorly depends on your email subject line. Your response rates depend on how well you researched your recipients, hence, how relevant your offer is to their company. Also, if you included links or hyperlinked words, ensure the anchor words are attractive enough (but not misleading) to improve your click-through rate. 

Here are some cold email formulas/templates.

The BAB (Before - After - Bridge) formula

Before - a paragraph on your prospect's pain point. 

After - what your prospect's business looks like with a solution you're offering. 

Bridge - how your prospect can get there. 

The PAS (Problem - Agitate - Solve) formula

The PAS formula is also known as "a pessimistic version of BAB". However, it works equally well in different situations. You have to evaluate which principle works better for you and your prospects, or you can always AB test them. 

Problem - open your cold email with the problem your prospect's facing. 

Agitate - emphasize the problem until it "hurts".

Solve - offer a solution to your prospect's problem.

The SSS (Star - Story - Success) formula 

Star - introduce the main character, that should be either your prospect or someone with whom your prospect can identify.

Story - tell a story about your character in which they face the same problem your prospect does.

Success - share how your character got out of the problem and offer the same solution to your prospect.

The ACCA (Awareness - Comprehension - Conviction - Action) formula 

Awareness - show your prospect that you know what their pain point is.

Comprehension - explain how this pain point affects them, and tell them you have a solution.

Conviction - create a desire for the solution.

Action - call-to-action (CTA).  

The AIDA (Attention - Interest - Desire - Action) formula 

Attention — Grab the prospect's attention.

Interest — Make it personal to engage their interest.

Desire — Build desire for what you're offering.

Action — Ask for a response.

Also, remember to check out our ready-to-use follow-up email after no response templates, as well as the most common email mistakes and the most effective email calls-to-action (CTAs) for higher response and conversion rates. 

Best cold email outreach subject line 

Whether a first or a follow-up email, your email subject line is crucial for your open rates. 

Subject lines should be compelling but not misleading. If you used tricks to get your email opened, and the subject line doesn't reflect the email body, don't expect your prospect to reply. People generally get angry when misled and are less likely to open your follow-up emails, too.  

Here are email subject line guidelines, best practices, and over 107 subject line examples that you can use immediately or draw inspiration from. 

LinkedIn outreach templates 

In simple words, LinkedIn outreach implies using the platform to connect and nurture professional relationships with the goal of selling your product/service to those members that would benefit from it the most.

For this purpose, LinkedIn offers different types of messaging, such as connection requests for better acceptance rates, regular messages for members of your network, LinkedIn InMails for busy decision-makers, and 3rd-degree connections. 

From this point of view, LinkedIn outreach is different from cold email outreach for classifying members based on your connection level, whereas you can send a cold email to pretty much anyone whose email address you have. However, LinkedIn as a platform offers other benefits, such as networking opportunities, significant insights into your prospect's professional achievements, pain points, and professional aspirations, etc. 

You will find over 30 ready-to-use LinkedIn outreach templates in our resources LinkedIn connection message templates, sales messages for starting sales conversations, and LinkedIn InMails examples. 

LinkedIn outreach automation 

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email outreach software that, thanks to its smart algorithms that make decisions based on your prospect's behavior, automates time-consuming sales processes and gets to your prospects in the fastest and most direct way possible. 

By automating your LinkedIn outreach, you are optimizing your time and saving resources while still getting the most out of your LinkedIn prospecting process. In addition, it is perfectly safe and supports integrations through API and Zapier with CRMs, newsletter tools, database software, calendar booking tools, etc. 

Skylead allows you to automate only LinkedIn outreach, make only cold email campaigns, or combine everything into multichannel outreach for the best results. It also has its email finder that, at the same time, verifies each prospect's email address to increase deliverability and prevent harming your email domain. 

Skylead’s Smart Sequences work on the “if/else” principle meaning that they act based on your lead’s behavior. The picture below shows what multichannel outreach looks like but you can always opt to make a Smart Sequence that focuses on one channel only (LinkedIn or email). 

Also, it has a proven boost mode feature that helps you bypass LinkedIn limits and connect with more prospects in less time. 

Frequently asked questions 

How does cold outreach automation compare to manual outreach in terms of effectiveness and personalization?

Cold outreach automation can scale efforts and maintain consistency while keeping a deeper level of personalization, potentially increasing effectiveness by making recipients feel uniquely considered. While manual outreach can be personalized as well, automation is a preferred option because it saves so much time. 

What are the ethical considerations or potential drawbacks of using cold outreach strategies, especially regarding unsolicited messages?

Ethical considerations in cold outreach include respecting privacy, avoiding spam, and ensuring messages provide value. Misuse can lead to negative brand perception and legal issues.

Can the effectiveness of cold outreach vary significantly between industries, and if so, how should strategies be adapted for different sectors?

Effectiveness of cold outreach can indeed vary across industries. Sectors with high digital engagement may respond better. Tailoring strategies to industry-specific preferences and pain points is crucial for relevance and effectiveness.

Is cold outreach effective? 

If done right, cold outreach is a powerful prospecting tactic used by many salespeople for its high ROI, the possibility to reach potential clients from all over the world, and the ability to build long-lasting business relationships. 

Why is cold outreach important? 

Cold outreach can help you gain broader brand awareness and reach potential customers from all over the world. Furthermore, it's cost-effective and can be used for sales, marketing, recruiting, and job searches. 

How do you conduct a cold outreach? 

• Identify prospects more likely to convert.
• Consider using multichannel outreach to identify their preferred means of communication.
• Prepare your LinkedIn and/or email strategy in advance.
• Prepare your LinkedIn sales messages and/or cold sales emails in advance. 
• Personalize. 
• Follow up. 

Is cold email legal? 

You will not get into trouble if you use your prospects' business email addresses for cold email campaigns. 

Can you cold email B2B? 

Yes, B2B companies' sales teams use cold email outreach and LinkedIn outreach more often to accomplish their sales goals. 

What is cold outreach in marketing? 

Cold outreach in marketing is a form of outbound marketing that implies contacting prospects who could turn into your potential clients but don't know about your brand and have no previous experience with it. It could be done through email marketing, LinkedIn outreach, and cold calling. 

What is cold lead generation? 

Cold leads (referred to as "top of the funnel" leads) are those who are most likely not familiar with your product/service and haven't expressed interest in it. Cold lead generation is the process of gaining cold leads' attention, usually through LinkedIn (LinkedIn lead generation), cold emailing, and cold calling.

What is the difference between cold calling and prospecting? 

Prospecting is the process of identifying and building relationships with potential customers who probably don't know about your product and haven't shown interest in it so far. Cold calling is one of the prospecting techniques which includes reaching out to potential customers via phone. 

Is it better to cold call or email first? 

It majorly depends on your sales outreach strategy. However, some outreach experts find cold emailing less invasive and advise starting by reaching out to your ideal customers in written form (cold emailing and/or LinkedIn outreach). 

How long should a cold outreach email be? 

Generally, shorter cold sales emails of around 50-200 words have higher response rates. However, the most important aspect of cold emails is that they are personalized and highly relevant to the recipients. Also, their subject lines must be catchy while reflecting the emails' topic.

For those who have just started researching LinkedIn automation tools, SaaS startup Expandi appeared in the market in 2019. They initially created software that focused solely on LinkedIn automation. 

After years of development, many small business sales teams and recruiters started using it for Email outreach and LinkedIn lead generation. 

However, as the market has changed and other tools progressed, one question poses itself. Is Expandi the best Email and LinkedIn outreach tool? Or is there a better alternative on the market? 

Let’s check that together. We will go over what Expandi offers, its disadvantages, the comparison with other solutions, and the pricing itself. 

Expandi or alternatives?

Expandi is a LinkedIn automation and Email outreach tool. In other words, it performs the outreach activities on both platforms on autopilot, so you don’t have to.  

It is a cloud-based solution with a dedicated IP address that shields your activity. In addition, your data is stored on the internet, not servers, like in some LinkedIn automation tools.

Unlike Chrome extensions (e.g., Dux-Soup), or desktop apps (e.g., LinkedHelper), a cloud-based solution like Expandi doesn’t require you to keep your PC turned on. Moreover, it doesn’t inject code into LinkedIn and mimics human behavior. These two parameters make this software a safer solution than extension-based tools. This way, you can send connection requests and perform LinkedIn outreach carefree.

Many small businesses, and startups teams use Expandi for LinkedIn prospecting and lead generation. These professionals include salespeople, recruiters, and even outbound marketing managers.

You can use Expandi with any LinkedIn account. To clarify, you can create campaigns based on Sales Navigator, Recruiter, or Premium and basic LinkedIn search URL. Moreover, you can create an outreach campaign with a CSV file.

Lastly, Expandi can integrate with any other tool via Zapier webhooks or API.