LinkedIn vs Email Outreach: Which is better?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and a goldmine for B2B sales and marketing. Email is equally ubiquitous – most business people check their inboxes constantly throughout the workday.

LinkedIn and email are two of the most popular channels for B2B lead generation. But which one is more effective? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll compare LinkedIn vs email outreach head-to-head so you can decide the best approach for your business.

So which channel should you use for outbound prospecting: LinkedIn or email? Which delivers the highest response rates, best lead quality, and strongest ROI?

LinkedIn Outreach: An Overview

Before we dive into the LinkedIn vs email debate, let’s review some basics about using LinkedIn for sales prospecting and lead generation:

What is LinkedIn Outreach?

LinkedIn outreach refers to directly contacting LinkedIn members via LinkedIn Mail or InMail to generate new business leads. Typically this involves using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify your ideal prospects, customise connection requests, and send targeted InMail messages to spark conversations.

LinkedIn Outreach Tactics

There are a few main tactics for performing outreach on LinkedIn:

• Make customised connection requests – Send targeted invites to connect instead of generic requests
• Send InMail messages – Directly contact any LinkedIn member via InMail
• Join Groups – Become an active member in industry or niche Groups related to your offering
• Comment on posts – Provide value by engaging with other members’ posts and content
• Publish your own content – Establish credibility through posting articles, images, etc.

LinkedIn Outreach Templates

Using customised templates for your LinkedIn messages can improve open and response rates. Here are some best practices for LinkedIn outreach templates:

• Personalise the message – Include their name, company, role, interests etc.
• Communicate shared connections – This provides social proof and a reason for connecting
• Keep it short – Get to the point quickly and concisely
• Provide value – Offer useful insights, resources, or other value
• Include a clear CTA – Specify the desired next step and make it easy for them

Now let’s explore the other side: email outreach for B2B lead generation.

Email Outreach: An Overview

Before comparing LinkedIn vs email outreach, we need to cover some email marketing basics:

B2B Linkedin Outreach is when businesses use linkedin to connect and talk with other businesses to work together. it’s like making new friends but for companies!

Linkedin Connection Strategy is a plan you make to connect with the right people on linkedin. it’s like choosing who to be friends with at school, but on a professional website.

Job Connection Development is about helping people learn how to find and get good jobs. it’s like a bridge that connects people to the right job for them.

career networking expansion is like making more friends to help you find a job or learn new things about different careers. it’s like growing your circle of people who can support and guide you in your career journey.

What is Email Outreach?

Email outreach refers to sending personalised emails to targeted prospects to generate new business opportunities. This usually involves researching and segmenting your audience, creating customised email templates, and executing sequenced email campaigns.

Email Outreach Tactics

Some best practices for email outreach include:

• Personalise subject lines – Include the prospect’s name, company etc.
• Segment your lists – Create targeted lists by industry, company size etc.
• Customise the content – Make each email resonate with that particular prospect
• Focus on value – Offer useful advice, resources, insights etc.
• Follow up persistently – Use email sequences with 4+ relevant follow up messages

Email Outreach Templates

Effective email outreach templates should be:

• Personalised – Use merge tags to include dynamic data
• Concise – Get to the point quickly
• Scannable – Use bullets, bolding, headers etc.
• Valuable – Provide useful content
• Actionable – Include a strong CTA

Now let’s dive into the LinkedIn vs email showdown.

LinkedIn vs Email: Key Differences

LinkedIn and email are used very differently for lead generation outreach. Here are some of the main differences:

Factor	LinkedIn	Email
Audience Reach	Wider audience of professionals	Limited to existing contacts
Personalization	Highly personalised with social/profile data	Less personalised without additional data
Trust and Social Proof	Profiles showcase connections, content sharing, recommendations etc.	No ability to showcase social proof elements
Contact & Conversion Rates	2-4x higher outreach success rates	Lower contact and conversion rates
Volume and Scalability	Rate limited, lower max send volumes	Higher scalability for sending thousands of emails
Cost	Pay per InMail credit beyond allotted free messages	Typically free other than email tools/services
Compliance Rules and Monitoring	Strict rules and limitations to prevent spam	More flexibility before facing issues like blacklisting
Reliability & Stability	Changes to algorithm and spam rules causes disruptions	Generally stable channel without many disruptions

As you can see, LinkedIn and email are fundamentally different channels – so your outreach strategy needs to match the medium.

Next let’s do a deep dive into the unique pros and cons of LinkedIn and email outreach.

The Pros and Cons of LinkedIn Outreach

LinkedIn lead generation has some major advantages – but there are downsides to consider as well.

Pros of LinkedIn Outreach

Here are the main benefits of using LinkedIn for B2B prospecting:

• Professional data – LinkedIn profiles provide a treasure trove of intel for targeting and personalization
• Build authority – Establish expertise through publishing content and engaging in Groups
• High deliverability – LinkedIn Mail has much lower spam rates than cold email
• Higher trust – Most people perceive LinkedIn communication as more credible
• Stay top of mind – You can continue nurturing relationships long after the initial connection

Cons of LinkedIn Outreach

The potential challenges with LinkedIn lead gen include:

• Low open rates – Typical open rates for InMail hover between 10-30%
• Character limits – Messages are capped at 300 characters, limiting content
• Cost – InMail credits and Sales Navigator cost extra, making it more expensive than email
• Restricted targeting – Advanced filters in Sales Navigator are limited compared to email
• Slow follow up – You can only send 12 InMails per month to the same prospect

So while LinkedIn provides a robust platform for outreach, it does have some limitations vs email marketing.

The Pros and Cons of Email Outreach

Now let’s explore the unique advantages and disadvantages of email marketing for lead generation.

Pros of Email Outreach

Here are some of the main reasons email can be highly effective for B2B prospecting:

• Higher response rates – Email generally delivers higher open and response rates than LinkedIn
• Endless customization – Emails have no length restrictions so you can provide in-depth content
• More targeting options – Email platforms allow extremely advanced behavioural, demographic etc filtering
• Cost effective – Bulk email distribution is inexpensive compared to LinkedIn’s paid tools
• Easy integration – Email seamlessly integrates with other martech platforms like CRMs

Cons of Email Outreach

There are also some downsides to consider with email lead generation:

• Spam filters – Getting flagged as spam severely limits email deliverability
• Higher unsubscribe rates – It’s easier to opt-out of emails completely vs just ignoring them
• Less trust – Most people perceive LinkedIn communication as more credible than cold email
• ,No native retargeting – You can’t continue nurturing email leads on the platform itself
• Restricted professional data – Email signatures provide limited profile data vs LinkedIn

So while email has some clear advantages, there are unique challenges like deliverability and unsubscribes to navigate as well. Maximizing Your Professional Influence: Understanding Reach on LinkedIn is all about knowing how many people see your profile and posts. It’s important to have a large reach so more people can learn about you and your work. LinkedIn Outreach Blueprint is a guide that helps you connect with new people on LinkedIn. It’s like a map for making friends in the professional world.

Enhancing B2B Networks via LinkedIn Outreach is like making more business friends on LinkedIn by sending them messages. It helps your business grow by connecting with other businesses. Implementing Cold Connections on LinkedIn means starting to talk with people you don’t know yet. It’s like making new friends on this professional website.

LinkedIn Engagement Automation is like a robot that helps you interact with people on LinkedIn without you having to do it manually. It saves you time and makes your LinkedIn activities easier. LinkedIn Engagement Tactics are strategies used to get more people to interact with your posts on LinkedIn. It’s like finding ways to make your posts more interesting so more people will like, comment, or share them.

LinkedIn Connection Strategies are plans to make more friends on LinkedIn. It’s like finding more people to play with in the online professional world. Amplifying Profits via LinkedIn Engagement means using LinkedIn to talk and connect with people so your business can make more money. It’s like making more friends to help your lemonade stand sell more lemonade!

Top 8 Automated LinkedIn Outreach Tools for Generating Leads are special computer programs that help you find and talk to new customers on LinkedIn. They make it easier and faster to grow your business. LinkedIn Outreach Effectiveness Analysis is like checking if your messages on LinkedIn are working well and helping you make new friends or get new jobs. It’s like a report card for your LinkedIn activities.

Effective LinkedIn Networking Techniques are smart ways to make more friends and connections on LinkedIn. They help you meet new people and find better job opportunities.

LinkedIn vs Email: Response Rates

One of the most important metrics for sales prospecting is response rates. So how do LinkedIn and email compare?

According to recent benchmarks, typical response rates for cold outreach fall in these ranges:

Metric	LinkedIn	Email
Open Rates	10-15% (InMail)	20-30%
Click-Through Rates	Higher CTR due to personalization	Lower CTR without additional targeting
Contact/Response Rates	50-60% get a response to an InMail	20-30% get a response from cold email
Overall Conversion Rates	2-4x higher conversion rates	Lower conversion rates on average
Follow-Up Response Rates	Messages have staying power, recipients revisit	Easy to miss emails get buried

So while open rates tend to be higher for email, overall response rates can be comparable across both platforms. Response rates also vary significantly based on factors like your outreach strategy, offer, targeting,

As explored in this guide comparing LinkedIn vs email outreach, both channels have strengths and weaknesses for B2B prospecting. LinkedIn enables relationship building through a professional network. Email provides higher response rates and flexibility at lower costs.

Ultimately, combining LinkedIn and email outreach into an omnichannel strategy, continually testing and optimising based on performance data, is key for maximising prospect engagement and sales opportunities. If managing resource-intensive LinkedIn and email campaigns in-house isn’t feasible, outsourcing to experts like Lou Assist can take your B2B lead generation to the next level.

Request a Quote from Lou Assist

If you need expert help managing resource-intensive LinkedIn and email outreach, Lou Assist can help.

Lou Assist is the leading B2B LinkedIn marketing agency in UAE. Their specialised team can handle your entire prospecting process – from initial research to ongoing nurturing and sales conversions.

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