LinkedIn is an essential platform for professionals looking to expand their networks, recruit talent, or generate leads.
With over 800 million users, it offers a huge pool of potential contacts. However, the challenge lies in finding reliable email addresses, which is crucial for any effective email marketing or outreach campaign.
This article explores three proven methods for finding emails on LinkedIn, each with its own pros and cons, to help you decide which approach best suits your needs.
1. Manual searching (the slow way)
One of the most straightforward methods to find emails on LinkedIn is manual searching, which involves looking at LinkedIn profiles, doing Google searches, or guessing email formats.
Find emails on people's LinkedIn profiles
Visit LinkedIn profiles to see if the person has publicly shared their email address.
Find emails from a Google Search
Search for the person’s name along with their company name to find publicly listed email addresses.
Guessing
Try common email formats like firstname.lastname@company.com to guess the address.
Sneaky tip:
40% of Fortune 500 companies use on Google Workspace, and the percentage is even higher among start-ups. Once you’ve guessed an email address, you can verify if it is associated with a Google Workspace account by entering it into a cell, and then hovering over it. If a profile picture appears, it confirms that the email address is valid.
Pros:
Free: This method doesn’t cost anything and is accessible to everyone.
No tools needed: You can start immediately without new tools.
Cons:
Time-consuming: Manually finding email addresses is boring and slow.
Low success rate: Few LinkedIn users publicly list their emails, and Google searches often give outdated information.
High risk: Guessing email addresses can result in high bounce rates, damaging your email sender reputation.
2. Automate using an email finder (the cheap way)
For a simpler approach, automated email finders like Exportli can streamline the process of finding email addresses on LinkedIn.
Exportli is a Chrome extension that works with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which uses over 20 email enrichment providers to find verified email addresses.
How it works
Install Exportli: Download and set up the Exportli Chrome extension.
Run a search: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to search for leads that match your ICP.
Automated email finding: Exportli automatically finds and verifies email addresses for the LinkedIn profiles in your search.
Pros:
Speed: Quickly find emails for 2,500 LinkedIn profiles per day.
High accuracy: Uses 20+ sources for finding and verifying emails.
Scalability: Scale up your outreach without the hassle.
Free tier: 50 credits free, with no credit card needed
Cheap: From $0.03 per verified, safe-to-send email address
Cons:
Cost: Requires a subscription after the free trial.
Limited to Sales Navigator: Works best with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which is a paid service (or a free trial)
3. LinkedIn lead gen forms (the expensive way)
If you've got performance marketing budget to spend, LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms are another method for collecting email addresses directly from LinkedIn users who engage with your ads.
How it works
Create a Lead Gen Form: Set up a LinkedIn ad campaign with an integrated Lead Gen Form.
Create something off value to offer: Put together a valuable piece of content which you can put behind the lead gen form.
Promote your offer: Use the paid ads to promote your content and attract leads.
Capture emails: When users fill out the form, their email addresses are captured and stored.
Integrate with your CRM: Use Zapier to sync leads between your LinkedIn Lead Gen form, and your CRM.
Pros:
Warmer leads: Captures email addresses from users who are genuinely interested in your offer.
Accurate data: The emails are current and are unlikely to bounce.
Cons:
Designed for mobile: The Lead Gen form experience is great on mobile, but quite poor on Desktop. This may be limiting depending on your audience.
Cost: Running LinkedIn ads can be very expensive, especially for competitive markets. Expect to pay more than $10 per email address.
Limited reach: Only captures leads from those who interact with your ads.
CRM integration: Using Zapier to sync your leads to your CRM can be frustrating.
Alternatives to finding emails on LinkedIn
InMail
LinkedIn’s InMail allows you to send messages directly to users without needing their email addresses.
Pros:
Direct access: Reach out to leads directly within LinkedIn.
No spam risk: InMails are not going to affect your email reputation.
Cons:
Limited reach: Restricted to users who accept InMails.
Costly: InMails are very expensive at scale.
Easily ignored: Most people completely ignore inMails.
Buying lists
Purchasing email lists from companies like ZoomInfo is another way to get contact information for leads.
Pros:
Broad reach: Lists often include a wide range of industries and roles.
Cons:
Poor quality: Lists often contain outdated or irrelevant contacts.
Compliance risks: May lead to GDPR violations and harm your sender reputation.
Untargeted: Lists are often generic, and not specific to your ideal customer profile