Cold Email vs LinkedIn Message: Which is Better For Outbound Outreach?

Cold Email vs LinkedIn Message: What’s More Effective For Outbound Outreach?

Piyush PatelUpdated: Oct 5, 2024 17 min read 8155 reads

Are you confused about choosing the best channel for your outbound outreach?

Undoubtedly, in the B2B industry, cold emails and LinkedIn messages are the most preferred outbound outreach channels.

But which outreach strategy will help you get the maximum results with your outbound outreach?

If you’re also facing the dilemma of cold email vs. LinkedIn messages, you’ve come to the right place.

Because you’ll find the answer in this blog!

We’ve compared both outbound outreach channels: cold email and LinkedIn messages.

We’ve included their pros, cons, benchmark metrics, and what you can expect to help you choose the best strategy and meet your outreach goals.

Key Insight: To get the most out of your outreach in 2024, we recommend using both!

Keep reading till the end.

Cold Email vs LinkedIn Message – Table of Contents

TL; DR – Cold Email vs LinkedIn Message

Before we jump directly into the blog, go through this comparison table to understand the key differences between Cold Emails and LinkedIn Messages:


Factors of Consideration	Cold Email	LinkedIn Message
Reach	Helpful for large outreach campaigns and higher scalability.	Niche targeting the active professionals on LinkedIn.
Personalization	Hyper personalize the email using templates.	Personalize the message with prospect’s profile information.
Professional Context	Formal impression.	Casual chat.
Engagement Aspects	CTAs and attachment files.	A short, interactive message.
Follow-up Potential	Automated scheduling.	Use the InMail feature.
Cost-effectiveness	Send up to 10K emails with low cost.	Purchase LinkedIn Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Premium.
Reports & Analytics	Open, click-through, bounce, and recipient sentiment rates.	Premium insights with Sales Navigator.

Key Takeaway:

You should choose cold email as your outbound outreach strategy if you want to reach out to a large number of targeted prospects at scale and generate many leads.
You can choose LinkedIn messaging as your outbound outreach strategy if you want to connect with thought leaders, contact professionals using mutual connections, or conduct limited prospecting.

Why Cold Email For Outbound Outreach?

Cold email is the most preferred for outbound outreach. Do you know why?

That’s because it helps achieve three goals at once:

Introducing the business
Drive engagement
Get more leads

On top of all, cold emailing has benefits like cost-effectiveness and higher scalability.

Pros and Cons of Cold Email For Outbound Outreach


Pros	Cons
You can reach more than 10K prospects daily with cold emails.	A cold email can end up in the spam folder for poor sender reputation.
You can send a hyper-personalized cold email message with personal and business details to start the business conversation.	You might face email deliverability problems when cold emailing, often due to unverified email lists.
You can measure your cold email campaign success using metrics like open, response, and click-through rates, allowing you to optimize performance.

Cold Emailing Benchmarks

Following are the benchmarks for open conversion, and response rates for cold email for outbound outreach:


Benchmark	Ratio
Open Rate	40-65%
Conversion Rate	1-5%
Response Rate	8-10%

PS – All these statistics might vary depending on the target audience from different industries (SEO agencies, healthcare, consulting firms, Staffing & recruiting agencies, etc.)

Best Practices for Making Cold Email Outreach Work

Cold emailing is the most prevalent outbound outreach channel, meaning everyone pitches their products and services over email.

A cold email is an opportunity to position your business offering in the minds of your target audience, with whom you might have had zero interaction until now.

So, how will you ensure your cold email doesn’t land in your recipient’s spam folder to get more conversions?

Below, we have revealed the best practices for cold email outreach to work wonders for lead generation.

1. Craft a Compelling Subject Line

Your subject line decides whether the recipient will open your email. Hence, it should be captivating and outstanding, piquing the reader’s curiosity in seconds.

2. Personalize email body content

Your email sounds more genuine when you write about the recipient’s personal details or business information.

3. Write a value-driven message and not sales-driven

Your first email should not be about selling your product or services. Instead, it should focus on giving away meaningful resources or sharing value.

4. Plan a follow-up sequence

Most prospects engage with an agency after the second or third follow-up, not the initial email.

5. Track and analyze the campaign

An expert marketer doesn’t fail to track the cold email campaign’s performance.

Why LinkedIn Messages For Outbound Outreach?

LinkedIn is the most preferred medium for marketers to use for outreach and social selling. Over 65% of marketers affirm that their LinkedIn usage will grow year after year.

That’s because everything happens on one platform – sending connection requests, sending the first message, pitching, following up, and grabbing the lead.

Moreover, there are multiple ways you can generate leads from LinkedIn:

Direct message
InMail
Create content to establish a personal brand and get inbound leads
Join groups to network and get contacts

Pros and Cons of LinkedIn Messages for Outbound Outreach


Pros	Cons
SDRs and BDEs have their personal IDs, so it is easy to approach them directly.	LinkedIn limits you after you send 100 connection requests per week.
Land directly in the inbox of leaders and founders who will likely collaborate with you for business or become your customer.	LinkedIn only allows you to send messages to your first connection, so your cold outbound outreach will be limited.
	For targeted outreach, you might need to purchase LinkedIn Sales Navigator with only 50 InMail credits.
	Your connection request may not be accepted by your prospect, so your cold outreach might fail.

LinkedIn Messaging Benchmarks

Below are the benchmarks for LinkedIn messages for cold outbound outreach:


Benchmark	Ratio
Connection Request Acceptance Rate	30-40%
Reply Rate	18%-25%
Conversion Rate	2-5%

Best Practices for Making LinkedIn Message Outreach Work

LinkedIn is a popular channel for outbound outreach, meaning everyone has been sending messages to their prospects.

1. Always Send a Connection request With a Personal Note

If your LinkedIn connection request does not include a personal note, you are solely responsible for your low acceptance rate.

2. Personalize the Message

Once your connection request is accepted, the next step is to communicate further with the prospect.

3. Have a Follow-up Strategy

Most marketers lose after sending the connection request or the first message.

4. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

Your prospect will visit your profile immediately after being convinced by the initial or follow-up messages.

Cold Email + LinkedIn Message = Most Effective Outbound Outreach

Until now, you and I have discussed cold emails vs. LinkedIn messages.

But what if we explore the possibilities of cold emails “AND” LinkedIn messages? Yes, you read that right.

Step 1: Send a Connection Request to Start a Conversation If Accepted

Start with sending a connection request to your prospect on LinkedIn.

Step 2: Land Into InMail If Your Connection Request isn’t Accepted

If your connection request is still pending within a few days, take this step: Land in your prospect’s InMail.

Step 3: Use a Cold Outreach Tool and Send a Cold Email to Your Prospect

I love step three the most. It will save you from the low response rates of a cold LinkedIn message or InMail outreach. It’s pretty simple.

Key Takeaways

While exploring cold email vs. LinkedIn message, we learned it is actually cold email “AND” LinkedIn message.
To make your outbound outreach a 100% success, you should test and implement both channels with full potential.
Cold email outreach works best when the campaign goals are wider reach and audience engagement through personalization.
LinkedIn message outreach works best when you know the prospect, want to create an impression, and enjoy higher open rates.
Implementing both channels with outbound outreach automation software like Saleshandy would have a more significant long-term impact.

FAQs

1. What’s Better: A Cold Email or a Cold Message on LinkedIn?

Between cold emailing and LinkedIn messaging, the best channel for your B2B outreach relies on your campaign goals and target audience.

2. Is Cold Emailing Still Prevalent?

Yes, if done right. Cold emails are the most preferred cold outreach method, with an average open rate of 20-25% and an average conversion rate of 2-5%. A cold email works wonders when it is:

3. Can Combining Cold Emails and LinkedIn Messages Improve Outbound Outreach Effectiveness?

Indeed! You can boost cold outreach effectiveness by combining cold emails and LinkedIn messages. It helps you in:

4. Can I Use Both Cold Emails and LinkedIn Messages in the Same Campaign?

Of course. Using cold email and LinkedIn messages in the same campaign can double your reach, boost your engagement, and allow A/B testing for better optimization of the entire campaign.

5. How Do I Decide Between Using Cold Email or LinkedIn Messaging for My B2B Outbound Outreach Strategy?

To decide between cold emailing and LinkedIn messaging for your cold outreach strategy, you have to ask yourself:

What are my target audience’s preferences?
Is my target audience more active on LinkedIn or email?
What would be my messaging style?
What campaign goals do I want to achieve? (education, awareness, conversion, meetings, etc.)
What are my response rate expectations?
How many resources do I have? And at what level do I wish to spend it?