Learn the differences between leads, prospects, and opportunities. Understand how to turn leads into prospects and opportunities.
LinkedIn lead generation software are online tools that help salespeople and marketers find, message, engage with, and even convert leads on LinkedIn. The best tools offer advanced lead search, bulk InMail and connection requests, activity automation, and lead management. To help you choose the right tool, we put several of the best LinkedIn lead gen tools through a rigorous analysis, found the six top scorers, and wrote up their use cases, pricing, and features.
Here are the six best LinkedIn lead generation software for salespeople:
We first created a rubric with five main criteria and their associated subcriteria, which we assigned weights to based on how important they are to successful LinkedIn lead generation. We then scored several lead generation software for LinkedIn, and the six tools with the highest scores out of five total possible points made it into this write-up. We also identified each software's primary use case.
Note: All per-user prices are with a one-year commitment unless noted.
Although some software platforms scored highest in certain categories, overall, we discovered that LinkedIn Sales Navigator has the greatest overall value for those looking to generate high-quality leads on LinkedIn. Keep reading to learn how each software scored in terms of pricing, features, and use cases.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the premium version of LinkedIn designed for cold outreach.
Price Range: $79.99+ per month (30-day free trial)
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s prospecting tool built for lead research and cold outreach. With its advanced search and filter feature, you can easily find companies and leads that match your ideal customer profile. And, thanks to the tool’s real-time sales updates, you'll get notifications about key changes on target leads, such as a new role. Once you identify a potential lead, you can send a direct InMail message to them even if you're not connected.
Unfortunately, Sales Navigator doesn’t offer LinkedIn activity automation like automatic post likes, connection requests, or profile endorsements. If you’re looking for these features, check out Zopto, which also has cold outreach tools.
Zopto is a social selling tool offering advanced automation features and a dedicated account manager.
Price Range: $172 to $688 per user, per month (free demo)
Zopto is a cloud-based social selling tool that helps sellers expand their network and source leads on LinkedIn. Use its advanced filtering to build out lists of targeted leads, who you can engage using the tool’s powerful automation features like profile views, post likes, follows, and even AI-assisted follow-up messages. You can also schedule personalized outreach campaigns based on lead data, all with the guidance of a dedicated account manager.
Zopto is a great automation tool, but it can be a little pricey. If you want a platform with LinkedIn automation features that’s a bit more affordable, check out Dux-Soup, which even comes with a free version.
Dux-Soup is a LinkedIn automation tool with affordable plans for individual sellers.
Price Range: Free to $41.25 per user, per month (14-day trial)
Dux-Soup is a LinkedIn automation tool with comparably low-priced plans for salespeople looking to generate leads. Although limited, its free Chrome extension enables users to tag profiles, search by tags, and scan and auto-visit profiles. For $11.25 per month, you'll get more automated outreach functionality, like connection requests and endorsements. At $41.25 a month, you'll gain the ability to run and track personalized InMail drip campaigns.
Some people like having access to a customer success manager who can help them make the most out of the software they invested in. Dux-Soup doesn't offer this feature, but its competitor Zopto does, along with similar yet more advanced activity automation.
Expandi is a LinkedIn automation tool offering top-notch dynamic personalization.
Price Range: $99 per user, per month (7-day free trial)
Expandi is a LinkedIn automation tool that allows sellers to build hyper-personalized LinkedIn InMail campaigns. Unlike most outreach tools, Expandi offers dynamic placeholders, so users can create InMail templates with smart fields that go beyond just {lead name}. For example, they can create templates that auto-populate fields like {name of lead’s blog post}. That, plus the ability to create and include custom GIFs, allows you to make your leads feel special.
Although great for messaging and interacting with leads you’ve already discovered, Expandi lacks the search and filter functionality for identifying quality leads and building lead lists. For that, check out LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which also has great InMail features.
Zoho CRM is a CRM tool that allows you to handle most Sales Navigator tasks from within Zoho’s platform.
Price Range: $14 to $52 per user, per month (15-to 30-day trial)
Zoho CRM is sales and marketing CRM software that offers native integrations with LinkedIn Sales Navigator in its lowest paid tier, making it great for businesses that prospect via LinkedIn. To reduce screen-switching, users can send InMail messages to leads, plus view their LinkedIn info directly from Zoho and automatically keep a communication record along the way. While you view a profile in the CRM, Zoho will also recommend other good-fit leads to reach out to.
Zoho’s a great CRM for cold outreach and inbound marketing, but it lacks some LinkedIn advertising tools that marketers might want. But HubSpot Marketing Hub enables users with the LinkedIn integration to manage LinkedIn ads from HubSpot, and it also comes free CRM tools.
HubSpot Marketing Hub is a marketing platform where marketers can manage LinkedIn advertisements.
Price Range: Free to $3,600 per user, per month (free demo)
HubSpot Marketing Hub is a suite of marketing tools that help you manage many types of marketing initiatives, including LinkedIn ad campaigns via a great LinkedIn integration. With the Professional or Enterprise plan, you can build and manage LinkedIn ad campaigns directly from HubSpot, benefiting from the platform’s impressive audience-building and ad reporting features. Plus, you get access to the free HubSpot CRM to track and engage your leads.
HubSpot Marketing Hub is great for running ads, but if you’re focused on direct outreach, your money is best spent on LinkedIn Sales Navigator, the overall winner. If you want to equip your marketing and sales teams with LinkedIn lead gen software, consider using the two in tandem.
The best LinkedIn lead generation software commonly include these tools:
Advanced lead search helps you filter the pool of LinkedIn users by job title, industry, and other categories to build targeted lists of leads who fit your ideal customer profile.
Via automated placeholders, many LinkedIn lead generation tools enable you to send out personalized InMail messages and connection requests to a group of leads simultaneously.
LinkedIn lead generation software often empowers you to set on autopilot LinkedIn activity like endorsements, likes, and follows so you can build relationships with leads and expand your network passively.
Most LinkedIn tools provide you with list-building and tagging features that help you organize your leads and track your engagement with them.
LinkedIn lead generation software refers to tools that can help sellers and marketers find and source leads on LinkedIn through InMail campaigns, LinkedIn activity automation, and other techniques. We listed six great tools, each with its own special pricing and primary use case. Pick the one that best helps you achieve your business’s LinkedIn lead generation goals, and always do your due diligence — demos, free trials, etc. — before settling on one software.
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