LinkedIn vs Cold Email: What Works Best for B2B Leads?

In the world of B2B lead generation, two specific outreach channels are always at the top of sales teams' minds: LinkedIn and cold email.

Both channels deliver results, but which one actually works best?

The answer isn’t as simple as picking a side. It’s about understanding how to use each platform correctly, recognizing its strengths and limitations, and, more importantly, how it can complement each other when used strategically.

LinkedIn lead generation offers direct access to decision-makers in a professional context, where connections are built on trust and visibility.

Cold email, on the other hand, allows you to reach a lot of people with tailored messaging at the right time.

In this article, we’ll break down the pros and cons of both LinkedIn and cold email for B2B lead generation. But you will also learn how to use each method for greater success.

Linkedin Or Cold Email Outreach?

First things first, ask yourself, do your buyers use LinkedIn?

You shouldn’t have to guess. Here's what we suggest... 

Go into LinkedIn Sales Navigator, search for a sample batch of 1000 buyers that match your ideal customer profile. Then check out of those 1000 prospects, how many of them post regularly on LinkedIn?

You can check how many prospects are in your second-degree network, which indicates what percentage of them add people to their LinkedIn network.

If it's hard to find buyers, and very few of them are actually posting, we wouldn't recommend going ALL in with LinkedIn.

Why?

Because you want to go after leads on the platform where they spend most of their time. For example, if very few of your leads use LinkedIn, rather use email outreach.

But despite some of LinkedIn's shortcomings, it has continued to attract and engage buyers from a lot of different industries who weren't really active on the platform a few years ago.

For example, the trucking and transportation space, for whatever reason, has a sizable market that can be addressed on LinkedIn. This wasn't the case a few years back.

Just bear in mind, like with email, you're not going to be able to find a valid address for every single buyer.

LinkedIn is similar, where you're not going to be able to find an active profile for a single buyer.

So this is why we suggest that it's important to use BOTH LinkedIn lead generation and cold email campaigns to reach out to your buyers.

Why? If someone isn't active on LinkedIn, you can always email them.

This multichannel approach means that you won't miss out on buyers.

Pros and Cons of Cold Email for B2B

What are the advantages of using cold email outreach?

Simply put... 

With email, you can reach a lot of prospects very quickly.

You can also test value propositions really fast compared to LinkedIn cold outreach.

LinkedIn has volume limits built into the platform. If you're not careful, your account could be restricted or blocked if you send too many outreach messages.

Whereas with email, you can send as many emails as you like.

You can also track email campaigns pretty efficiently if you have the right tools, from open rates to responses and click-through rates.

What are the disadvantages of using cold email?

One of the biggest challenges that we are seeing with email is email deliverability issues. It's just getting harder to inbox, so fewer people that you reach out to are seeing your messages.

Besides this, email has a much lower response rate compared to LinkedIn. SalesBread has a 19% response rate on LinkedIn, whereas with email, it's quite a bit lower. But typically, response rates with email are definitely in the single-digit range, often below five percent.

Pros and Cons of Using LinkedIn Outreach

What are the advantages of using LinkedIn outreach?

The biggest advantages of using LinkedIn are the high response and reply rates. 

Remember, people are on LinkedIn to further their careers.

So if you're using the platform as it was intended to be used, by being social and not salesy, you're going to see positive results pretty quickly.

In addition, LinkedIn allows you to build thought leadership. 

By consistently sharing valuable insights and positioning yourself as an expert in your industry, you're more likely to attract prospects and get better responses to your outreach.

Why? Because people see you as a trusted authority in your field.

This is why we also suggest using your LinkedIn profile as your sales page. 

Ensure that it's up-to-date, professional, and positions your brand clearly. If prospects can see how you're able to solve their pain points, and they are constantly seeing helpful content, the chances of them agreeing to a booked sales call will be high.

With email, prospects can't see who you are or what you do as easily as they can with a LinkedIn profile page. Your LinkedIn page is an introduction to who you are and how you can help with their pain points.

What are the disadvantages of using LinkedIn for lead generation?

The biggest problem with using LinkedIn for outbound sales is that there are limits to how many messages you can send… 

You also need to be cautious of using the wrong automation tools, because if you use tools that don't have a dedicated IP address or don't have a throttle limit, you could easily get your LinkedIn account blocked.

LinkedIn is NOT a channel where you can send thousands of messages a day.

To stay on the safe side, especially if you're new to LinkedIn outreach, we recommend starting with no more than 20–25 connection requests per day, particularly if your account is new. Additionally, you can send up to 30 mobile connection requests, bringing your total to around 50 per day.

So, which channel is best? LinkedIn cold outreach or email?

Both channels have their advantages and disadvantages.

But we suggest starting with sending a LinkedIn connection request.

There are 2 reasons why…

1.) LinkedIn has a much higher reply rate…

2.) If you can get a prospect to accept your LinkedIn connection request, you may not even need to email that individual.

Also, if you keep your email volume a little lower, your email deliverability will be higher.

If your prospect accepts your invite, you can then presume that LinkedIn is the right outreach method for them. If they do not accept your LinkedIn connection request, say after 1 week, I'd recommend firing up a cold email sequence for them. They may have already seen your name, so they might be a little warmer to respond to your email.

Best B2B Outreach Strategy: Combine Email & LinkedIn

If you want to get the best results with your B2B outreach, the smartest move isn’t choosing between LinkedIn or cold email. It’s using both together. Each platform has its strengths.

LinkedIn helps build trust because people can see your face, your job title, your company, and even what kind of content you share. Cold email, on the other hand, allows you to reach a larger number of prospects quickly and at scale.

When you combine the two, you get the visibility and credibility of LinkedIn with the reach and speed of email. They balance each other out.

Keep sharing content that speaks to your audience’s challenges or goals. Like their posts, leave genuine comments, and be visible. Even if someone hasn’t accepted your invite or replied to your email, they might still see your name in their feed.

That familiarity builds trust over time.

The beauty of using both platforms is that you can let the buyer’s behavior guide your next move.

If they don’t respond on either platform, don’t force it. You can come back to them later with a different message or angle.

Here’s a simple way to think about it: LinkedIn is for warming people up and building a reputation. Cold email is for getting straight to the point and reaching people who might not be active on social media.

When you combine both, you avoid missing out on leads who would’ve slipped through the cracks if you only used one channel.

In the end, it's not about blasting your list with messages, it’s about showing up where your buyers are, being human, and starting real conversations.

That’s what drives results in modern B2B lead generation.

Consider Using These Tools for Best Results

To make the most of LinkedIn and cold email outreach, especially when you're using both together, you’ll need the right tools.

Let’s break it down by channel:

For LinkedIn Outreach:

LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

This is LinkedIn’s own premium search tool. It’s a must-have for lead generation because it lets you build highly targeted lists based on job title, industry, location, company size, and more. 

It also gives you deeper insights into profiles and activity, which helps with personalization.

Expandi

Expandi is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool that allows you to safely send connection requests, follow-ups, and messaging. 

It has features like dynamic personalization and smart targeting, while keeping within LinkedIn’s limits to protect your account.

For Cold Email Outreach:

Instantly

Instantly is a popular tool for sending cold emails at scale, but with safe limits. 

It helps you warm up email domains automatically, personalize your messages, and run A/B tests to see what resonates.

For a Combined (Multichannel) Approach:

Clay

One of the most powerful tools for building ultra-targeted outreach lists. 

You can enrich data, pull from multiple sources (like LinkedIn and Crunchbase), and automate workflows based on prospect behavior. 

It’s especially useful for combining cold email and LinkedIn steps into one system.

PhantomBuster

This tool lets you automate actions on LinkedIn, email, and other platforms. 

For example, you can auto-send connection requests, extract data from LinkedIn profiles, and trigger an email follow-up if someone doesn’t accept your connection request.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to B2B lead generation, it’s not about choosing between LinkedIn and cold email; it’s about using both strategically.

Start by warming up prospects on LinkedIn, then follow up with cold email if needed. Let buyer behavior guide your next steps.

And remember, tools can make this process faster and more effective, but it is the human element that ultimately gets the conversation going.

If you're thoughtful with your outreach, consistent with your follow-ups, and intentional with your messaging, you'll be ahead of most in the B2B space. Use both platforms not just to sell, but to start real conversations.

That’s how you build a pipeline that converts.