Outreach is a popular sales engagement platform designed to help sales teams automate and streamline sales prospecting and outreach. One of the key features of Outreach is its ability to connect with LinkedIn to leverage the data and information within a company’s LinkedIn network.
LinkedIn has become an invaluable tool for sales professionals to identify, research, and connect with prospects. With over 740 million members worldwide, LinkedIn provides access to the world’s largest professional network. As a result, integrating Outreach with LinkedIn can supercharge sales prospecting and outreach efforts.
Outreach offers robust LinkedIn integration and synchronization capabilities to capitalize on the power of LinkedIn for sales. Outreach connects directly with LinkedIn to import contacts, accounts, companies, lead recommendations, lead enrichment data, and more.
Sales reps can save huge amounts of time researching prospects with Outreach’s LinkedIn integrations. Outreach also uses LinkedIn data to prioritize and sequence outreach for greater effectiveness.
So in short – yes, Outreach was designed from the ground up to integrate tightly with LinkedIn in order to accelerate pipeline growth and increase sales productivity.
What LinkedIn data and capabilities does Outreach integrate with?
Outreach connects with LinkedIn to pull in the following LinkedIn data and capabilities:
Contacts
– Import LinkedIn connections into Outreach to build prospect and account lists
– Enrich existing data records in Outreach with LinkedIn profile data
Accounts
– Import company profiles and lists from LinkedIn to identify target accounts
– Prioritize accounts and contacts based on LinkedIn data and engagement
Lead Recommendations
– Surface relevant prospects from LinkedIn based on profile data and existing relationships
Lead Enrichment
– Append missing prospect contact details from LinkedIn profiles
– Add linked LinkedIn profiles to prospect and account records in Outreach
Link Tracking
– Track LinkedIn profile views, clicks, and link engagement
InMail Integration
– Log LinkedIn InMail messages in Outreach for centralized activity tracking
– Sync InMail status and notifications into Outreach
Company Pages
– Display LinkedIn Company Pages on Account records
– Create personalized outreach leveraging Company Page insights
Employee Search
– Identify additional contacts at a company using LinkedIn’s employee search
By tapping into all of these various LinkedIn capabilities, Outreach supercharges prospecting and enables sales reps to scale engagement dramatically. Leveraging the richness of LinkedIn data within the Outreach platform empowers reps to have smarter conversations and build stronger relationships.
How does Outreach pull LinkedIn data into the platform?
Outreach uses LinkedIn’s APIs (application programming interfaces) to establish a secure connection and sync data between the two platforms.
Setting up LinkedIn integration in Outreach takes just a few clicks, but behind the scenes, some sophisticated technical processes make it possible.
Here is a high-level overview of how Outreach syncs with LinkedIn:
1. Authentication
When enabling LinkedIn integration in Outreach, users first authenticate via LinkedIn’s OAuth 2.0 API. This grants Outreach access to LinkedIn while adhering to LinkedIn API guidelines.
2. Sync LinkedIn Data
Once authenticated, Outreach uses additional LinkedIn APIs to sync over data. For example, the Contacts API shares connection lists, the Companies API provides company pages and profiles, and the Search API enables employee lookups.
3. Normalization
Outreach normalizes the data pulled in from LinkedIn to map it to Outreach’s data schema. This enables a consistent display of LinkedIn data within Outreach.
4. Update Cadence
The LinkedIn data in Outreach refreshes automatically based on the integration settings. APIs frequently sync to ensure updated LinkedIn profile details.
5. Ongoing API Calls
As users engage with LinkedIn prospects within Outreach, additional API calls retrieve information in real-time, such as tracking profile views and InMail status.
LinkedIn Integration Step | Technical Details |
---|---|
Authentication | OAuth 2.0 |
Sync LinkedIn Data | Contacts API, Companies API, Search API |
Normalization | Mapping to Outreach schema |
Update Cadence | Scheduled syncs via APIs |
Ongoing API Calls | Real-time data lookups |
What are the benefits of integrating Outreach and LinkedIn?
Connecting Outreach with LinkedIn provides a number of valuable benefits:
Targeted prospecting
Outreach makes prospecting targeted and efficient by enabling reps to segment and filter prospects based on LinkedIn profile data such as role, skills, groups, interests, location, and more.
Prioritized outreach
Integration with LinkedIn ensures reps focus on the highest potential opportunities first. Outreach ranks and sequences prospects according to LinkedIn engagement and connection strength.
Personalized messaging
By combining LinkedIn insights and activity with Outreach templates and sequences, reps can send highly customized and relevant messages to prospects.
Accelerated research
Outreach automatically appends rich LinkedIn profiles to prospect and account records, eliminating manual research. Reps gain one-click access to background intel to build rapport.
Engagement tracking
Outreach tracks LinkedIn profile views, link clicks, and InMail status directly within sequences to optimize follow-up timing and relevancy.
Expanded reach
Leveraging LinkedIn’s massive network enables reps to identify and engage 10x more prospects through Outreach.
Overall, integrating Outreach with LinkedIn significantly increases sales efficiency, productivity, and pipeline growth. Reps are empowered to scale personalized, high-converting outreach campaigns.
What types of LinkedIn outreach does Outreach support?
Outreach supports a range of LinkedIn outreach capabilities:
InMail
Send personalized InMail messages directly from Outreach. Log InMails like any other activity within sequences for streamlined execution and tracking.
Connection Requests
Automate sending LinkedIn connection requests as part of cadenced outreach sequences.
OpenLink Messages
Include OpenLink personal notes when sending connection requests to provide relevant context.
Profile Views
Trigger automated LinkedIn profile views from Outreach sequences to signal interest and prompt engagement.
Content Shares
Increase touchpoints by sharing relevant LinkedIn posts, articles, and content as next steps within sequences.
Page Follows
Follow a prospect’s LinkedIn company page to stay up-to-date on their business.
Custom Link Tracking
Use dynamic tracking links within Outreach messages to monitor LinkedIn content shares, page clicks, and other engagement.
With this range of outreach options, reps can execute comprehensive and coordinated prospecting campaigns across both Outreach and LinkedIn for maximum effectiveness.
What are the limitations of Outreach’s LinkedIn integration?
While Outreach provides robust LinkedIn capabilities, there are some limitations to note:
API Restrictions
Outreach’s functionality relies on LinkedIn APIs, which impose usage limits. Syncing large volumes of data or making excessive API calls may result in throttled access.
Manual Updates
Outreach does not automatically sync profile edits members make on LinkedIn. Some LinkedIn data requires manual refreshes.
Premium Accounts Required
Certain LinkedIn features like InMail require LinkedIn Premium accounts. Outreach alone cannot facilitate premium-level access.
UI Differences
The LinkedIn user experience and Outreach differ. Some learning curve exists switching between the two tools.
No Automated Triggers
Outreach cannot automatically trigger actions based on profile updates or changes on LinkedIn; workflows are one-directional.
Understanding these boundaries ensures organizations set realistic expectations when leveraging Outreach’s LinkedIn integrations. While not a complete replacement for actively using LinkedIn, the capabilities Outreach unlock are extremely valuable.
Best practices for setup
To maximize the value of integrating Outreach and LinkedIn, here are some best practices for setup:
Select the right LinkedIn account
Grant Outreach access via a user or company LinkedIn account with the most robust network and features. Avoid using basic or trial accounts with restrictions.
Determine sync scope
Map out what LinkedIn data is essential vs. optional to sync. Target just the must-have information to streamline integration.
Customize sync schedules
Adjust Outreach’s sync frequency based on needs and API limits. Schedule overnight syncs if pulling large volumes of data.
Enable relevant notifications
Turn on Outreach’s LinkedIn notifications to receive updates on profile views, messages, and connection requests within sequences.
Document data mappings
Record how LinkedIn data matches up to Outreach records to simplify cross-referencing fields between the two platforms.
Train reps on integration
Educate sales reps on the benefits and limits of the Outreach-LinkedIn integration to set clear expectations.
With thoughtful setup and onboarding, sales teams can maximize value from day one with Outreach’s LinkedIn integration capabilities.
Use cases showing value
Here are some examples of high-impact ways customers leverage LinkedIn integration with Outreach:
Account-Based Outreach
– Sync targeted account lists from LinkedIn to engage multiple prospects per company
– Map LinkedIn parent/subsidiary data for coordinated outreach
New Market Expansion
– Import prospects from LinkedIn based on new geography, industry, or company size filters
– Prioritize outreach to contacts at high-value expansion area companies
Event Follow-up
– Segment event attendees based on LinkedIn data and interactions
– Personalize follow-up outreach with insights on interests/background
Competitive Displacement
– Identify contacts at competitor accounts or similar titles/roles
– Highlight product/service advantages in messages
New Lead Gen
– Set up automated lead recommendations from LinkedIn to Outreach
– Append rich LinkedIn profiles for one-click lead research
Content Promotion
– Share new collateral, blogs, and promotions via LinkedIn integrations
– Track content downloads, posts, and engagement
Conclusion
In summary, Outreach provides compelling capabilities through native, bi-directional integration with LinkedIn. Key benefits include targeted prospecting, prioritized outreach, personalized messaging, accelerated research, expanded reach, and robust engagement tracking.
While some limitations exist, Outreach unlocks immense time savings and productivity gains for sales teams through its LinkedIn sync. Following best practices for setup and leveraging use cases tuned for sales goals allows organizations to maximize value.
With Outreach’s ability to capitalize on LinkedIn’s trove of professional data and engagement tools, sales teams gain an invaluable solution to cut through the noise, pinpoint high-potential opportunities, and drive more pipeline.