As a top social media site, LinkedIn provides valuable opportunities for business networking, job seeking, lead generation and sales prospecting.
One of the key pieces of information on LinkedIn is member email addresses. However, LinkedIn does not make email addresses publicly visible for all members.
So extracting email addresses from LinkedIn requires using some specialized tools and techniques.
In this comprehensive guide, we will provide an overview of the best ways to extract email addresses from LinkedIn for marketing and sales purposes.
Is Extracting Email from LinkedIn Allowed?
The short answer is yes, it is permitted by LinkedIn to extract email addresses from member profiles for certain business purposes. However, there are limitations on how many emails you can export and requirements that extraction tools must meet.
Specifically, LinkedIn’s User Agreement states:
“Except as permitted through the LinkedIn Services, these Terms or a LinkedIn-authorized program, you may not use data mining, robots, data scraping, or similar data gathering or extraction methods to collect or harvest Personal Data or non-public or proprietary information from the LinkedIn Services.”
So automated scraping or mass data extraction from LinkedIn is restricted. However, LinkedIn does allow limited email address exporting for things like marketing to current customers and business development. The key requirements are:
- You must have a valid LinkedIn account yourself
- Extraction must be done manually or using approved tools (no fully automated web scraping)
- Limit extraction to no more than 1,000 emails per account per week
- Only target members who you already have a relationship with or would be considered a warm prospect
- Extract emails one profile at a time, no bulk downloading data
- Use extracted emails only for direct communication, not selling or sharing data
As long as you follow LinkedIn’s guidelines for email gathering, it is permitted under their terms of service. However, gathering emails indiscriminately or in bulk from LinkedIn will likely get your account restricted or banned.
Manual Methods for Getting Email from LinkedIn
If you only need a small number of emails from LinkedIn, the easiest approach is to extract them manually. Here are some ways to get LinkedIn email addresses one profile at a time:
LinkedIn Connection InMails
One of the simplest ways to get the email address of LinkedIn connections is by sending them an InMail message. InMails are LinkedIn’s internal messaging system that allow you to privately communicate with connections in your network.
When sending an InMail, you will see the recipient’s email address autopopulated in the To: field at the top. You can then copy this email and paste it elsewhere.
However, you only have a limited number of InMail credits per month before needing to purchase more, so this method works best for gathering a handful of emails.
LinkedIn Invitations
Another option is sending connection invitations which allow you to view the email address of the person receiving the invite.
To do this, search for the LinkedIn member you want to connect with and select “Connect”. On the connection invitation screen, make sure the option for “Show recipient’s email” is enabled.
Once you send the invitation, you’ll be able to see their email in the record of sent invitations. You can copy these for your records before they accept or ignore the connection request.
The main limitations are that you can only have a certain number of pending invitations at one time and members may not accept your request if they don’t know you. But for small numbers of new prospective contacts, this can be an easy way to access their email address.
LinkedIn Profile Downloads
Members can also download a copy of their own LinkedIn profile data which will contain any email addresses they have exchanged with their network.
To do this, go to your LinkedIn account settings and select “Get a copy of your data”. Request an archive of your network information which will include private communications.
Once the download is ready, open the CSV files it contains and you will find tables listing messages exchanged between connections. This will include all the email addresses you’ve connected with directly.
While simple, this method only allows extracting emails from existing connections who’ve already communicated with you. To get emails from new prospects, you’ll need to use another approach.
Customizing LinkedIn Settings
A couple quick settings tweaks on LinkedIn can help make email addresses more accessible when manually viewing profiles one by one:
Enable Email Address Visibility
By default, LinkedIn hides email addresses in user profiles. But as a user, you can change this visibility setting which allows anyone viewing your profile to see your email.
To enable this, go to your profile and open the “Contact info” section. There is an option to “Show email addresses to anyone”. Toggle this on to publicly display your email on your profile.
Enabling this setting for your own account can also prompt more people in your network to publicly share their email in their profile.
Show Full Profile View
There is also a “Full profile” viewing mode that shows some additional details including email if the member has it set to be visible.
Go to your LinkedIn account settings and privacy page. Under profile viewing options, enable “Show full profile to anyone who views my profile”.
This will mean that anyone who views your profile will see the full version with additional info like email addresses if present.
Again, this setting can coax more of your connections to also share their email publicly if they see you doing it.
Email Extracting Tools
While manual extraction works for small amounts, to get larger quantities of LinkedIn emails you’ll want to use some specific tools designed for finding and capturing address data. Here are some top options:
Octopus CRM
Octopus CRM has a LinkedIn email finder integration that allows extracting up to 200 emails per month. After connecting your LinkedIn account, it searches your connections and network for publicly visible email addresses.
You can filter exactly which types of connections to search – 1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree networks. It exports the emails it finds into a neat CSV file for easy importing anywhere.
The major limitation is the low monthly email export allowance, but this tool is useful for integrated email enrichment right within your CRM system.
LinkedIn Email Extractor
For high volume automated email extraction, LinkedIn Email Extractor is a popular choice. It uses AI and machine learning algorithms to identify and extract email addresses at scale.
You simply provide the LinkedIn URLs for the target companies or profiles. It will systematically visit each profile, identify any emails addresses associated with them, and compile a list.
The tool claims to provide over 90% accuracy in finding emails. You can extract up to 5,000 emails per week before needing to upgrade to a premium account.
Emails can be exported and integrated into email marketing or sales automation platforms. This tool is best for those needing large volumes of LinkedIn email leads.
Leadfuze
Leadfuze is another lead generation tool with specific support for finding LinkedIn emails. It uses a Google Chrome extension to identify and extract email addresses as you manually visit LinkedIn pages.
Once installed, the extension will automatically scan profiles and other pages as you view them in LinkedIn. When it detects an email, it will highlight and capture it.
At any point you can export all the emails collected in a spreadsheet. It even grabs additional helpful data like name, title, and company.
This works well for more targeted email extraction while browsing LinkedIn. The free version has limited extraction capabilities but works nicely alongside manual browsing.
Lusha
Lusha is a commercial Chrome extension designed to help sales and business development teams enrich their contacts with email addresses and other information.
It has specific support for LinkedIn, allowing you to harvest email addresses as you visit various profiles or search engine results pages.
The extension automatically queries its databases in real-time as you browse and displays contact info for people, including emails if available.
For LinkedIn, they claim to find email addresses for over 60% of profiles. Discovered emails can be exported into a CRM or sales platform.
It’s pricier than other tools but provides robust email enrichment capabilities right in your browser.
ScrapeHero
For developers needing a custom LinkedIn email extraction solution, ScrapeHero offers web scraping as a service. Their team can build a tailored web scraper to fetch email addresses from LinkedIn profiles at scale.
Key features include rotating proxies to avoid restrictions, AI-powered email finding, and the ability to target search engine results and Google-indexed LinkedIn pages.
They handle the challenging technical work of automation, proxies, and scraping evasion. Clients simply provide targeting keywords and filters.
You receive the scraped B2B leads in a convenient CSV file. For those with large email data needs, having a scraper custom built specifically for LinkedIn can be highly effective.
Tips for Effective Email Extraction
When extracting emails from LinkedIn, here are some best practices to follow for optimal results:
- Personalize connection requests when possible to increase acceptance rates
- Use a private LinkedIn account without your company listed to avoid suspicion
- Target 2nd and 3rd degree networks beyond your direct connections
- Focus on titles like Owners, Directors, VPs, and Managers
- Only extract emails relevant to your products/services
- Use extracted emails within 3 months before they go stale
- Export and organize emails into an email verification tool
- Comply with opt-out requests promptly
The key is balancing extraction volume with quality and relevance. Targeted, segmented email gathering is always more effective than bulk harvesting.
Email Appending Services
Another option beyond extracting emails directly from LinkedIn is using an email appending or enrichment service. These services take lists of leads and append missing contact information like email addresses and phone numbers.
Here are some top options for LinkedIn email appending:
Reachdesk
Reachdesk offers both business and consumer email appending. Upload your list of leads and select the data fields you want appended, including email and LinkedIn URL.
They claim to enrich leads with emails 95% of the time by tapping business directories, public sources, and proprietary sites. Free trials are available.
LeadIQ
LeadIQ leverages AI and machine learning for advanced email appending and enrichment. It can take incomplete or sparse lead lists and fill in missing fields like email, location, and LinkedIn URLs.
They also generate deliverability scores to identify quality leads and provide real-time data like new job changes. Integrates easily with marketing automation platforms.
Mintlead
Mintlead provides lead enrichment services for finding and verifying new B2B contact data. Upload your leads and select LinkedIn URL appending to reveal social profiles.
From there they use proprietary technology to extract publicly listed email addresses from LinkedIn profiles. Reports detail contact information found for each lead.
CaliberMind
CaliberMind offers both one-time and ongoing lead enrichment services to expand contact data. Using AI-powered searches, they append information like email addresses and LinkedIn URLs.
They also provide real-time alerts when your leads get promoted, change jobs, etc. Integrates with marketing automation and sales engagement platforms.
DataFox
DataFox uses advanced machine learning and business data to append and enrich leads. Key capabilities include identifying email addresses, LinkedIn profiles, org charts, and real-time trigger events.
This helps convert cold leads into sales ready prospects for outbound teams. They also offer lead scores to gauge readiness. Integrations with Facebook, Gmail, and Salesforce.
Should You Buy LinkedIn Email Lists?
Some vendors sell databases of LinkedIn-derived email lists for cold outreach. However, this is not recommended for most business purposes. Gathering and selling these type of unpermissioned mass email lists violates LinkedIn’s terms and comes with significant risks, such as:
- Very low deliverability and engagement
- High chance of spam complaints
- Blacklisting of sending IP addresses
- Banning of LinkedIn accounts used for gathering
For compliant, high-converting email marketing, it’s better to utilize the above methods that transparently source emails from public profiles or through voluntary opt-ins. While buying email lists seems appealing, it typically leads to poor results and the risk of penalties.
Is scraping LinkedIn emails illegal?
Broadly scraping and collecting emails from across LinkedIn in an automated, bulk fashion is against LinkedIn’s terms and could subject you to legal penalties. However, manually gathering a limited number of emails for marketing to relevant prospects is permitted according to LinkedIn’s guidelines.
Does LinkedIn notify users when you extract their email?
No, the methods discussed in this guide do not trigger notifications to users when exporting their email address. As long as proper precautions are taken, email gathering can be done discreetly. However, reaching out to excessively large batches of users could still raise abuse flags.
Can you create multiple LinkedIn accounts for more extraction?
Using multiple accounts to bypass LinkedIn’s extraction limits is risky and violates their fair use policies. Stick to gathering emails from one properly maintained business account according to their guidelines.
What is the daily email extraction limit?
LinkedIn does not provide an exact number, but recommends limiting extraction to no more than 1000 emails per account per week as a rule of thumb. This threshold allows gathering emails for marketing and sales purposes without overstepping bounds.
Is it better to extract emails on desktop or mobile?
For manual email gathering, desktop tends to be faster and more convenient for most people. However, for some of the specialized email tools, the browser extensions work primarily on mobile.
So it depends on your exact extraction method – try both desktop and mobile to see what works best.
Conclusion
While LinkedIn does restrict automated scraping, there are still a variety of compliant ways to source member email addresses for your business needs. By using this guide’s combination of techniques – tailored settings, selective manual viewing, specialized extraction tools, and email appending services – you can build targeted prospect lists.
The key is to be selective in which profiles you target and limit volume appropriately per LinkedIn’s guidelines. With the right approach, LinkedIn email extraction can become an invaluable business development capability. But be sure to consult this guide on best practices for respecting LinkedIn’s terms of service.