Keeping ABM outreach organized is no child’s play. With different channels in the mix, things can quickly get out of hand. Your messages get scattered or poorly timed, prospects lose interest, and too often, campaigns waste valuable time targeting the wrong accounts.
There’s a simpler way to handle it.
LinkedIn and email are a perfect pair for ABM. LinkedIn helps you find the right people, while email delivers personalized, well-timed messages that stand out. Together, they make your outreach clear, focused, and far more effective.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to combine both to sharpen your ABM strategy and get the results you’ve been missing.
Why LinkedIn and email together?
ABM works best when you talk to the right people in the right way at the right time. That’s why LinkedIn and email make such a strong team.
- LinkedIn is where professionals go to connect. You can find decision-makers, learn about them, send direct messages, and build genuine relationships.
- Email is personal and straight to the point. You can send detailed messages like case studies, product info, or offers and track who opens them.
What’s more, a study by Skylead shows LinkedIn InMail gets an 18–25% response rate, much higher than email’s 3%. Using both tools together makes your ABM campaigns more effective.
How to combine LinkedIn and email outreach for ABM
LinkedIn and email each have their strengths, but using them together strategically is the game changer. Here are some steps you could follow:
- Start with LinkedIn
Begin by connecting with decision-makers. Send personalized connection requests that reference their role, activity, or challenges. Engage further by liking or commenting on their posts to stay on their radar. - Follow up with email
After connecting on LinkedIn, send a follow-up email that references your LinkedIn interaction. - Balance your outreach
Space out your messages to avoid overwhelming prospects. A good sequence might be:- Day 1: Send a LinkedIn connection request.
- Day 3: Engage with their content.
- Day 5: Follow up with an email.
- Day 10: Send a LinkedIn InMail if there’s no response.
- Share valuable content
Offer resources that address their needs, like case studies, webinars, or whitepapers. - Personalize your messages
Use LinkedIn profiles, CRM data, or recent activity to tailor your outreach. Make every message relevant to the recipient’s role or goals. - Keep it consistent
Align your LinkedIn and email messaging so they reinforce each other. If you reference a case study on LinkedIn, expand on it in your email. - Track and adjust
Monitor open rates, engagement metrics, and responses to refine your approach. For example, if LinkedIn messages get more traction, lean into that channel for initial outreach.
Key errors to avoid for ABM success
Even the best tools can backfire if not used correctly. To make LinkedIn and email work for your ABM strategy, steer clear of these common pitfalls:
- Too many messages
Sending back-to-back messages can overwhelm prospects. Instead of messaging daily, wait 3–5 days between touchpoints. - Generic outreach
Messages that lack personalization won’t grab attention. Replace “We’d love to connect” with “Hi [Name], I saw your recent post on [topic]—it aligns with challenges we’ve helped others solve.” - Wrong targets
Engaging accounts that aren’t a good fit wastes time. E.g. Focus on accounts within your industry and role, like tech leaders if your product solves IT challenges. - Skipping useful content
Failing to offer value makes outreach forgettable. Sharing a whitepaper or a case study with prospects can go a long way.
Case study: Demandbase
Combining LinkedIn and email delivers real results when done right. Here’s how one company used this approach to supercharge their ABM strategy and achieved a 75% increase in deal size:
- Smart targeting: They used LinkedIn to identify key decision-makers in their target accounts and build initial connections.
- Personalized follow-ups: After engaging on LinkedIn, they followed up with tailored emails that aligned with the prospect’s role and needs.
- Value-driven content: Demandbase shared case studies and insights that resonated with their audience, keeping prospects engaged at every touchpoint.
This simple process helped them turn cold accounts into warm leads and close larger deals faster.
Why this strategy works
The numbers don’t lie — combining LinkedIn and email isn’t just smart, it’s proven to deliver stronger results. Here’s why this strategy works so well:
- Better leads:
- LinkedIn reports having over 180 million senior-level influencers and 65 million decision-makers on its platform.
- Higher response rates:
- LinkedIn InMail messages have an average response rate between 18% and 25%, significantly higher than the 3% average for cold emails.
- Better engagement with content:
- LinkedIn is the top platform for B2B marketers, with 94% using it to distribute content, indicating its effectiveness in engaging decision-makers.
- Measurable ROI:
- Companies integrating LinkedIn and email into their ABM strategies have reported up to a 40% increase in pipeline efficiency and larger deal sizes, as demonstrated by Demandbase’s success.
- Faster results:
- Coordinated outreach across multiple channels can reduce sales cycles by 30%, providing a competitive advantage in closing deals faster.
What’s your next step?
ABM works not only with a clear plan but with the right channels. Having LinkedIn + email in your strategy helps you connect with the right decision-makers and engage in real conversations — getting you better results, faster deals, and stronger ROI.
If you need help with that, reach out to us. At Column, we’ll help you create a strategy that fits your goals.
