Running email and LinkedIn side by side usually means twice the work: two lists, two sets of copy, two tools and two inboxes. It does not have to. In SimpleSend, one list and one brief can feed both channels, the research behind them is shared, and each channel runs on its own safe schedule. This piece covers how a LinkedIn campaign is shaped, the pacing that keeps your account safe, how to bring in a Sales Navigator search, how to order the two channels, how replies work, and what it costs.
One list, one brief, two channels
Start with the list. A contact with both a work email and a LinkedIn profile URL can be reached either way. Find Leads results come with LinkedIn URLs, and you can find work emails for the people you plan to email. A Sales Navigator import (below) brings in profiles you can enrich with emails the same way. A CSV works too: email campaigns need first_name, company and email, while LinkedIn campaigns only need linkedin_url.
Then write the brief once and save it. When you set up the LinkedIn campaign, load the same saved brief (switch on the option to show briefs from other channels if you saved it on an email campaign). The business half carries over: what you sell, who it is for, your value props and your CTA. The steps are shaped for LinkedIn, but the substance comes from the same place.
The research is shared too. SimpleSend keeps each company's research for 30 days and reuses it across campaigns. Give the LinkedIn campaign the same research targets as the email campaign and the company findings come back free. The LinkedIn side adds a light pass on each person's own recent activity, so a note can mention what they posted, not only what their company did.
What a LinkedIn campaign looks like
LinkedIn campaigns run from your own LinkedIn account. You connect it once in the web app. Your sign-in goes to our LinkedIn automation partner (listed in our Privacy Policy), which carries out each action from your account on SimpleSend's schedule. Every campaign has the same shape:
- An opener. A connection request with a note of up to 300 characters, or an InMail. People who cannot receive an InMail get your connection note instead.
- Optional warm-up. A profile visit or a like on a recent post before the invite goes out.
- Up to eight steps after they accept. Messages, post likes or profile visits, each with its own delay.
- Nudges while the invite is pending. Up to two (a post like and a profile visit), so you stay visible without messaging someone who has not accepted.
- Auto-withdraw. If they have not accepted when the acceptance window closes, the invite is withdrawn so pending requests never pile up.
Each message step is either a template or a per-person draft. Templates use merge tags such as {{first_name}} plus your own CSV columns, cost no credits, and suit short, simple touches. Per-person drafts are written by SimpleSend from research on that person and their company, the same way it drafts email. Mixing works well: a drafted connection note and first message, then a short templated follow-up later on.
Pacing and account safety
LinkedIn watches for activity that moves faster than a person would. SimpleSend's defaults are set to look like a busy, careful human:
| Setting | Default | Range or note |
|---|---|---|
| Connection requests | 25 a day | 1 to 80 |
| InMails | 20 a day | Up to 50 |
| Quiet hours | Nothing between 10pm and 7am | In your time zone |
| Acceptance checks | 14 days after each invite | Then auto-withdraw, if it is on |
| Gap between messages | 3 days | Adjustable per step |
| LinkedIn actions | 9,000 a month per seat | Included with the add-on |
Actions run one at a time, never in bursts. If a seat uses up its month's LinkedIn actions, sending pauses and picks up again when the month turns. Start at the default, watch your acceptance rate for a week or two, and only then think about raising the cap.
Email keeps its own rhythm: 25 sends per mailbox a day by default, weekdays from 8am to 5pm in each mailbox's time zone, from warmed mailboxes on domains registered in your name. The Email Sequences page covers that side, and the LinkedIn Outreach page covers this one.
Bringing in a Sales Navigator search
If you prospect in Sales Navigator, there is nothing to export. With the LinkedIn add-on, paste the URL of a Sales Navigator search or lead list (a regular LinkedIn people search works too), choose 250, 500 or 1,000 profiles, and SimpleSend imports them into a saved list through your connected account. The import uses LinkedIn actions from your seat rather than credits, and shows the estimate before it starts.
LinkedIn does not hand over emails or phone numbers, so the import brings in profiles only. To email the same people, select them in the list and find their work emails with Find Leads enrichment: 10 credits per email found, and nothing for the ones it cannot find.
Ordering the two channels
Using both channels is the easy decision. The real question is the order. Three patterns cover most teams:
| Pattern | How it runs | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Email first, LinkedIn for the quiet ones | Run the email sequence. People who finish it without replying (filter the sequence's leads to Finished) get a connection request that builds on the same research. | Larger lists with verified emails |
| Connect first, then email | Send connection requests (a profile visit first, if you like) and keep LinkedIn to the invite. A few days later the email sequence starts for everyone, accepted or not. | Senior buyers and short account lists |
| Both at once, lightly | Email runs as normal. LinkedIn adds a profile visit and a connection request with a short note around the second email. | A handful of high-value accounts |
Whichever you choose, keep the story consistent and do not repeat yourself word for word. The LinkedIn note should read like the same person following up, not like a second campaign that has never heard of the first.
Two inboxes, one rule
Email replies land in the Inbox under Sequences, labelled by intent (Interested, Wants a meeting, Not now and so on), with Draft with AI for two suggested replies. LinkedIn replies land in the LinkedIn inbox, where you read and answer them in the app. There are no AI reply drafts in the LinkedIn inbox, so you write those replies yourself. If you work in Claude, the SimpleSend connector can read your LinkedIn inbox and send a reply once you approve the text.
Each channel stops itself when someone answers there. An email reply stops that person's email follow-ups, and a LinkedIn reply ends their LinkedIn steps. Replying to someone by hand in the LinkedIn inbox ends their automated steps too. What does not happen is a reply in one channel stopping the other.
So the rule is simple: check both inboxes every day, and when someone answers in one channel, take them out of the other. In an email sequence, each live lead has a Stop button. On LinkedIn, once you are connected, a short reply from the LinkedIn inbox ends that person's remaining steps. This is also the best argument for staggering the channels instead of stacking them: email first, then LinkedIn for the people who finished without replying, never touches someone who already answered.
What it costs
The LinkedIn Outreach add-on costs $80/mo on either plan, or $80 per seat on Teams. It includes 9,000 LinkedIn actions a month per seat, which is what sending, Sales Navigator imports and inbox reads spend. LinkedIn actions are not credits.
Credits only come in when SimpleSend researches or writes:
- Template steps: no credits.
- Per-person drafted touches: 2, 4 or 8 credits per touch (Standard, Premium or Enhance), plus 2 credits of person research per contact.
- Company research targets: 5 credits per target per company, reused free for 30 days. Planning adds 5 credits per target, once per campaign.
A worked example: a connection note and two messages, drafted on Standard, cost 3 × 2 + 2 = 8 credits per contact. For 200 people that is 1,600 credits. Add 10 credits to plan two research targets, plus company research only for companies your email campaign has not already researched in the last 30 days.
Email sending is separate. It is included on Pro (1 sending domain and 3 warmed Google inboxes) and on every Teams seat (1 domain and 3 inboxes per seat), and on Individual it is the Email Sending add-on at $49.99/mo plus domains and mailboxes at the standard rates. Sending email uses no credits either.
A first run that keeps the work single
- Build one list of 100 to 200 people with both work emails and LinkedIn URLs.
- Save one brief with your offer, your proof and two research targets.
- Draft the email campaign and launch it as a sequence.
- When the sequence finishes, start a LinkedIn campaign for the people who finished without replying, loading the same brief and the same research targets.
- Check both inboxes daily, and stop anyone in one channel who has answered in the other.
That is one list, one brief, one round of research and two channels, with nothing written twice. It is also what multichannel should feel like to the buyer: one person following up with care, not two campaigns that do not know about each other.
Frequently asked questions
Further reading: LinkedIn Outreach, Email Sequences and sending cold email from SimpleSend. Defaults described here are SimpleSend's as of October 2026.