Having access to someone’s email address can be very useful for networking and growing your professional connections on LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn doesn’t make email addresses publicly visible in order to protect the privacy of its users. While you can’t simply view or extract email addresses from LinkedIn profiles, there are a few creative strategies you can use to try to obtain someone’s email address indirectly through LinkedIn.
Search for the person’s email format
Many people use a common email address format across multiple platforms and websites. For example, someone may use [email protected] for their work email and [email protected] for personal email. If you know the person’s name and company, you may be able to guess or extrapolate their likely email address format even without seeing their actual email listed. Search for patterns and conventions in other email addresses listed on their LinkedIn profile to identify the format they likely use for their main email address.
Look for the email address in the profile content
Some LinkedIn users include their email addresses within the content and text of their profiles, such as in the contact info section, summary section, or experience descriptions. Carefully scan through the profile content to see if the email address is visible anywhere within the text, keeping an eye out for email patterns like [email protected]. This method requires thoroughly reading the profile but can reveal email addresses unintentionally left public by the user.
Check their other social media profiles
Most people maintain similar username conventions across multiple social networks and websites. So you may be able to find the person’s email address listed publicly on another social media platform like Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Review their other public social media profiles to see if the email is provided there. You can also try searching for their name and company email domain on Google to uncover any relevant results.
Use Rapportive or ConnectSignal
Browser extensions like Rapportive and ConnectSignal link your email account contacts to their social media profiles, including LinkedIn. If you have ever emailed someone, these tools might be able to surface their LinkedIn profile and email address for you. Install the Rapportive or ConnectSignal extension for your web browser, connect your email account, and search for the person to see if their email surfaces through your existing email contacts.
Ask for an email introduction through a mutual connection
If you and the person share any 1st-degree LinkedIn connections, you can request that the mutual connection formally introduce you over email. Many people are happy to facilitate introductions, allowing you to establish contact and obtain the person’s email address from the email introduction itself. This method works best when you already know the mutual connection personally and can make a compelling case for why the introduction would be beneficial.
Connect with them and request contact info
Sending a LinkedIn connection request allows you to include a custom note inviting them to connect. In the connection note, you can directly ask the person to exchange contact information like email addresses. Many people are open to sharing their professional email address when there is a legitimate networking purpose behind the request. Just keep the initial outreach friendly, transparent and relationship-focused.
Find their email address through enrichment tools
Several software tools like Clearbit, RocketReach, and VoilaNorbert enrich LinkedIn profile data with advanced contact information like personal email addresses. These tools scan public profiles and cross-reference the data against business databases to find corresponding email addresses. While not free, these tools can provide the email when you only have a name and company to start with.
Join groups and follow their activity
Participating in the same LinkedIn groups and following the person’s activity within those groups can reveal their email address over time. For example, if they post discussion comments that include a signature or make other public posts that mention their email. Actively engaging with groups they are in gives more touchpoints to uncover the email organically.
Upgrade to a premium LinkedIn account
LinkedIn Premium accounts allow you to view the full list of people who have viewed your profile. Some users include their email addresses in the name field when viewing profiles of people they want to connect with. Upgrading to Premium and checking your viewer list can sometimes surface emails of people who have viewed you. However, this method is hit or miss based on whether the viewer provides an email when browsing anonymously.
Quick tips for obtaining someone’s email address from LinkedIn:
- Scan their profile content for any place they may have included the actual email
- Try guessing their likely email format based on name and company
- Look for the email address on their other public social media profiles
- Use tools like Rapportive or ConnectSignal that link email contacts to LinkedIn
- Request an email introduction through a mutual connection
- Directly ask for the email when sending a connection invitation
- Use email enrichment services like Clearbit or RocketReach to uncover emails
- Engage with them in LinkedIn groups where they may publicly post it
- Upgrade to Premium and check profiles that have viewed you for emails
Creative ways to obtain someone’s email address through LinkedIn
If you want to get someone’s email address from their LinkedIn profile, here are some creative ideas you can try beyond the obvious methods:
Leverage your existing network
Check to see if you are connected to anyone who is connected to your target person on LinkedIn. You can ask mutual connections for an email introduction, which will reveal the person’s email. You can also look for the target person’s email in email threads involving mutual connections.
Search public listings and directories
Many company websites list employee emails publicly. Search the company website directory, or use a data provider like Clearbit, RocketReach, or Hunter to find published work emails tied to the person’s name and company.
Make an educated guess
Use clues like the format of group email addresses or their customized LinkedIn URL to hypothesize their likely email convention. For example, if their LinkedIn URL is linkedin.com/in/johnsmith, their email may be [email protected].
Reference their social media bios
Check About or Contact sections of their Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or website profiles. A surprisingly high number of people list their emails publicly on social media profiles.
Look for newsletter or mailing list subscriptions
Some company newsletters and mailing lists include the recipient’s full name and email address. Search their name on Google to see if any relevant subscriptions come up.
Check community forums and groups
For prolific social media users, look for any public forums or LinkedIn groups they actively participate in where they may have shared their email organically in comments or discussions.
Research any published works
If they have authored any publications, research papers, or articles online, see if an email address is provided anywhere in the text or contact section.
Use Premium search filters
LinkedIn Premium lets you search by mutual connections at companies. Filter for 2nd degree connections at the person’s company who may have their work email in their profiles.
Ethical ways to obtain someone’s email address
When trying to obtain someone’s personal email address through LinkedIn or other means online, it’s important to do so in an ethical manner that respects their privacy and professional courtesy norms. Here are some ethical practices to follow:
- Only seek out email addresses for legitimate professional reasons, not just to collect private data for no purpose.
- Be transparent in your outreach by clearly stating who you are and your reason for requesting their email.
- Make any requests for an email introduction through official channels or mutual connections rather than going around protocols.
- Send connection requests individually rather than spamming bulk connection invites to try to obtain emails.
- If someone denies a connection request, respect their decision and do not harass them for an email.
- Do not try to hack, crack, or steal someone’s email through unauthorized means.
- Limit your search for public professional emails to standard search engines and tools rather than personal databases.
- Abide by the terms of service of any apps or sites used to obtain contact data like email addresses.
The best practice is to be upfront and honest when asking someone directly for their email, rather than trying to obtain it through backdoor methods. Make sure you have a legitimate use for their email and gain consent before adding them to any marketing lists.
How to extract emails at scale from LinkedIn
While you can only view a few email addresses at a time on LinkedIn manually, there are methods to extract email addresses from LinkedIn at scale for marketing outreach campaigns. Some popular techniques include:
Browser extensions
Extensions like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Clearbit Connect install right in your browser and enrich LinkedIn profile data with email addresses as you browse. This allows extracting emails automatically while searching LinkedIn.
Email scraping tools
Scraping software like Phantombuster, Parsehub, and ScrapeHero can crawl through LinkedIn and extract email addresses and other key data from profiles at scale for outbound use.
Enrichment APIs
Many vendors like Sellhack, Lusha, and Apollo offer developer APIs to enrich limited LinkedIn data with augmented information like email addresses, phone numbers, and other contact details.
Outbound sales platforms
All-in-one tools like Outreach and Salesloft integrate with LinkedIn and can identify and extract email address data automatically for importing into external sales workflows.
Custom scripts and bots
Self-service options like Python scripts and Selenium bots allow programmatically extracting email addresses from LinkedIn by automating login processes and profile scraping.
Outsourced data enrichment
Services like EmailFinder and RocketReach offer outsourced business intelligence to find and deliver email addresses at scale from LinkedIn based on name and company parameters.
The key when extracting emails from LinkedIn is having proper consent, avoiding spam, and complying with LinkedIn’s terms of service around acceptable use of their data.
Conclusion
While LinkedIn intentionally limits public access to user email addresses, there are still creative methods to obtain someone’s email through their LinkedIn presence indirectly. Focus on leveraging existing connections, professional transparency, and public data sources to secure emails for productive networking opportunities. With persistence and some out-of-the-box thinking, you can acquire the emails you need ethically without violating LinkedIn’s policies.