You've set up a LinkedIn Sales Navigator account to drive targeted prospecting efforts for your business. But when you check your outreach capabilities, you're shocked to discover you're limited to just 50 InMails per month—a frustrating bottleneck for any serious sales professional.

These tight restrictions are draining your momentum without allowing you to reach the volume of leads needed for consistent conversions. Seeing that $100+ monthly subscription deliver such limited outreach capability is disheartening, especially when you've carefully built your prospecting strategy around LinkedIn's powerful data source.

You start wondering if there's any way around this limitation, or if you should just accept that "paying like a 100 euro(?) a month for 30 inmails is just ridiculous," as one frustrated user put it on Reddit.

The good news? There's a simple solution to regain control over your outreach and stop those arbitrary limits from constraining your sales potential.

By strategically combining email finder extensions, multi-channel outreach sequences, and select automation tools, you can leverage LinkedIn's robust contact data while bypassing its InMail limitations altogether—often with better results.

The InMail Dilemma: Why You Need an Alternative Strategy

First, let's understand exactly what we're working with. LinkedIn offers InMail credits based on your subscription level:

• Premium Career: 5 InMails/month

• Premium Business: 15 InMails/month

• Sales Navigator Core: 50 InMails/month

These credits expire after 90 days, and despite what some might hope, there are no official "unlimited InMail" plans available. Additional credits can be purchased, but as many users point out, the cost quickly becomes prohibitive for high-volume outreach.

But here's what many sales professionals are discovering: InMails might not even be your most effective outreach channel. As one Sales Navigator user candidly admitted, "I don't find a lot of value in inMails tho."

The effectiveness debate around InMails centers on a few key factors:

• They exist within LinkedIn's walled garden rather than in a prospect's primary communication channel (email)

• They're often associated with sales pitches, making prospects wary

• Personalization is harder to scale compared to well-designed email sequences

While some may believe that "cold outreach without Sales Nav is a bit dangerous and pointless," the reality is that Sales Navigator's true value lies in its powerful search and list building capabilities—not necessarily in its InMail feature.

Strategy 1: Find Their Real Inbox with Email Finder Extensions

Instead of sending limited, expensive InMails, what if you could find your prospect's professional email and contact them directly? This approach transforms Sales Navigator from an outreach channel into what it does best—a powerful data source for lead generation.

Here are three powerful email finder extensions that integrate with LinkedIn and Sales Navigator to help you bypass InMail limits:

Hunter.io Email Finder

Hunter.io is a trusted email finder with over 700,000 users and a stellar 4.7/5 rating. Its Chrome extension finds email addresses from anywhere on the web with a single click.

Key features include:

• Domain Search: Find all emails associated with a company domain

• Confidence scores showing how reliable each email address is

• CRM integration with Salesforce and HubSpot for seamless workflow

• Free tier with 25 searches per month

When browsing LinkedIn profiles with the Hunter extension installed, you'll see a small button that reveals the contact's email address when possible, allowing you to build your outreach list without using a single InMail.

GetProspect LinkedIn Email Finder

GetProspect specializes in bulk extraction of email addresses from LinkedIn profiles, making it perfect for Sales Navigator users who want to export leads in volume.

What makes GetProspect particularly valuable:

• Works with both basic LinkedIn search and Sales Navigator

• Exports leads to CSV with verified emails and phone numbers

• Safely extracts up to 800 leads per day from basic search and 1,800 from Sales Navigator

• Free tier with 50 email searches per month

Using GetProspect is straightforward:

1. Install the Chrome extension

2. Use filters on LinkedIn or Sales Navigator to find your ideal prospects

3. Click the GetProspect button to save profiles to your lead list

4. Export your lead list with emails and phone numbers as CSV

5. Import into your CRM for outreach

Emailchaser

Specifically recommended by LinkedIn users facing InMail limitations, Emailchaser is another popular option for exporting leads with email addresses directly from Sales Navigator.

As one user directly advised: "It's better to use an extension like Emailchaser to export leads with their email addresses from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, then send these leads personalized cold emails."

Strategy 2: Go Beyond LinkedIn: Building a Multi-Channel Outreach Sequence

Once you've gathered your prospects' real contact data using email finder extensions, it's time to build a multi-channel outreach sequence that's far more powerful than relying on InMails alone.

Multi-channel outreach means using a strategic combination of different communication channels (LinkedIn, email, phone) to connect with prospects. According to Reply.io's research, this approach delivers several key benefits:

• Greater reach by meeting prospects on their preferred channels

• Increased engagement through multiple touchpoints

• Better targeting based on channel-specific behaviors

• Enhanced prospect experience through varied communications

Here's a blueprint for a simple yet effective multi-channel sequence that leverages both LinkedIn and email:

Day 1: View the prospect's LinkedIn profile (a silent but noticeable touchpoint)

Day 2: Send a personalized connection request on LinkedIn

Hi [First Name], I noticed we're both in the [industry/interest] space. I'd love to connect and learn more about your work at [Company]

Day 4 (if connection accepted): Send a brief follow-up message on LinkedIn

Thanks for connecting, [First Name]! I'm curious - what's been your biggest challenge with [relevant topic] lately

Day 4 (if connection not accepted): Send personalized Email 1

Subject: Quick question about [relevant topic] at [Company]

Hi [First Name],

I came across your profile while researching leaders in [industry] and was particularly impressed by your work on [specific project or accomplishment].

I'm reaching out because [1-2 sentences on why you're contacting them and the value you might offer].

Would you be open to a quick 15-minute call next week to discuss [specific topic]?

Best regards,
[Your Name]

Day 7: Send Email 2 (follow-up)

Subject: Re: Quick question about [relevant topic] at [Company]

Hi [First Name],

I wanted to follow up on my previous email about [brief reminder of topic]. 

[Add a valuable insight or resource relevant to their specific situation]

Does this resonate with the challenges you're facing at [Company]?

Best,
[Your Name]

Day 10: Engage with their content on LinkedIn (like/comment) + Send Email 3

Subject: Re: Quick question about [relevant topic] at [Company]

Hi [First Name],

I recently came across [mention something they posted or an industry development] and it made me think of our previous conversation.

[Brief value statement or insight]

I'm available next week if you'd like to discuss this further. What does your calendar look like on Tuesday or Thursday?

Best,
[Your Name]

This sequence strategically uses LinkedIn for initial connection and engagement, while leveraging email for more substantive outreach - all without relying on a single InMail. The approach recognizes that LinkedIn is an excellent platform for warming up prospects and building familiarity, while email provides a more flexible medium for detailed communication.

For transactional selling situations where you need to reach many leads, this multi-channel approach can be scaled to hundreds or thousands of prospects - something that would be impossible with InMail limits and prohibitively expensive with InMail credit purchases.

Strategy 3: Scale Smartly with Automation Tools

To truly bypass InMail limits and scale your outreach, you'll need to automate parts of your multi-channel sequence. However, automation requires careful consideration of LinkedIn's rules, which brings us to an important warning from one Reddit user: "Dude you better not try to act smart with LinkedIn if you care about your profile. LinkedIn is very strict when it comes to 3rd party tools they may ban you forever."

This is absolutely valid - LinkedIn does monitor for automation and can restrict or ban accounts that violate their terms. That's why it's crucial to choose tools that prioritize account safety and compliance. Here are some recommended tools that help you scale while respecting LinkedIn's guidelines:

For Email Finding & List Building

Evaboot: A specialized tool for extracting leads from Sales Navigator and finding verified emails. Pricing starts at $9/month for 100 credits and scales up to $99/month for 4000 credits. Evaboot combines powerful scrapping profiles capabilities with safety features to protect your LinkedIn account.

For Multi-Channel Automation

LaGrowthMachine: Offers integrated automation across LinkedIn, email, and Twitter with advanced personalization. Starting at €60/month, it's designed for serious sales teams looking to create sophisticated outreach campaigns based on real data gathered from prospects. LaGrowthMachine excels at creating natural engagement patterns that don't trigger LinkedIn's automation detection.

Expandi: Focused on combining LinkedIn engagement with cold email outreach. At $99/month, it provides cloud-based automation that mimics human behavior patterns to keep your account safe. Expandi is particularly strong at managing connection requests and follow-ups.

For Cold Emailing

Lemlist: A powerful cold outreach email tool with LinkedIn integration features. Starting from $39/month, Lemlist specializes in highly personalized emails that convert better than generic InMails. Lemlist includes features like automated follow-ups, A/B testing, and performance analytics to continuously improve your outreach results.

For LinkedIn-Specific Automation

Octopus CRM: Focuses on bulk message sending and connection request automation at an affordable $9.99/month. While it doesn't handle email, it's excellent for managing the LinkedIn component of your multi-channel strategy. Octopus CRM can automate profile views, connection requests, and messaging to warm up prospects before transitioning them to email.

For CRM Integration

Hublead: Synchronizes your prospects with HubSpot CRM to create a seamless workflow between LinkedIn prospecting and email outreach. Starting at $30/month, it eliminates manual data entry and ensures your contact data stays current across platforms. Hublead helps maintain accurate prospect records without the tedious export/import process.

Staying Safe: Compliance and LinkedIn's Rules

While automation tools can dramatically scale your outreach beyond InMail limits, they must be used responsibly to protect your LinkedIn account and maintain professional standards. Here are critical safety guidelines based on research from Evaboot's blog:

LinkedIn Daily Safety Limits

To avoid triggering LinkedIn's automated security systems, stay below these thresholds:

• Daily Connection Requests: Keep under 200 (ideally 100 or fewer)

• Daily Messages: Stay below 150 (ideally 50-75)

• Daily Profile Visits: Keep under 150

Best Practices for Safe Automation

1. Ramp up gradually: Start with small numbers and slowly increase activity over weeks.

2. Maintain human patterns: Avoid perfectly consistent timing between actions.

3. Use business hours: Schedule activities during normal working hours in your time zone.

4. Personalize everything: Avoid generic templates that look like spam.

5. Choose tools with safety features: Look for "slow mode," random delays, and activity caps.

Email Marketing Compliance

When moving your outreach from InMails to email, you must comply with regulations like GDPR (Europe) and CAN-SPAM (US):

1. Include your physical address in every email

2. Provide a clear unsubscribe option in every message

3. Honor opt-out requests promptly

4. Use clear, non-deceptive subject lines

5. Identify messages as advertisements when applicable

Conclusion: Beyond InMail Limits to Scalable Outreach

Moving beyond LinkedIn's InMail limits isn't just about finding technical workarounds—it's about building a more resilient, effective, and scalable lead generation system.

By implementing these three core strategies, you can transform your outreach from a limited, expensive InMail approach to a sophisticated multi-channel system:

1. Find emails with browser extensions to gain direct access to prospects without InMail credits

2. Build multi-channel sequences that leverage LinkedIn for warming up prospects and email for conversion

3. Automate safely with tools that respect both LinkedIn's rules and email marketing regulations

Remember that Sales Navigator's true value lies in its powerful search and prospecting capabilities as a data source—not in its limited InMail feature. By extracting email addresses through extensions like Hunter.io, GetProspect, or Emailchaser, you can leverage Sales Navigator's excellent contact data while communicating through more flexible, scalable channels.

What's your current approach to LinkedIn outreach? Have you tried any of these strategies to overcome InMail limitations? Consider testing one tool or technique from this article to see how it impacts your response rates and overall sales pipeline.

As one satisfied Reddit user noted after switching from InMails to email outreach: "My response rates have actually increased since I moved away from InMail. Most prospects check their email more regularly than LinkedIn messages anyway." It's time to break free from arbitrary platform limitations and build an outreach strategy that scales with your ambition.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I send more than 50 InMails on Sales Navigator?

You cannot directly send more than the 50 InMails allotted to a Sales Navigator Core account, and there are no "unlimited" plans. The best strategy is to bypass this limit by using Sales Navigator to find prospects and then using email finder tools like Hunter.io or GetProspect to obtain their professional email addresses for outreach. This allows you to send a virtually unlimited number of emails, moving your communication to a more scalable channel.

Is it better to send an InMail or an email for outreach?

For most sales outreach, sending a personalized email is often more effective than an InMail. Emails land in a prospect's primary inbox, are easier to personalize at scale, and are less associated with generic sales pitches. While InMails have their place, a multi-channel approach that uses LinkedIn for initial connection and email for substantive conversation typically yields higher engagement and response rates.

What is the best way to find a prospect's email from LinkedIn?

The most efficient way to find a prospect's email from their LinkedIn profile is by using a dedicated email finder browser extension. Tools like GetProspect, Hunter.io, and Emailchaser integrate directly with your browser. When you're on a profile, you can activate the extension to find and verify the person's professional email address, allowing you to add them to your outreach sequence without using an InMail credit.

Can my LinkedIn account get banned for using automation tools?

Yes, your LinkedIn account can be restricted or permanently banned if you use automation tools irresponsibly. To stay safe, choose reputable tools that mimic human behavior, always warm up your account by starting with low activity levels, and strictly adhere to daily safety limits for profile visits, connection requests, and messages.

What are the daily limits for safe LinkedIn automation?

To avoid triggering LinkedIn's security algorithms, you should stay within conservative daily limits. A safe best practice is to keep your activity under 100 connection requests, 75 messages, and 150 profile visits per day. It is also crucial to randomize the timing between actions and schedule your outreach during normal business hours to appear more natural.

Why should I use a multi-channel outreach strategy instead of just InMails?

A multi-channel outreach strategy is more effective because it creates multiple touchpoints and engages prospects on their preferred platforms. By combining LinkedIn profile views, connection requests, and email, you "warm up" leads before sending a direct pitch. This approach makes your outreach feel more personalized and less intrusive, which significantly increases the likelihood of getting a positive response compared to relying solely on LinkedIn's crowded InMail system.