Cold Email vs LinkedIn Message Reddit

The debate over 'Cold Email vs LinkedIn' is a constant on Reddit. One camp swears by email deliverability and scale, while the other points to LinkedIn's high engagement and direct access.

Most teams pick a side and go all-in. That made sense in 2018. In 2025, it's a guaranteed way to fail. Relying on a single channel makes you easy to ignore. Your prospects are inundated on all fronts; a single email is noise, and a single InMail is easily archived.

The question isn't which channel is 'better.' The question is how to orchestrate them into a single, coherent conversation. The modern outbound playbook isn't about choosing email or LinkedIn; it's about using email and LinkedIn, powered by an infrastructure that can handle it without getting your domains burned or your accounts restricted.

The typical approach you see debated is fundamentally broken because it treats channels as independent tactics, not as part of an integrated system.

One team buys a list, loads it into a simple mail merge tool using one inbox, and blasts thousands of emails. Within a week, their open rates plummet, their domain is on a blocklist, and they're wondering why cold email is 'dead'.

Another team uses a Chrome extension to automate 100 LinkedIn connection requests a day from the founder's account. They get a few bites, but then LinkedIn flags the activity and restricts the account. Their lead flow instantly drops to zero.

In both cases, the failure isn't the channel. It's the lack of infrastructure and strategy. They're treating outbound like a lottery ticket instead of an engineering problem.

Effective outbound teams in 2025 don't think in channels; they think in sequences. The goal is to create a series of logical, escalating touchpoints that feel personal but are executed at scale.

A modern sequence looks like this:

1. Day 1: Automated LinkedIn profile view. (A light, passive touch.)
2. Day 2: Send a connection request with a short, non-pitchy note.
3. Day 4 (if connected): Send a follow-up LinkedIn message.
4. Day 4 (if not connected): Send the first cold email. This email now has context; they may have seen your profile view or connection request.
5. Day 7: Send a second email, referencing a different value prop.

This approach surrounds the prospect without being annoying. But it's impossible to manage manually. More importantly, the email steps are useless if they land in spam. The success of the entire multi-channel system depends on the reliability of your email sending infrastructure—your domains, inboxes, warmup, and rotation.

Jumping straight into a complex, 15-step multi-channel sequence is a recipe for disaster. A phased rollout is smarter.

Phase 1: Stabilize Your Email Infrastructure.

Before you do anything else, get your email house in order. Buy dedicated sending domains, set up multiple inboxes, configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and begin the warmup process. You cannot build a reliable outbound system on a shaky foundation. If you can't guarantee your emails land in the primary inbox, nothing else matters.

Phase 2: Build a Simple, Coordinated Sequence.

Start with a basic two-channel sequence: Email -> LinkedIn -> Email. Connect your accounts to a platform that can manage the logic. The goal is to prove you can orchestrate the touches and unify the replies. If someone replies on LinkedIn, your system must be smart enough to automatically pause the email steps.

Phase 3: Measure the System, Not the Step.

Stop obsessing over email open rates or LinkedIn connection rates in isolation. Measure the meeting book rate for the entire sequence. Is the LinkedIn step actually contributing to more meetings, or is it just noise? Use this system-level data to optimize timing, messaging, and channel mix.

You cannot run a professional multi-channel strategy with a handful of disconnected Chrome extensions and a messy Zapier workflow. It's brittle, unscalable, and impossible to troubleshoot.

Your CRM isn't the answer, either. CRMs are systems of record, not outbound execution engines. Sending high-volume cold outreach through your CRM is a great way to jeopardize the deliverability of your primary corporate domain, affecting transactional emails to actual customers.

SuperSend is built as the dedicated outbound execution and infra layer that sits alongside your CRM and data tools. We manage the domain rotation, inbox warmup, and multi-channel sequence logic so your team can focus on writing good copy and talking to prospects.

The next logical step is to understand the patterns that work. Explore our library of proven multi-channel sequence templates to see how this infrastructure-first approach translates into real-world campaigns.