You found the perfect prospect on LinkedIn. Now you need their email. Here’s every method that actually works — and a few you should avoid.
Most people think LinkedIn is just for connecting.
But here’s the thing…
LinkedIn is the best prospecting database on the planet — if you know how to use it.
The problem? You find your ideal prospect, you’re ready to reach out, and then… you’re stuck. You don’t have their email. And LinkedIn’s InMail feels like shouting into a void.
I’ve sent millions of outbound messages over the last 15+ years. And I can tell you — getting someone’s actual email address is often the difference between a conversation and crickets.
So let me walk you through every method I’ve used (and seen my clients use) to find someone’s email from LinkedIn.
Method 1: Check Their LinkedIn Profile Directly
This sounds obvious, but most people skip it.
LinkedIn actually has a Contact Info section on every profile. Here’s how to access it:
- Go to their profile
- Click “Contact info” (it’s right below their headline, near the connection count)
- Look for an email address listed there
The catch? They have to be a 1st-degree connection for you to see it. And even then, not everyone lists their email.
But you’d be surprised how many people do.
If you’re not connected yet, that’s where a great LinkedIn connection message comes in. Connect first, then check their contact info.
Method 2: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator
If you’re doing outreach seriously, you probably already have Sales Navigator.
Here’s what most people miss: Sales Navigator gives you way more data points to work with, even if it doesn’t hand you the email directly.
What you can get:
– Company name and size
– Job title and role
– Location
– Recent activity and posts
Why that matters: with a company name and a first/last name, you can find almost anyone’s email using the tools I’ll cover next.
Sales Navigator is the prospecting engine. The email tools below are the last mile.
Method 3: Email Finder Tools
This is where it gets powerful.
These tools take a name + company and find (or verify) their business email address. Here are the ones that actually work:
| Tool | How It Works | Free Tier | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo.io | Massive B2B database, integrates with LinkedIn | 50 credits/month | High |
| Hunter.io | Domain search + email finder | 25 searches/month | High |
| RocketReach | Email + phone lookup | 5 lookups/month | High |
| Snov.io | Email finder + drip campaigns | 50 credits/month | Medium-High |
| Lusha | Chrome extension, works on LinkedIn | 5 credits/month | High |
| ContactOut | Chrome extension built for LinkedIn | 40 credits/month | High |
My recommendation? Start with Apollo.io.
It has the largest database, a generous free tier, and it integrates directly with LinkedIn. You can literally browse LinkedIn, click a button, and get the email.
Method 4: Chrome Extensions (The Fastest Way)
If you’re prospecting on LinkedIn daily, a Chrome extension is the most efficient method.
Here’s how it works: you install the extension, visit a LinkedIn profile, and it shows you the email right there. No switching tabs, no manual lookups.
Best Chrome extensions for finding emails on LinkedIn:
- Apollo.io extension — Shows email + phone right on the LinkedIn profile. My personal go-to.
- ContactOut — Built specifically for LinkedIn. Shows personal and work emails.
- Lusha — Clean interface, good accuracy, also shows phone numbers.
- Hunter.io extension — Finds all emails associated with a domain.
- Skrapp — Lightweight, focused specifically on LinkedIn email finding.
Pro tip: Don’t rely on just one tool. Different tools have different databases. If Apollo doesn’t find an email, try ContactOut or Hunter. Between two tools, you’ll find 80-90% of the emails you need.
Method 5: The Email Pattern Method
Sometimes the tools come up empty. That’s when you go manual.
Here’s the thing most people don’t realize: most companies use a predictable email format.
The most common patterns:
[email protected](most common for small companies)[email protected](most common for mid-size+)[email protected](e.g., [email protected])[email protected][email protected]
How to figure out the pattern:
- Go to Hunter.io and search the company’s domain
- It’ll show you the email pattern used at that company
- Apply the pattern to your prospect’s name
- Verify the email before sending (more on that below)
This works surprisingly well. Especially for larger companies where the pattern is consistent across hundreds of employees.
Method 6: Google It
I know, I know. But hear me out.
Try searching:
"John Smith" "company.com" email"John Smith" company emailsite:company.com "John Smith"
People’s emails end up in all kinds of places — conference speaker bios, press releases, PDF documents, old blog posts, GitHub profiles, forum posts.
It takes 30 seconds. And it works more often than you’d think.
Method 7: Check Their Other Social Profiles
LinkedIn isn’t the only place your prospect lives online.
Check their:
– Twitter/X bio — Many people list their email
– Personal website or blog — Usually has a contact page
– GitHub profile — Developers often have their email public
– Company website team page — Sometimes lists direct emails
– Podcast appearances — Show notes often include guest contact info
I’ve found emails in the weirdest places. A prospect’s email was listed in the bio of a podcast episode from 2019. Took me 60 seconds to find it.
Always Verify Before You Send
This is the step most people skip. And it’s the step that matters most.
Sending emails to invalid addresses kills your deliverability. Your bounce rate goes up, your sender reputation goes down, and suddenly all your emails — even to valid addresses — start landing in spam.
Email verification tools:
- NeverBounce — Fast, accurate, bulk verification
- ZeroBounce — Great accuracy, also detects catch-all domains
- MillionVerifier — Cheapest option for bulk verification
- EmailListVerify — Good budget option
Rule of thumb: Never send a cold email to an address you haven’t verified. Period.
Keep your bounce rate under 3%. Above that, you’re damaging your domain.
A Note on Ethics and LinkedIn’s Terms
Let me be real with you here.
LinkedIn doesn’t love it when people scrape emails from their platform. Their terms of service restrict automated data collection.
What this means in practice:
- Don’t use bots to mass-scrape LinkedIn profiles
- Don’t violate LinkedIn’s rate limits (they will restrict your account)
- Using Chrome extensions for one-at-a-time lookups is generally fine
- Third-party databases (Apollo, Hunter, etc.) build their data independently — they’re not scraping LinkedIn directly
The right way to do this: use LinkedIn to identify your prospects, then use third-party tools to find their contact information. That’s standard B2B prospecting practice.
And of course — once you have their email, make sure your outreach is relevant, personalized, and valuable. Nobody minds getting a helpful email. Everyone minds getting spam.
Putting It All Together: My Workflow
Here’s the exact process I use (and teach my clients):
Step 1: Identify prospects on LinkedIn or Sales Navigator
Step 2: Check their LinkedIn contact info (if you’re connected)
Step 3: Run their name + company through Apollo.io
Step 4: If Apollo misses, try Hunter.io domain search + pattern matching
Step 5: Verify the email with NeverBounce or ZeroBounce
Step 6: Add to your cold email follow-up sequence
Step 7: Connect on LinkedIn in parallel for multichannel outreach
This workflow gets me a valid email for 80-90% of prospects I target. The rest I reach via LinkedIn directly using a solid LinkedIn connection message.
Key Takeaways
Finding someone’s email on LinkedIn isn’t hard — it just takes the right tools and a systematic approach.
Here’s the bottom line:
- Start with LinkedIn’s built-in contact info — it’s free and often overlooked
- Use Apollo.io or ContactOut as your primary email finder
- Layer tools — no single tool has 100% coverage
- Always verify before sending — protect your deliverability
- Be ethical — use LinkedIn to identify, third-party tools to find contact info
- Have a plan for what happens next — finding the email is step one. Your outreach strategy is what actually books meetings.
The email is just the door. What you say when you walk through it is what matters.
Want to level up your outreach? Check out our guides on cold email follow-up sequences, outreach strategy, and LinkedIn connection messages.