Cold outreach
Contacting people who don't know you yet: on LinkedIn, by invite, message, or InMail. Still alive in 2026, but only the researched kind survives inbox saturation.
Start with a specific audience and an evidenced reason to talk. Review previous interactions and exclusions before choosing a channel. Judge the campaign with observed outcomes and a clear denominator rather than assuming that higher volume or personalization alone will produce replies.
In practice
Explain a concrete reason to contact one reviewed prospect and make one clear, proportionate request.
What to check
First-degree status, a public profile, or a purchased list does not itself establish interest in a sales pitch. Respect recorded opt-outs.
Use it in LinkedBoost
- get_person_interaction_history
Inspect a person's recorded events, messages, planned sends, and active enrollments.
- mark_person
Set a person's qualification state or do-not-contact flag.
Related terms
- Personalization
- Making a message specific to its recipient. In 2026 the word covers two opposite things: merge-variable insertion (template personalization) and research-based writing (actual personalization).
- Warm path
- A route to a prospect through something you already share: a mutual connection, common employer or school, a customer in common, or a thread you both engaged in.