What's up, it's Zayd.

"Email just doesn't work. People don't respond. The deliverability is shit. It's not worth the effort, the time, the maintenance, and the wrestling of what it takes on a mass scale."

That's a direct quote from one of our customers. He's not alone—I'm seeing a massive shift away from email outbound across companies of all sizes.

The data is impossible to ignore: LinkedIn is delivering 3x better response rates than email while requiring less maintenance, better deliverability, and higher-quality conversations.

This week, I'm breaking down why email outreach is dying and how LinkedIn became the clear winner for B2B sales.

Forwarded this email? Get Enabled in your inbox each week.

Zayd’s Picks

My favorite finds of the week.

• Why your cold emails are landing in spam (link)

• Your cold emails should make people feel good (link)

• Don’t sell through users to get buyers (link)

• Habits that lead to PMF with founder-led sales (link)

• The traditional outbound playbook is dead (link)

The Great Email Exodus

I've talked to hundreds of sales leaders this year, and the same story keeps coming up: teams are quietly abandoning email outreach. It's a gradual realization that email simply doesn't deliver the ROI it used to.

• Email response rates: 2% (and dropping)

• LinkedIn response rates: 6-10%

• Email deliverability: Constantly declining

• LinkedIn deliverability: Built into the platform

As one customer told us: "I've got probably 700 to 1000 people in different cadences and they're great cadences... But email is just, you know, personalization is great, but if the person doesn't spend 90 seconds to read it, what's the point?"

Why Email Is Failing

The problems with email outreach have compounded over the last few years:

Deliverability Nightmare

• Inbox providers getting stricter

• Spam filters more sophisticated

• Domain reputation increasingly fragile

• Constant technical maintenance required

Invisible Outreach

• Most emails never reach the inbox

• No way to know if messages are being read

• Easy to ignore or auto-filter

• Lacks social context

Commoditized Channel

• Everyone uses email for outreach

• Prospects expect and filter sales emails

• Difficult to stand out

• Associated with spam and interruption

LinkedIn: The Professional Context Advantage

LinkedIn fundamentally changes the outreach dynamic because it's built for professional networking.

Built-in Professional Context 

When someone receives a LinkedIn message, they can immediately see:

• Your professional background

• Mutual connections

• Company information

• Professional activity and posts

This context makes the interaction feel more legitimate and less like spam.

Higher Engagement Rates 

Our customers consistently report response rates of 6-10% on LinkedIn vs 2% on email. But it's not just about the numbers—it's about the quality of responses.

As one customer shared: "I wish I knew how successful LinkedIn outreach would be. It's not something I was super focused on previously... knowing that I am actually landing in someone's inbox, not in spam, really gives me some peace of mind."

The Social Selling Shift

The most successful sales teams are treating LinkedIn as a social selling platform, not just another outreach channel.

Relationship Building

• Prospects can see your thought leadership content

• Mutual connections provide warm introductions

• Ongoing engagement through likes and comments

• Profile serves as dynamic sales collateral

Natural Conversation Flow LinkedIn feels like professional networking because that's exactly what it is. Messages feel less intrusive and more collaborative.

One customer explained their approach: "LinkedIn is essentially like a social selling channel and what it allows us to stand out a little bit."

The Tool Stack Reality

Here's what's happening in most sales organizations:

Before:

• Multiple email tools

• Deliverability monitoring

• Domain management

• Technical maintenance

• Still poor results

After:

• Single LinkedIn-focused platform

• Built-in deliverability

• No technical overhead

• Better response rates

• Higher quality conversations

As one sales leader told us: "Valley seems to have booked us more meetings than anything else that we're using right now aside from cold calling."

The LinkedIn Advantage: Real Results

Let me share some actual data from our customers:

Response Rate Comparison:

• Email: 2% average response rate

• LinkedIn: 6-10% average response rate

• Quality of responses: LinkedIn wins decisively

Deliverability:

• Email: Requires constant monitoring and maintenance

• LinkedIn: Built into the platform infrastructure

Personalization Effectiveness: LinkedIn's rich profile data enables deeper personalization than most email databases provide.

Why Smart Teams Are Making the Switch

The decision to prioritize LinkedIn over email isn't just about response rates—it's about resource allocation.

Time Investment:

• Email: High maintenance, declining returns

• LinkedIn: Lower maintenance, increasing returns

Quality of Conversations:

• Email: Often feel like interruptions

• LinkedIn: Feel like professional networking

Scalability:

• Email: Limited by deliverability constraints

• LinkedIn: Built for professional communication

The Future Is Social

I keep pushing back our email functionality at Valley because LinkedIn performance is so strong.

"We keep pushing it back further and further because we're like, let's just keep doubling down into our LinkedIn functionality. Let's do likes, comments, sort of multi-sequence in-mail connect message sequences."

The data supports this decision. When one channel is delivering 3x better results, you double down on what's working.

What This Means for Your Team

If you're still heavily invested in email outreach, it's time to reassess:

Audit Your Current Performance:

• What are your actual email response rates?

• How much time do you spend on deliverability issues?

• What's your cost per qualified meeting by channel?

Test LinkedIn Systematically:

• Start with your best prospects

• Measure response rates and quality

• Track time investment required

• Compare ROI across channels

Plan Your Migration:

• Don't abandon email overnight

• Gradually shift resources to LinkedIn

• Train your team on social selling

• Invest in LinkedIn-focused tools

The Channel That Actually Works

Here's the reality: prospects are on LinkedIn for professional purposes. They expect to receive relevant business communications there.

Email inboxes are battlegrounds. LinkedIn is a networking platform.

The teams that recognize this shift early will have a significant advantage in the coming years.

Check out Valley’s messaging here

How Can I Help?

Let me book sales calls for you while you’re optimizing your LinkedIn strategy. Seriously.

I built Valley to be your automated SDR and empower AEs. Get started today and watch your calendar fill up with qualified leads.

How can we work together 🏔️

1. See more of Valley’s messaging examples, feel free to roast them: https://joinvalley.notion.site/
   

2. Generate more demos for your company using LinkedIn: https://meetings.hubspot.com/zayd-from-valley/tryvalley
   

3. Become a Valley partner and get 20% recurring commission for every user you bring in: https://withvalley.notion.site/valley-affiliate-partner-program