You have found the right person on LinkedIn. The title fits, the company fits, and the profile says they are open to hearing about what you do. Now you need an email address, because a LinkedIn message will sit unread next to forty others and a cold email will not.

There are four ways to get from a LinkedIn profile to a verified work email. They range from free and slow to one click and paid. This article walks through all four, then covers the step most people skip: making sure the address is real before you send to it.

Method 1: Check the contact info tab

Every LinkedIn profile has a "Contact info" link under the headline. Click it and you see whatever the person chose to share: sometimes an email, more often a website and a LinkedIn URL. For first-degree connections, LinkedIn shows the email they signed up with.

This works for a small share of profiles and returns whatever address the person typed years ago, which may be personal or dead. It costs nothing, so try it first for a single high-value contact. It is not a method for building a list.

Method 2: Use a LinkedIn email finder Chrome extension

This is the fastest route when you are already looking at the profile. Install an extension, open the profile, and click the button. The extension reads the name and company from the page, looks the person up, and shows the email in a panel without leaving LinkedIn.

The LeadVector Chrome extension does this for a verified work email and a direct mobile phone number. Each lookup searches multiple data providers in real time and verifies the address against the mail server before it is shown, so what you reveal is safe to send to. A credit is used only when a verified email comes back, and the contact can be saved to a list or added to a sequence from the same panel.

Other extensions in this category work the same way with different data and pricing. We compared ten of them in The best Chrome extensions to find contact data from LinkedIn.

Use it when you research accounts one profile at a time and want the email while you are there.

Method 3: Use an email finder with the name and company domain

If you are not on LinkedIn, or you have a list of names already, an email finder takes a full name and a company domain and returns the address. The domain is the part after the @ in the company's email, usually the same as its website.

Give the LeadVector Email Finder "Emily Turner" and "lumenanalytics.com" and it searches its providers, verifies the result, and returns the address with a verification status. Because the input is a name and a domain rather than a LinkedIn page, it works for anyone whose company you know, whether or not you found them on LinkedIn.

This is also the method behind most bulk tools. Paste a LinkedIn profile URL instead of a name and the finder resolves the profile first.

Use it when you have names and companies from an event list, a CRM export, or a spreadsheet.

Method 4: Look up a whole list at once

When you have hundreds of profiles, opening each one is the wrong shape of work. A bulk finder takes a CSV or XLSX with names and domains, or a column of LinkedIn URLs, and returns a column of verified emails.

Bulk Search runs any LeadVector data job across a spreadsheet: map the columns, start the job, and export the results with verification status on every row. From there the list can go straight into a campaign.

Use it when you are building a list of more than a few dozen contacts.

What about guessing the email format?

A common shortcut is to work out a company's email pattern, such as first.last@company.com, and guess. Sometimes it works. Often it does not, and you only find out when the email bounces.

Bounces are the problem. Mail providers count them against your sending domain, and a bounce rate above a few percent lands the rest of your emails in spam. Guessing is fine for one address you will verify before sending. It is a bad way to build a list.

Verify before you send

Whichever method found the address, run it through a verifier before it goes into a sequence. The LeadVector Email Verifier resolves the domain's mail records, detects the provider, and performs a live SMTP check, then returns one of three results:

Valid: the mailbox exists. Send.
Catch-all: the domain accepts mail for any address, so the server cannot confirm this one. Decide case by case.
Invalid: the mailbox does not exist. Do not send.

Addresses found through the LeadVector extension or Email Finder arrive already verified. Addresses from the contact info tab, a guess, or a purchased list do not.

Putting it together

For one contact: check the contact info tab, then use the extension. For a list you are building while you browse: the extension, saving each contact to a list. For a spreadsheet: Bulk Search. In every case, verify before you send, and send from a warmed mailbox.

Frequently asked questions

Can I find someone's email from LinkedIn for free?

Yes, within limits. The contact info tab is free. Most email finder extensions, including LeadVector's, have a free plan with monthly credits and no card required.

Is it legal to find business emails from LinkedIn?

In most jurisdictions, using a business email address to contact someone about their professional role is lawful under legitimate interest, provided you honour opt-outs and handle the data properly. Read the vendor's privacy policy for where the data comes from and how it is stored. This is not legal advice.

Does the extension work on LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

The LeadVector extension works on LinkedIn profiles, LinkedIn company pages, and company websites. Paste a Sales Navigator profile's public URL into the app or Bulk Search for the same result.

What if no email is found?

Then you are not charged. Try the mobile number instead, or find a colleague at the same company through the company page and ask for an introduction.