Surfe vs Lemlist: Which is the best LinkedIn Chrome extension?

Sales is 80% science and 20% art. And the best sales scientists depend on the right tools to experiment, identify, and execute the highest performing sales strategies.

And since 60% of CRM users are using LinkedIn to capture and nurture leads, you find yourself here, wondering which of the two most renowned tools in that space is best suited for your business.

Those two tools are Surfe and Lemlist. Both connect LinkedIn to the CRM, both Paris, France based start-ups, and both are changing the day-to-day of the sales process.

Each stands out in its own way though, with Surfe having a data focus and Lemlist on outreach.

We’ll go through the respective tool’s in some detail and highlight what sets each apart as well as discussing pricing so that you can better decide which tool is best for your business.

What is Surfe?

Surfe is your go-to tool for connecting LinkedIn with your CRM, making your sales process smoother and more efficient. At its core, Surfe uses a Chrome extension to bridge LinkedIn and your CRM, ensuring seamless data integration. This means you can add LinkedIn contacts to your CRM with just one click, keeping all your sales information in one place without the hassle of manual data entry.

One of Surfe’s standout features is its email finder, powered by a waterfall enrichment cascade. Surfe’s email finder for LinkedIn sequentially searches multiple databases to find and verify email addresses, ensuring high accuracy and reducing bounce rates. But that’s just the beginning. Surfe also allows you to export lists from LinkedIn Sales Navigator directly into your CRM, saving you countless hours of manual work.

Surfe goes a step further by automatically updating your CRM data when contacts change jobs or positions, so you’re always working with the latest information. It also syncs LinkedIn messages to your CRM and lets you use personalized message templates for LinkedIn and InMails, making your outreach more personalized and effective.

What is Lemlist?

Lemlist is an email outreach platform designed to help you connect with leads in a highly personalized and efficient way. At its core, Lemlist focuses on transforming email outreach into an engaging and effective process, making it easier for you to build relationships and close deals.

Lemlist helps you build the perfect lead list. With access to a database of over 450 million contacts, you can use advanced filters to find and verify email addresses. Alternatively, you can pull information directly from LinkedIn profiles using Lemlist’s Chrome extension, ensuring you have accurate and up-to-date contact details.

Lemlist is renowned for email personalization and automation. It offers a variety of email templates with proven high open rates and even AI assistance to write your first draft, trained on over 400 million emails. You can add unique personalized touches at scale, such as automatically embedding a recipient’s LinkedIn profile picture into your emails, making each message feel tailor-made.

Lemlist also goes the extra mile to make sure your outreach lands in the inbox, not in the spam. It sends emails from your account to other verified Lemlist users behind the scenes, enhancing your email domain’s credibility with providers like Google. They also stagger email sends to mimic human behavior, reducing the likelihood of triggering spam filters.

Comparing Surfe with Lemlist

To see which tool could find the most accurate email addresses, we put Surfe and Lemlist to the test by searching for the same 100 email addresses using each tool. The 100 contacts we enriched were a mix of SMBs, startups, and big corp from around the world but with a focus on EU and North America. We also only counted validated emails as a successful find and discounted any catchall email addresses.

Here’s how they both performed:

Surfe

Surfe’s email finder deploys a waterfall enrichment cascade that, rather than depending on one database, searches sequentially through the top databases globally to improve find rates.

Email addresses are also validated through ZeroBounce to ensure your outreach lands in the right inbox.

Of course, finding the email address is only part of the puzzle – what you do with the data is key. Surfe automatically searches for these contact details when you add a LinkedIn contact to your CRM, export a Sales Navigator List, or update data that has changed in your CRM. It then automatically migrates the email address into your CRM so that the search itself and the CRM management are all done in the background, while you focus on selling.

In our test, Surfe achieved a 95% find rate.

Lemlist

Lemlist is designed to supercharge your email outreach by making it easy to find and verify email addresses (and then use those emails in personalized and automated outreach flows). With a database of over 450 million contacts, Lemlist allows you to build the perfect lead list using advanced filters or by pulling information directly from LinkedIn profiles via its Chrome extension.

On the email outreach front, you can choose from proven high open-rate templates or use AI to draft your emails, adding personalized touches like embedding a recipient’s LinkedIn profile picture.

Lemlist also includes features to keep your emails out of the spam folder. It uses a deliverability tool that sends emails from your account to other verified Lemlist users, enhancing your domain’s credibility with email providers like Google.

In our study, Lemlist achieved an 88% find rate.

Who has the best email finder?

If email find rate and keeping your CRM updated is your priority, Surfe comes out on top. The 95% find rate combined with the fact that the data is automatically migrated to your CRM makes the process ultra smooth.

But if you’re looking for a tool that takes those emails and creates outreach campaigns that are AI-powered, ultra-personalized, and generate high-reply rates, Lemlist is the king of outreach.

How Surfe and Lemlist connect to LinkedIn

Surfe

Surfe’s foundation was in connecting LinkedIn to CRM, so it’s no surprise they excel in this area. Here’s a quick run down of some of their most popular LinkedIn features:

1. Add LinkedIn contacts to your CRM in one click:
   • When you visit a LinkedIn profile, simply hit ‘Add as Contact’ and all of the LinkedIn contacts data will be migrated to your CRM without you having to switch tabs or do any manual data entry.
2. Sales Navigator List Exports:
   • Bulk Data Handling: Similar to adding contacts from their profiles, you can export lead lists in bulk from LinkedIn Sales Navigator directly into your CRM.
   • Automated Enrichment: Surfe enriches the exported data, so you’ll also have the contact’s email address when you need it too.
3. Real-Time Data Updates:
   • Dynamic CRM Updates: Surfe keeps your CRM data current by automatically updating contact details when there are changes, such as company moves or position changes.
   • LinkedIn Message Syncing: Surfe syncs your LinkedIn messages to your CRM, allowing you to track and manage all communications in one place.
4. Personalized Outreach:
   • Message Templates: Surfe provides personalized message templates for LinkedIn and InMails, helping you craft customized outreach messages quickly and effectively.

Lemlist

Lemlist also offers comprehensive LinkedIn integration, focusing on enhancing your outreach efforts. Here’s how Lemlist integrates with LinkedIn:

1. Lead Generation:
   • Lemlist’s Chrome extension allows you to pull contact information directly from LinkedIn profiles and Sales Navigator into Lemlist.
2. Automated Follow-Ups:
   • Multi-Channel Sequences: Lemlist allows you to create automated multi-channel sequences that include LinkedIn messages, emails, and even calls. This ensures a consistent and persistent outreach strategy.
   • Personalized Content: Lemlist’s tools help you personalize your LinkedIn messages with dynamic content to increase engagement rates.
   • Voice Notes and Messages: You can send personalized LinkedIn voice notes and messages directly through Lemlist, making your outreach more engaging and interactive.

As you see, Surfe is again ahead here on data whereas Lemlist is ahead on outreach.

Cost and Pricing

• Surfe: Surfe has three pricing plans, ranging from free to €79/mo.
• Lemlist: Lemlist has four pricing plans, ranging from €32/mo to €159/mo.

Let’s Wrap It Up!

Choosing between Surfe and Lemlist ultimately depends on your specific needs and priorities. If you value a high email find rate and seamless CRM integration, Surfe stands out with its 95% find rate and automated data migration features. It’s the perfect choice for sales teams looking to keep their CRM data accurate and up-to-date effortlessly.

On the other hand, if your focus is on creating highly personalized and automated outreach campaigns, Lemlist excels with its advanced personalization features and multi-channel sequences. With an 88% find rate and robust LinkedIn integration, Lemlist is ideal for teams aiming to engage prospects with tailored messages and follow-ups.

Both tools offer unique strengths, so consider what aspects of your sales strategy need the most support. Whether it’s data accuracy with Surfe or outreach effectiveness with Lemlist, both platforms can significantly enhance your sales efforts and help you connect with leads more effectively.

There’s a reason we use both tools. 😉