If you're serious about outbound sales or marketing on LinkedIn, you already know how easy it is to lose track of what’s actually working. Maybe your team logs everything in a spreadsheet, or maybe you’re crossing your fingers that your CRM is accurate. Either way, it’s messy, and you’re probably missing key insights that could save you a lot of wasted effort.
This is for anyone who’s using LinkedIn as a big part of their go-to-market (GTM) motion—especially if you want real answers, not just “feel-good” metrics. We’ll dig into how to track your LinkedIn outreach performance in Surfe, avoid the usual traps, and actually get something useful from your data, not just more dashboards.
Why Bother Tracking LinkedIn Outreach—And Why Most People Get It Wrong
Let’s be honest: Most sales teams “track” LinkedIn outreach by guessing, or by copying and pasting activity into a CRM after the fact. That’s a recipe for garbage data. If you don’t know which messages and tactics are landing, you can’t double down on what works. And if your CRM is full of holes, you’ll end up making decisions based on wishful thinking.
Surfe (formerly Leadjet) promises to bridge the gap between LinkedIn and your CRM, letting you track outreach in real time and see how it actually impacts your pipeline. In practice, it’s not magic—but it does get you a lot closer to the truth if you use it right.
Step 1: Set Up Surfe to Capture the Right Data
Before you get excited about tracking, make sure Surfe is set up correctly. If you skip this, you’ll miss important context later.
Connect Surfe to Your CRM
- Surfe works with CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive.
- Double-check you’ve connected the right CRM account (not your sandbox or a personal account).
- Make sure you have permission to write data to your CRM.
Pro tip: If you’re on a trial or free plan, check which features are included. Not all integrations are created equal.
Map LinkedIn Data to CRM Fields
- Decide which LinkedIn activities you want to track (messages sent, connection requests, replies, notes, etc.).
- Use Surfe’s field mapping to connect those activities to specific CRM fields.
- Keep it simple: Don’t map every LinkedIn detail if your team won’t use it later. Focus on message date, content, sender, and response.
Set Up Custom Properties (Optional, but Helpful)
If your team experiments a lot (different message templates, campaigns, or value props), create custom fields in your CRM to tag outreach. This lets you slice the data later and see what’s actually working—not just who got a reply.
Step 2: Actually Track Outreach—Not Just Connections
This is where most teams get lazy. Tracking outreach isn’t just about counting new connections. It’s about understanding the full conversation flow.
Use Surfe’s Chrome Extension on Every Outreach
- Make sure everyone on your team uses the Surfe extension when messaging prospects.
- Log every relevant action—don’t leave it for “later.” If it’s not logged at the time, it probably never will be.
Record Key Touchpoints
What’s worth tracking? - Message sent (with template or custom note) - Connection request (and whether it was accepted) - Replies (positive, negative, or neutral) - Follow-ups (and their outcome)
Skip: Tracking “likes” or profile views. They’re vanity metrics and don’t predict pipeline.
Tag Outreach by Campaign or Play
If you’re running more than one type of outreach, make it easy to filter later: - Use Surfe’s tagging feature or add a hashtag in your CRM note (“#WebinarInvite” or “#VPOutreach”). - This small step saves you hours when you want to compare performance across campaigns.
Step 3: Sync Everything to Your CRM Without Creating a Mess
CRMs are only helpful if the data is clean. Surfe lets you push LinkedIn activity into your CRM, but here’s what to watch out for:
Avoid Duplicates
- Before creating a new contact, always check if they already exist in the CRM.
- Surfe usually prompts you if there’s an existing record, but don’t blindly click “Create.”
- Merge duplicates right away—don’t put it off for “later.”
Attach LinkedIn Messages to the Right CRM Object
- For sales: Attach messages to the right Opportunity or Deal, not just the Contact.
- For marketing: Attach to Campaigns if your CRM supports it.
This way, you can see LinkedIn’s actual impact on real pipeline, not just a list of conversations.
Don’t Over-automate
Surfe offers auto-sync features. Use them, but don’t let them run wild. Review what’s synced at least weekly to catch errors early. Auto-syncing junk data is worse than not tracking at all.
Step 4: Measure What Matters—And Ignore the Noise
Everyone loves a big dashboard, but most outreach metrics don’t actually help you improve. Here’s what to track (and what to skip):
Key Metrics Worth Watching
- Response Rate: Out of all messages sent, how many got a real reply?
- Positive Reply Rate: Out of replies, how many show genuine interest (“Let’s talk” vs. “Not interested”)?
- Conversion to Meeting or Demo: How many conversations led to a booked call?
- Pipeline Created: How much real pipeline (in dollars or deals) came from LinkedIn outreach?
- Win Rate: Which outreach campaigns actually closed deals?
Ignore These (Seriously)
- Total messages sent (unless you’re managing for activity, not results)
- Connection acceptance rate (it’s nice, but not the end goal)
- Profile views, likes, endorsements—none of these move pipeline
Pro tip: Don’t obsess over “open rates” for LinkedIn messages. You can’t reliably measure them, and they don’t matter if nobody replies.
Step 5: Review and Adjust—Don’t Just Report
This is where most teams drop the ball. They build a fancy report, then forget to act on it. Don’t just celebrate a high response rate—dig into why it’s high (or low).
Hold a Monthly Review (Yes, Actually Do It)
- Look at the outreach data in your CRM, filtered by campaign or tag.
- Compare which message templates, sequences, or target segments performed best.
- Ask: What’s different about the top performers? Is it timing, offer, or audience?
Kill What Isn’t Working
- If a message template flops for four weeks straight, stop using it.
- If a target segment never replies, focus elsewhere.
- Don’t be afraid to cut deadweight campaigns—even if you spent hours writing them.
Share Real Insights (Not Just Numbers)
- Flag the 2-3 biggest takeaways for the team. Don’t drown them in data.
- Example: “Personalized invites to VPs in SaaS got a 3x higher reply rate than generic messages last month.”
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What Works
- Clear, simple tracking with Surfe mapped to real CRM fields
- Tagging outreach by campaign or message type
- Focusing on replies and real pipeline—not just activity
What Doesn’t
- Overcomplicating your setup with too many custom fields
- Relying on auto-sync without spot checks
- Tracking vanity metrics like profile views
What to Ignore
- Any metric you can’t turn into an action
- Data you’re not willing to review regularly
- “Growth hacks” that promise shortcuts (they rarely last)
Keep It Simple and Iterate
You don’t need a perfect setup from day one. Start by tracking the basics, see what you learn, and adjust. Don’t get sucked into tweaking dashboards for hours—focus on what actually moves deals forward. If you’re using LinkedIn as a key GTM channel, getting your tracking dialed in with Surfe can save you time, arguments, and a lot of guesswork. Just remember: clean data beats fancy tools every time.