TL;DR: The subtle pre-touch strategy
A reliable way to use endorsements is as a soft pre-touch before outreach—then measure the lift over the next 2–4 weeks.
Short Answer: Use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn automations to find and queue prospects with one relevant skill to endorse. Keep the actual endorsement click human. You endorse one relevant skill, wait for the skill endorsement notifications to trigger, comment on a recent post to build familiarity, and then send a short message 2–3 days later.
This human-led approach builds familiarity that increases response likelihood. Track acceptance and reply-rate lift against a control list to validate the method in your pipeline.
Why cold messages get ignored (and how endorsements fix it)
Familiarity is a common reason cold messages get ignored.
People are more likely to respond to a name they’ve seen in notifications—endorsements create that recognition. Endorsing someone’s skills creates a subtle “nudge” that sets up warmer first messages.
Endorsements create three distinct advantages for social selling:
- Quick familiarity: Your name appears in their skill endorsement notifications, making you recognizable before you attempt outreach.
- Demonstrates respect: Acknowledging someone’s professional abilities shows you took the time to review their profile rather than endorsing indiscriminately.
- Lowers resistance: When you endorse skills, prospects see you as someone who recognizes their expertise, adding credibility to your profile, not just another salesperson pitching a product.
What’s the safe endorsement playbook (who, when, and how)?
Keep skill endorsements relevant to your ideal customer profile (ICP).
To add credibility, tie the endorsement to abilities that match their role and your value proposition. For example, if you sell sales enablement software, endorse “Sales Leadership” or “Team Development” on VP profiles. This alignment shows you understand their world.
Strategic targeting:
Focus your endorsements on decision-makers in your target audience who are active on LinkedIn.
- Align with solutions: If you sell marketing automation, endorse “Marketing Strategy” for CMOs, not “Public Speaking.”
- Connection tiers: Start with 1st-degree contacts, then extend to high-priority 2nd/3rd-degree prospects.
Execution rule: When you endorse skills on LinkedIn, view the LinkedIn profile first to confirm relevance. Endorse only one skill per person to keep it genuine, and log the action in your CRM. Avoid mass-endorsing multiple skills. It looks automated and reduces trust. Keep it to one relevant skill per person.
Who should you target first?
Filter your prospect list by role, industry, and company size to match your ICP.
Before you endorse a skill, confirm it appears in their top skills section or shows up in recent activity, like posts or articles. Skills listed prominently signal what they want to be recognized for professionally.
Target prospects strategically using these filters:
- Avoid junior roles: If you sell to leadership, endorsing a junior analyst will not help you reach the decision-maker.
- Skip inactive profiles: Users with no posts for 90+ days are unlikely to see the notification or respond to your effort.
- Align the skill: Ensure the skills relevant to your offer connect naturally to the pain point you solve, so your later message makes sense.
When should you time the endorsement?
A reliable window to endorse is within 24–48 hours after activity.
Look for natural moments, like new content, job changes, or when they accept your connection request. These LinkedIn profile updates mean they are actively checking notifications and are more likely to notice your endorsement.
Space your touches to maintain authenticity:
- Endorse within 24–48 hours: Act quickly after their recent activity to ride the wave of their current visibility.
- Separate the endorsement: Do not pair the endorsement and the message on the same day, as it feels calculated and pushy.
- Space touches 2–3 days apart: Give them time to see the notification to build familiarity without overwhelming their alerts.
The 3-touch micro-sequence that warms replies
This sequence warms up cold outreach.
The strategy works like this: endorse one relevant skill, leave a short, genuine comment on a recent post, and then send a concise message 2–3 days later. Each touch builds on the last, creating recognition before you ask for anything.
Here is the timeline that builds familiarity:
| Day | Action | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Profile view + endorse skills (1 relevant skill) | Get on their radar through skill endorsement notifications. |
| Day 2–3 | Comment 1–2 sentences on a recent post | Show genuine interest and expertise. |
| Day 4–5 | Send a short, personalized connection note | Convert familiarity into a conversation. |
What templates can you reuse?
Use these templates as starting points and adjust them to fit each prospect’s specific context.
- Comment: “Loved your point on [topic]. We are seeing the same trend with [brief insight].” Comments typically drive more reach than likes—use a short, relevant comment.
- Connection note: “Noticed your work in [area]. I’ve endorsed your skills on LinkedIn for [skill]—would love to follow your posts.” Personalized connection requests generally outperform generic ones. Track your own baseline over 2–4 weeks.
- First DM: “Thanks for connecting, [Name]. Your post on [topic] hit home. If helpful, I can share a quick benchmark on how similar teams handle [challenge].”
- Soft follow-up: “Quick nudge, want me to send that 2-slide benchmark?”
Guardrails to keep your account healthy
Stay human and moderate in your LinkedIn endorsements.
Quality beats volume in building professional relationships. LinkedIn’s systems monitor patterns. Spreading endorsements across the day and keeping actions varied protects your LinkedIn account from restrictions.
LinkedIn doesn’t publish official limits. Start with 5–10 per rep, spread across the day, and adjust based on account health and policy compliance.
| Limit type | Recommendation | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Daily endorsements | 5–10 per rep, spread across the day | Mimics natural user behavior. |
| Skills per person | Endorse only 1 skill per person | Prevents appearing automated. |
| Profile review | Always view the profile first | Confirms relevance and adds a human touch. |
Warning signs: Watch for sudden visibility drops in who is viewing your profile or skill endorsement notifications appearing delayed. These indicate LinkedIn may be throttling your account. If you see action blocks, pause all endorsement activity for 48–72 hours.
Scale with a human-in-the-loop workflow
Use automation for preparation, but keep the endorsement human. Always follow LinkedIn’s User Agreement and avoid automating actions that should be human.
Use PhantomBuster’s automations to find and queue the right people; keep the actual endorsement click human (the plus sign next to the skill). This approach protects account health while saving about 5–10 minutes per rep per day on list building and research.
The workflow:
Build a repeatable process that combines automation for efficiency with human judgment for authenticity.
- List building: Use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn and Sales Navigator automations to export 10–15 ICP profiles from your saved searches each day.
- Assignment: Assign 5–10 endorsements per rep based on their capacity.
- Tracking: Log each touch in your CRM as “Endorsed [skill]” and trigger timed follow-up tasks for comments and messages.
What’s the daily checklist (about 10 minutes per rep)?
Each rep can complete this routine in about 10 minutes per day.
- Open your daily list showing 10–15 ICP prospects with one relevant skill identified for each.
- View each LinkedIn profile for 30–60 seconds to confirm fit and gather context.
- Endorse one relevant skill that aligns with your value proposition (check the endorsements section).
- Add a short comment if there is a recent post worth engaging with.
- Log “Endorsed [skill name]” in your CRM contact record.
- Schedule a connection note or message task for 2–3 days from now.
Run this with PhantomBuster (example workflow)
PhantomBuster’s automations supply your daily candidate list, enrich skills data, and speed up message drafting. You review and execute the actual endorsements and outreach.
Step 1: Build your daily candidate list and surface relevant skills
Use PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn and Sales Navigator automations to extract ICP profiles from your saved searches. These automations pull profile data, including current role, company, and skills section details. You can further enrich these leads and extract data like their top skills, and add a “Recommended Skill to Endorse” column to your spreadsheet based on relevance.
Refine your workflow with these optional steps:
- Filter by recent activity: Prioritize prospects who have posted or changed jobs in the past 30 days.
- Sync to CRM: Export via CSV or connect through integrations (e.g., Zapier, Make, webhooks) to push cleaned lists into your CRM.
- Create a queue: Build a daily “Endorsement Queue” view in your CRM that shows only profiles ready for outreach.
Step 2: Generate short messages and send after the pre-touch
Use PhantomBuster’s AI-assisted drafting to generate 200–300 character notes that reference their recent post or the skill you endorsed. The AI pulls context from their LinkedIn profile to personalize each message.
For connection requests, configure PhantomBuster’s LinkedIn Outreach automation conservatively. LinkedIn doesn’t publish official limits—start low, monitor account health, and follow platform policies.
Conclusion
Use this playbook to warm up cold outreach and improve reply rates. Start small with 5 daily endorsements tied to your ICP, track acceptance lifts over two weeks, and scale with human-in-the-loop automation.
Start a free 14-day PhantomBuster trial and set up your first queue in about 10 minutes.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Does endorsing skills really help with reply rates?
Endorsements create familiarity before your first message. Teams often see higher acceptance and faster first replies—validate this by A/B testing your outreach for 2–4 weeks. Track reply rates and meetings booked to measure real pipeline impact.
How many endorsements per day are safe?
Start with 5–10 endorsements per rep per day, spaced across work hours. LinkedIn doesn’t publish official limits—monitor account health and adjust. Keep it natural by always reviewing the LinkedIn profile first and endorsing skills that genuinely match their role and accomplishments.
Should I endorse if we are not connected yet?
Yes—2nd/3rd-degree contacts may still see the notification depending on their settings. You can endorse 1st degree connections easily. Use it as a pre-touch and measure acceptance lift on your own data.
What if a prospect has no obvious skills to endorse?
Skip them. Wait for a new post or job update that gives you a better opening. Do not force an endorsement of an irrelevant skill; relevance matters more than volume when building credibility.
Can I automate the endorsement click?
Don’t automate the endorsement click. Use PhantomBuster’s automations to build lists, enrich profile data, and draft messages—keep the final click human. Always follow LinkedIn’s User Agreement to maintain authenticity and platform compliance.
How do I measure if this works?
Track the lift. Compare connection acceptance rates and reply rates with and without the endorsement pre-touch over 2–4 weeks. Track meetings booked per 100 prospects contacted to measure real pipeline impact, not just activity metrics.
How can managers roll this out across a team?
Create an SOP. Build a short SOP document with the 3-touch sequence and daily checklist. Set a daily target of 5–10 endorsements per rep, add a CRM field labeled “Endorsed” to track completion, and review the weekly lift in connection acceptance and reply rates in your team meetings.
What if someone calls it out as fake?
Be honest. Apologize for any awkwardness and move on. Use it as a signal to tighten your targeting criteria and stick to endorsing specific skills that are clearly tied to their current role and visible accomplishments on their profile.
Should I mention the endorsement in my message?
Only if natural. Only mention it if it adds context to your outreach. The endorsement exists to create familiarity within their notifications. Your message should focus on their priorities and the value you provide.
What is a good follow-up if there is no recent post to comment on?
Focus on the skill. Skip the comment step in the sequence. Endorse one relevant skill, wait 2–3 days, then send a short value-first note tied to their role or recent company news.