I Tested 3 Event Outreach Strategies on 704 Prospects. Here's What Actually Worked

Everyone has an opinion about the "best" way to reach out to event attendees. LinkedIn vs. email. Early outreach vs. last-minute. Personalized vs. templated.

I decided to stop guessing and run a real experiment.

For an industry event, I scraped the attendee list, qualified prospects, and systematically tested three different outreach strategies with 704 total contacts.

Spoiler alert: The results surprised me, and they'll probably change how you approach your next event.

(Keep reading to see the full data breakdown, conversion rates, and exact process I used. The results and comparison are at the end.)

The Complete Process: From Scraping to Outreach

Step 1: Extracting Attendee Data

The first challenge was getting the attendee list. Different events make this easier or harder, but for this experiment, I used two main sources:

Event Directory Websites: Using Instant Data Scraper (a Chrome extension), I extracted publicly available attendee information from the event's website. This included:

• Full names

• Job titles + company names (combined)

• Profile text about what they wanted to network about

Luma Events Platform: For events hosted on Luma, Instant Data Scraper pulled:

• Attendee names

• Luma profile URL

The raw export came as a CSV file - messy, unstructured, but workable.

Step 2: Data Cleaning and Enrichment in Clay

Raw event data is almost never usable as-is. I uploaded the CSV to Clay where the real magic happened:

Data Cleaning:

• Separated combined "Title + Company" fields using AI

• Removed prefixes like "Dr." or "PhD" from names

• Split full names into first and last names

• Standardized company name variations

Data Enrichment:

• Found LinkedIn profile URLs using name + company data

• Found company websites using the company name and the LinkedIn URL of the person

• Generated email addresses using multiple providers

• Validated emails to avoid bounces

Additional Research:

• Pulled company information (size, industry, funding)

• Identified company positioning and services

• Found target customer profiles

• Verified B2B vs. B2C business models

• For the luma attendees, used Claygent to go and find the information they had in their profile (some of them had company name, job title, LinkedIn URL, website)

Step 3: Prospect Qualification

Not everyone at an event is worth reaching out to. My qualification criteria:

Role-Based Filtering:

• Founders and C-suite executives

• Marketing leaders (VP, Director, Head of)

• Sales leaders (VP Sales, CRO, Head of Sales)

Company Criteria:

• B2B SaaS companies primarily

• 10-100 employees (sweet spot for my services)

• Not competitors or VCs

• Based in target geographic regions

After qualification, I had 704 high-fit prospects ready for outreach.

Step 4: The Three Outreach Experiments

Here's where it gets interesting. I split my qualified list into three groups and tested different strategies. All of them had the list I created above as a lead magnet.

Strategy 1: Email Outreach (One Month Before)

• When: 30 days before the event

• Channel: Email only

• Number of emails per person: 2

Strategy 2: Email Outreach (Friday Before Event)

• When: Last business day before the event

• Channel: Email only

• Number of emails per person: 1

Strategy 3: LinkedIn Outreach

• When: 2-3 weeks before the event

• Channel: LinkedIn (connection requests + InMails)

• Number of messages per person: 2

The Results: Real Numbers from 704 Outreach Attempts

Alright, here's what you've been waiting for. Let me break down the results for each strategy:

Strategy 1: Email One Month Before Event

Volume:

• 266 emails sent to 133 contacts

• 6 replies (4.4% reply rate)

• 4 positive replies and meetings booked (3% meeting rate)

Key Observation: Every positive reply led to a meeting

Strategy 2: Email Friday Before Event

Volume:

• 422 emails sent

• 9 replies (2.1% reply rate)

• 5 positive replies and meetings booked (1.2% meeting rate)

Key Observations:

• Lower reply rate to one-month timing with a follow-up email

• Also 100% of positive replies led to a meeting

• Some "I'm already booked" responses

Strategy 3: LinkedIn Outreach

Volume:

• 149 connection requests sent → 55 accepted (36.9% acceptance rate)

• 94 direct messages sent to accepted connections → 34 replies (36.2% reply rate)

• 50 InMails sent to non-connections → 1 reply (2% reply rate)

• Total: 35 replies across both approaches

Key Observations:

• Messages to connections had exceptional engagement (36% reply rate)

• InMails were almost completely ineffective (2% reply rate)

• Many conversational replies that didn't lead to meetings

• People more willing to chat on LinkedIn than commit to calls

• InMails are expensive and not worth the cost for event outreach

The Analysis: What These Numbers Actually Mean

Email vs. LinkedIn: The Clear Winner Depends on Your Goal

If you want meetings: Email wins decisively.

• Email reply-to-meeting conversion: ~100%

• LinkedIn reply-to-meeting conversion: ~20-25%

If you want engagement and conversations: LinkedIn messages to connections dominate.

• LinkedIn connection message reply rate: 36.2%

• Email reply rate: 2.2% - 4.4%

• LinkedIn InMail reply rate: 2% (skip these entirely)

The reason? Commitment levels differ by channel.

When someone replies to a cold email about meeting at an event, they're already making a commitment. They took the time to respond, which means they're interested.

When someone replies on LinkedIn, the barrier is much lower. A quick "Thanks for connecting!" or "Sounds interesting, let's stay in touch" doesn't require the same level of commitment.

The InMail Lesson: With only 1 reply from 50 InMails sent (2% reply rate), InMails are clearly not worth the cost for event outreach. Save your credits and focus on building genuine connections first, then messaging those who accept.

Timing: Does It Really Matter?

Email one month before:

• 4.4% reply rate

• 3% meeting rate

Email one day before:

• 2.1% reply rate

• 1.2% meeting rate

The difference is there. Having time to send follow-up emails and reaching people before they fill their calendars is worth it.

The Real Success Factor: Qualification Quality

The most important insight isn't about channels or timing - it's about qualification.

All three strategies worked reasonably well because I only reached out to highly qualified prospects:

• Right role (decision-makers)

• Right company type (B2B SaaS)

• Right company size (10-500 employees)

• Relevant challenges (based on website research)

Poor targeting with perfect timing and channels = zero results. Great targeting with any reasonable channel and timing = consistent results.

Actionable Takeaways for Your Next Event

Based on this experiment, here's what I recommend:

1. Focus on data quality over channel optimization Spend 70% of your time on scraping, cleaning, and qualifying. Spend 30% on outreach execution.

2. Use email for meeting-focused outreach If your goal is booked meetings, email converts better. One personalized email to a qualified prospect beats 10 LinkedIn messages.

3. Use LinkedIn connections for relationship building If you're playing the long game or want to start conversations without immediate meeting pressure, LinkedIn messages to accepted connections have an impressive 36% engagement rate.

4. Avoid LinkedIn InMails for event outreach With only a 2% reply rate, InMails are expensive and ineffective for this use case. Focus on connection requests instead.

4. Don't overthink timing Event though it’s better to have time to follow-up, it’s still worth it to reach out one day before as it was one month before the events starts. Timing matters less than message quality and targeting.

5. Expect 100% reply-to-meeting conversion on email If someone bothers to reply to your event outreach email, they want to meet. Make scheduling easy.

The Tools That Made This Possible

Scraping:

• Instant Data Scraper (Chrome extension)

• Works on most event websites and Luma

Data Enrichment:

• Clay (data cleaning, email finding, research automation)

• LeadMagic to find the emails

• If not found, use Clay's waterfall

Outreach:

• Email: Smartlead or Instantly

• LinkedIn: HeyReach

What I'd Do Differently Next Time

1. Test combined approaches Email + LinkedIn to the same prospects might work better than either alone.

2. Change the message according to the industry I used a general message offering a lead magnet that was interesting (the list of attendees with research). But maybe a more targeted message depending on the industry or stage of the company would have given better results.

3. Follow up more aggressively I only sent one message per person for 422 out of 704 prospects. A two-touch sequence might improve results.

Your Turn

Events are expensive. Registration, travel, hotels, and time away from work can easily cost $2,000-5,000 per person.

If you're going to invest that much, why leave your networking to chance?

The process I've outlined here - scraping, enriching, qualifying, and systematic outreach - can be replicated for any event with publicly available attendee information.

Want help implementing this for your next event? At Mint Prospects, we build custom event automation workflows that handle everything from scraping to follow-up.

Here’s How I Did This Automatically

Remember: Choose Vibes instead of stress, and watch your Sales grow!

Until next time,

Santiago 😎