Switching from HeyReach to lemlist: what to know before you move

Why teams outgrow HeyReach (and when it makes sense to stay)

HeyReach is a LinkedIn automation tool. lemlist is a multichannel outbound platform. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably started to feel the limits of a LinkedIn-only tool. That feeling usually has a pattern behind it.

HeyReach handles multichannel by offering native integrations with Instantly and Smartlead that let you add an “Add to Instantly” step in your LinkedIn sequence. If a prospect doesn’t accept your connection request, they route to an email campaign automatically. It works, but it requires maintaining and paying for a second tool. Most teams that reach out to us about switching are already running two or three tools in parallel, with separate logins, separate data, and separate billing.

HeyReach bills per LinkedIn sender, not per user seat. One sender is one connected LinkedIn account. HeyReach’s public pricing lists Growth at $79 per LinkedIn sender per month, Agency at $999 per month for 25 senders, and Unlimited at $2,999 per month for unlimited senders. That model works well at lower sender counts, but at $79 per sender, the moment you connect three accounts, you’re at $237 monthly. Five accounts? $395.

That said, if LinkedIn is your only outreach channel and you manage dozens of sender accounts, HeyReach’s sender rotation and Unibox make it a solid fit. There’s no reason to migrate away from something that’s working. The case for switching starts when you want email, calling, or SMS running in the same campaign, not bolted on through a separate tool.

What you gain by moving to lemlist

The biggest shift is going from a single-channel tool with integrations to a platform where channels share one campaign and one dataset.

In lemlist, you can build a sequence that starts with a LinkedIn profile visit, follows up with an email two days later, and adds a call step if the prospect opens but doesn’t reply. All of that runs from one campaign with conditional branching, and every reply (regardless of channel) lands in a single unified inbox. You’re not stitching two tools together with Zapier.

lemlist offers a 600M+ contact database with waterfall enrichment from 14+ providers. That means you can find leads matching your ICP, enrich them with verified emails and phone numbers, and push them into a campaign without leaving the platform. If you’re currently using Clay or Apollo alongside HeyReach for enrichment, lemlist collapses that into one workflow.

Every lemlist seat includes lemwarm, an automated email warm-up tool. If you’ve been running LinkedIn-only outreach through HeyReach, you’ve never had to think about email deliverability. The moment you add email to your outbound motion, warm-up and domain health become critical. lemlist’s Deliverability Hub monitors inbox placement, bounce rates, and domain reputation from one dashboard.

lemlist also offers something that doesn’t exist in a LinkedIn-only tool: AI-powered intent signals. These agents track events like hiring changes, funding rounds, and website visits, then automatically push matching leads into campaigns with messaging tailored to the specific signal. Instead of guessing when to reach out, you’re responding to moments that indicate real buying interest.

5 risks of switching outreach tools (and how to handle each one)

Every tool migration has real risks. Naming them upfront helps you plan around them instead of being surprised mid-switch.

1. Losing engagement history and campaign data

HeyReach lets you export lead lists to CSV from the three-dot menu, but the CSV export only provides HeyReach’s default columns, not custom variables. Connection acceptance rates, message reply threads, and in-platform analytics don’t come with you. Before you cancel anything, screenshot your campaign performance benchmarks and export every contact list, including suppression and do-not-contact lists.

2. Deliverability dip from cold sending domains

This is the risk teams underestimate most. If you’ve been running LinkedIn-only through HeyReach, you likely don’t have a warmed-up email sending domain. New domains with no sending history have no reputation, and inbox providers treat unknown senders with suspicion. Start warm-up at least two weeks before launching your first email campaign. lemwarm handles this automatically by exchanging real emails with real inboxes at a controlled pace.

3. LinkedIn account restrictions during the transition

Running two automation tools on the same profile is the most common self-inflicted restriction. LinkedIn enforcement acts on patterns that look unnatural, overlapping, or suddenly spiky relative to your normal account activity. When you run multiple tools, they don’t coordinate with each other, so it’s easy to create pacing and timing that doesn’t look like a real person.

The fix is straightforward: fully disconnect your LinkedIn accounts from HeyReach before connecting them to lemlist. Don’t run both simultaneously on the same profile. The lowest-risk habits include warming up new accounts gradually, keeping well under LinkedIn’s limits, and pacing actions a few minutes apart.

4. Campaign downtime while rebuilding sequences

There’s no direct import of HeyReach sequences into lemlist. Your campaigns have to be rebuilt. You can do this manually in lemlist’s campaign builder, or describe the campaign goal in plain language to lemAgent (lemlist’s AI assistant) and let it generate a multichannel sequence with branching logic. Either way, expect to spend a few hours per campaign.

5. CRM integration gaps between platforms

HeyReach connects to the broader GTM stack via webhooks and native CRM integrations with HubSpot and Pipedrive. Any Zapier or webhook automations that sync HeyReach activity to your CRM will break the moment you disconnect. Map every CRM touchpoint before switching, and rebuild those flows using lemlist’s native HubSpot or Salesforce integrations and API.

Step-by-step migration from HeyReach to lemlist

A clean migration follows a specific order. Rushing any step creates problems downstream.

1. Audit your HeyReach account and catalog everything

Before touching anything, document what you have:

• •

  Active campaigns: which sequences are still running and what step each lead is on

• •

  Contact lists: total contacts, list names, tags, and suppression/exclusion lists

• •

  LinkedIn accounts: which sender profiles are connected and their current daily limits

• •

  Integration mappings: any Zapier, webhook, or CRM connections

2. Export contacts and suppression lists

You can export HeyReach contacts to CSV from Leads / Lists (three-dots menu → Export to CSV). Export your suppression and do-not-contact lists separately. Importing leads without exclusions means you risk re-contacting people who opted out.

A typical HeyReach CSV includes name, LinkedIn profile URL, company, campaign and tag metadata, and connection status. Dedupe on LinkedIn URL before importing elsewhere.

3. Clean and map your data for lemlist import

HeyReach and lemlist use different field names. Column headers in your CSV need to match lemlist’s expected fields (first name, last name, email, LinkedIn URL, company). If your data has inconsistent job titles, formatting issues, or mixed date formats, lemlist’s AI variables can auto-clean these during import.

4. Set up your lemlist workspace and sending infrastructure

Do this in order:

• •

  Sending domain: purchase or connect a separate domain (not your primary company domain) for outbound email

• •

  Email accounts: connect your email accounts and start lemwarm immediately

• •

  LinkedIn accounts: connect LinkedIn profiles via the lemlist Chrome extension (only after disconnecting from HeyReach)

• •

  Team settings: configure daily sending limits, time zones, and inbox rotation

5. Rebuild sequences as multichannel campaigns

HeyReach sequences were LinkedIn-only. In lemlist, you can recreate them with additional channels baked in. Add email steps between LinkedIn touchpoints, insert call tasks triggered by engagement signals, and use conditional branching to adapt the sequence based on prospect behavior.

If you’d rather not build from scratch, describe your campaign goal to lemAgent and it will generate a ready-to-review multichannel sequence.

6. Import contacts in small batches and validate

Don’t import your full list at once. Start with 50–100 contacts to confirm field mapping, enrichment accuracy, and sequence triggering. Use lemlist’s email verification to filter invalid addresses before the first send. Scale up once the test batch performs as expected.

How to protect deliverability during the switch

This section matters most for teams adding email to their outbound for the first time. Even teams with existing email infrastructure will want to treat a platform migration as a deliverability checkpoint.

New or dormant sending domains need gradual volume increases. lemwarm automates this by sending and receiving real emails at a controlled pace, building sender reputation before you launch campaigns. Start warm-up the day you set up your lemlist workspace, ideally two weeks before your first outbound send.

For the first 14 days after launching campaigns, monitor inbox placement closely. lemlist’s Monitoring & Alerts feature tracks whether your emails land in the primary inbox, promotions tab, or spam folder across Gmail, Outlook, and other providers. Automated alerts flag bounce rate spikes or spam placement increases so you can adjust before the problem compounds.

Parallel-run timeline for a zero-downtime migration

A phased approach keeps your pipeline active while you transition. Here’s what the timeline typically looks like:

• •

  Week 1: Audit HeyReach, export all data, set up lemlist workspace, start domain warm-up via lemwarm

• •

  Week 2: Rebuild your top-performing sequences in lemlist, import a test batch of contacts, run validation

• •

  Week 3: Launch new campaigns in lemlist, let active HeyReach campaigns finish (no new leads added to HeyReach)

• •

  Week 4: All outreach runs through lemlist, disconnect HeyReach LinkedIn accounts, verify CRM sync is clean

Smaller teams can compress this into two or three weeks. Larger teams with many active campaigns and senders may want an extra week to avoid rushing the LinkedIn account cutover.

Over to you

The biggest risk in migrating from HeyReach to lemlist isn’t the switch itself. It’s moving too fast without warm-up, data cleanup, or a parallel-run plan. Follow the steps above, give your sending domains time to build reputation, and cut over LinkedIn accounts one at a time rather than all at once.

The best way to start is to set up your lemlist workspace and begin warm-up while your current HeyReach campaigns are still running. By the time those campaigns finish, your new infrastructure will be ready.