Sales teams often waste time on manual LinkedIn outreach and poorly managed pipelines. The integration of Closely‘s AI-powered LinkedIn automation with Close.io CRM offers a solution, combining efficient prospecting with organized pipeline tracking.
Key Benefits:
- Closely automates LinkedIn outreach, saving up to 15 hours weekly and increasing engagement by 52%.
- Close.io CRM ensures smooth lead tracking, with faster setup and AI tools for tasks like call notes and email summaries.
- Together, they connect LinkedIn outreach with pipeline management, reducing repetitive tasks and improving sales efficiency.
This integration helps U.S. sales teams personalize communication across LinkedIn, email, and phone, while maintaining full visibility into their sales process. With real-time data syncing, teams can focus on building relationships and closing deals.
Scale Your Sales with CRM: Automation, AI & Analytics
1. Closely
Closely is a game-changer for automated LinkedIn outreach, transforming the way sales teams approach prospecting and lead generation. By integrating seamlessly with Close.io CRM, it combines AI-powered automation with multichannel tools, helping sales professionals expand their outreach while keeping interactions personal and meaningful.
Outreach Automation
Closely simplifies the tedious aspects of LinkedIn outreach. It handles tasks like sending connection requests, managing follow-up message sequences, and running email campaigns. You can even set up advanced outreach workflows triggered by specific prospect actions, ensuring timely and relevant engagement.
With its AI-driven scheduling, Closely optimizes message timing to boost engagement. U.S. sales teams have reported up to 3x higher response rates on LinkedIn campaigns when using its personalization tools [1]. Additionally, the platform has helped sales teams cut their outreach time by 30-50%, thanks to its automation features [1].
To avoid embarrassing overlaps, Closely automatically detects and prevents duplicate outreach. This is especially useful for agencies juggling multiple client campaigns or large teams sharing prospect databases.
Integration Capabilities
Closely shines when it comes to integration. It syncs effortlessly with platforms like Close.io CRM, ensuring all LinkedIn outreach data, communication logs, and campaign metrics are updated in real time. Responses from prospects appear instantly in Close.io CRM, making it easy to track and manage interactions.
For those needing custom setups, Closely supports webhooks and API access. It also allows data exports in standard U.S. formats, adhering to local number (1,000.00) and currency ($) conventions.
AI and Analytics
Closely’s AI goes beyond basic automation. It analyzes prospect data to suggest tailored message content based on factors like industry, job role, and past interactions. As campaigns progress, the AI learns and improves its recommendations, helping users achieve better response rates.
The analytics dashboard provides a detailed look at performance metrics, including connection acceptance rates, response rates, and meeting bookings. You can track your campaign ROI from the first outreach to final deal closures. When paired with Close.io CRM, this offers full visibility into the sales pipeline. The dashboard also allows teams to compare outreach strategies, identify what’s working best, and fine-tune campaigns based on real data.
As of June 2025, Closely holds an impressive 4.7/5 rating on G2 from over 120 reviews [1]. It’s fully compliant with U.S. data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA, ensuring secure handling of prospect information [1]. Designed with U.S. business needs in mind, it supports local date and time formats and offers 24-hour customer support for American users.
These features create a strong foundation for how Close.io CRM enhances pipeline management and overall sales success.
2. Close.io CRM
Close.io CRM offers a fast and efficient way to manage your sales pipeline while automating key tasks. It pairs seamlessly with Closely’s LinkedIn outreach tools to create a unified sales solution. In speed tests, Close.io outperforms other leading CRM platforms by 50%, making it a top choice for teams looking to save time and boost productivity [1].
Pipeline Management
Close.io CRM stands out for its ability to keep your sales funnel organized and easy to track. Its user-friendly interface ensures you can monitor every prospect interaction, from the first contact to closing the deal.
"Streamlined CRM that helps us close more deals, faster." – Justin R., Small-Business [1]
Integration and Automation
Beyond its pipeline management capabilities, Close.io CRM simplifies workflows through automation. Tasks like data capture are handled automatically, ensuring your contact records stay updated. This allows your team to focus on what matters most – engaging with prospects.
AI Capabilities
Close.io CRM incorporates AI to handle routine tasks and deliver actionable insights. Some of its standout AI features include automatic call notes, enriching prospect data, summarizing conversations, and even rewriting emails [1].
"Close is for closers." – Austin M., Catering Manager, Small-Business [1]
Pricing starts at $49 per month per user for the Startup plan, while the Professional plan is available at $299 per month for three users.
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Advantages and Disadvantages
Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each platform can help you build a more effective and unified sales solution.
Closely’s Strengths and Challenges
Closely shines in LinkedIn automation and multichannel outreach, leveraging AI-driven personalization and data enrichment. However, its focus is primarily on top-of-funnel activities, meaning it requires a robust CRM like Close.io for managing the full sales pipeline. This creates a complementary relationship where Closely handles lead generation and outreach, while Close.io takes over for pipeline management.
Close.io CRM’s Advantages and Limitations
Close.io CRM is known for its fast and efficient pipeline management, boasting that users can get started up to 50% faster than with other CRMs [4]. Its sales-focused design streamlines deal tracking and task automation. However, this narrow focus can present challenges for businesses needing broader functionality, such as marketing or customer support integration [5].
Users have pointed out some drawbacks, including limited integration options [2] and automation tools that can feel overly complex or less effective than expected [5]. Additionally, Close.io lacks features tailored for customer success, such as tools for monitoring customer health, creating automated retention strategies, and analyzing customer lifecycles [4]. As Irina Vatafu, Head of CS at Custify, explains:
"Customer Success isn’t about managing data – it’s about working with real individuals, cultivating relationships, predicting needs, and proactively driving value." [4]
Technical Integration Considerations
Integration between these platforms can present technical challenges. For example, developers working with Close.io must navigate API rate limits, which require pausing operations during the rate_reset period when encountering 429 errors [3].
Here’s a quick comparison of the platforms:
| Aspect | Closely | Close.io CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Strength | LinkedIn automation & AI personalization | Fast pipeline management & sales efficiency |
| Best For | Lead generation & outreach | Deal tracking & sales process |
| Integration Needs | Requires CRM for pipeline management | Benefits from outreach tools for lead generation |
| Automation Focus | Prospecting & follow-up sequences | Sales workflow & task automation |
| Main Limitation | Limited pipeline management | Sales-only focus; limited integrations |
| Learning Curve | Moderate for LinkedIn automation | Easy onboarding, though automation can be complex |
Mitigating the Limitations
By combining Closely and Close.io CRM, many of the individual limitations of each platform can be addressed. Closely’s strong outreach capabilities pair seamlessly with Close.io’s efficient pipeline management, creating a more unified workflow.
For businesses aiming to manage the entire customer lifecycle, adding a Customer Success Platform to this mix is worth considering. Retaining a customer is often far more cost-effective than acquiring a new one – estimates suggest it can be 5 to 25 times cheaper [4]. Both platforms also support team collaboration, making them particularly appealing for startups and small businesses looking to scale their sales operations [5].
Final Thoughts
Combining Closely with Close.io CRM simplifies the sales process, seamlessly connecting LinkedIn outreach with pipeline management. For U.S. sales teams aiming to enhance efficiency through automation, this partnership helps close the gap between finding prospects and effectively managing leads.
One of the standout advantages is the smooth data transfer between the two platforms, which eliminates the need for manual data entry and minimizes the risk of losing leads. Closely gathers LinkedIn prospect data and enriches it, while Close.io automatically integrates this information into its pipeline system, keeping everything organized and actionable.
Close.io CRM ensures data security and compliance, meeting SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, and CCPA standards. This means the sensitive information collected through LinkedIn automation and multichannel campaigns is handled responsibly and securely [6]. With compliance concerns addressed, teams can focus on improving workflows and results.
This integration not only streamlines daily operations but also strengthens the connection between personalized outreach and effective pipeline management. By automating repetitive tasks, sales teams can maintain a personal touch in their communication while leveraging detailed analytics to monitor metrics like open rates, response rates, and pipeline progress [6]. Tracking these key performance indicators is essential for optimizing results and identifying growth opportunities.
Getting started is straightforward – teams only need API keys and a few basic configurations to sync data between the platforms [7]. The time and resources invested in this setup pay off with increased efficiency and improved conversion rates.
This partnership reflects the evolution of sales automation, where AI-driven personalization and streamlined pipeline management work hand-in-hand to help U.S. sales teams thrive in today’s competitive landscape.
FAQs
How does integrating Closely with Close.io CRM help sales teams work more efficiently?
Integrating with Close.io CRM can supercharge your sales team’s efficiency by taking over tedious tasks like lead engagement, follow-ups, and activity tracking. With these time-consuming processes automated, your team can zero in on what they do best – closing deals.
This integration pairs AI-driven outreach with simplified pipeline management, ensuring smoother communication and minimizing manual errors. The outcome? Shorter sales cycles, increased productivity, and a more structured workflow for your team.
How does Closely use AI to improve LinkedIn outreach?
Closely uses AI-powered tools to transform LinkedIn outreach into a more streamlined and impactful process. Its features include personalized messages crafted for each lead, automated outreach campaigns, intelligent lead discovery, and smart follow-ups that keep conversations flowing naturally.
By automating repetitive tasks while maintaining a personal touch, Closely allows sales professionals and agencies to save valuable time, build stronger connections, and improve conversion rates.
What challenges might arise when integrating Closely with Close.io CRM, and how can they be resolved?
Integrating with Close.io CRM isn’t always a walk in the park. You might encounter hurdles like restricted integration options or occasional hiccups with data synchronization. These issues can disrupt workflows or make accurate lead tracking harder than it needs to be.
To tackle these challenges, consider using native integration tools or no-code platforms. These solutions can simplify the setup process and help ensure your data is mapped correctly. Additionally, make it a habit to regularly monitor synchronization processes. This proactive approach can help you catch and fix any inconsistencies before they snowball into bigger problems. By staying on top of these tasks, you’ll keep your tools working together smoothly and boost overall efficiency.