When you upload contacts to a campaign, some of them may already be in your LinkedIn network. What happens next depends on how you import your contacts.
Are Contacts From My Network added to the campaign?
If you import contacts using a LinkedIn search URL, a post, group, or event link, or a CSV file via the Import from CSV tab, Closely automatically identifies and excludes contacts who are already in your network.
These contacts appear in the Already in connections tab and won't be added to the campaign. Only contacts listed in the Available tab will be added.
Currently, you can't create a single campaign that includes both contacts who are already in your network and those who aren't.
What Happens When You Import Contacts From Sales Navigator?
If you import contacts using a Sales Navigator search URL or a CSV file exported from Sales Navigator, Closely may not be able to identify which contacts are already in your network.
This happens because LinkedIn uses different URL formats for regular profiles and Sales Navigator profiles:
Regular LinkedIn profiles: When you view your connections in the My Network section on LinkedIn, their profile URLs use the standard LinkedIn format.
Sales Navigator profiles: When you export leads from Sales Navigator, their profile URLs use a specific Sales Navigator format.
Currently, Closely doesn't automatically convert Sales Navigator URLs into standard LinkedIn profile URLs. As a result, contacts who are already in your network may be incorrectly identified as available and added to the campaign.
What Happens When the Campaign Starts?
If a contact from your network is added to a campaign because they were imported through Sales Navigator, Closely will stop executing the campaign for that contact at the Send connection request step.
Since the contact is already in your network, Closely won't send a connection request, and the remaining campaign steps won't be executed for that contact.
How Can I Reach Out to Contacts Who Are Already in My Network?
To contact people who are already in your LinkedIn network, you need to create a separate Message campaign. You can check how to create it here.
This allows you to reach out to your existing connections without attempting to send them a connection request.
In short:
Use a regular LinkedIn search URL, a post, group, or event link, or a CSV file imported via the Import from CSV tab to automatically exclude existing connections.
If you import contacts from Sales Navigator, check whether any of them are already in your network, as Closely may identify them as available.
Create a separate Message campaign to reach out to contacts who are already in your network.