Cleverly Review: Is This LinkedIn Lead Gen Agency Worth It?
If you’re in the market for a LinkedIn lead gen agency, Cleverly is a name that’s probably come up quite a bit. Before you book a consultation or spend any money, let's help you decide if they’re right for you.
In this Uptown Creation article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Cleverly—from their services and pricing to our honest take on their offerings.
What Is Cleverly?
Cleverly is a lead generation agency that helps B2B businesses attract leads and close deals through various channels, such as:
- Google Ads
- SEO and content writing
- Cold emails
However, their primary service is LinkedIn B2B lead generation.
How Cleverly’s LinkedIn Gen Service Works
Cleverly’s LinkedIn lead gen service is fully automated and “done for you.” It leverages bot and automated messaging technology to connect with potential leads on LinkedIn.
Here’s an overview of the process:
1. Onboarding
The process begins with a 15-minute discovery call. If Cleverly seems like a good fit, you’ll pay for a plan.
Then, onboarding begins. You’ll meet your dedicated account manager, who will show you how Cleverly’s client dashboard works. This account manager is your main point of contact throughout the relationship.
The dashboard is where the magic happens. They link it to your LinkedIn account and Sales Navigator. After this, they scrape prospects directly from Sales Navigator and load them into the dashboard to build your prospects list.
2. Outreach
Cleverly then sends automated messages to prospects at scale. They claim these messages are “personalized” and “data-driven,” thanks to insights from hundreds of customers. But in practice, not every message will be a hit (more on that later).
3. Hand-Off to Your Team
Once a prospect responds, you’re notified directly through the dashboard. From there, your sales team can initiate direct contact with the prospect using the messaging feature.
They also have a few AI features to support your contact with prospects, including:
- AI Reply Prediction: Estimates a prospect's likelihood of responding to your outreach.
- Smart AI Reply: Suggests engaging messages for your prospects.
- Personalized Insights: Offers dos and don’ts based on your prospect’s LinkedIn profiles.
Last but not least—they have a simple analytics section where you can track metrics like connection rates, reply rates, and more.
Cleverly Pricing
Cleverly offers distinct plans for all its services. For LinkedIn lead generation, there are three tiers:
What We Like About Cleverly
Knowledgeable Account Manager
One thing many customers love about Cleverly is their account managers. They know their stuff and have a solid grasp of the LinkedIn ecosystem. This level of expertise definitely brings your campaigns a step closer to success.
Easy-to-Use Interface
Cleverly’s dashboard is one of the easiest to navigate among LinkedIn lead gen automation tools. If you need help using it or understanding its features, their customer support team is super responsive. They also have a content library to guide you through almost all basic questions.
However, things aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. There are several reasons we think you might want to reconsider using Cleverly.
What We Don’t Like About Cleverly
Poorly Personalized Messages
Cleverly claims they offer AI-powered personalized outreach messages. In theory, they analyze data from hundreds of prospects and use it to craft messages that will resonate.
In practice? The best you can expect is surface-level personalization (if any). This is a recurring theme in customer reviews (like the one below) and our own interactions with clients who are switching away from Cleverly.
AI simply isn’t able to match the personalization of manual human outreach.
“Set It and Forget It” Approach
Unfortunately, Cleverly’s personalization issues don’t end with message crafting. Lots of users have trouble getting Cleverly to adapt their strategy—even when campaigns are underperforming by significant margins.
In the review above, the reviewer’s campaign saw a 100% net loss, but Cleverly wasn’t willing to adapt. This “set it and forget it” approach will likely be an issue for any business with narrow targets, complex offers, or sophisticated messaging.
Not Suitable for New Profiles
Cleverly has an unspoken rule—your LinkedIn profile needs at least 100 connections before they’ll work with you. So, if you’re just starting out, Cleverly is not ready or willing to meet you right where you are.
Businesses with new profiles will need to build their networks and establish a presence before considering Cleverly’s services. Or, alternatively, you’ll need to find an alternative that is able to support you as you scale LinkedIn lead gen from the ground up.
Limited Experience in Some Industries
While Cleverly says on its homepage that it generates leads for every industry, that’s not always the case. Many customers complain about how badly they fell short in their specific industry.
And if you happen to get paired with a rep who lacks industry experience, your entire campaign can be derailed.
The Best Cleverly Alternative: Uptown Creation
Uptown Creation is a high-touch LinkedIn-first lead generation that helps you attract and convert highly qualified prospects on LinkedIn. Unlike Cleverly, we meet you where you are—whether you've established a presence on LinkedIn or just getting started.
Here are a few reasons why clients choose us over Cleverly:
- Manual Outreach: All our messages are crafted by a lead gen expert for a specific prospect. Yes, we use AI at certain points in our workflow, but never as a tool to generate real, human connections with your prospects.
- Advanced, Adaptable Targeting: We invest as much time as needed upfront to get to know your business, your ICP, and the market. This allows us to develop highly targeted search filters and qualified prospect lists. If things aren’t working, we adapt to get you results.
- Predictable Results: Our clients typically see 4-12 meetings per month and a 150% increase in response rates. Some even start recouping their investments right from their first month with us.
Working with Uptown Creation is simple. Just book a free strategy call to discuss your current approach, and we’ll offer you a tailored LinkedIn success plan—no strings attached. You’re free to implement the plan yourself, but we can offer you a quote if you’d like our help.
Ready to maximize LinkedIn lead gen? Book your free discovery call with us today!
