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Why Targeting LinkedIn Premium Members Makes Sense
LinkedIn Premium members represent a specific and valuable subset of the platform. They've chosen to invest money in their LinkedIn presence — which signals a level of professional intent, platform engagement, and ambition that free users don't necessarily share. For salespeople, recruiters, and anyone building a professional network, this makes Premium members a particularly high-quality prospecting segment.
The challenge: LinkedIn does not offer a "Premium member" filter in its search interface — not on the free platform, not in Sales Navigator, and not in Recruiter. There is no toggle you can switch to surface only Premium profiles. This guide covers both ways to identify Premium members — the manual badge-spotting method for individual profiles, and the scalable export method that captures every Premium profile in your search results, including those who have hidden their badge.
Higher professional engagement
Premium members are actively investing in their LinkedIn presence. They're more likely to be actively networking, open to professional conversations, and responsive to relevant outreach.
Open Profile = free messaging
Many Premium members enable Open Profile, which lets any LinkedIn user message them for free — no connection request, no InMail credit. Targeting Premium profiles often opens a free direct messaging channel that non-premium targets don't have.
Signals decision-maker status
Sales Navigator and Recruiter subscribers are, by definition, professionals doing active outreach or talent acquisition. Founders, SDRs, heads of sales, and HR managers are disproportionately represented in the Premium member pool.
More likely to accept connection requests
Premium members — particularly those using Sales Navigator — are actively growing their networks as part of their workflow. Connection request acceptance rates are generally higher from this group than from passive free users.
What Counts as a LinkedIn Premium Account?
Any paid LinkedIn subscription qualifies as "Premium" — LinkedIn displays the same gold badge icon regardless of which specific plan the member is on. The badge doesn't distinguish between a Premium Career subscriber at $29.99/month and a Sales Navigator Advanced user at $149.99/month. From a prospecting perspective, the badge tells you they've invested in the platform, not which tier they've chosen.
How to Tell if Someone Has LinkedIn Premium
The most visible indicator is the gold LinkedIn Premium badge — a small gold icon that appears next to the member's name in search results and below their banner on their profile page. If you see it, they're a paying subscriber. This works for individual manual checks and is the fastest way to spot Premium status when browsing profiles one at a time.
- They're on a paid LinkedIn subscription
- They've chosen to display their Premium status publicly
- They're actively investing in their LinkedIn presence
- Visible in search results and on their profile page
- Premium members can hide their badge in Privacy Settings
- Hidden badge profiles still have full Premium features
- You'll miss a percentage of Premium users if badge-scanning only
- Not scalable for bulk search result analysis
How to Search LinkedIn Premium Members at Scale (3-Step Method)
LinkedIn doesn't expose a Premium member filter in its search interface. But the Premium status of every profile is embedded in the page's underlying code — and Evaboot's Chrome extension reads it during the export process, appending a "Prospect is Premium" column to your CSV. Here's the exact workflow.
Build your target list in Sales Navigator
Open Sales Navigator and run a Lead Search using your standard ICP filters — job title, seniority, company size, geography, industry, and any other criteria relevant to your target audience. The Premium detection works on any search result, so there's no special setup required at this stage. Simply build the most targeted search you can using Sales Navigator's 30+ filters.
The technique doesn't pre-filter for Premium profiles during the search — it identifies them retrospectively after export. This means you run your normal ICP-filtered search and then filter down to Premium members in the resulting CSV. For best results, narrow your search to under 2,500 results (Sales Navigator's export limit) before running the extraction.
Export to CSV using the Evaboot Chrome extension
Install the Evaboot Chrome extension if you haven't already. With your Sales Navigator search results loaded, click the "Extract with Evaboot" button that appears at the top of the search page. Evaboot begins scanning each profile in your results and extracting the data — including the Premium status flag embedded in each profile's page code.
This is what makes the Evaboot method superior to badge-scanning: it reads the Premium status directly from the profile's underlying data, not from the visible badge. This means it captures Premium status even for members who have disabled the badge display in their privacy settings — a group the manual badge method misses entirely.
Evaboot also cleans the exported data automatically — standardising name formatting, job title capitalisation, and company names — and appends verified email addresses via its email finder. By the time the export completes, you have a clean, enriched, outreach-ready CSV.
Filter by "Prospect is Premium" in your CSV
Once the export is complete, download the CSV file from your Evaboot dashboard. Open it in Google Sheets or Excel and locate the "Prospect is Premium" column. Each row contains either TRUE (the prospect is a Premium member) or FALSE (they're on a free account).
To isolate Premium members:
You now have a filtered list containing only confirmed LinkedIn Premium members — with their name, job title, company, LinkedIn URL, and (where found) verified email address. This list is ready for import into your CRM or cold email tool.
Found your Premium prospects. Now warm them up before you reach out.
Premium LinkedIn members are active on the platform — they're posting, commenting, and engaging daily. PowerIn automatically comments on their posts before you send a connection request or message, so your name is already familiar when your outreach arrives. The warm-up that turns a cold contact into a warm conversation.
What to Do with Your LinkedIn Premium Members List
A filtered list of Premium members in your ICP is one of the highest-quality prospect segments you can build on LinkedIn. Here's how to get the most from it.
Check which ones have Open Profile
Many Premium members also enable Open Profile — which means you can message them directly for free, no InMail credit and no connection request required. Cross-reference your Premium list against the Open Profile filter in Sales Navigator (Spotlight section) to identify your free-to-message subset. These are your highest-priority first contacts.
Warm up with PowerIn before connecting
Premium members are disproportionately active on LinkedIn — they post, comment, and engage more than free users. This makes them ideal targets for PowerIn's comment-based warm-up. Add them as account targets in PowerIn so their posts are automatically engaged with before your connection request arrives. A familiar name converts at 2–3× the rate of a cold one.
Enrich with verified email for multi-channel outreach
Evaboot appends verified email addresses to your export where available. For prospects where email is found, run a multi-channel sequence: warm up via LinkedIn engagement (PowerIn), send a cold email, follow up with a connection request if no reply. This sequence consistently outperforms single-channel outreach across every segment.
Import to CRM and segment by Premium status
Import your Premium-filtered CSV into your CRM with the Premium status as a contact property. This lets you segment sequences, personalise messaging (referencing their Premium status where relevant), and track which segments convert at the highest rates over time. Premium members often warrant a higher-touch, more personalised outreach cadence than the general prospect population.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you filter for LinkedIn Premium members directly in Sales Navigator?
No. LinkedIn does not offer a "Premium member" filter anywhere in its search interface — not on the free platform, not in Sales Navigator, and not in Recruiter. The only way to identify Premium members within a search result set is to export the results via a tool like Evaboot, which reads the Premium status from the profile's underlying page code and appends it as a CSV column.
Can you see who has LinkedIn Premium?
Yes — if they display their badge. Premium members have a gold LinkedIn icon next to their name in search results and on their profile. However, LinkedIn allows members to hide this badge in their privacy settings. A small percentage of Premium users choose to hide it. The Evaboot export method captures Premium status regardless of badge visibility, making it more reliable for bulk identification than manual badge-scanning.
Can you see who viewed your profile on LinkedIn Premium?
Yes — Premium members can see everyone who viewed their profile in the last 90 days, subject to each viewer's own privacy settings. Viewers who browse in private mode (incognito) remain anonymous even to Premium subscribers. To access your profile viewers: click the "Me" icon → View Profile → under Analytics, select "See who's viewed your profile." This is one of the most commonly cited reasons professionals upgrade to Premium.
Does LinkedIn Premium let you see anonymous profile viewers?
No. LinkedIn respects member privacy regardless of subscription level. If a user enables private browsing mode, their profile view is anonymous to everyone — including Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter subscribers. The "see who viewed your profile" feature only shows viewers who are browsing in standard (non-private) mode and whose privacy settings permit visibility.
How do you upgrade to LinkedIn Premium?
Click the "Me" icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage → Settings & Privacy → Account Settings → under Subscriptions & Payments, click "Change" next to Premium Subscription. Select your plan and follow the on-screen steps. All plans include a one-month free trial with a credit card — the subscription auto-renews unless cancelled before the trial period ends.
Export your Premium prospect list. Then make your outreach land warm.
Sales Navigator + Evaboot gives you the list. PowerIn gives you the warm-up — automatically engaging with your Premium prospects' LinkedIn content before you ever send a message. More replies, better conversations, faster pipeline.