Our Verdict
Dux-Soup is a simple and cheap LinkedIn automation tool hindered by a confusing user experience and lack of standout features.
Struggling to automate LinkedIn outreach without investing too much time and effort?
Manual lead generation certainly is time-consuming and can limit your productivity – but many automation tools are complicated or expensive.
In our Dux-Soup review, we will find out if it solves the problem of these automation tools and if it is ultimately worth your time and money.
What is Dux-Soup?
Dux-Soup is yet another LinkedIn automation tool that helps businesses and individuals automate and streamline LinkedIn outreach. That, in turn, can increase productivity and lead generation potential. Nobody wants to do lead generation manually, right?
The thing that sets Dux-Soup apart from most other LinkedIn automation tools is that it requires a browser extension and an open LinkedIn tab to work properly. So, in a way – it is not 100% automated. You still need to perform some things manually so that Dux-Soup can do some magic.
You can invest $99/month for the Cloud Edition, which can function with a turned-off PC. It still requires the use of the extension. This edition is not included in the free trial.
You’ve heard that right – the default Dux-Soup isn’t cloud-based, which might be a deal-breaker for some.
But let’s not be too harsh here. Dux-Soup is all about running multiple LinkedIn campaigns. You can run an infinite number of campaigns – so that helps you target different audience segments with more ease.
Other than that, Dux-Soup has a standard set of features expected from a LinkedIn automation tool. Automated outreach, personalization features, and data extraction are some of the highlights. Still, that is nothing that we already didn’t see featured in other tools.
It is a good tool to tap into a bigger audience on LinkedIn, although not as straightforward at doing so as some of its fierce competitors.
Who is Dux-Soup for?
As with any other LinkedIn automation tool, Dux-Soup is awesome for anyone who can benefit from LinkedIn lead generation automation. That means it is ideal for:
- Sales professionals
- Marketers
- Recruiters
- Business owners
Other than these, we believe individuals will find personalized messages, advanced filtering, and CRM integration useful.
Dux-Soup Main Features
Let’s look into the main features of Dux-Soup and how does it work. We’ll throw in a couple of points that we like or don’t like about each.
Browser Extension
Dux-Soup requires a browser extension to work. It doesn’t ask you to connect your LinkedIn account directly to the app interface, like most other LinkedIn automation tools. Based on that, you are giving away more of your data right from the get-go. But, we’re not going to delve too deep into that aspect.
Once you add the Dux-Soup extension to your browser, it is ready to do its functions. Essentially, Dux-Soup’s extension functions as a bot that can crawl LinkedIn based on three sources:
- LinkedIn search
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator search
- LinkedIn Recruiter search
These functions are seamlessly tied in with the Campaigns feature in the Dux-Dash, so we will delve into how these two function together in the Campaigns section.
The extension also has a few sets of options to tailor how the bot will work. It allows you to skip profiles based on the attributes that you can see in the screenshot above. This is a solid feature, although it would be nice to have a bit more robust filters – such as skipping by location, job title, and similar. Those would certainly add more robust automation possibilities.
Planner allows you to set the working hours of the Dux-Soup’s robot, which helps it simulate a real person. Nothing groundbreaking here, as every other LinkedIn automation tool has this feature to combat LinkedIn automation warnings and bans.
Campaigns
Campaigns are where you can create and edit LinkedIn lead generation campaigns. It will be most likely the core feature of Dux-Soup you will use frequently. Keep in mind that you can create an unlimited number of campaigns – which is awesome, as many competitive tools limit you regarding that.
This feature requires you to use the Dux-Soup browser extension, as data collection won’t commence without you setting it up with the extension.
Right from the start, the user interface looks a bit archaic, which will be seen once we delve deeper into this feature (and others as well). Kinda weird after coming from a beautifully designed landing page.
Let’s move on to creating a campaign. You can give it a name, which will assign it an ID automatically. Then, you can choose from three different target sources:
- Regular LinkedIn
- Sales Navigator
- Recruiter
For this review, we will use Regular LinkedIn, as we don’t use the other two. A cool feature here is the ability to assign tags automatically to the leads from this campaign, which can come in handy later when you want to differentiate leads from different campaigns.
You can add a description for the campaign, and of course – add different actions to create a flow of a maximum of 12 campaign actions, along with personalization placeholders. Additionally, you can set up delays for each of the actions.
There are not a lot of actions available here:
- Connect
- Message
- Endorse
- Visit
- InMail
- Follow
Of course, you can chain these actions in any direction you want – but remember, there are no templates here, so you will need to build everything from scratch. You can also move these actions around, but this can sometimes be buggy.
It can be annoying, especially when each added action moves to the section you don’t want it in, and then you cannot move the action. This just adds to the fact that the user interface feels very archaic and is not very intuitive – especially for beginners.
Once you create your campaigns, you will see them in your dashboard, where you can toggle them on/off, and set which is the preferred one.
Collecting Data for Campaigns
For these campaigns to work, you will need to use the browser extension and have a LinkedIn tab open at all times – if you don’t invest in the Cloud Edition. This kinda makes it a semi-automation tool, doesn’t it?
There are two ways you can collect data with the Dux-Soup extension:
- Manually
- Automated
Overall, we don’t like that the use of extension is mandatory for data collection, as it makes the automation more tedious and less straightforward. Also, the user interface could be much better – especially for beginners.
Manual Data Collection
For both methods, you need to go into your LinkedIn profile, start the extension, and choose the method to search LinkedIn with.
Then, you type in the desired keyword in the search bar.
Once the search results page loads, Dux-Soup will crawl the profiles from the page, and show the profiles in the Dux-Soup Tricks pop-up. Now, you can manually select the leads and choose to which campaign to add them. Then, you would need to browse to another page, and so on.
Automated Data Collection
For automated data collection, you will need to go to the extension again and click on the Enroll function (once the search results page loads).
Then the new window pops up that lets you choose to which campaign you want to add leads, and what is the maximum number of profiles to enroll.
There are no limits set here, so if you are not aware of them, you can easily get your LinkedIn account flagged for a ban, so tread carefully.
Once you commence the automated data collection, Dux-Soup’s bot will work in the background, still requiring an open LinkedIn tab. Then, you will get messages for which and how many profiles have been rolled in. The bot will also implement pauses to simulate human behavior.
The extension also lets you see what is the progress with each lead based on the campaign actions, which is a cool feature.
Funnel Flow
Funnel Flow is essentially the analytics dashboard of Dux-Soup, where you can see how your campaigns are performing with a funnel visualization. It lets you choose the campaign and the time range to analyze.
The visualization is pretty straightforward, and you also can copy the prospects from the funnel. There is no integrated export button, so you will need to open a sheet app of your choice manually and then paste the data.
While this may be just a nitpick, once you paste the prospect data, there is no header row, so you will need to fill this manually.
The other aspect of the Funnel Flow is the Prospect tab. Here, you can see all the prospects based on the funnel stage they are in. You have a couple of options for manipulation here:
- Qualify In and Out – add these two tags to each of the prospects
- Message – this one was greyed out in the free trial
- Switch – move a prospect to another campaign
- Unenroll – remove a prospect from the campaign
You can also visit their LinkedIn profile, and see the conversation history, if there is any.
The interface feels a bit archaic here as well, and keep in mind that Dux-Soup won’t scrape the emails of these prospects.
Email Scraper
Now that we’ve mentioned that Dux-Soup won’t scrape emails on the prospects added to campaigns – we just want to set one thing straight – Dux-Soup offers these options but at a cost.
They have this feature, but it is locked behind a paywall. Essentially, you need to pay at least an extra $14,99 for 100 email credits.
We are not huge fans of this practice, especially because it seems Dux-Soup just scrapes the email addresses available on LinkedIn.
Activity Monitor
The queued Activity window allows you to see which actions are currently queued for each prospect in a campaign – pretty straightforward stuff.
Activity Log window checks what actions have been performed on the prospects of any given campaign. You can see the status of each of the scheduled actions and can retry the campaign on any of the prospects if any of the actions have failed.
Overall, we feel that the built-in CRM features of Dux-Soup are a bit lacking based on the competition:
- No integrated email finder tool
- No robust filtering options for organizing leads – only filtering by name is available
- Very basic interface
Dux-Soup Integrations
Dux-Soup has robust integration support and can integrate with various external tools and CRMs, which you can see in the screenshot above.
Here are some of the most notable Dux-Soup integrations:
- Hubspot, Pipedrive, SharpSpring – adding and updating CRM contacts seamlessly from LinkedIn.
- Zapier, Make – connect Dux-Soup with various apps and automate workflows.
- Woodpecker – combine email outreach and LinkedIn outreach in a single workflow.
The integration support is quite expansive, and that is one of the big positives Dux-Soup brings to the table in our opinion.
Pricing
Dux-Soup has three pricing plans:
- Pro ($14,99/month) – Profile tagging and search tool, personalized connection requests and InMails, data exports
- Turbo ($55/month) – All Pro features, unlimited campaigns, up to 12 campaign actions, campaign action time delays, advanced analytics, activity monitor, integration support
- Cloud ($99/month) – All Turbo features, all features are available via cloud (no need to have your PC and LinkedIn tabs turned on)
The Team licenses are charged per seat, and the Agency licenses start with 10 seats, with the following pricing:
As mentioned in the Email Scraper section, none of the plans come with the email credits included – you need to buy them separately:
- 100 email credits for $14,99
- 250 email credits for $29,99
- 600 email credits for $49,99
- 1000 email credits for $79,99
- 2000 email credits for $149,99
Dux-Soup comes with a 2-week free trial that gives you to try out the Turbo plan. It comes without email credits sadly.
Our take on the pricing:
While the Pro plan is very cheap as compared to the competitor options, it sadly isn’t worth it if you are serious about LinkedIn lead generation due to the lack of features. The Turbo plan is solid, but it isn’t cloud-based for that price tag.
Overall, the best option is the Cloud plan, and it is honestly the only plan that can come close to other tools from its competitors. So, if you want to have Dux-Soup remotely comparable, the $99/month price tag is the minimum you will need to pay.
Customer Support
Dux-Soup has an extensive database of instant answers so that you don’t need to contact their support. This feature sounds great on paper, but it has issues detecting the proper answer if you phrase a complex question.
For review purposes, we asked them to guide us regarding their basic feature – as the tutorial wasn’t readily available, and the answers that were generated for this question weren’t on-point. There is no live support, and the support time is within a few hours, which are two big downsides as compared to the competitors.
Luckily, they answered concisely within 15 minutes. But, the fact still stands that exclusively email support is inferior to live support.
Here is what other users have to say about Dux-Soup’s customer support:
External Reviews
Here are some customer reviews for Dux-Soup from Capterra and G2:
People like these things about Dux-Soup:
- Personalization features
- Unlimited campaigns
- Ability to import CSV files
People don’t like these things about Dux-Soup:
- Dux-Soup has a high possibility of getting banned on LinkedIn if not used properly
- The user experience is lacking and contributes to the steep learning curve
Dux-Soup Alternatives
Being a LinkedIn automation tool, Dux-Soup has a bunch of alternatives – and most of them claim they are #1 on the market. Let’s check out some of its alternatives.
Dux-Soup vs. Dripify
While Dux-Soup starts cheaper than Dripify – to have a similar set of features, you will need to invest the same amount ($99/month). Dripify certainly feels more complete when it comes to its interface, CRM, and the overall options it gives you for crafting campaigns.
Check out our Dripify review to find out more!
Dux-Soup vs. Meet Alfred
While Dux-Soup is cheaper than Meet Alfred, it doesn’t offer the same robust set of features. Meet Alfred has multi-channel campaigns, a built-in inbox, and scraping capabilities – something that we found lacking with Dux-Soup.
Find out more in our Meet Alfred review!
Dux-Soup: Things We Like
Starts Cheaper Than the Competition: There is no doubt that its price tag starts much lower than the competitor tools.
Lots of Available Learning Resources: If you get stuck, you will probably find an answer in their database.
Unlimited Campaigns: This is great for scaling your lead generation options.
Lots of Integration Options: You can integrate Dripify with various CRM solutions, or combine it with an email outreach tool, and many more options are available.
Dux-Soup: Things We Don’t Like
User Interface is Lacking: The user interface doesn’t look nice, is prone to bugs, and some options are too tough to reach.
Required Browser Extension: Dux-Soup only works with the browser extension in tandem, which makes the lead gen process a bit longer.
No LinkedIn action limits: This can increase the chances of getting banned on LinkedIn.
Not truly cloud-based: Only the most expensive plan is cloud-based, so keep that in mind.
Email credits bought separately: The email credits don’t come by default, so you need to invest extra money.
Is Dux-Soup Worth It In 2024?
Dux-Soup comes at a very competitive price tag and with the ability to juggle an unlimited number of campaigns.
In our opinion, Dux-Soup is worth it for a small business or an individual who will use it for LinkedIn automation. For anything larger in scale – the tool kinda falls apart due to its archaic, confusing, and buggy user interface. Additionally, you will need to pay the same amount as its objectively better competitors to be able to use it without the need to have your computer and LinkedIn tab on at all times.