Use Signals to reach prospects at the right time

Learning Objective

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to create a Signals watchlist, configure different signal types (Hiring, Website visitors, LinkedIn profiles, and LinkedIn keywords), and turn detected signals into actionable next steps inside lemlist.

Why This Matters

When inboxes are saturated with automation, timing and relevance are what make outreach convert. Signals help you spot real buying intent (hiring, website visits, LinkedIn engagement, etc.) so your team can reach out with the right message at the right time, before competitors do.

Prerequisites

You have access to Signals in lemlist.
For Website visitors, you can edit your website header (or have someone who can).
For LinkedIn profiles, you have the LinkedIn profile URLs you want to monitor.

Core Lesson: Step-by-step workflow

A Signals watchlist follows the same flow: choose the signal type, configure what to track, choose the segment to monitor, and decide how you’ll process matches.

Phase 1: Create a new watchlist

Go to Signals.
From the Watchlists tab, click New watchlist.
Select the signal you want to monitor (e.g., Hiring, Website visitors, LinkedIn signals), then continue.

Phase 2: Configure the signal

This phase defines what counts as intent and ensures you only get relevant signals.

For example signal Company is hiring for a specific role/

Best for: detecting companies expanding teams that match your ICP (e.g., hiring SDRs, Heads of Sales, RevOps).

Enter a clear Watchlist name, then define your inclusion and (optional) exclusion criteria (job titles, geographies, and keywords).

Signal B: Company visited my website

Best for: prioritizing companies already engaging with your site (pricing page visitors, product pages, etc.).

Add/select your website, click Display code, then paste the tracking snippet into your website header and deploy the change.
Use Tracker settings to review installed trackers and manage your identification limits (each identified company costs credits).
In settings, you can see active trackers and define the maximum number of companies identified per day.
Configure what to track (e.g., all pages vs. specific pages like /pricing), plus any inclusion/exclusion rules (time on site, pages viewed, target countries, etc.).

Example: LinkedIn signals

Best for: tracking engagement (likes/comments) on posts from specific profiles (thought leaders, competitors, industry voices) and spotting engaged contacts.

Select Engaged with a profile on LinkedIn, then click Next.
Give the watchlist a recognizable name, add the LinkedIn profile URLs you want to monitor (up to 20), then click Add profiles.
Choose the types of engagement you want to track (Likes, Comments, or both) and click on Next.

Phase 3: Choose the segment to monitor

This phase defines who (or which companies) Signals should watch for matches.

Select a segment to monitor (e.g., All segments, an existing Contact list, or a Specific segment), then click Next.

Phase 4: Decide how to process signals

This phase determines what happens when Signals detects intent—so your team can act quickly and consistently.

Choose whether to create a task for identified signals or manually process them.
Configure the task details (owner, priority, instructions, etc.), then click Next.

Phase 5: Review and create

Review the summary and click Next to create the watchlist. Credits are deducted when you create a new signal. If you don’t have enough credits, you’ll see an error message.

Practical Application / Real-life example

Example workflow: “Hiring Head of Sales in France, UK, and Germany.”

Use Company is hiring for a specific role with job titles like “Head of Sales” and the geographies you sell into.
Set processing to Create a task assigned to the company/contact owner with instructions like: “Find decision-maker contacts and enroll in the outbound sequence.”
Each morning, your team works the tasks created from fresh intent instead of cold lists.

Troubleshooting & pitfalls

Issue: I can’t create the signal (error message).

Root cause: Not enough credits for the watchlist you’re creating.
Fix: Reduce the scope (fewer profiles/topics/companies) or add credits, then retry.

Issue: Website visitors signals aren’t appearing.

Root cause: The tracking snippet hasn’t been installed correctly, or hasn’t been deployed to production.
Fix: Re-copy the snippet, ensure it’s in your website header, deploy, then confirm tracker status in settings.

Issue: LinkedIn profile monitoring looks too broad or irrelevant.

Root cause: Monitoring the wrong profiles, or tracking too many engagement types without a focused segment.
Fix: Narrow the profiles list and/or limit engagement types; use a tighter segment (specific contact list) when available.

Billing

Signals use a credit-based system during the rollout (this may evolve over time). Credits are typically deducted when you create a signal/watchlist (and for Website visitors, when companies are identified).