You’ve gone searching for an influencer outreach email template.

Not because you don’t know how to write an influencer outreach email, but because your emails are hitting influencers’ inboxes and flopping harder than most professional soccer players. 

Lucky for you, we’ve sent our fair share of these emails and have learned from our failures and the shortcomings of others. 

From these learnings, we decided to craft an influencer outreach email template that puts others (looking at all of you “social media agencies”) to shame. 

So without further ado, here is the best influencer outreach email template on the entire internet of things (maybe…we think).

‍1. Subject Line‍

A subject line can make or break an email, and finding a great one these days is about as rare as finding a working Mcdonald’s ice cream machine.

Which subject line catches your eye more?

“Influencer collaboration opportunity”

or

“There’s money in this email…”‍

The first one is a white flag waving that says, “I have no clue what I’m doing”. The second gets your attention immediately.

Who wouldn’t open an email with money in it?

The subject line in this influencer outreach email needs to be short and to the point, while also maintaining some intrigue that drives them to actually open and read it. 

Think about how many emails hit your inbox and never get read because the subject line is more boring than Wednesday bingo at grandma’s retirement home? 

Trust us, you don’t want your email sitting next to an Arby’s promo code in the trash.

Speaking of poor subject lines, remember this: avoid the spam words. We’re not just talking about the words that land you in the forbidden spam folder, we’re talking about anything that would strike a creator as spam, boring, or irrelevant.

That could be phrases like, “FREE MERCH”, “Partnership Opportunity”, or the worst of them all, “Let’s work together”. 

Instead, opt for simple and creative subject lines like,

“This idea has your name written all over it…”

or

“I’ve come to the expert for guidance…”‍

When it’s all said and done, if there is one thing that you do in this influencer outreach email, it’s writing a subject line that actually gets seen and not sent to exile with the rest of the bad emails.

2. Campaign Details‍

With your juicy subject line ready to tease your social influencer of choice, it’s time to break out all the details of this social media campaign in your influencer outreach email. 

This campaign details section sets the foundations of the influencer campaign and scripts out what the influencer will be doing. This is where you drop your company name (and link) as well as the products or services that you want them to promote. We highly recommend hyperlinking over to these specific places to make it easier for the influencer to read. 

From there, introduce the influencer campaign idea and execution. This specifically includes the content type (photo/video/design) and the social media platforms they will be sharing it on.

Finally, round this section out with a simple reminder that you want them to make this content in their style and not like an #ad. 

3. Must-Haves‍

Every influencer outreach email needs to have this section. Without it, the creator will have no idea what essential elements need to be included in their content. 

This must-have section includes items like how many posts are to be done, any required copy or edits to those posts, what collateral action is happening as a result (liking, commenting, etc), and pushing clicks via link in bio.

Some brands save this section for the creative brief, but we like to put the must-haves for every influencer campaign inside the outreach email for two reasons:

1. If the influencer doesn’t check their email often, this must-have section (usually bolded) draws attention and can be referenced right away.
2. This section ensures that both parties (you and the influencer) are on the same page when it comes to needs for this social media campaign. 

Here’s an example from a recent client campaign that we did…

MUST-HAVES: 1 TikTok Post, 1 Mention, Caption must contain #brandpartner, Link in bio for 7 days.

Influencers should have an easy time going through this bulleted section and clearly understand what it is they need to do if they partner with you. Treat it almost like a consolidated version of your creative brief.

NOTE: Encourage the creator to take creative control of the project, but be sure to follow the terms inside of the creative brief. 

The “freedom with guardrails” approach works very well as it empowers them to do their thing while allowing you to have creative input and direction as you are the one paying for it.

4. Deliverables & Payment‍

This final section of your influencer outreach email wraps up all of the important details that every creator wants to know like how much are you going to pay them and what they get in return for content.

While most brands think that they are some great blessing from above when they share a product with a social influencer, the fact of the matter is that they want to get paid.

We tell this to every brand working with influencers: pay them!

If you are a brand that can tack on some cash, we always encourage you to do so—product is great and all but cash is the ultimate currency (for now). Always lead with what you can pay them first and follow up with the products you are going to send them. 

Product is a great option for small brands that are operating on a tight budget and might not have the ability to sling extra dollars.

If it is only a product, lead with your MVP, but do not oversell it. 

The last thing influencers want is to feel like they are being sold to, so stick to simplicity and write 1-2 sentences that clearly state what they get in return, then link over to the webpage that has the product on it and allow the influencer to do their own research.

NOTE: One thing you must absolutely do here is bold the deliverables. Every influencer wants to know what they are going to get paid, so convey it to them clearly!  

5. The CTA

All great outreach emails have a CTA that stirs the influencer and pushes them toward action. Do not leave this out of your email.

Encourage them to reach out to you directly and ask any questions about anything. The more receptive you are from the first interaction, the better chances they will commit.

And remember, always sign it personally. Don’t use a company email like “greatestproductonearth@gmail.com” and put “from the team” at the bottom. 

Use your name and share your personal email and phone number so they can directly contact you with any questions they may have. 

If all that stuff sounded fine and dandy, but you have a business to run and products to focus on, we’d love to help do all of this influencer marketing stuff for you. Our arsenal of influencers (almost 2k) is eager to partner with brands and make some cash-stacking, audience-grabbing content. 

‍Click right here to learn more about it.