10 Influencer Outreach templates [Email & DM]

Rohan Rajpal

Last Updated: 14 August 2024

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The most daunting process during your influencer marketing is what message would make them interested in your offering? Influencers receive thousands of messages in a month. You don't want to write a direct message that remains stale in their requests section, or any that would be lost in the spam folder.

In this blog, we will share 5 templates that will get you a reply, get better open rates on collaboration email templates & improve your outreach campaigns.

Sadly, there is no blanket statement on what works better. I've got big (1M+) influencers to reply via IG DMs, and many times even ones with 50k didn't reply to my emails.

Both Emails & DMs social media platforms have their purpose:

1. Email: A much more formal way to reach out to influencers. You can play with subject line, create an attractive email template to get better open rates & replies. Additionally, many creators mention their collaboration emails on their bio itself to reach out.
2. DM: Allows you to have a much more casual tone for outreach messages & stand out among the plethora of brands reaching out to them.

This blog will have both email outreach message examples and DM as well. However, if you want a guide to finding relevant influencers, read our blog on How to Identify Influencers for Your Brand. We talk about various method and engagement rate too.

Following our 5 influencer outreach email templates & an influencer Instagram dm template for the same topic. To get an influencer's attention, we've split the type of influencer outreach template & outreach message into different categories.

Keep the following things in mind for your influencer outreach email

• Introduce your brand and express interest in collaborating with the influencer, be genuine & specific if you're complimenting them. Don't lie, people can tell when you lie.
• Highlight the benefits of working together and propose a collaboration. Provide a CTA like "let's chat"
• In DMs, keep things a bit casual, the worst thing is you start sounding corporate in DMs, that might not get you many replies.

Subject: Hey @creator_username, we'd love to work together 🫂

Hey [INSERT INFLUENCER NAME],

I’m [YOUR NAME] from [INSERT BRAND NAME]. I just came across your content and loved [THING YOU LOVE ABOUT THEIR CONTENT, PLEASE BE GENUINE, PEOPLE CAN TELL WHEN YOU LIE].

You’re speaking our language [YOUR BRAND]’s [MISSION, STYLE, TONE, VALUES, ETC.]. I think we could work together.

If you’re interested, let’s chat this week?

Cheers,

[YOUR NAME] [YOUR POSITION] [BRAND WEBSITE]

Hi [CREATOR’S NAME or USERNAME]

I’m [YOUR NAME] from [BRAND USERNAME]. I recently saw your content and was impressed by [THING YOU LOVE ABOUT THEIR CONTENT]. Your style and message align perfectly with [BRAND]'s [MISSION, STYLE, TONE, VALUES, ETC.]. We'd love to work together.

If you're interested, happy to chat sometime!

• Offer free products to the influencer to try out and review
• Follow up with the influencer to see how they like the product and if they have any questions
• No Commitments is a double-edged sword, the influencer knows you're doing this for a purpose, and you will be following up about a collab soon, so this does not build up a good relationship.

Subject Line: @creator_username, what's your shipping address?

Hey [INSERT INFLUENCER NAME],

I'm [YOUR NAME] from [INSERT BRAND NAME]. I've been following your content and love it because [WHAT YOU LOVE].

We'd love to send you [INSERT PRODUCT] for free to try out and explore a potential collaboration together. If you're game, please send me your shipping address.

Cheers,

[YOUR NAME] [YOUR POSITION] [BRAND WEBSITE]

Hi [CREATOR’S NAME or USERNAME]

I've been following your content and love it because [WHAT YOU LOVE]. We'd love to send you [INSERT PRODUCT] for free to try out and explore a potential collaboration together.

What's your shipping address?

One of the best cold emails is which mention a mutual contact, or better if a mutual contact introduces you folks. This builds credibility since a creator's friend is the one vouching for you & gets you genuine interest.

Subject Line: @creator_username, we have a mutual friend it seems

Hey [INSERT INFLUENCER NAME],

I'm [YOUR NAME] from [INSERT BRAND].

[MUTUAL FRIEND'S NAME] told me you're in the same space as [YOUR INDUSTRY] and would be a great fit for a potential partnership.

I've been following your content and love it because [WHAT YOU LOVE]. We'd love to work together, if you're interested, let's chat this week?

Cheers,

[YOUR NAME] [YOUR POSITION] [BRAND WEBSITE]

Hey [CREATOR’S USERNAME],

I'm [YOUR NAME] from [INSERT BRAND].

I've been following your content and love it because [WHAT YOU LOVE]. We'd love to work together, if you're interested, let's chat this week?

Cheers,

[YOUR NAME] [YOUR POSITION] [BRAND WEBSITE]

You might also come across a few influencers who actually used your product. This is a great collaboration opportunity, since they already have your product & can promote it further with a paid collaboration.

Subject Line: Hey @creator_username, I see you like our products 💄

Hey [INSERT INFLUENCER NAME],

I'm [YOUR NAME] from [INSERT BRAND]. Thank you so much for the shoutout for our brand in your recent post! We're truly committed to [BRAND]'s [MISSION, STYLE, TONE, VALUES, ETC.].

We'd love to further work together, if you're interested, let's chat this week?

Cheers,

[YOUR NAME] [YOUR POSITION] [BRAND WEBSITE]

DM

Tip: Share the Post/TikTok/Reel you're talking about, they'll recall sooner

Hey [CREATOR’S USERNAME],

I'm [YOUR NAME] from [INSERT BRAND USERNAME]. Thank you so much for the shoutout for our brand in your recent post! We're truly committed to [BRAND]'s [MISSION, STYLE, TONE, VALUES, ETC.].

Are you interested in exploring an official collaboration campaign?

If you're organizing an event, you can invite existing influencers to build hype and get more audience. Let's say you're launching a new drop, if you give exclusive invites to influencers, they can showcase their look with your existing collection. Influencers also talk about attending the event bringing in more attention.

Give early access of your product to the influencer, they'll show them to their target audience & get them hyped up about your launch!

Subject: @creator_username, we're hosting a product drop event, and you're invited ❤️

Hey [CREATOR’S NAME],

I'm [YOUR NAME] from [INSERT BRAND]. We're soon hosting an event, launching [INSERT PRODUCT]. It's an exclusive event for our community, and we'd love to extend an invitation to you.

We're truly committed to [BRAND]'s [MISSION, STYLE, TONE, VALUES, ETC.].

If you're interested, I'll shoot the invite right away.

Cheers,

[YOUR NAME] [YOUR POSITION] [BRAND WEBSITE]

Hey [CREATOR’S USERNAME],

I'm [YOUR NAME] from [BRAND USERNAME]. We're soon hosting an event, launching [INSERT PRODUCT]. It's an exclusive event for our community, and we'd love to extend an invitation to you.

Let us know if you'd like to come!

These templates are not only for one-off collaboration, but also when you're finding your brand ambassador. I don't think so outreach emails will be different for your ambassador program, as you'll probably want to have an ongoing collaboration with potential influencers already before enrolling them into your ambassador program.

If you have a payment or some terms already in mind, add that in your subject line and your email open rates and response rates will skyrocket

1. Make sure to add personalization in your email template, as highlighted in the influencer email templates above.
2. Adding the influencer's handle in the subject line is another way to skyrocket your email open rates. Make sure to include the @ symbol, which makes your email look a little bit unique
3. Also using emojis, adding some color to your subject line helps a ton

If you have an affiliate program, mention it. It's fair to offer influencers a commission for promoting your products or services, for them, it's a revenue channel, so it gets them interested.

Make sure to Provide a clear outline of the affiliate program and its benefits.

More often than not, you will have to follow up and get creative with contacting influencers. Always think from an influencer's interest perspective, you can easily solve your problems later, but if you solve their problem first, even your general collaboration email template will do well.

Make sure your follow up message gives the influencer additional value, that way, they will value your outreach efforts more and reply.

Instagram DMs often go in the "requests" section, which might often get skipped by creators. To increase your open rate, try commenting on their 2-3 recent posts.

Since comments are a public thing and influencers also get a notification about comments, they are much likely to notice you & later read the DM. Influencers read all their comments!

Whether it's paid or not, a verified badge gets you noticed. Let's say you have a list of DMs about collab requests, you're more likely to pay attention to a verified account, even if it has a couple of thousand followers.

If you're a brand which has a few thousand followers and a couple of media articles, go get your account verified.

Make sure your profile photo is real and authentic. Try to experiment with various styles & see what works better.

Ask a few random folks to open your profile and assess how easy it is to understand what you do. Influencers will 100% open your profile first & then consider replying, so if you confuse them at your profile, all your efforts are in vain.

Influencers often mention in their bio their preference for contacts. If they mention "DM" or "Open to DM" you should definitely start from there. Otherwise, if their Instagram bio has an email mentioned, it's better to start with emails.

Use both emails and DMs if necessary, and keep the message consistent.

Short and crisp always wins over long and verbose. Keep the message short and to the point, with a clear call-to-action. Research says that emails up to 100 words receive the highest response rate, but make sure to experiment a bit.

You can look for the influencer’s email address on their website or social media profiles like their Instagram bio. You can also use paid tools to search for influencers, and they will help you with all their lead details to reach out to them.

Don't be intimidated, use the templates we have provided above & just follow the process. You might not get results on day one, but being consistent is key here.

Personalize your messages and show interest in the influencer’s content, that will help you get the right influencer.

The templates we've shared above are just the start, if you just blindly follow them without adding your own inputs and touch, you will not get the best results. To make sure your outreach email open rates skyrockets, you have to improve and evolve the templates and follow-up emails.

Approach influencers with authentic content & genuine interested, reflect on your messages and keep improving!