Tired of getting ghosted during influencer outreach? Here’s why influencers don’t answer your emails (and what you can do to get more responses).
Wondering why influencers don’t answer your emails?
Perhaps it’s your pitch. Maybe there’s something in your messages that feels like a red flag.
Listen: increasing your response rate won’t happen by accident. This is especially true given how many emails and DMs influencers receive daily.
(Spoilers: a lot!)
Having worked with tens of thousands of creators, we’ve seen it all when it comes to pitches. If you want to figure out how to email influencers the right way, we can clue you in.
Below are the biggest reasons influencers won’t reply to brands. We’ll also break down our firsthand tips on how to get influencers to respond to your messages.
We get it: you want to scale your campaigns and reach as many people as possible.
But meaningful influencer outreach is never a numbers game.
Just like you can spot a spam message from a mile away, so can the creators you’re emailing. Blasting a bunch of one-size-fits-all emails is a recipe for a low response rate.
Not only are canned pitches poorly received by influencers but they can also hurt your company’s reputation.
Trust us — creators talk. Being infamous for spamming creators is a bad look. Poor outreach now could actually hurt your chances of collaborating with creators down the line.
If you want responses, a little bit of research goes a long way.
Before reaching out to an influencer make sure to comb through their profile(s). Start at their bio and work your way through their content.
What’s their vibe? Is their social presence super polished? Unfiltered? What’s their voice like when you read their captions?
These details will provide context to your outreach and help your message stand out. Personalizing your pitches is a piece of cake from here. For example, you can:
By the way, you can totally use templates to speed up your outreach while still personalizing your pitches. Check out our Instagram collaboration email templates for examples of how to do this the right way.
You think your product is awesome, right? Hey, it probably is.
That doesn’t mean that what you’re selling is right for the influencers you’re reaching out to, though.
Much like brands, creators want to cultivate a specific image. They’re selective about the brands they partner with and the products they promote. If you don’t align with their audience, they’re going to pass.
Also, think about how niche influencers can be in terms of their content and audiences.
For example, both of the creators below are hair influencers. That doesn’t mean they’re going to accept offers from any and all hair care brands, though.
Source: @maggietorials / Source: @valeriequirijns
The types of products they promote to their respective audiences are apples and oranges. The same goes for the brands they support.
We’ll say it again: do your homework!
Reaching out to influencers at random isn’t going to help your response rate. The responses you do get will be super awkward.
With so many influencers out there, consider that your problem might be where you’re looking for them in the first place.
Here are some tips on how to find creators that actually align with your brand:
Then, find example posts and products that you can share to highlight why they’d be a good fit for your brand. Going through the process above likewise shows the influencer that you’ve actually done your research.
Listen: influencers are in-demand right now.
As a result, underwhelming or unclear offers tend to get ignored.
Put yourself in an influencer’s shoes. How would you feel if someone asked you to create content with super in-depth requirements in exchange for a measly 15% discount?
Probably not thrilled.
Even up-and-coming influencers understand their worth and rightfully so. Think about what you can realistically get in exchange for your offer. You can’t expect stellar content from a subpar offer.
If you want to see real results from your influencer campaigns, you need to put effort behind them. That means time and money. As influencer marketing budgets increase, so do the expectations of creators.
If you want to run a meaningful campaign on a tighter budget, consider that product gifting is an option.
However, free products alone aren’t the incentive you might think they are. For gifting campaigns to work, you need to offer products that:
No huge surprises here.
When an influencer sees a wall of text from someone they’ve never heard from before, they’re not wrong to regard it as spam.
So much of how to email influencers is about being brief and getting to the point. The longer your emails, the more likely you are to muddle your message.
There is no “right” answer in terms of how long your outreach email should be.
But when in doubt, keep your messages on the shorter side.
How short are we talking, exactly? Recent studies say the “optimal” length of a business email sits between 75 and 100 words. The same applies to your direct messages.
Looking at influencer pitches that actually worked, many emails are around 100 words (see below). Our own Instagram outreach templates are a similar length.
Everyone’s busy these days. Influencers are no exception.
Even influencers that want to work with you may not respond right away.
Don’t panic! Life happens. Consider that many micro-influencers create content as a side hustle. They may have jobs or other commitments that come before your message.
Also, some influencers actually set aside specific times during the week to respond to outreach. In that case, you might just have to play the waiting game.
No tricks or “hacks” here. Be prepared to wait a week or two after your initial outreach message. Then, send a short but sweet follow-up message.
Because response rates can be so inconsistent, it helps to cast a wide net when it comes to outreach. Doing so is obviously easier said than done if you’re contacting influencers yourself, though.
The key takeaway from all of this?
If you want to figure out how to write an influencer email that really resonates, you need to put thought into it.
Be personal. Be clear. Highlight your value in as few words as possible.
Doing all of the above takes time. This is especially true if you want to reach out to dozens (or hundreds!) of influencers.
If you need a scalable way to get more influencer content, Statusphere can help.
Our micro-influencer software matches brands with vetted influencers from our creator community using 250+ first-party data points. Unlike other platforms, we help brands earn a high volume of guaranteed content long-term.
Since we have our own internal creator network, there's no outreach or negotiations required on your end. This highlights how Statusphere eliminates 98% of the workload required when working with influencers in-house.
Want to learn more about how our platform works? Get in touch with one of our experts to see how we can scale your influencer marketing efforts in a fraction of the time.
This article was first published in August 2016. It was last updated May 15, 2022.
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