How to Craft Irresistible Influencer Outreach Emails
I. Introduction
Most businesses today are utilizing influencer marketing because it has been proven to be a highly effective marketing tactic with a stronger return on investment than traditional advertising. More specifically, according to Shopify, over half of brands collaborating with influencers operate an ecommerce store. E-commerce is particularly well suited for influencer marketing since there are no geographic boundaries. Additionally, rather than spend a significant amount of money on ads, smaller e-commerce stores can get more bang for their buck collaborating with influencers and building an authentic community around their product/service.
The percentage of companies making influencer marketing a key component of their marketing strategy is continuing to grow. A HubSpot study found that 89% of marketers plan to increase or maintain their influencer marketing budget for this year.
Given that there are countless brands collaborating with influencers, how can you get your Shopify e-commerce store noticed by an influencer and convince them to begin a partnership?
A well-crafted outreach email can make all the difference in helping you stand out from the competition.
II. Research and Preparation
Before crafting a compelling email, you must identify the right influencer(s) for your brand.
Consider two important questions here:
- What are your goals with this influencer marketing campaign?
Are you launching a new product or service and wanting to increase brand awareness? Perhaps, instead, you are wanting to improve sales of an existing product or service. Outlining a specific goal for the campaign will allow you to better identify an influencer to help you reach that goal.
- Who is your target audience?
When selecting an influencer to partner with, It’s extremely important to ensure that there is alignment between their following and your target audience. In order for your influencer marketing campaign to be successful, your target audience needs to trust this influencer. Trust is at the foundation of what makes influencer marketing such a powerful tactic. Thus, make sure the influencer that you select is considered an expert in your company’s niche.
If you’d like more assistance with selecting influencers that would be a good fit for your brand, read our comprehensive guide to influencer marketing.
Another alternative for finding influencers is utilizing a Shopify app like Famous Finder. With Famous Finder, you will be immediately notified via email when a celebrity or influencer makes a purchase from your store. If an influencer is already a customer, then partnering with them is a no-brainer! Plus, Famous Finder provides you with the best available contact information for that influencer, saving you valuable time.
Now that you’ve chosen the perfect influencer, take some time to research and prepare before jumping into outreach mode. Browse their content on social media and take note of what you love about their posts. Also, look for content they have produced for other brands to help you brainstorm ideas for your partnership.
Additionally, it’s wise to begin engaging with the influencer on their social channels to set the foundation for a relationship. That way, when you do reach out, they are hopefully familiar with your brand and recognize that you are genuinely interested in them and their content.
By familiarizing yourself with your chosen influencer’s content, you will be better equipped to write a personalized email that gets their attention.
III. Personalization and Customization
Personalization is the key for successful outreach! Influencers are bombarded with numerous requests everyday. A generic, templated outreach email will likely get dismissed as spam and deleted immediately. A customized email, on the other hand, is more likely to result in a response. In fact, according to a study done by Backlinko, personalized emails have a 32.7% better response rate than non-personalized emails.
In order to make a strong first impression, address the influencer by their preferred name and make sure to spell it right too! It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many email senders get this wrong and how frustrated that makes recipients, as reflected in this viral tweet.
Personalization, at its core, means ensuring that the email would not make sense if it were sent to anyone else. Use the information gathered in your research and preparation above to highlight what you love about the influencer’s recent work. The more specific, the better!
For example, if you’re a small business in the CPG industry reaching out to an influencer in the food space, you might compliment one of their recent recipe reels by saying, “I love the simplicity and seasonality of the yogurt bark recipe you posted last week. The way you playfully snacked on some of the ingredients as you were making the recipe makes you seem very approachable. I’m excited to try out this recipe myself for a fun, summer treat!”
Another area of an email that you should make sure to personalize is the subject line. Invesp states that personalized subject lines are 22.2% more likely to be opened. The next section has even more tips for crafting an engaging subject line!
IV. Crafting an Engaging Subject Line
It’s important to spend some time writing an eye-catching subject line as this will determine whether your email gets opened or not. There are three main points to consider when crafting an effective subject line for influencer email outreach:
- The subject line should be personalized.
As discussed in the section above, personalization can improve your email outreach success rate, and this extends to the subject line as well. Invesp found that subject lines with names get opened 18.3% of the time versus subject lines without names only get opened 15.7% of the time.
- The subject line should avoid any spam triggers or cliches.
Writing a subject line in ALL CAPS can trigger some platforms to automatically mark the email as spam, so use sentence case instead. Refer to this resource from HubSpot for a more extensive list of spam trigger words to avoid in subject lines.
- The subject line should be compelling and grab the influencer’s attention.
One way to stand out is by using emojis in the subject line. Emojis in subject lines are reported to increase open rates by as much as 56%! Another way to peak the interest of the influencer you hope to collaborate with is to include specific details around the marketing campaign.
How do you do all of that in one line? By being super intentional about each word or symbol. You want your subject line to be concise. The recommended length is between 40-60 characters to ensure it is displayed in its entirety. Here are a few examples to get those brainstorming wheels started:
- {Brand name} + {Influencer name} = ♥️ Perfect Match!
- {Brand name} X {Influencer name}: Mutually beneficial collaboration opportunity!
- {Influencer name}, your followers will love {Brand name}’s {Product name}
- {Influencer name} - Work with {Brand name} on {Specific campaign}
Now that the subject line is complete, let’s move on to some tips for the introductory paragraph.
V. Writing an Irresistible Introduction
So you’ve gotten the influencer to open your email - that’s awesome, but the work is not done yet!
Use the opening paragraph of your email to make a strong first impression. Hopefully the influencer is already familiar with your company because you’ve previously engaged with them on social platforms. Regardless, in the introduction, make sure to pitch your brand in a way that you think will resonate with the influencer.
The introduction is also a great place to emphasize why you think this partnership is a strong fit. What are the commonalities between your brand and the influencer’s brand? Why does this collaboration make sense?
Finally, use the initial paragraph to demonstrate knowledge of the influencer’s work. Show that you’ve done your homework and make sure to share why you’re excited to initiate a partnership with them.
VI. Clearly Communicating Value
The following paragraph of your email should entail all the pertinent details of the collaboration you are proposing. Ensure that your ask is clearly defined - Are you inviting the influencer to become a paid brand ambassador? Are you wanting to collaborate with the influencer on creating a new product or variation of an existing product? Or perhaps you’re inviting the influencer to a brand event. No matter the type of ask, it is crucial to highlight how the collaboration will be mutually beneficial for the influencer and your brand.
To persuade the influencer to agree to the collaboration, include a bullet-pointed list of benefits that your brand can offer. Will working with your brand increase their authority in your company’s niche? Will they gain free products for themselves and their followers? Will they earn a percentage of every referred sale? Exact details of compensation can be included in an attachment to keep the email brief.
It’s also important to use the body of the email to show appreciation for the influencer’s expertise. Make sure the influencer understands that although you are providing guidelines, they will be able to ultimately determine how they choose to promote your brand. After all, they know their audience best.
VII. Keeping the Email Concise
No one enjoys lengthy emails, and this includes influencers. With the number of requests they receive on a regular basis, it’s prudent to keep your email concise and scannable.
Use short paragraphs, divided by relevant topic, and make use of bullet points for clear and easy-to-read lists. Highlight any key points with bold or italics to draw the influencer’s attention to what matters most.
Finally, make sure to include a clear call-to-action at the end of the email. What specifically are you hoping to receive back after the influencer reads this email? An example call-to-action might read, “Let us know if you’d like to move forward with this partnership."
VIII. Polishing the Email
The email content is done, but don’t hit send just yet! Take a few minutes to polish the email to ensure that it is in perfect shape.
It’s important to show the influencer that you took the time to craft a well-thought-out email. A simple grammar or spelling mistake can ruin this impression. Make sure to proofread multiple times to look for errors. Having an additional set of eyes read over the email is a great way to ensure that all mistakes are caught.
As you reread the email, make sure your brand voice comes through clearly so the influencer clearly understands what your company is about. Find a balance in the tone of the email between professional and conversational. You want to show that you are serious about your influencer marketing campaign, but willing to be fun and creative as well.
Another point to keep in mind is that most emails are now read on mobile phones. According to HubSpot, 41% of email views come from a mobile device versus 39% on a desktop and 19% on a tablet. Given this statistic, ensure that your email and any attachments are easily readable on a mobile device.
Finally, make sure to add a professional and visually appealing signature and include your brand logo for recognition.
IX. Following Up Effectively
Don’t get discouraged if your email does not receive a response. The average email open rate, according to Oberlo, is only 19.7%. Think about the changes you can make to a follow-up email to increase the odds that it gets opened.
Perhaps you edit the subject line to be more eye-catching. It could also be a good idea to offer some alternative collaboration ideas in case the influencer was not excited by your specific proposal.
Sending a follow-up email is encouraged because it can significantly improve your results. According to Woodpecker, the follow-up email can have up to a 40% higher reply rate than the initial email. It’s possible the influencer simply missed the first one, so a second try is definitely recommended.
Make sure to give the influencer a reasonable timeframe to respond before following-up. The suggested time-frame for a follow up is around 4 days.
X. Conclusion
Influencer marketing has become an essential part of today's marketing landscape. If you haven’t utilized influencer marketing yet, now is the time! Influencer marketing can do wonders for growing your Shopify store.
One example is Fashion Nova, a fast fashion retail company that utilizes Shopify. Fashion Nova has successfully partnered with thousands of micro influencers, which they refer to as “Nova Babes”. These influencers have helped catapult the brand to success since its beginning as an e-commerce site in 2013. The brand grew by 600% in 2017 and was the most Googled fashioned brand in 2018, according to Harvard.
Use this guide to get started with influencer outreach today. And don’t forget to download Famous Finder to cultivate relationships with influencers or celebrities that have ordered from your Shopify store.
