Failure to reply to emails kills influencers’ careers. If you want to be a successful influencer, you need to stay on top of your emails. I know, it isn’t the fun glamorous life that we depict on our Instagram accounts, but collaborations with brands are what pays the bills. And the way we find out about those collaborations is through email.
Brands do not want to wait. Don’t make brands wait for you to reply to their emails. It is unprofessional, and it creates a bad experience for the brand. Brands want to work with people who are responsive. They do not want to follow up with you repeatedly or feel like they are chasing you to complete the project.
If the brand has a bad experience, they won’t work with you again. If a brand has to email and email to get you to reply, they might not work with you again. You don’t want people to be spreading the word of, “Oh I emailed her and she never replied.” And word does get out – especially at agencies that specialize in influencer collaborations. Never give a brand a reason not to work with you again.
Check your email inbox every day. Read every one. Have a media kit ready, know your rates, and have a standard response so that you and quickly tackle your inbox. Keeping your inbox at a manageable level will ensure that you are not missing emails about potential gigs, and replying quickly will show that you are responsible and make the brand want to continue working with you.
Have a dedicated email account for your website. This makes it easier to clean out the inbox. Don’t let the email become your personal email address. Let it be the place where work happens. Don’t give the email out to friends or use it when you are shopping online. The fewer emails that the inbox receives, it easier it is to reply to them quickly.
The fact is, THE BAR IS LOW. I know lots of influencers that have 1,000 or more unread emails in their inbox. They take weeks to reply to an email if they even reply at all. Being quick to respond makes you stand out – in a good way.
True story: I was on the cover of CRAIN’S because I was the first to reply to an email. There are times when the first person to reply to an email gets the opportunity.
Make it your goal to reply to every email within 24 hours. Just make it happen. Especially if you are a full-time blogger. Your blog is your business and you don’t want to miss out on paying opportunities.
If I am out of town, I still check email every day. Sometimes I just send a quick reply saying something like, “Thanks so much for reaching out! I would love to work on this campaign! I am traveling today and away from my computer, but first thing tomorrow I will send you my media kit and rates.” Now they know I am interested and they know that I stay on top of email – even when I am traveling – and I won’t make them chase me for my work.
Clean out your inbox on Sunday nights. It isn’t the most fun project, but few people are sending emails on Sunday nights, so it is a good time to clean out your inbox since you won’t be getting lots of new emails. You know those days when for every email you reply to you get 3 new ones? That doesn’t happen on Sundays. Plus, it lets your start Monday with a clean slate.
Do you have any email tips to share? Let us know in the comments!