This guide walks through it in the brand portal, start to finish. No code, no spreadsheets, no separate email tool. If you would rather run it from Claude or your own scripts, see how to run outbound creator campaigns with the Roster MCP and API.
Where creator outreach lives
Everything sits under Find Creators in the portal sidebar, which has three tabs:
- Browse is the creator directory. Search and filter to see who is out there.
- Outreach is where your sequences live, with sent, replied and delivery status for each one.
- TikTok Shop is for affiliate creators on TikTok Shop, on plans that include it.
You can start a sequence from either Browse or Outreach. Both open the same builder.
Step one: choose who gets the email
From Browse. Set your filters: niche, country, city, gender, follower range and engagement. The results update as you go. When the list looks right, click Start Outreach Campaign at the bottom of the screen. The builder opens with your filters already filled in.
From Outreach. Click New campaign and set the same filters inside the builder. The builder shows a live count of creators who match and have an email on file, so you can widen or tighten before you write a word.
From your own list. If you already know exactly who you want, add them as contacts. Paste emails, names with emails, @handles or Instagram and TikTok links, one per line, or upload a CSV. Roster detects the columns for you and finds emails for handles it knows.
Two settings worth checking before you move on:
- Exclude already contacted stays on by default, so nobody gets your pitch twice.
- Email on file limits the audience to creators Roster can actually reach.
A filter audience can reach up to 2,000 creators per sequence. If your filters match more than that, Roster sends to the first 2,000 and you can run another sequence for the rest.
Step two: write the email
The builder gives you a subject line and a body, with a Live Preview next to them that shows the email exactly as a chosen creator will see it.
Use placeholders. Click Insert Placeholder to drop in the creator's name, their handle, their follower count or your brand name. Each creator gets their own version.
Or start from AI. Generate with AI drafts the email from a one-line description of your offer, for example "UGC for our press-on nails, free product plus commission". Treat the draft as a starting point and edit it until it sounds like you.
Test two subject lines. Turn on A/B test subject line and add a second subject. Half of your recipients get each version, so you learn which one gets opened.
Save what works. Saved Templates keeps your best emails for the next sequence.
A cold email to a creator works best when it is short enough to read on a phone without scrolling. Say who you are in one sentence, the offer in one sentence, and end with an easy question like "Want the details?"
Step three: add a follow-up
Turn on Send follow-up if no reply, choose Send after 3, 5 or 7 days, and write a short second email. It only goes to creators who have not answered the first one. Creators are busy, and a friendly bump catches the ones who meant to reply and forgot.
Keep the follow-up even shorter than the first email. Two or three lines is plenty.
Step four: choose the send speed
Under Send Speed you have three options:
- Spread over time sends 300 emails a day. It is the safest option and the default.
- Start queue now sends 1,000 a day, starting right away.
- Schedule for later picks a start date and time.
The Estimated Timeline shows how many days the sequence will take at that speed. Pacing is what keeps your emails landing in inboxes instead of spam folders, so resist the urge to blast everything on day one.
Step five: review and launch
The Campaign Summary shows the audience, the subject, the speed and the timeline in one place. Read it once more, then click Launch Campaign.
Step six: track results and answer replies
Open Find Creators, then Outreach, to see every sequence with its status. Click one to see each recipient grouped by where they are: in flight, sent, delivered or replied. Any creator who wrote back is marked so you can find them fast.
Replies land in your Roster inbox like any other conversation. Answer them the same day if you can, because the creators who reply first are your warmest.
If a sequence is not landing, click Pause, rewrite the email, and Resume. The sequence picks up where it stopped.
Turning a yes into content
Once a creator says yes, the rest happens in the same portal. Add them to My Roster, send a brief with your creative direction, send a contract to sign, log the product shipment, and track the posts once they go live. You never need to export a list or switch tools.
A simple first sequence to copy
If you are not sure where to start, this works for most product brands:
- Audience: your niche, your main shipping country, 5k to 100k followers, email on file, exclude already contacted.
- Subject A: "Quick collab idea for {creator_username}"
- Subject B: "{creator_name}, want to try {brand_name}?"
- Body: "Hi {creator_name}, I run partnerships at {brand_name}. We would love to send you our [product] to try, and pay for the content you make with it. Want the details?"
- Follow-up after 5 days: "Hi {creator_name}, just bumping this in case it got buried. Happy to send the product either way."
- Speed: Spread over time.
Launch it, check the Outreach tab the next morning, and answer every reply.
Want to run it from Claude?
Everything in this guide is also available through the Roster MCP server and API, so you can ask Claude to size an audience, write the email and launch the sequence for you. The outbound guide for the Roster MCP and API shows how, and the MCP setup walkthrough gets you connected in a few minutes.