Bento

Hey there! Jaclyn, CEO of Bento here! I’m a new UGC creator who started just over 4 months ago. If you want to cut to the chase, scroll down to see exactly how much $$ I earned as a full-time CEO and part-time UGC creator—with zero (actually, 28 followers) Instagram followers! Side Note: I don't recommend you linking/ sharing your social accounts unless you have more than 10K followers.

Read the full blog if you want to learn how to get cold pitching to work for you.

Note: this does not cover details on the prerequisites before you start pitching (i.e. creating good example videos or a good portfolio site), Check out @Tran.ugc or @Sociallyaziz guides and communities for this help!

How it Started:

My first pitch email went out on July 9th!! 👇

How it’s going:

Since then, I sent 948 emails and landed 33 brand partnerships.

33 of 948 is a 3.4% “Close” rate (i.e. I closed the deal)
43 are labeled as “in discussion,” which is 4.5% of replies (i.e. I am in discussion with them about a potential deal)
46 are labeled as “reach out later,” which is 4.8% of replies (i.e. It was not a fit right now, but I may be able to close them in the future)

That’s a total of 122 positive responses. 12.9% is more than 2x better of a response rate than industry standard.

How did I do it, what did I learn, and how can this help YOU?

First off, cold pitching is not for the faint of heart. If you’re not resilient, this probably isn’t the route for you. It requires a thick skin, a lot of patience, and the willingness to hustle consistently. Success doesn’t come right away, and that’s okay. Every pitch sent is a step closer to landing a “yes.”

Expect a lot of rejection in the first few weeks—it’s totally normal. You might not see results for a couple of months, but the key is to treat every pitch as a learning experience. With each one, ask yourself what could be improved, make those tweaks, and keep going. It’s all about refining as you go!

Secondly, cold pitching won’t be effective if you don’t have something compelling to offer. Before you start pitching, make sure you’ve invested time in building a strong foundation. This could mean having a quality portfolio or a strong following on a social media platform. In both cases, it’s crucial to pair this with a well-written, compelling email that stands out. If you’re sending out 100 emails and getting zero responses, it’s a sign something’s off with one (or both) of these. Take the time to revise and refine before hitting send.

Here’s how I tackled it: After putting together an portfolio with sample videos on Canva, I crafted three unique email templates that were personable, a bit funny, and to the point, with a clear call to action. Then, I put these templates to the test—sending around 100 emails per version to see which got the best response rate. The winning email (and subject line) is the same one I’m still using today, 700 emails later!

Thirdly, pitching is a numbers game—time management is crucial. It’s easy to burn out, so make sure to structure your pitching time wisely. Here’s how I’d suggest breaking it down to keep things efficient and effective: dedicate about 3 hours each week, aiming to send 60 pitches (around 2 minutes per pitch). My go-to breakdown is:

45 minutes to find brands worth pitching
30 minutes on drafting or updating pitch templates with minimal personalization for testing
45 minutes on actually sending out those emails
And finally, 60 minutes focusing on follow-ups—reaching back out to brands who opened your emails, are in discussion, or have shown interest for the future

Fourthly, your follow ups are just as important as your initial pitch. The majority of responses came from my follow-up email (which I automated to send 4 business days later using Bento). If a brand responded with a sign of interest (e.g., asking for my rates or wanting to learn more), I followed up at least three times before moving that brand into my "reach out later" tab.

Additional Tips

Here are some tips I’ve shared with creators that have doubled their response rates—and you can use them too:

Craft a unique intro: Your first two lines should be so unique that no one else could use them to describe themselves. Think quirky or memorable details (e.g., real creator intros I’ve helped write: mentioning your pink hair, a drone license, part-time acting gig, or that you once managed a brand’s social media).It doesn’t even need to be relevant to the brand; the goal is just to stand out right away.
Avoid generic subject lines: Make it feel personalized. An easy way to do this is by including their name or the brand name in the subject. It catches attention and feels more tailored.
End with a question: This is your call to action. Avoid closing with “let me know” or “hope to hear from you.” Emails that end with a question naturally encourage a response.
Keep it short and easy to read: Cap each paragraph at two sentences (or three lines max). Use double spacing between paragraphs for better readability.
Highlight what the brand gains by working with you: Include a compelling line about the unique value you bring to the table (e.g., are you bilingual? A pet parent who gets the challenges of X? Did you recently renovate and wish you’d had Y at the time?). This shows the brand why you’re the perfect fit.
Schedule follow-ups: Most responses come from follow-ups, so don’t skip this step. Get strategic by tracking email opens—if a recipient opens your email, follow up with a highly personalized message. If they don’t open it, skip the follow-up; it might be caught in a spam filter.

If you take anything away from this, let it be this: you need to be pitching hundreds of brands each month—not just a few dozen. And if your response rate is under 5%, it’s time to improve your email game or strengthen your portfolio.

So, how much did cold pitching actually make me?

In just four months, I landed around $3,000 in paid deals and well over $5,000 worth of gifted products—all with zero Instagram followers. 100% of deals came from cold pitching, and the only tool I used was Bento, for just $20 a month.

If you’re serious about securing deals, this investment more than pays for itself.

In plain math, this $80 investment, brought me about a 9,900% return. (And counting).

Want to start investing in pitching? Upgrade to Bento Pro.

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What I learned from Pitching to 1K Brands

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