A Business Inbox Brands Can Reach: Setting Up Your Sponsor Contact

Most streamers think about sponsorships as something you go out and pitch. But a lot of deals start the other way: someone at a brand or an agency watches a stream, likes the fit and goes looking for a way to reach you.

If all they find is your Discord, a DM button and a link to your merch, many of them will move on to the next channel on their list. A business inbox, one email address that's clearly for sponsorship and listed where brands look, fixes that. It takes about an hour to set up.

Here's how to set it up, where to list it, and how to keep it from filling up with junk.

Use a separate address for business

Don't list the email you use for your bank, your platform logins or your personal life. Make a new one just for business.

There are three reasons:

• Security. The address you publish will be targeted. Google's Threat Analysis Group, which studied a phishing campaign aimed at creators, noted that "Many YouTube creators provide an email address on their channel for business opportunities" and that the attackers "sent forged business emails impersonating an existing company requesting a video advertisement collaboration."¹ Keep that traffic away from the account that can reset your passwords.
• Organization. When every message in the inbox is about business, nothing gets buried under shipping notices and newsletters.
• Handing it off. If you later bring in a manager, an assistant or an agency, you can give them access to the business inbox without giving them your personal life.

What to name it. Something that reads as business at a glance: business.yourname@, yourname.sponsors@ or collabs@yourdomain.com. If you own a domain, an address on it looks more established than a free webmail address. But a clearly named free address is fine. Brands care that the inbox is easy to find and that you answer it.

List it where brands actually look

Put the same address in every place a brand might check. If you're on several platforms, use one address everywhere, so you don't end up with offers spread across inboxes.

YouTube. YouTube Studio has a contact field built for this. YouTube Help says: "You can add contact info to your channel to let others know how to get in touch with you for business questions." To add it, sign in to YouTube Studio, choose Customization, then Profile, and "Under Contact info, enter your email."² Then publish the change.

Twitch. Twitch has no dedicated contact field, so use an info panel. Twitch Help says panels "can be edited while live from your channel page, and offline from the About section of your channel page," and that panel descriptions "can be stylized in Markdown (sorry, no HTML)."³ Make a panel titled something like "Business / Sponsorships" and put the email in the description as plain text, so a brand can copy it.

Everywhere else. Add it to the bio on your other socials, to your media kit and to your rate card if you send one. On platforms with little bio space, a short "Business: name@..." line is enough.

Write a contact line that pre-qualifies

A bare email address gets you bare emails: "hey, want to collab?" A sentence or two around it gets you better first messages.

For example:

Sponsorships & business: business.yourname@gmail.com
Brands and agencies: please include your company, what you'd like to promote, the format you have in mind (live read, dedicated segment, multi-stream) and your rough dates. I reply to every real inquiry within a few days.

It sets expectations on both sides. The brand knows what to send, and you know what a complete inquiry looks like. Keep it in your own voice. Don't list rates here. Rates go in a reply once you know the scope, priced on how much to charge for a sponsored stream.

Filter it so nothing important gets buried

Once an address is public, it will collect newsletters, cold outreach and spam along with the real offers. Gmail filters do most of the sorting for you.

Gmail Help describes filters as a way to "send email to a label, or archive, delete, star, or automatically forward your mail." To make one, open the search options at the top of Gmail, enter what to match, click Create filter, then choose what it should do.⁴

A simple setup that works:

• A "Sponsors" label for anything that sounds like an offer. Match words like sponsor, sponsorship, campaign, collaboration, partnership or brand deal, and apply the label and a star.
• A label for each live deal. Once a deal is signed, filter on the brand contact's address so every message from them lands in one place.
• Archive routine notifications. Platform and shipping notices that don't need a reply can skip the inbox.

Filters have limits. Gmail Help notes that a reply to a filtered message "will only be filtered if it meets the same search criteria."⁴ So check the inbox itself too, not only the labels.

If you're moving from another inbox, Gmail lets you export and import filters as a file, so you don't have to rebuild them by hand.⁴

An auto-reply that asks for the basics

An auto-reply can answer quickly when you can't. Use it to tell senders what to include. You'll get the information before you reply instead of after three rounds of back and forth.

Gmail's built-in option is the vacation responder. Gmail Help says that "When someone sends you a message, they receive an automatic reply," and that "In most cases, your reply is only sent to people the first time they message you." The same person can get the reply again if they write "after four days and your automatic reply is still on."⁵ It's built for time away, so it runs for the date range you set. Turn it on when you're traveling, during a busy launch week, or whenever you know you'll be slow to answer.

Here's a template:

Thanks for reaching out about a sponsorship. I read every message and reply to real inquiries within a few business days.

To speed things up, please reply with:

1. Your company and your role (or the brand you represent, if you're an agency)
2. What you'd like to promote and the format (live read, dedicated segment, stream series, social posts)
3. Your rough dates and any deadline
4. A budget range, if you have one

I don't download files or install software before there's a signed contract. If you need me to try a product, a key through an official store works best.

The last line does two jobs: it tells real brands how to send access, and it puts off anyone running the scam described below.

Check the sender before you click anything

A public business inbox is exactly where creator phishing arrives. In the campaign Google's Threat Analysis Group documented, "The attackers registered various domains associated with forged companies and built multiple websites for malware delivery."¹

Before you open an attachment or click a link in an offer:

• Compare the address with the company. Gmail Help's first check is to "Check that the email address and the sender name match."⁶ A well-known brand writing from a free webmail address, or from a domain that's one letter off, is a reason to stop.
• Find the company yourself. Look up the brand's real website and contact page instead of using the links in the email.
• Don't run files before there's a signed contract. In the TAG campaign the lure was "typically a demo for anti-virus software, VPN, music players, photo editing or online games," and the download link came after the creator said yes: "Once the target agreed to the deal, a malware landing page disguised as a software download URL was sent via email or a PDF on Google Drive."¹ Agreeing by email isn't enough.

The full checklist, including what a real brand's payment onboarding looks like, is in sponsorship scams aimed at streamers.

Reply, track and follow up

An organized inbox only helps if real inquiries get an answer.

• Answer each real inquiry within a few days, even if the answer is no. A short, polite no keeps the door open for a better fit later. How to decline a brand deal has templates.
• Log every inquiry somewhere outside the inbox: brand, contact, what they want, date, status. Email threads get buried, and you'll want to know which brands reached out when you're pitching next quarter. A brand deal tracker spreadsheet is enough to start.
• Move to a brief once it's real. When a brand is interested, ask for a sponsorship brief with deliverables, dates and usage rights before you quote.

If you'd rather brands fill in the basics up front, Sponsee™'s inquiry page is a free option. You get a public link to put next to your email. It asks the brand for their company, their campaign idea, an approximate budget range and their dates, and inquiries land in one list in your account. You still read and reply to each one yourself. On a paid plan, you can turn an inquiry into a deal record to track it from there.

FAQ

Should streamers have a separate business email?
Yes. A dedicated address keeps sponsor offers from being buried and lets you hand off access later. It also keeps phishing aimed at creators away from the account that controls your passwords. Google's Threat Analysis Group has documented attackers targeting the business emails creators list on their channels.

Where do I put my business email on Twitch?
Twitch has no dedicated contact field, so use an info panel. You can edit panels from the About section of your channel when you're offline. Title the panel something like Business or Sponsorships and put the address in the description as plain text so brands can copy it.

Where do I add a business email on YouTube?
In YouTube Studio, go to Customization, then Profile, and enter your email under Contact info. YouTube describes this field as a way to let others know how to get in touch with you for business questions.

What should my sponsor auto-reply say?
Thank the sender and say when you usually reply. Then ask for the basics: company and role, what they want to promote, the format, dates and a budget range if they have one. Adding a line that you don't download files before there's a signed contract also puts off phishing attempts.

How do I know a sponsorship email is real?
Check that the sender's address matches the company and that the domain is spelled correctly. Find the brand's website yourself instead of clicking links in the email. Be suspicious of any request to download software or files before there's a signed deal.

Should I put my rates next to my business email?
Usually not. Ask for the scope first. A fixed number in your bio either undercuts a bigger deal or scares off a smaller one. Quote once you know the format, dates and deliverables.