To say that templates are a game-changing element to a freelance writing career is...it’s an understatement.
When I was starting out as a freelance writer, I did things that ended up costing me a lot of time and money. Instead of doing work that directly translated into income, I spent much of my 50+ hour work weeks composing emails and creating customized proposals for people who hadn’t yet hired me.
I reasoned that surely all that hard (free!) work would pay off by winning me new clients.
However, more often than not, those meticulously-crafted emails and proposals went...nowhere. This inefficient method of chasing new clients was a surefire path to burnout.
Once I started adding templates to my email writing and proposal-making process, my hamster wheel of a freelance writing career transformed into a real-deal business. I saw my proposal acceptance rate jump from 50% to 80% and my income grow by 284%.
Even better: I was working fewer hours. I finally could enjoy the freedom and flexibility of freelancing.
5 Essential Templates for Freelance Writers
Here are the templates that every freelance writer needs to start booking better, higher-paying clients (and more of them.)
1. Client screening questions
It may be tempting to take any work that comes your way when you’re first starting out, but take it from me: you owe it to yourself and your career to be selective on who you work with.
Once I started being pickier about the freelance writing projects I took on, I saw my rates increase and I earned a reputation as an expert. This also led to more advanced career opportunities like speaking and training.
And it all started when I began screening clients with an intake survey.
A simple intake survey helps you avoid tying up hours of time on back-and-forth emails and in-person meetings with bad-fit prospective clients.
In the space of four or five general questions, you get important answers that help you determine if the client is a good fit for your services, and if their goals are realistic. Plus, you get a basic understanding of the project scope.
Here are examples of questions I ask on my intake survey:
What type of copywriting do you need assistance with?
What are your goals for this copy (in order of importance?)
Who is your target audience for this copy?
What type of writing styles do you admire? Provide a few examples.
What is your projected budget for this project?
Your intake survey can be a form on your website, a quick email, or you can use a questionnaire tool like Typeform. After your prospect answers the survey questions, you can determine if you’d like to weed them out or if you’d like to proceed on an initial call to learn more about their needs.
2. An onboarding email template
Your onboarding email is a way to set the ground rules for a healthy freelancer-client relationship. When it comes to freelance writing, there’s going above and beyond for a client, and then there’s bending over backward.
Going above and beyond is the standard we should all strive for: It means you’re delivering a quality of work that’s even better than what your client expects. But you should never bend over backward.
When you do, it means you’re not setting reasonable boundaries with your clients. If you don’t set boundaries, you risk the kinds of client management mishaps I made in my early years as a freelance writer, like agreeing to uncomfortably low rates, doing work outside the scope of the project, and getting ghosted by a client before they paid me.
An onboarding email helps you avoid these mishaps and speed up the onboarding process by setting expectations and boundaries early on.
Here are a few pieces my onboarding email template includes:
A description of the writing process: What the client can expect in terms of outlines, drafts, and revisions, where they can share feedback, and typical turnaround times.
Rates: For blog writing, I share my rates based on word count. Some other freelancers provide a starting rate depending on the complexity of the project. The point is to give new clients an idea of what you charge so they can determine if they can afford your services. Not sure what to charge? Check out this freelance writer rates survey from Ashley Cummings.
Payment process: The details of deposits and invoicing. The earlier you establish this upfront, the faster you can get paid.
I send my onboarding email just after an initial consultation with a new client before I put together a more detailed proposal.
3. A proposal template
Speaking of proposals, I’m going to let you in on a secret: by the time you’ve screened them and had your initial call and sent them your onboarding email, your client just wants to know what you can do for them and how much it will cost.
Yes, it’s nice to wrap it all up in a visually appealing package, and with document-creation tools like Xtensio you can, but the last thing your client wants is a wordy sales pitch. Just give them the goods.
Here are a few sections I include in every proposal:
Introduction: A quick note summing up my experience and track record, plus a relevant customer testimonial.
The problem: A summary of the problem the client has articulated to me, and how it has impacted them.
The solution: A summary of my recommendations, including how my services will help them overcome their obstacles.
Rates-:An itemized list of my rates for the proposed service.
4. A writing brief template
Once you win that dream client with your stellar proposal, you can sit back and relax and wait for writing assignments, right? WRONG!
I’ve had clients who are excellent at giving me specific instructions on what they expect out of my writing in terms of style, voice, tone, and format of deliverables.
And then there are the other 99%.
Most freelance writing clients are at a loss when it comes to what they want you to write for them. No surprise there; they aren’t writers. If your client can’t articulate their expectations for a writing project, it will lead to endless revision rounds when you deliver the draft. The more changes they have to make on the back end, the less likely they are to hire you for future projects or refer you to other clients.
Make your client’s job easier (and give yourself less heartache) by providing them with a writing brief they can use every time they have a new assignment for you. It will gather all the details you need to be successful.
Here are a few things I include in my client writing briefs:
Title- A working or suggested title (along with a few other options)
Due date- When the client needs a finalized version
The objective of the piece- Overall goals this piece should accomplish
Target audience- Who will be reading the piece
Target word count- How long it should be
5. A follow-up email template
Everyone has freelancing dry spells, but yours can be few and far between with a quick little follow-up email to past clients. You have an untapped pool of freelancing work just sitting in your contact list. All you have to do is say “hi.”
Even if your previous client doesn’t have work for you at the moment, sending a follow-up email helps you stay top of mind once there is a project. Plus, past clients have a wonderful (and profitable) tendency to send referrals your way.
Most of my clients now come to me via referral. In fact, my five-sentence follow-up email template has earned me more top-notch freelance writing work than my painstakingly-crafted proposals ever did.
Here’s how I approach following up with clients:
Set a reminder to email a past client. Once I’ve wrapped up a project with a client, I go to the last email they sent me and create a reminder in Zoho (my email provider) to ping me with an alert in 5-6 weeks. Gmail also has a reminder tool.
Paste and customize the follow-up email template. Well, this is easy. When it’s time to follow-up, I copy, paste, and send. Referral-bait: set.
Another option: use an email scheduling tool. If you’re cool with paying a small monthly fee, you can use a tool like MixMax. Load any email templates you want and it will populate your contact’s name into the personalization fields. You can also schedule when to send individual emails or build and schedule an email sequence.
As for what to include in the email template, here’s a hint:
Say “hi.” Because, duh.
Say thank you. Because they’ve helped me/my business grow, I enjoyed working with them, etc.
Ask what they’re up to. Because they may have a project I can help with.
Offer help. Because they may need some.
Ask for a referral. Because they may have a friend in the industry who needs a writer like me.
Ask for feedback. Because if they loved working with me, their feedback can act as a testimonial to help win new work. And if there’s something I could have done better, I need to know so I can fix it or learn from the mistake.
Templates are a smarter way to run your freelance writing business
When I started templatizing my emails and proposals, I felt a mixture of delight and guilt. I was delighted because the simplified approach was saving me loads of time while winning me higher-paying deals. But I felt a bit guilty because, well, shouldn’t I be working harder to win such high-paying deals.
However, once I embraced the fact that I was reaping the rewards of working smarter, that guilt vanished. I started to look for other time-consuming processes I could templatize and automate...and each time I find a new way to work smarter, it pays off.
Start working smarter today. Learn more about my Freelance Writer Template bundle to start winning back precious time and winning the confidence of your current and future clients.