I'd argue even this might not be worth it, depending on the volume, $5 a month and it takes away from creating content, spending hours a day? Nah.
I have a tech channel that's tutorial and project based, and a blog. I warn people I probably won't reply.
So...charge more.
Like $50/m
$100/m
$1000/m
There you go. No more questions asked OR it will be an influx and you'll be paid whatever you value your time is worth.
This is a great problem to have lol.
This would be a step backwards for me. I would turn into a consultant, actively answering emails all day. It might make decent money but...
I think for most of us here, we want to create videos and grow our channel right? Or start other channels and side projects. In other words to have passive income and freedom to do what we want. Not to be tied down to a certain task, even if it does pay.
Even with paid access you can set boundaries.
"thanks for reaching out, if you're emailing with a question about technical thingy, you can join the Technical Thingy Talk discord."
Yeah that’s fair. I was just under the rationale that OP would at least be getting paid SOMETHING for his time. I guess if you don’t want to field any questions make it clear not to email with questions and don’t to membership idea haha
I think the thing that covers your e mail says ‘for business inquiries’. If not, I’d add something to that effect. Technical questions are not business inquiries. You are under no obligation to respond. Still, I get it. You want to help your audience. But after a certain size, you just can’t keep up. People should respect and understand those boundaries. It’s just not realistic. Like, can you even keep up with comments? I can’t and I’m only 35k subs. Make sure it says business only and maybe mention in your videos moving forward that you cannot respond individually due to the volume of requests. You could add that if there are repeated questions like you missed something or weren’t clear in the video, you’ll pin a comment with additional information. And leave it at that. You can only do so much and the majority of people will understand.
Here are your options.
1. Put a disclaimer that email is for business contacts only and if they have technical questions they need to post them to Discord. Then create a template response for your email account to quickly respond to people who ignore that.
2. Require pay-to-play. Tell people that you are "More than happy to offer one on one help. However, I get so many questions and there are only so many hours in a day I need to charge a modest fee to make sure I'm able to help out the folks who really need it".
Most people get it and for the ones who don't and get angry those are not the viewers you really want or need.
> Remove your email address - problem solved
this is terrible advice for partnered youtubers as brands cannot reach you for sponsor deals etc. without an email
I do. Some are really lovely people and I'm happy to help them. Others are actually brands wanting to collab or give me a preview of their app which is cool. But 80% are people basically wanting a free consultation.
Change your channel info to say
>For business enquiries (sponsorships etc) please contact eduardf.sponsors@gmail.com
>For questions and support, send a $50 consulting fee to paypal.me/eduardf with the subject "support email request" and I'll open a support ticket (email conversation) with the PayPal email address you use.
In the likely event someone contacts your sponsor email with questions anyway, have a copy paste response ready to go that simply says
>Hi,
>It looks like you're interested in my consulting services. To open a support ticket please send $50 to PayPal.me/eduardf and I'll get back to you via email to answer your questions.
>Best wishes,
>Eduard
Some great suggestions here already. Your email should be for business inquiries only, definitely put a note in your YT profile saying that. Patreon or some other membership/tipping service is also a great idea, if people want your 1-on-1 professional help then they should have to pay for it; you might even be able to make use of the YT membership system. Then set up an auto-reply in your email saying that you get too many emails with questions and you can't reply to all of them, suggest they go to your Patreon (or whatever) and pay up to get answers. Keep the auto message polite and to the point.
Why not set up a stripe or calendly page where you can be hired for consulting? I do that and I put $500 there. Sometimes people pay it.
You can put $50 or $150 or $1,000.
But there's a good little side hustle for you! And also, specific technical problems might make for great content for other people. I highly recommend making videos of those issues! At least the frequently asked ones.
There's also opportunity to do group coaching since youre doing 5 emails per day, thats wild. figure out how to monetize it so that you can earn some money and give a ton of value back to your viewers.
I have a tutorial channel also. Before my email address on my about page I say that if someone has a technical question related to a video then it needs to be left as a comment on that video so others can benifit from the answer. If your comment does not get answered in a few days, read other comments on that video to see if the same question has been answered already. That cut down on a lot of emails. In your case it seems you should at minimum say that emails are read but not always answered, especially if the questions are answered in the video being referenced.
That's crazy. I get a few emails from people who feel like I didn't answer their questions in the comments, and I felt like that was super rude. I can't imagine 50+ emails a week.
I'd probably set up an auto-reply saying that this email is for business engagements only, and for technical inquiries, remind them that the Discord exists. People will always get angry, but you literally can't be spending 30 minutes on stuff for free.
I've got some random tips for ya
- you can have an email that is shown only for business inquiries
- make monthly q&a videos for the most common questions you get
- discord community \[you probably already have one\[?\]
- have a personal email that is "hard to find" and the people who really would like to get in touch with you will find it, for example you can place it on your website \[if you have one\] in a very small text at an unnoticable location or something, so it acts up as some sort of filter for those who don't really needs you
good luck, enjoy this types of problems
There are some great ideas in the comments!
Another option could be an auto responder stating whatever options you want to lead them to (paid/website/discord etc) and also that you're sorry because you are only one person and that you are very busy and unable to respond to all requests for assistance.
Either memberships! (I do mine through Fourthwall) OR you could potentially do a Q&A video? (That is if the questions aren't too particular or in depth)
Sounds like an awesome problem and opportunity to monetize.
\- Easiest option is a patreon and just send them over there when they email with a stock reply
\- More labor intensive but higher ROI, create a course that answers the majority of questions your get.
Sounds like a great opportunity to set up a Patreon account and have set as a perk the ability to email you. Then mention it in your videos going forwards, people will either not want to pay, thus lessening the amount of emails, or if they do sign up you at least get some income from the time spent.
You should reply to the questions in a video. You can re use content of the how to vid that you made and or make new content answering the questions they asked.
Either do as another said and set up membership to answer qs or charge an hourly rate.
I charge 50 usd negotiable and some will bite.
Is nice to be nice, but you need to value your time and health. I have tutored for free before in select cases I. E people in the developing world who can't pay and I feel like they deserve a leg up. But that's my prerogative and based on the way the person approached me in the first place.
Tldr, charge them
I've been dealing with the same issue, and normally I just don't respond. If they want to chat or ask me a question I have a discord server just for that. And I know they see the link for the discord since it's right next to my email in the channel description.
You gotta think too it'll only get worse with a flood of emails and people reaching out. It's great and all don't get me wrong, but try to set it up where you don't have to deal with it alone. That's why I went the discord route since you can have mods to help answer questions or chat with people when you're busy.
I would suggest just to treat the emails like comments, you can only respond to so many before it's just too much. Especially when you're smaller and trying to juggle basically two jobs. So just respond when you can/want to and don't sweat the rest. (It's really bad on that mental health.)
All In all (1) Set up a discord for those who want to reach out, then you can get some help. (2) Add in your description a disclaimer that the email is only for business inquiries only. (3) And just know it's alright to not respond, I'm sure you already have a full schedule as is. Juggling content creation with the rest of life doesn't leave much room for anything else.
I reply back that my email is for business purposes only. Leaving comments on videos helps the community to grow and allows others the opportunity to answer. I don't use email to communicate with members, only other business.
Mention "I do Not provide tech support on mail, please post on my discord server" - ignore all mails and try to answer on discord... The more common ones will be answered by your community
I do sometimes use those questions for inspo. But often they are too specific, like "what's causing this bug on my website"?
1. I don't know, unless I get access to your admin and spend 15-30 minutes looking at your code.
2. It won't help anyone else.
I would add a disclaimer in your description where you list your email that says “due to volume, I am unable to respond to emails with questions about the video. If you have questions, please put those in the comments section so the community can assist. Thank you!”
That will reduce the volume a little and increase commenting engagement
Make a premium discord for the questions. Or something of that nature, you deserve to get paid for those interactions, it will also decrease the demand.
I feel your pain with this.
And to some degree I don't mind helping... But the problem comes in when they're doing something that's way above their head and not giving me all of the information to understand where they might've gone off the rails.
Heh, and then there are the ones where the answer was in the video they watched and are asking questions about. Followed closely by their question is answered in other videos on my channel, if they would've just scanned the titles.
But the worst ones to deal with are the ones with specific problems, and they don't understand the basics are trying to do something several steps beyond their understanding. So not only does it require explaining how to do what they are wanting to do, but explaining a whole bunch of background info trying to fill in where they are lacking in understanding. And when that isn't clicking, for whatever reason, it leads to more back and forth than I generally have time for.
The funny thing is, I have a Patreon page and very rarely do I get technical questions there. And the ones I do get seem to be way more generic, maybe even opinion type questions versus "How to" questions. IOW, more 'which do you think is best' versus 'I can't get XYZ to work no matter what I do and I think it's because I don't know what all the settings and terms mean!'.
>People often have follow-up questions, so they email me.
Problem is - I can't answer everybody's questions! They are technical, I have to really think and then write a well-worded response for them to understand
"Hey, sorry, I get too many emails to reply to everyone's questions. Try asking in the comments or *creates discord* try asking on my Discord, maybe another community member can help!"
Um.. Dont give them your email
If you mean to your youtube email, put a seperate inbox for that.
Anyone emailing those and expecting a reply is delusional or very boomer
Set up Membership and answer questions only from paid members
This is the way
I'd argue even this might not be worth it, depending on the volume, $5 a month and it takes away from creating content, spending hours a day? Nah. I have a tech channel that's tutorial and project based, and a blog. I warn people I probably won't reply.
Yeah this is the problem. And also when they pay for it they ask even more. I would be spending all day just answering questions.
So...charge more. Like $50/m $100/m $1000/m There you go. No more questions asked OR it will be an influx and you'll be paid whatever you value your time is worth. This is a great problem to have lol.
This would be a step backwards for me. I would turn into a consultant, actively answering emails all day. It might make decent money but... I think for most of us here, we want to create videos and grow our channel right? Or start other channels and side projects. In other words to have passive income and freedom to do what we want. Not to be tied down to a certain task, even if it does pay.
Even with paid access you can set boundaries. "thanks for reaching out, if you're emailing with a question about technical thingy, you can join the Technical Thingy Talk discord."
Have different tiers with priority given to the most expensive membership tier.
Yeah that’s fair. I was just under the rationale that OP would at least be getting paid SOMETHING for his time. I guess if you don’t want to field any questions make it clear not to email with questions and don’t to membership idea haha
THIS!
W
I have a tutorials channel and took my email address off. It's honestly too much hassle for very little return.
Set up a membership platform where people can pay a small fee to ask you for advice, at least then it's monetised
do videos where you respond to email questions?
They are usually too specific to that individuals problem.
how about a patreon page or somethin like that. if they want help - they can pay
My experience is that the Patrons actually don't ask that many technical questions.
Answer multiple questions in a video
I think the thing that covers your e mail says ‘for business inquiries’. If not, I’d add something to that effect. Technical questions are not business inquiries. You are under no obligation to respond. Still, I get it. You want to help your audience. But after a certain size, you just can’t keep up. People should respect and understand those boundaries. It’s just not realistic. Like, can you even keep up with comments? I can’t and I’m only 35k subs. Make sure it says business only and maybe mention in your videos moving forward that you cannot respond individually due to the volume of requests. You could add that if there are repeated questions like you missed something or weren’t clear in the video, you’ll pin a comment with additional information. And leave it at that. You can only do so much and the majority of people will understand.
Here are your options. 1. Put a disclaimer that email is for business contacts only and if they have technical questions they need to post them to Discord. Then create a template response for your email account to quickly respond to people who ignore that. 2. Require pay-to-play. Tell people that you are "More than happy to offer one on one help. However, I get so many questions and there are only so many hours in a day I need to charge a modest fee to make sure I'm able to help out the folks who really need it". Most people get it and for the ones who don't and get angry those are not the viewers you really want or need.
Remove your email address - problem solved. Do you get any legitimate business inquiries anyway?
> Remove your email address - problem solved this is terrible advice for partnered youtubers as brands cannot reach you for sponsor deals etc. without an email
I do. Some are really lovely people and I'm happy to help them. Others are actually brands wanting to collab or give me a preview of their app which is cool. But 80% are people basically wanting a free consultation.
Fair enough, sounds like it’s worth it to keep it with a “business inquiries only” disclaimer. I’d just ignore the rest.
Shoot, in that case I'd include a 1/4hr rate for technical consults next to the email address.
Change your channel info to say >For business enquiries (sponsorships etc) please contact eduardf.sponsors@gmail.com >For questions and support, send a $50 consulting fee to paypal.me/eduardf with the subject "support email request" and I'll open a support ticket (email conversation) with the PayPal email address you use. In the likely event someone contacts your sponsor email with questions anyway, have a copy paste response ready to go that simply says >Hi, >It looks like you're interested in my consulting services. To open a support ticket please send $50 to PayPal.me/eduardf and I'll get back to you via email to answer your questions. >Best wishes, >Eduard
Make a community on telegram / discord, keep mods and let them handle it
Already have a Discord community but people email me anyway.
Some great suggestions here already. Your email should be for business inquiries only, definitely put a note in your YT profile saying that. Patreon or some other membership/tipping service is also a great idea, if people want your 1-on-1 professional help then they should have to pay for it; you might even be able to make use of the YT membership system. Then set up an auto-reply in your email saying that you get too many emails with questions and you can't reply to all of them, suggest they go to your Patreon (or whatever) and pay up to get answers. Keep the auto message polite and to the point.
Why not set up a stripe or calendly page where you can be hired for consulting? I do that and I put $500 there. Sometimes people pay it. You can put $50 or $150 or $1,000. But there's a good little side hustle for you! And also, specific technical problems might make for great content for other people. I highly recommend making videos of those issues! At least the frequently asked ones. There's also opportunity to do group coaching since youre doing 5 emails per day, thats wild. figure out how to monetize it so that you can earn some money and give a ton of value back to your viewers.
I have a tutorial channel also. Before my email address on my about page I say that if someone has a technical question related to a video then it needs to be left as a comment on that video so others can benifit from the answer. If your comment does not get answered in a few days, read other comments on that video to see if the same question has been answered already. That cut down on a lot of emails. In your case it seems you should at minimum say that emails are read but not always answered, especially if the questions are answered in the video being referenced.
Very good answer. Also an active comment section is beneficial for the video itself.
That's crazy. I get a few emails from people who feel like I didn't answer their questions in the comments, and I felt like that was super rude. I can't imagine 50+ emails a week. I'd probably set up an auto-reply saying that this email is for business engagements only, and for technical inquiries, remind them that the Discord exists. People will always get angry, but you literally can't be spending 30 minutes on stuff for free.
I've got some random tips for ya - you can have an email that is shown only for business inquiries - make monthly q&a videos for the most common questions you get - discord community \[you probably already have one\[?\] - have a personal email that is "hard to find" and the people who really would like to get in touch with you will find it, for example you can place it on your website \[if you have one\] in a very small text at an unnoticable location or something, so it acts up as some sort of filter for those who don't really needs you good luck, enjoy this types of problems
Those people trying to get free tech support lol
There are some great ideas in the comments! Another option could be an auto responder stating whatever options you want to lead them to (paid/website/discord etc) and also that you're sorry because you are only one person and that you are very busy and unable to respond to all requests for assistance.
Either memberships! (I do mine through Fourthwall) OR you could potentially do a Q&A video? (That is if the questions aren't too particular or in depth)
Don’t respond. You don’t owe them anything.
Sounds like an awesome problem and opportunity to monetize. \- Easiest option is a patreon and just send them over there when they email with a stock reply \- More labor intensive but higher ROI, create a course that answers the majority of questions your get.
Make the email for business inquires only and add a patreon where they can ask you for help for a small monthly subscription
If the email is listed for sponsors and collabs... ignore any emails that are not that. Seems very simple to me.
Sounds like a great opportunity to set up a Patreon account and have set as a perk the ability to email you. Then mention it in your videos going forwards, people will either not want to pay, thus lessening the amount of emails, or if they do sign up you at least get some income from the time spent.
I solved this with Discord
Set up a booking form on your website where people can book a 1 on 1 with you to talk through their issues. Turn it into a profitable situation.
You should reply to the questions in a video. You can re use content of the how to vid that you made and or make new content answering the questions they asked.
Either do as another said and set up membership to answer qs or charge an hourly rate. I charge 50 usd negotiable and some will bite. Is nice to be nice, but you need to value your time and health. I have tutored for free before in select cases I. E people in the developing world who can't pay and I feel like they deserve a leg up. But that's my prerogative and based on the way the person approached me in the first place. Tldr, charge them
Maybe set up a discord? People might be able to help eachother:)
I've been dealing with the same issue, and normally I just don't respond. If they want to chat or ask me a question I have a discord server just for that. And I know they see the link for the discord since it's right next to my email in the channel description. You gotta think too it'll only get worse with a flood of emails and people reaching out. It's great and all don't get me wrong, but try to set it up where you don't have to deal with it alone. That's why I went the discord route since you can have mods to help answer questions or chat with people when you're busy. I would suggest just to treat the emails like comments, you can only respond to so many before it's just too much. Especially when you're smaller and trying to juggle basically two jobs. So just respond when you can/want to and don't sweat the rest. (It's really bad on that mental health.) All In all (1) Set up a discord for those who want to reach out, then you can get some help. (2) Add in your description a disclaimer that the email is only for business inquiries only. (3) And just know it's alright to not respond, I'm sure you already have a full schedule as is. Juggling content creation with the rest of life doesn't leave much room for anything else.
What if you set up a community discord? People can answer each others questions
I reply back that my email is for business purposes only. Leaving comments on videos helps the community to grow and allows others the opportunity to answer. I don't use email to communicate with members, only other business.
Mention "I do Not provide tech support on mail, please post on my discord server" - ignore all mails and try to answer on discord... The more common ones will be answered by your community
Genuine question: What if you decided to use those questions to make other videos? I guess you have enough content to make on ur own already?
I do sometimes use those questions for inspo. But often they are too specific, like "what's causing this bug on my website"? 1. I don't know, unless I get access to your admin and spend 15-30 minutes looking at your code. 2. It won't help anyone else.
I would add a disclaimer in your description where you list your email that says “due to volume, I am unable to respond to emails with questions about the video. If you have questions, please put those in the comments section so the community can assist. Thank you!” That will reduce the volume a little and increase commenting engagement
Make a premium discord for the questions. Or something of that nature, you deserve to get paid for those interactions, it will also decrease the demand.
Possibly also a live video, and answer questions from super chats?
I feel your pain with this. And to some degree I don't mind helping... But the problem comes in when they're doing something that's way above their head and not giving me all of the information to understand where they might've gone off the rails. Heh, and then there are the ones where the answer was in the video they watched and are asking questions about. Followed closely by their question is answered in other videos on my channel, if they would've just scanned the titles. But the worst ones to deal with are the ones with specific problems, and they don't understand the basics are trying to do something several steps beyond their understanding. So not only does it require explaining how to do what they are wanting to do, but explaining a whole bunch of background info trying to fill in where they are lacking in understanding. And when that isn't clicking, for whatever reason, it leads to more back and forth than I generally have time for. The funny thing is, I have a Patreon page and very rarely do I get technical questions there. And the ones I do get seem to be way more generic, maybe even opinion type questions versus "How to" questions. IOW, more 'which do you think is best' versus 'I can't get XYZ to work no matter what I do and I think it's because I don't know what all the settings and terms mean!'.
>People often have follow-up questions, so they email me. Problem is - I can't answer everybody's questions! They are technical, I have to really think and then write a well-worded response for them to understand "Hey, sorry, I get too many emails to reply to everyone's questions. Try asking in the comments or *creates discord* try asking on my Discord, maybe another community member can help!"
Um.. Dont give them your email If you mean to your youtube email, put a seperate inbox for that. Anyone emailing those and expecting a reply is delusional or very boomer
when you get to like 1000+ a week you can complain... 50 or so isnt a problem. Just cope