Influencer shortlist template: columns, scoring and a filled-in example

An influencer shortlist template is a spreadsheet with three tabs. The long list holds every candidate with public data only. The shortlist holds the creators who survived the data check, with their fee, their score on five criteria, a verdict and a status. The approval view is one page for whoever signs the budget. Score each creator on the Gully Score weights, shortlist at 70 or more, drop below 60, and keep reserves on the same terms.

This post is the sheet. The 22 scored checks behind the five score columns are in our influencer vetting checklist, and the search that fills the long list is in how to find influencers in India. The criteria and weights come from the Gully Score we apply to every creator we propose. For the whole channel, see the complete guide to influencer marketing in India. In a 2025 study covered by Campaign India, 83% of brands said they struggle to find the right creators. A sheet that forces the same questions of every candidate is the cheapest fix.

Three tabs, three jobs

Keep the long list wide and cheap: handle, platform, link, followers, language, city, niche, median views of the last 10 posts, views per follower, how you found them and a first-pass decision with one reason. Candidates only move to the Shortlist tab once they have sent their data. That keeps the scored tab short enough to read. The categories of software that can fill the long list faster are explained in influencer discovery tools explained.

The Shortlist tab, column by column

The Ranges tab is a small table with the tier in column A and the low and high base fee in columns B and C. Fill it from the Instagram Reel row of our rates guide: nano ₹2,000 to ₹10,000, micro ₹8,000 to ₹80,000, mid-tier ₹50,000 to ₹3.5 lakh, macro ₹2 lakh to ₹8 lakh and mega ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh. They are asking prices, not audited data, and change by niche, so overwrite them with your own once you have quotes. For other formats, add rows. Tiers follow follower bands, and the 61.1% of surveyed creators who are nano, per a 2026 vendor survey in Campaign India, is a reason to test nano formulas early.

Scoring on the Gully Score weights

Columns O to S use the Gully Score's five criteria and weights: audience authenticity 30, engagement quality 25, buyer fit 20, content craft 15 and brand safety 10. Our own team scores creators this way, and copying the weights keeps in-house scores comparable with ours. The Gully Score shortlists at 70 or more and drops creators below 60. On top of that we suggest two rules for a manual sheet:

• A reserve band. A score from 60 to 69 goes on a reserve list, to be used only if a shortlisted creator drops out or after a paid trial.
• A floor. No criterion below half its points, which is 15, 12.5, 10, 7.5 and 5 across the five columns. Without a floor, a creator with a strong audience can carry a poor buyer fit past the cut-off, and wrong-audience posts are a common way budgets are wasted.

The floor and reserve band are our additions, not part of the Gully Score. Record what you scored and why, using the evidence checks in the vetting checklist. If a creator will not show the data, the data columns score zero.

Status: where each creator is

Add a days-in-status formula in column AA, =TODAY()-Z2. A creator who has sat at "data requested" for a week needs a nudge or a replacement. Log the reason for every decline: fee too high, clash with another brand, no reply, product mismatch. After two or three campaigns the pattern tells you where your offers fall short. For outreach wording, see influencer outreach message templates.

A filled-in example (made-up numbers)

The cost column is a forecast built from median views, not a result. After posting, compare it with the real cost per 1,000 views, as described in how to measure Instagram Reel performance, and feed the gap back into the next shortlist. We found no published India benchmark for sponsored creator content, so rank creators against each other, not against a number from a blog.

The approval view

Whoever signs the budget does not want 25 columns. Give them one page, sorted by total.

The page ends with total budget, the tier and language mix and the reserve list. In our process, the creator plan you receive within 48 hours of the brief call carries these same fields: names, Gully Scores, audience data, past brand work and quote. Nothing is booked, and no money moves, until you approve.

Checking the mix before you send it

A shortlist can be full of good creators and still be a bad portfolio. Add a small table that totals the shortlisted creators by tier, language and city, with formulas such as =SUMIFS(Shortlist!L:L,Shortlist!E:E,"Micro",Shortlist!V:V,"Shortlist") for spend. Check it against the plan: if you wanted 70% of spend in micro creators and the sheet says 90%, the shortlist is too narrow. Check that no single creator takes more than about a fifth of the budget unless you chose that on purpose, which is our working rule. Check each language and city against the buyer brief, and see how many influencers you need if the count looks off.

For reserves, name the creator each would replace, with the same tier, language and city. A reserve in a different city is not a replacement.

Changing the performance columns by platform

The five score columns stay the same everywhere. Columns H and I change with the platform, and cost per 1,000 expected views should only be compared within one platform and format.

Keeping the sheet useful

• Freeze the scores at approval. Copy the Shortlist tab to a dated tab, so later edits do not rewrite history.
• Re-vet before rebooking. Audiences change; the rule of thumb in the vetting checklist is every 90 days on a long deal.
• Carry results back. After the campaign, add day-7 results to each creator's row and compare with the forecast. The influencer marketing dashboard template holds the campaign view.
• Score drafts too. The rubric in how to evaluate influencer content quality judges what a creator makes for you, which is better evidence for the craft column next time.
• Do not edit the weights per creator. Fix the weights first, then compare.

If you would rather receive a scored shortlist than build one, send us a brief. Our micro-influencer marketing service builds these plans for 50 to 500 creators at a time, and our strategy and audit service can review a shortlist you already have.