How to build a buyer list for cold outreach

A good list for cold outreach is short and sorted. Start from companies that already import your product, split them into groups by country, how regularly they buy, how much they buy and where their current suppliers are from, then write first to the group most likely to answer. Each email should show that you know what the company buys, and a few planned follow-ups usually bring more replies than the first message.

How to find importers of your product by HS code is covered in How to find buyers abroad for your product. This guide starts where that one ends: you have a raw list of buyers and need to turn it into an outreach plan.

Step 1. Get the raw list

On Orion Markets the raw list comes from Find buyers. You enter a 4–6 digit HS code (the international product code used in foreign trade), confirm the national codes for each country and, if you want, set the buyer country. The list is built from foreign trade shipments of the last 12 months: importers in the 14 countries we cover and the foreign companies these countries export the product to.

What you see depends on access:

• Without signing in: company names, countries, registration details and brands, the countries where each buyer purchases the product, and each buyer's current suppliers with their countries.
• After free sign-in: the same, plus company addresses.
• After you open the report on a paid plan: amounts, number of shipments, average price per shipment and per kilogram, and contacts. You can also filter the list by amount and number of shipments and export the whole filtered selection to Excel.

Each company name links to its profile on the Company profiles page, where you can look at it more closely.

Step 2. Remove companies you should not write to

Clean the list before you sort it. It saves time and keeps your emails away from people who cannot buy.

• Agents and logistics companies. A company that imports dozens of unrelated products from many countries is often a customs agent or a logistics company working for the real owners of the goods. It does not choose suppliers.
• Your current customers and companies you have agreed not to approach, for example in a distributor's territory. Check the list against your customer base and your distributor agreements.
• Companies that buy a different product. If a company's brands or its main product groups in the profile do not match your product, it probably came in through a broad code.
• Duplicates. One group can import through several companies in different countries. Decide which one you will write to.

Step 3. Split the list into groups

Four questions sort most buyers. You do not need a score for each company; groups are enough.

Country

Start with the countries where you can deliver at a competitive price and where duties and rules do not block you. Write in the buyer's language if you can; if not, plain English is better than a poor translation. Group the list by country so that one person handles one market and the same arguments fit every email in the batch.

Regularity

A company that buys throughout the year needs suppliers all the time; one that bought once may have finished a single project. The number of shipments over 12 months gives a first idea. For the companies you are most interested in, check the month-by-month picture: in a full company profile (on a paid plan) the Finances block can be switched to By months. Look for buyers with shipments in most months and no long gaps.

Volume

Match the buyer's size to yours. The opened list is sorted by amount; split it into three bands: large buyers, mid-sized buyers and small ones. Large buyers bring big orders, but they usually have long-standing suppliers and a slow decision process. Mid-sized buyers are often the best first target for a new exporter. Small buyers may not handle your minimum order.

Current supplier countries

The list shows who each buyer buys from today, and you can see this even before you open the report. It tells you three things:

• if the buyer already buys from your country, it knows your product and your logistics, and you compete on price and service;
• if it buys only from far away, you may offer shorter delivery or lower freight;
• if it buys from three or more suppliers, it is used to adding new ones. According to the historical shipment data behind Find new export markets, such importers are 2–2.5 times more likely to start buying from a new supplier.

Step 4. Decide who gets the first emails

Put the groups together into three tiers and work through them in order:

1. First tier: regular buyers of a size that fits your production, with several suppliers, in countries where your price works. Usually 20–50 companies.
2. Second tier: regular buyers that fit on size but buy from one supplier, or buyers in countries where your price is borderline.
3. Third tier: irregular or very small buyers. Keep them for later or for a general newsletter they have agreed to receive.

Start with a batch you can follow up properly, for example 20 companies a week. A hundred emails sent at once and never followed up bring less than twenty handled well.

Step 5. Find the right person

The list gives you the company; the email has to reach a person. In an importing company that is usually the purchasing manager, the category manager for your product group or, in a small company, the owner. Use the company's website, its pages on professional networks and trade fair catalogues. A general "info@" address is the last resort: such emails are often not passed on.

Step 6. Write the first email

A first email has one job: to get a reply. Keep it under 150 words and build it from five parts.

1. A subject that names the product, for example "Extra virgin olive oil from Tunisia, bulk and 5 L tins". Avoid "Business proposal" or "Partnership".
2. Why you are writing to them. One sentence that shows you know what they buy: "You import olive oil for the food service market". Do not quote their volumes, prices or suppliers back to them: it sounds like surveillance, not like expertise.
3. One concrete reason to answer. Not a list of everything you make, but the one thing that matters to this group: a shorter delivery time, a grade they buy, a price on their delivery terms, a certificate their market requires.
4. Proof. Who you already supply, in which countries, and the certificates you hold.
5. A small, easy next step. "May I send our price list on CIF terms to your port?" or "Shall we send samples?" works better than "Let's schedule a call".

State prices on clear delivery terms (Incoterms such as FOB, delivered on board at the port of loading, or CIF, with freight and insurance paid to the buyer's port) so the buyer can compare them with what it pays now. How to calculate such a price is covered in How to calculate a competitive export price.

Step 7. Plan the follow-ups

Most first emails get no answer. Often the reason is not a "no" but a busy inbox. Plan the follow-ups before you send the first email:

• Second message after about a week, short, with something new: a price on their usual delivery terms, a photo of the packing, a certificate.
• Third message after two more weeks, offering samples or a trial lot.
• A phone call or a message on a professional network between emails, if you have the contact.
• Stop after three or four attempts. Mark the company as "no reply" and come back in a few months with new news, such as a new product, a new certificate or a price change.

Time the next attempt to the buyer's purchasing cycle. If a product has a clear season, buyers place orders before it starts. How to see the peak months of imports is covered in How to see the seasonality of imports.

Keep a simple table: company, country, group, contact person, date of each message, reply, next step. Without it, follow-ups get lost after the first week.

Step 8. Before you ship

A reply is not yet a reliable customer. Before you agree to deferred payment, check the company: registration, sanctions lists and its trading history. See How to check a foreign company before a deal. If the buyer tells you how much it buys, compare that with its trade data: How to check whether a buyer's purchase volumes are real.

Rules on unsolicited email

Cold email to companies is allowed in many countries, but the rules differ, and they are stricter in Europe. This is a general overview, not legal advice:

• In the United States, commercial email does not need prior consent, but it must not mislead in the sender or the subject line, must include a postal address and must give an easy way to opt out.
• In the United Kingdom, you can usually email business addresses of companies without prior consent if you say who you are and offer a simple way to opt out.
• In the European Union, the work email of a named person is personal data, so data protection rules apply. Rules on marketing emails are national: some countries, such as Germany, generally require prior consent even for emails to businesses.
• Canada requires consent, although it can be implied, for example when a business address is published and your offer relates to the person's role.

In any country: say who you are, write to people whose role fits your offer, give a clear way to unsubscribe and honour it at once. Before a large campaign in a new region, ask a lawyer who knows the local rules.

Common mistakes

• Sending the same text to the whole list instead of one text per group.
• Writing to the largest buyers first. They get the most offers and change suppliers least often.
• Attaching a 30-page catalogue to the first email. Many inboxes filter large attachments, and nobody reads them.
• Giving up after one email.
• Forgetting that the data has limits: Orion Markets covers 14 countries (the list and periods are on the data coverage page), the latest month differs by country, and a company that imports only into other countries will not be on the list.

To start, enter your product code on Find buyers, then split the list into groups as described above.