What should my first email to an importer say?

The advice below draws on an article in which Best Food Importers asked food importers how they want suppliers to contact them. It does not say how many importers it asked. The points used here concern how a stranger's first email is read and what importers check about a supplier, not the product, so they apply to bed linen too. The importers quoted rank clear, professional and fast communication highly, and by clear they mean English that a reader with average English skills can follow.

Importers check you before they reply. The same article lists production capacity and consistent availability, samples, pricing structure, reputation, current markets, and an up-to-date website. Put one of these in the email.

Fill each [bracket] from your own research on that one company before you send.

• The name: use the name exactly as the website shows it. Do not guess a title.
• Why this buyer: two facts the buyer can confirm: their own range and their import records. To find an importer's name from its commodity code, see how to find importers in the United Kingdom.
• One proof point: a certificate, or one current market. Use only what the buyer can check.
• One concrete offer: a sample set and a spec sheet. These cover two items on the importers' list: samples and product materials.
• One small ask: a yes or no question about an address. The buyer can answer it in one line.
• Opt-out line and full signature: the ICO requires a valid address for opting out (see the rules below). A reply is one of the opt-out methods its checklist names.

In the United Kingdom, 357 companies appear as importers in those records, with 12,227 shipments. That list is short enough to research and write to each company by name. The data provider does not state the period the records cover (see how the counts work), so a company in the count may have stopped importing. Before you write, confirm on its own website that it sells cotton bed linen today. At the last reading, about 79% of those shipments came from Pakistan (current origin table on the importer page), so most of these buyers already have a supplier. Your email must give them a reason to add one. In the United States, 588 companies appear, and at the last reading about 49% of shipments came from India (importer page). There, "we are from India" tells the buyer nothing new. Your certificate or product detail has to do that work.

These rules come from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) page on electronic mail marketing and from Google's email sender guidelines. The ICO notes that its guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. The rules below are what the page states today. Check it again before you start each new list.

• Check Companies House first. The ICO says you can email any corporate body: a company, Scottish partnership, limited liability partnership or government body. The ICO does not say how to tell a corporate body from a sole trader. A practical check is Companies House: if the importer is listed there as a company or limited liability partnership, it is a corporate body under the ICO's definition.
• Not on the register, or not sure? Treat it as a sole trader or partnership and leave it off your cold list. The ICO treats these as individuals, who must have specifically consented first, for example by ticking an opt-in box. The "soft opt-in" covers only your own past customers, not new contacts or bought lists.
• Addresses with a person's name (firstname.lastname@company): the ICO says you may also need to consider data protection law for these, and its page says no more. Read its separate guidance on business-to-business marketing once before your first send to named addresses.
• Identity and opt-out: you must not hide who you are, and you must give a valid contact address so the person can opt out.
• Do-not-email list: the ICO calls it good practice to keep a list of companies that object, and to screen every new list against it. Its checklist says to act on opt-outs promptly. Add the two "remove me" replies to your list today.

Google's requirements cover mail sent to personal Gmail accounts, meaning addresses ending in @gmail.com or @googlemail.com. Check your list for these addresses. Since 1 February 2024, everyone sending to them must:

• Set up SPF or DKIM email authentication for the sending domain.
• Have valid forward and reverse DNS records for the sending domain or IP address.
• Use a TLS connection to send.
• Keep the spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.3%.

Extra rules start above 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts: SPF, DKIM and DMARC, plus one-click unsubscribe and a visible unsubscribe link in marketing messages. A one-by-one send to researched importers stays far below that. Below 5,000, Google's page names no daily limit and no waiting period. What it measures is the spam rate. It says that if messages from your domain are often reported as spam, future messages are more likely to be marked as spam. So 200 identical emails can hurt the domain you will use for real buyers, even at low volume. Google recommends SPF, DKIM and DMARC for all your domains. This guide does not cover the rules for emailing importers in the United States. Check those with the Federal Trade Commission before you send there.

Reevi's Buyer Trust Score shows what buyers see when they check your company: identity and registry, sanctions, certifications and trade footprint, and adverse media. The basic check is free. Two results bear directly on your first email, and you can also check both by hand today. First, the address in your registry record should match your signature and your website. Second, any certificate you name should be current and match the certificate document. To check the importer instead, see how to verify a foreign buyer.

Your United Kingdom and United States buyers read English. For a buyer whose business language is not English, Reevi's Message Writer matches the real company from the name you type. It drafts the first message in that language, with a version in yours to review. The sample on its page is a German first-touch message. You send it yourself, or Reevi sends it after your review. Check every buyer-specific fact in the draft against the buyer's website and import records.

1. 1

   Day 1: send the first email

   Send it to one named buyer.

2. 2

   Day 7 or 8: send one follow-up that adds something new

   A week is a reasonable gap: long enough for a purchasing manager to clear the inbox, short enough that your first email is still visible. The importer interviews advise a cold email and a follow-up. Add one thing the first email did not have, such as the spec sheet. If there is still no reply after these two emails, stop and note the date.