How to Build a 30-Day Export Buyer Follow up Sequence
Published · 11 min read · By the Double Export team
A follow up sequence is a set of decisions you make once: who enters, what each step adds, which channel carries it and what happens when the buyer answers. This article walks through building one for any new buyer lead.
Following up from memory can work on a good week. On a week with a container delayed at port and a buyer’s audit, the new leads wait, and by the time someone writes, the buyer has a quote from a competitor.
A sequence fixes that by moving the decisions to a quiet moment. You decide once what happens on day 0, day 4, day 12 and day 30, write the messages, and from then on each new lead only needs a name, a channel and a tag. If you have just come back from a show, the 30-day trade show follow up plan is the show-specific version. This article is about designing the sequence itself so it works for any new buyer lead: an inbound inquiry, a contact from outreach, or a show.
What a sequence has to decide
Before writing a single message, fill in a design sheet. It takes twenty minutes and saves you from the most common faults, such as no exit rule or two steps that say the same thing.
| Decision | Question to answer | Example answer |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Who enters, and when? | New lead with a valid email, tagged “New lead”, within 24 hours of first contact |
| Goal | What reply are you trying to get? | A request for a price for a named port, or a request for samples |
| Exit on reply | What happens when they answer? | Sequence stops; owner replies personally within one working day |
| Exit without reply | What happens on day 30? | Last message, then tag “Paused” and re-engage in 2 to 3 months |
| Channels | Which channel leads? | Email leads; WhatsApp supports only where permission was given |
| Spacing | How long between steps? | Short at first, wider later; never two channels on the same day |
| Content | What does each step add? | One new fact or one easy question per step |
| Owner | Who replies when a buyer answers? | Market owner per country |
The goal row matters most. “Get a reply” is too vague. A sequence aiming for a sample request will ask different questions from one aiming for a price inquiry.
What to prepare before you build
Assets every step can point to:
- A link to your product information, with specs, packing, MOQ, origin, HS code and either a price or “price on request”. A buyer-facing product sheet does this; a well-made PDF on a shared drive is the spreadsheet alternative.
- One extra item for a mid-sequence step: a full specification, a certificate you hold, or photos of packing and loading.
- Your price position: will you show an indicative price for a standard Incoterm (for example FOB your port), or quote only on request?
- Your sample policy: free, paid, or credited against the first order, and who pays the courier.
Data on every lead:
- First name, company, country and time zone.
- Email, and WhatsApp number only if the buyer agreed to be contacted there. Meta’s opt-in guidance for the WhatsApp Business Platform requires opt-in before you send proactive messages, so no permission means email only.
- Entry source (inquiry, outreach, show) and the product they are interested in.
The sequence at a glance
Count days from day 0, the first message. Email leads; WhatsApp steps run only for buyers who gave permission. The spacing is a sensible default, not a measured optimum: change it to fit your buyers’ rhythm.
| Day | Channel | Step | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | First message | Context, product link, one question | |
| 1 | Short hello | A face to the email, same link | |
| 4 | Email (same thread) | The useful detail | Spec, certificate or packing photos |
| 8 | One easy question | Pack size, grade or destination port | |
| 12 | Email (same thread) | A concrete offer | Indicative price with Incoterm and validity, or samples |
| 18 | Offer reminder | Short reminder of the offer and its validity | |
| 24 | Email (new subject) | A different angle | Another product, pack size, or private label |
| 30 | Email (same thread as day 24) | Last message | Closes the loop, leaves the door open |
That is five emails and three WhatsApp messages for a buyer on both channels, or five emails for a buyer on email only. It sits inside the ranges discussed in how many times to follow up with an international buyer, and each step carries something different.
The steps, with copy
Keep every message short. The product link carries the detail; the message carries the reason to open it.
Day 0: the first message (three entry variants)
Only the first email changes with the entry source. Everything after it is shared.
For outreach, keep the rest of the sequence on email only, since the buyer has not given WhatsApp permission. The guide to cold emails to importers covers the outreach message in more depth.
Day 1: WhatsApp hello
Through the WhatsApp Business Platform, this is a template message: Meta’s pricing documentation explains that outside the 24-hour customer service window opened by a buyer’s message, templates are the only message type you can send. Write it in advance and get it approved.
Write the WhatsApp steps so that the only thing that changes from buyer to buyer is the name. Your own name, company and product range are fixed text in the template, and the link goes in a link button. If you sell several product lines, write one version per line and send each to the matching group. Anything that genuinely differs per buyer, such as a quoted price or a validity date, belongs in the email steps or in a one-to-one message from your phone.
Day 4: the useful detail
Day 8: one easy question
Good choices are things the buyer can answer in three words or with one tap: 10 kg carton or 25 kg bag, size 18/20 or 20/22. Write the two options into the template text for the product line, not as a per-buyer field.
Day 12: a concrete offer
This step gives the buyer something concrete to react to, which is easier to answer than another general check-in. Make it specific.
If you never publish prices, offer samples or a call instead. The point is a clear, answerable proposal.
Day 18: offer reminder
The exact validity date is in the day 12 email, so this message does not need it. If you want to quote the date to one buyer on WhatsApp, send that as a one-to-one message from your WhatsApp Business app rather than as part of the sequence.
Day 24: a different angle
Use a new subject line to start a fresh thread. Some buyers ignore an offer because it is the wrong product, not because they are not buying.
Day 30: the last message
Branching: what happens when the buyer replies
The sequence exists to produce a reply. The moment one arrives, a person takes over, and every remaining automated step for that buyer has to stop on both channels. Check how your tool does this: some stop a sequence only when the reply comes in on that same channel, so a buyer who answers your email can still receive the next WhatsApp step unless you stop it yourself. What the owner does next depends on the reply:
| Reply | What to do | Tag to add |
|---|---|---|
| Asks for a price | Quote within one working day with Incoterm, named place, payment terms and validity | “Price requested” |
| Asks for samples | Confirm address, courier, what you send and who pays; share tracking | “Samples sent” |
| Asks for a spec, certificate or document | Send it the same day if you have it; say honestly if you do not | “Docs requested” |
| “Not now, maybe in [month]” | Thank them, note the month, stop the sequence | “Paused” plus month |
| “Talk to my colleague” | Write to the colleague, referencing who referred you; start them at day 0 | “Referred” |
| “Not interested” or “stop” | Stop on every channel and record it | “Do not contact” |
| No reply but email bounced or number invalid | Fix the data, then decide whether to restart | “Check contact” |
Two rules hold for every branch. Reply in the channel the buyer used. And when the conversation reaches a formal step, such as a quotation or a proforma invoice, move that document to email so it is filed, as explained in WhatsApp vs email for export sales.
Timing rules that make the schedule work
- Measure waits from the previous step. If day 4 slipped to day 5, day 8 becomes day 9. This keeps the gaps right even when you pause the sequence.
- Send in the buyer’s working hours. Schedule by their time zone and their working week, which is not the same in every country.
- One channel per day. The table above never puts email and WhatsApp on the same day for that reason.
- Respect the quote validity. If your offer on day 12 is valid for 14 days, the day 18 reminder lands inside it. Change both together.
- Watch holidays and seasons. A sequence that starts the week before a major public holiday in the buyer’s country may need to shift a week.
Testing and improving the sequence
Do not judge a sequence on five leads, and do not trust anyone else’s benchmark for yours. Instead:
- Run it on a first batch, ideally 30 to 50 leads of the same type.
- Read every reply and note which step it came after.
- Change one thing at a time: a subject line, the day 8 question, the order of the offer and the samples step.
- Keep a short changelog so you know which version a buyer received.
If most replies come after the concrete offer, consider bringing it forward. If nobody replies to day 24, replace it with something more useful or drop it.
Checklist before switching it on
- Design sheet filled in: entry, goal, exits, channels, spacing, owner
- Product link tested on a phone
- Day 12 offer checked: price, Incoterm, named place, MOQ, validity
- Sample policy agreed and stock reserved
- WhatsApp templates approved before the first lead enters
- Every lead has first name, company, country and time zone
- WhatsApp only for buyers who gave permission
- Reply handling agreed: who answers, how fast, which tags
- Test sends checked for broken placeholders
How to build this in Double Export
Double Export runs one channel per campaign, so this sequence is two campaigns on the same tag. Create an email sequence with the five emails: the first email plus follow ups, where a follow up without its own subject is sent as a reply in the same thread, which matches the “same thread” steps above. Set sending days, hours and time zone, and send a test first to check personalisation and fallback text.
Then create a WhatsApp sequence with the three WhatsApp steps, timed so they fall between the emails: up to 10 steps, each waiting between 1 hour and 90 days after the previous one. Write the templates in the app, preview them and submit them for approval. Buyers without WhatsApp permission or a number are left out automatically.
Use a tag such as “New lead” as the audience in the export CRM. Tag-based audiences include buyers tagged later, so each new lead enters both campaigns when you tag it.
When a buyer replies on WhatsApp, the WhatsApp sequence stops for them automatically, but the email sequence keeps running until you stop it. When a buyer replies by email, nothing stops automatically, because Double Export sends but does not read your inbox: stop both the email sequence and the WhatsApp sequence for that buyer from the campaign results, and add the branch tag from the table above. There are no reminders or tasks, so the tags and campaign results are how you see who is where. The buyer follow up page shows the two channels side by side, export sales automation lists which steps run on their own, and plan limits are on the pricing page.
Sources
Event dates and figures are taken from the organisers' own websites and were checked on the publication date. Confirm them with the organiser before you book travel or print materials.
This article is general advice for export sales teams. Where it describes Double Export, it says so and links to the page that explains the feature; everything else works with any tool, including a spreadsheet.