Getting suppliers to respond, from people who have done it at scale

Every EUDR programme has the same critical number, and it is not the SKU count or the risk score. It is the percentage of suppliers who have replied. Everything else is downstream of it.

What follows comes from running operational projects where the same dynamic applies: you need something from people who do not work for you, are busy, and get no direct benefit from helping.

What raises the number

1. 01

   Remove the account

   Every credential you require costs you responses. A tokenised link that opens straight into the form outperforms a portal login by a margin that surprises people.

2. 02

   Make it survive a phone

   Plenty of suppliers will open your request standing in a warehouse or a field. If it needs a desktop, it waits until Friday, and Friday moves.

3. 03

   Ask only for what you need

   Requesting everything for every product because it is easier to build is how you get abandonment at step three.

4. 04

   Say what happens if they do not

   Not as a threat. Suppliers often do not know that their goods may not be able to move, and saying so plainly converts better than a deadline.

5. 05

   Chase on a schedule, not a mood

   Day three, day seven, then internal escalation. Consistent, automatic, and it stops the moment they reply.

6. 06

   Give them one named human

   A reply address that reaches a person who can answer a question resolves more than any amount of interface polish.

The supplier who has gone quiet for eleven days is the one you most need to hear from, and the least likely to be top of anyone’s mind.

What lowers it

Legal language in the first sentence. Attachments that need Excel. Deadlines with no explanation. Chasing someone who already replied, which is the fastest way to teach a supplier that your messages can be ignored.

And silence after they respond. A supplier who sends what you asked for and hears nothing will be slower next time.