🇻🇳 B2B outreach playbook

Selling into Vietnam from Singapore: the B2B outreach playbook

Vietnam is one of Asia's fastest-growing B2B markets, with a young, digital-first workforce and a prior-consent rule for advertising email. This playbook is for Singapore-registered teams selling into Vietnam.

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Vietnam at a glance

Time zone: Indochina Time, UTC+7, one hour behind Singapore
Business language: Vietnamese is the language of business and strongly preferred for trust; English is common in multinationals, technology and export firms
Best send windows: Tue-Thu 8:30-10:30am local (9:30-11:30am in Singapore); Tue-Thu 1:30-3:00pm local (2:30-4:00pm in Singapore)
Data protection law: Personal Data Protection Law (Law No. 91/2025/QH15)

Why selling into Vietnam is different

Vietnamese is strongly preferred for trust, even where English is read.
Business is formal and hierarchical, and buyers often want a company profile before they agree to a meeting.
Advertising email needs the recipient's prior consent under Decree 91/2020/ND-CP, a stricter starting point than Singapore's rules.
A new Personal Data Protection Law has applied since 1 January 2026.

When to send, and when not to

Vietnam is an hour behind Singapore, so a 9:30am Singapore send lands at 8:30am in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Most offices take lunch from 12:00 to 1:30pm. Tet, the Lunar New Year break, pauses business for a week or more in February. Skip public holidays does not cover Vietnam yet, so narrow the campaign's send days around Tet and the holidays below.

Public holidays in Vietnam in 2026

Thu 1 Jan New Year's Day
Mon 16 Feb Tet (Lunar New Year break, 14-22 Feb)
Tue 17 Feb Tet (Lunar New Year's Day)
Wed 18 Feb to Fri 20 Feb Tet (Lunar New Year break, 14-22 Feb)
Mon 27 Apr Hung Kings Commemoration (Monday in lieu of Sun 26 Apr)
Thu 30 Apr Reunification Day
Fri 1 May Labour Day
Mon 31 Aug to Tue 1 Sep National Day break (29 Aug-2 Sep)
Wed 2 Sep National Day

Compare send windows and holidays across six markets in the free APAC send-time planner.

Who to search for

A Vietnamese company's top executive is usually the General Director (Tổng Giám đốc), with Directors (Giám đốc) below. Titles are matched as you type them, so search the English and the Vietnamese forms.

Vietnamese names put the family name first and the given name last, and people are addressed by the given name: greet Nguyễn Văn Minh as Anh Minh, and a woman with Chị before her given name.

People Search covers Vietnam; check the free match count on your filters before you plan a campaign around it.

A first email that fits

Subject

introduction: [your company], Singapore

Kính gửi anh {{first_name}}, My name is {{sender_name}} from [your company] in Singapore. We support [industry] companies in Vietnam with [outcome]. May I send you our company profile for your review? If it is relevant to {{company_name}}, I would welcome a short call at your convenience. Trân trọng, {{sender_name}}

Formal, document-first and patient. Because advertising email needs prior consent in Vietnam, get advice from a Vietnamese lawyer before you send any campaign there. More adapted first touches and follow-ups are in the APAC cold email templates.

Data protection: Personal Data Protection Law (Law No. 91/2025/QH15)

Vietnam's Personal Data Protection Law, passed on 26 June 2025, has applied since 1 January 2026 with its guiding Decree 356/2025/ND-CP, building on the earlier Decree 13/2023/ND-CP. Separately, Decree 91/2020/ND-CP on spam, in force since 1 October 2020, requires the recipient's consent before an advertising email, sets rules on labelling, unsubscribing and sending frequency, and runs a Do-Not-Call Register for advertising calls and messages. We do not have a Vietnam guide yet, so confirm your approach locally before launching.

Sources

General information, not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with a qualified advisor.

Local playbook

01Offer a company profile before asking for a meeting.

02Keep messages concise and respectful of hierarchy.

03Avoid the weeks around Tet for launches, and the 12:00 to 1:30pm lunch break for calls.

04Consider a Vietnamese-language opener only if someone on your team can reply in Vietnamese.

05Warm your mailbox and pace sends to stay deliverable.

Frequently asked

Can HuntSales help me sell into Vietnam?

Yes. You get live People Search covering Vietnam, own-mailbox sequenced sending, and a pipeline to manage relationship-led Vietnamese deals. Take local legal advice on consent before you run a campaign.

Should I write in Vietnamese?

For many segments, yes, if someone on your team can reply in Vietnamese. You can write in any language and use the AI copilot to help draft and refine.

Is cold email legal in Vietnam?

It is tightly regulated. Decree 91/2020/ND-CP requires the recipient's prior consent before an advertising email and sets rules on labels, unsubscribing and frequency, and the Personal Data Protection Law has applied since 1 January 2026. Take advice from a Vietnamese lawyer before you run a campaign. This is general information, not legal advice.

Does Skip public holidays cover Vietnam?

Not yet. The setting covers Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippine time zones. For a campaign on Ho Chi Minh City time, take the Tet week and the other Vietnamese holidays out of the send days by hand.

Outreach into Vietnam, run from Singapore

Add Vietnamese prospects from People Search, send from your own mailbox, and manage every reply in one pipeline. Free for registered businesses: sign-up asks for your company's UEN, or its company registration number if it is registered outside Singapore.

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