The majority of brands are expanding internationally. They want to offer their services and products to a worldwide audience. Therefore email marketing is very successful, with 280 million emails delivered every day throughout the world. They do it by connecting with their foreign users on a local level. This entails learning about their culture, language, traditions, purchasing patterns, and other details. Also, 72.4% of people are more inclined to buy a product that includes information in their language.
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Making your email content more relevant for your target audience is the goal of email localization. However, it goes much beyond simply translating the material. Here’s a lightning quick mini-guide on email localization based on my rich experience as an email marketing specialist. Let’s begin.
What is Email Localization
Over 319.6 billion emails are sent every day on a worldwide scale. Email segmentation for localization is becoming increasingly critical as organizations continue to globalize. Email localization is the process of acclimatizing a service or product to fit the demands of an international market, which includes cultural and linguistic adaptations.
Why Should You Localize Your Email
So you’re probably thinking why you should bother to localize your emails. There is a very basic and straightforward answer to this: English is not spoken by everyone. In reality, more than 70% of Internet users throughout the world do not. 25.2% of all Internet users are English speakers. Chinese users account for 19.3%, Spanish for 7.9%, and Arabic for 5.2%.
As previously said, consumers are considerably more inclined to purchase items given in their local language. Therefore, if your emails are also displayed in their local language, people will be considerably more inclined to engage with them. Another incentive to localize your emails is to increase your return on investment. That’s quite a sum! It also serves as a good example of the financial advantages of localizing your emails.
Where Do Most Email Marketers Go Wrong
The most typical mistake they make is relying on the original English text of the email as a starting point. To put it another way, they’ll just copy and paste the English translation of the email and send it. All you’re doing when you translate an email message is translating the literal form of the message and sending it. Localization, on the other hand, is about getting your message over to your target audience in a way that is culturally relevant as well as correctly translated.
That involves taking into account all of the subtleties and peculiarities of the email recipient’s culture and language. It entails taking into account how your target consumers think, act, and communicate, as well as conforming to their beliefs and conventions. And here is where most email marketers go wrong when it comes to localization: they don’t even think about their consumers’ cultural conventions. If you’re marketing to Indian clients, for example, you could receive more interaction if you use a greeting like “Namaste” or “Bonjour” to French recipients instead of “Hello” or “Hey There.”
Which Design Elements Should Be Localized In An Email
For a company wanting to expand globally, being bilingual isn’t enough. Support in native languages is a key aspect in determining whether or not a worldwide product will be adopted. Focus on improving the following components locally for an international email marketing campaign:
Subject Lines
When pitching to a customer in their native language, localize your subject line. In English, the optimum subject line length is 50 characters or less; nevertheless, in French and German, the same might take up to 70 characters. Make sure your topic line isn’t too long, so it doesn’t get swallowed by the display.
CTA Buttons
You should modify your email text as well as the CTA for your subscribers all around the world, keeping in mind the design of the email. Make sure the CTA comprises terms that the target audience understands and that it looks well in the email.
Design of LTR and RTL Scripts
Arabic, Hebrew, and Urdu are written from right to left in the Middle East, but English and European languages are written from left to right. You may either duplicate the design, as Facebook did, or re-design the major tabs when targeting users from the Middle East.
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Email Rules In Different Areas
Be aware of regional electronic message regulations, as well as the anti-spam and consent rules of email marketing providers. The fundamental guidelines include requesting permission to email the subscriber, providing an unsubscribe option, and include your contact information in the email. Furthermore, certain rules mandate the use of a prefix in the subject line and the fulfillment of unsubscribe requests within a certain number of days.
Images
In certain areas of the globe, including an image of your staff relaxing with a drink in an email may be deemed okay, but it may be insulting in nations where alcohol is prohibited for religious reasons. When creating localized emails, use neutral pictures rather than photos that may elicit a negative response in some regions.
Summing Up
When addressing a foreign client base, pay attention to regional, cultural, and commercial inclinations. The ultimate goal of a localized email marketing campaign is to win people’s trust so that they associate with your company, buy something, and become loyal customers. As an email marketing specialist I feel that using email localization methods might help you gain a significant competitive edge over a period of time.
Author: Kevin George is the head of marketing at Email Uplers, that specializes in crafting Professional Email Templates, PSD to Email conversion, and Mailchimp Templates. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes & jazz, and he breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on email marketing blog.