The best customer experience is what all businesses strive to ensure. Companies go above and beyond to do this: they develop eCommerce design for mobile, analyze big data, and employ sophisticated marketing strategies. One of the best forms of eCommerce promotion is still email marketing. To make the most of newsletters, it's vital to personalize them, and the key personalization element is language. Emails written in one's native language and localized according to cultural and linguistic nuances will initially grab readers’s attention and communicate clearly. Consequently, they will be more effective from the marketing point of view. In the article, you'll find an outline of multilingual email marketing and localization tips on translating, choosing the right posting time, and preserving a unified tone of voice.
Table of contents
- Captivating Attention with Multilingual Email Marketing
- Gaining Better Customer Trust
- Providing Higher Conversion Rate
- 5 Localization Tips in Multilingual Email Marketing
- Final Word on Multilingual Email Marketing
Captivating Attention with Multilingual Email Marketing
According to Hubspot, 40% of email users claim they have over 50 unread messages in their inboxes. If you don't want such a fate for your emails, you need to grab your subscribers’ attention from the beginning.
Show your appreciation right in the subject line. Use the client's native language to extend a warm welcome. Emails sent to your target audience in a language they are comfortable with are more noticeable in the feed and more likely to be opened. However, remember that subscribers are less likely to open an email if the subject line concept is lost due to poor translation.
Gaining Better Customer Trust
Sending an email in one's native tongue demonstrates that your business respects their culture. This reinforces client trust. According to CSA Research, 64% of consumers especially appreciate localized content, while up to 60% of non-native English speakers rarely or never buy from English-only websites.
An email sent in the recipient's native tongue will contain clear information and CTAs, encouraging subscribers to engage with your community and increasing their trust in your business. Additionally, clear communication assured by proper localization increases website traffic, raises sales rates, and improves revenue.
Providing Higher Conversion Rate
People prefer working with businesses they trust and understand. According to CCJK, 55% of consumers are more likely to purchase goods if the information is provided in their native language. Personalized email marketing persuades customers to read your messages and make a purchase from you by demonstrating a targeted approach to their requirements.
Email body copy should continue the theme of cultural adherence introduced in the subject line. Images, for instance, should be visually appealing and represent cultural nuances.
Customers will understand that your emails are specifically tailored to meet their demands and context; as a result, your mail will be opened more actively.
5 Localization Tips in Multilingual Email Marketing
The process of localization goes beyond simple translation. It is the practice of adjusting content in your email marketing campaign, making it more relevant to readers who speak another language or reside in another country. Here are the main points that should be considered when doing email localization.
Good Translation
For obvious reasons, you cannot begin a worldwide email marketing campaign without translating your emails. Email translation is more difficult than one may imagine. Many believe that any online translation tool, including Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, and others, will work. Sadly, they frequently produce poor-quality translations.
It’s a must to hire a qualified translator for each region if you want your emails to be adequate and effective. You might hunt for them on websites for independent contractors or reputable translation companies.
You will need to send out various campaigns regularly as an email marketer. When choosing whether to hire a freelancer or a specialized agency, consider how many emails you need to translate and if you have tight deadlines. Freelancers’ services are likely to be cheaper, but they may not be able to meet your the deadlines all the time in contrast to an agency’s employees.
Provide your translators with as much background as you can. Only if the translator has the information about the email's intended audience, the goal of the email campaign, and why it is being sent, can they translate it accurately.
Choosing the Right Posting Time
Keep in mind that emails should not be sent out simultaneously in all languages due to the time difference. Numerous studies were conducted to determine the email-checking habits of various consumer groups in various nations. However, even though the findings don't offer a general formula, we can still make use of them.
CoSchedule analyzed the results of 14 research studies to find out the ideal hour to send marketing emails:
- 10 am: People frequently check their mail in the morning.
- 8 pm: Many people read their email before going to bed.
- 2 pm: People prefer checking their email during lunch.
- 6 am: Opening email inbox is a popular way to start the day.
Remember about Special Occasions
Note holidays or other significant dates in all the countries your customers live in. This will allow you to create relevant content for special occasions or skip sending emails to a specific audience if it is inappropriate during certain times.
Look at the ads campaign of Burger King, for instance. The company created a greeting for the Muslim holiday Ramadan, combining a frequent symbol of the holiday - the moon and one of the company’s symbols - the burger.
Preserving the Tone of Voice
The tone of voice(ToV) is how your brand interacts with the audience. It can include word choice, communication style, and emotional expressions. As ToV reflects your attitude towards the customers and is often a big part of your brand image, it’s crucial to preserve it in all newsletters.
Glossaries and automated quality assurance checks can assist your translators in keeping track of the tone of voice consistency in all languages.
An additional component that facilitates this is translation memory (TM). Instead of translating the same sections repeatedly, you can use a part of previously translated content. Memsource, Smartcat, and Star Transit are among the most popular translation memory software.
Cultural Differences Consideration
Given how widespread the Western style of advertising is, it might be challenging to keep in mind that the tone of this content can be unsuitable or even offensive to other cultures.
The Middle East, for instance, is generally more conservative than Europe. And Eastern Europe is considered more conservative than Western. It's wise to avoid risks and alter the campaign for some countries if it's too bold.
Visual imagery presents a similar problem. Whether you send emails to consumers in Europe, the US, or Asia, you require imagery that reflects the local people. Customers are more devoted to your business when they can relate to the images you utilize.
One of the bright examples of such a campaign is Dove Real Beauty. On the banners for Europe and the US were women in their underwear, while the banners for Iran looked much more conservative.
Final Word on Multilingual Email Marketing
Multilingual email marketing campaigns may seem too demanding. Indeed, it's necessary to create different assets, hire several translators, and consider various factors, like culture, religion, politics, etc. But campaigns’ results and statistics prove that it is worth it. According to Peppercontent, 71% of surveyed consumers reported native language promotion and support of products were critical. Apart from that, you can simplify the task of the new strategy introduction with the helpful tools and apps available, like email marketing management tools, translation memory software, and designing apps.
About the author
Kate Parish, chief marketing officer at Onilab with 8+ years of experience in Digital Marketing and website promotion. Kate always strives to stay in pace with the ever-advancing online world and the sphere of Magento PWA development. Her expertise includes in-depth knowledge of SEO, branding, PPC, SMM, and the field of online sales in general.
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