There are challenges and opportunities when dealing with international email marketing. Let’s focus on the main issues first.
Email deliverability depends on the region, both the sender and the recipient. Email filters may be stronger in countries where spam is more abundant (like Brazil and India, for example). Some parameters, like sender reputation, will still be a strong indicator for the inbox service providers (ISPs) if the email is considered spam, but the filters for content (like spammy words) will be different for each language.
Even though English is the most spoken language globally, according to Statista, only 19% of the world can understand it. The percentage is different if you consider education level or job types (most tech-related people and highly-educated executives will be able to read in English, for example). You need to take that into account to decide if you want to send your emails in English or in the customer’s language (and how that translation will happen). Multilingual email marketing may be more costly and take up more time.
We’ll dive deeper into this topic, but some common email marketing practices that are accepted in the United States are blocked by GDPR in Europe, for example. The good news is that there is a lot of common ground in legislation: opt-in is required almost everywhere.
Now that we have reviewed the problems, let’s see how to make the best campaign if you’re targeting an international audience.
The first factor to consider for international email marketing is language. When to write in English, and when to go for email localization?
Consider whether your audience speaks English fluently or not. For example, if your website is only in English, as the sign-in form, chances are that you don’t need to translate your emails. This is mostly valid for small companies with international clients.
If you have a big presence in specific countries, you can translate to that language or create email marketing content specific to that country. This is usually done by hiring a native translator, who will guarantee that the message works in the appropriate context.
The other option is to translate automatically. In the last years (or even months), large language models have revolutionized the automatic translation of phrases and work way better than just two years before. That said, AI is not there yet.
A good automatic translator can get 98% of the job done perfectly, but the 2% it gets wrong is evident. And it usually is that part of the marketing copy that features puns, neologisms, or worse: the name of your product or company gets scrambled.
The other side of the coin is that, with customers in many countries, it’s not viable to hire a translator for each one. That’s when automatic tools can help.
Since there is no way to know which language the customer prefers for email marketing messages, the best practice is to just ask. You can write the welcome email in both languages and allow the customer to state their preference. You should also indicate whether the translation is automatic or not.
If the future of email marketing is hyper-personalization, this is a great way to make your clients feel that the content is tailor-made for them.
Words can have a distinct impact on different people. For example, if in the United States, marketing is expected to be a little aggressive, in other cultures, this can be off-putting or sound desperate.
It is also relevant to know the context of the message, especially around holidays, since they’re region-specific. For example, Thanksgiving is an American-only celebration. Remember to always use targeted email marketing!
When creating for a global audience, try to invest in great images and let them do the talking. That’s the approach by brands like Apple and Sony: a great image and only a few words on a tagline to convince the audience.
There’s not much risk in investing in great visual content for an international audience, with one caveat: if you’re featuring culture other than your own, check with a native translator or sensitivity expert to see if using that image is appropriate for the brand in that context.
Every marketer wants to create an image that grabs the audience’s attention and makes the email stand out. The problem is that customers may have a different attitude to the image depending on their location.
For example, an American audience may be familiar (and even bored) with types of images that can capture the attention of someone in Europe, and vice versa.
When choosing images to illustrate international email marketing campaigns, find something closely aligned with your brand and values and opt for something universally appealing, because it’s really hard to know how it will land.
Did you know that, in aggregate, 75% of web views in Africa come from mobile phones, according to Statista?
But it’s not just Africa. Globally, 62% of internet traffic is already on mobile devices. We recommend optimizing your templates for smaller devices, but when your audience is international, mobile email marketing is a priority factor for legibility and conversions!
The easiest approach here is to use responsible email templates that adapt to your subscribers’ devices for an optimal experience, no matter the platform.
Usually, you don’t need to worry too much about the time an email is sent. Even if it arrives at 3 am, it will just wait in the inbox. (Yes, email timing can affect the open rates, but not too much. There’s a way to schedule the messages by timezone to offset that.)
That said, pay attention to limited-time offers and phrases like “Just today until midnight” that can generate frustration for international readers.
If your international customers are concentrated in specific countries, segment the audience by region and send special region-exclusive offers and content relevant to that audience. That way, you can work on language, specific offers, and timing.
By the way, did you know that advanced segmentation is one of the biggest email marketing trends?
Continuously check email analytics and follow the health factors of the email marketing system: delivery rates, open rates, and click-through rates are the most important ones.
When numbers start to go down, consider if this effect is region-specific, which may indicate a problem with a local ISP, country regulation, or even a regional culture less tolerant to too-promotional emails.
It’s tough to get right at first. Focus on constant optimization to understand the ways of the audience and how each country reacts to different messaging.
Sometimes, it’s arduous to understand the CAN-SPAM Act that governs US email marketing. Now try one of these for each country you’re sending email to! Sending international email marketing campaigns can be a regulatory nightmare, you need to consider this in campaign development.
Good practices will help: always use double opt-in, choose a reliable email marketing provider with a global presence, and always make it easy and simple to unsubscribe. We’ll get into specific laws just below.
Let’s get an overview of some regional laws and regulations that affect the metrics of email marketing and digital communication.
Every email and electronic message that intends to promote or advertise a company or a product has been subject to the CAN-SPAM Act since 2003.
Its most important rules are:
The UK and European Union are protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which mainly covers how consumer data is managed by electronic systems and companies.
It applies to companies from outside the EU when offering services or goods to the region, and is developed around consent: the user must consent to their data being used (that’s why there’s a cookie warning on every site on the internet).
The main points for email marketing are:
Fines for breaches vary by gravity, nature, and intention, and can reach €20 million (more than $22 million) or 4% of business revenue.
In China, the email marketing legislation has been under “Measures for the Administration of Internet Electronic Mail Services” since 2006. Its rules are stricter than others and apply even to tourists visiting the country:
The fines can go up to $1,500 per violation, but are rarely imposed against outside companies. The most probable outcome is the email being filtered out by the country’s firewall.
Brazil passed a law called “Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD)” in 2018, which translates and relates very closely to Europe’s “General Data Protection Regulation.” However, unlike Europe, Brazilian law lacks implementation, which leaves a lot of leeway to bad agents.
The main points are:
Explore our feature on email marketing in Brazil and the LATAM countries to learn more.
India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) was passed in 2023, inspired by Europe’s GDPR.
Its main points for marketers are:
International email marketing is a great way to reach customers all around the world, for big and small companies. The process is straightforward, but simple precautions will lead to greater deliverability and a successful email marketing strategy!
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