Adapt Your Emailing Campaigns to Local Specificities

Our friends at EMB shared a great article called “Adapt your emailing campaigns to local specificities: 4 avenues“ from Marketing Professional.fr. We wanted to share it with you. Check out the original article above! Original Article in French: “Cultural fit” is not just a term used in recruiting. Emails must also adapt to the culture. Brands that have […]

Our friends at EMB shared a great article called Adapt your emailing campaigns to local specificities: 4 avenues from Marketing Professional.fr. We wanted to share it with you. Check out the original article above!

Original Article in French:

“Cultural fit” is not just a term used in recruiting. Emails must also adapt to the culture. Brands that have a global audience must ensure that their message is adapted to the different target regions, even if it is considerably modified from one country to another. This investment is worth it for any brand that wants to improve their subscriber engagement and conversion rates.

Here are 4 avenues to take into account to optimize international emailing strategies.

MEETING PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS

While there are similarities in the reasons people sign up for newsletters, there are regional peculiarities that you should be aware of. For example, in the United States, it is estimated that more than 6 in 10 users sign up to a mailing list to receive special offers by email from brands. In France, this is only nearly 5 users out of 10. And if only 31.1% of French people register to receive news from brands, this rate rises to 48.3% for Spaniards.

A localized emailing strategy will make it possible to identify and take into account the reasons for which a user subscribes to a brand’s newsletters, and thus to adapt the content of the emails according to local specificities.

UNDERSTAND AND FOLLOW EMAIL REGULATIONS

Globally, there are numerous laws on privacy and consumer data protection. The rules differ from one region to another and brands must ensure that they respect the specific characteristics of each. Some may have specific rules regarding data collection where others do not. Within the European Union, email senders should pay particular attention to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires companies to obtain the recipient’s prior consent before sending commercial emails. The United Kingdom, which is no longer part of the European Union, however, still applies the GDPR for the moment.

Julie Paci, Marketing Manager at Pathwire

Marketers operating in the United States should be aware of the CAN-SPAM law which sets the regulations around commercial email to protect users. But several US states have also passed their own data protection laws. For example, California regulates the protection of consumer privacy through the California Consumer Privacy Act, and Virginia recently passed its VA Consumer Protection Act to better protect its residents.

While non-compliance can result in fines, email blocking and brand image degradation, businesses have no choice but to strictly adhere to the regulations of the countries to which they communicate.

ALWAYS DO MORE RESEARCH

Designing and writing an email requires taking into account different cultures, especially if a brand wants to be humorous or daring. Many things can have a different resonance depending on whether you are in Europe, Asia or America, and many brands have already fallen victim to these cultural “blunders”. It is imperative that marketers work in collaboration with local managers to define what works and what does not in a translation, adjust references at the local level, know the holidays and events that the target audience respects in order to be able to adapt their strategy. Consequently.What should be treated with care and respect? What is considered taboo or disrespectful? The lack of in-depth research can lead to clumsiness that will have a negative impact on the campaign’s click-through rate, on subscriber engagement, and more generally on brand image.

Similarly, the email clients used vary by region of the world. It is therefore relevant to target the preferred email clients according to each region, in order to deliver emails with better rendering, which will therefore be more efficient. Gmail is the world’s most popular email client. If Yahoo occupies second place in the United States, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, Outlook is the second most used messaging after Google.

SEND EMAILS AT THE RIGHT TIMES

The majority of users check their emails at least twice a day and a quarter do so more than five times a day. However, even this frequent consultation does not mean that an email will be opened or that it will generate interest, especially if it is found among all the daily emails received by its recipient. For best results, businesses should ensure that an email is sent when the recipient is most likely to view their mail.

Americans and English therefore tend to check their emails in the morning and evening. In Germany, people check their emails most often at night, but hardly ever before going to bed. In France, the vast majority of users check their emails in the evening (44%), and quite rarely during the sacred lunch break. In Spain, it is the opposite: very few users consult their emails in the evening (barely 12%), they prefer to read them in the morning. Globally, the best open and click-through rates are observed around 3 p.m. UTC, especially on the 3 midweek days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday).

Carrying out international campaigns requires an adapted strategy and supposes knowing many details which will guarantee their success. This is why it is particularly important to study the target audiences before investing time and money in a new emailing campaign, in order to ensure that it resonates optimally in each region. Refine the message, choose the best time to send it, or even make sure that regional regulations are respected, are all keys that will guarantee the success of a campaign.

Author: Julie Paci , Marketing Manager at Pathwire

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