The Benefits of Translating Your Email Content for Subscribers
If your company has an email newsletter, you already know how important it is to be able to reach your audience by landing right in their inbox.
Your customers can learn about current promotions, relevant news items in your industry, or even decide to purchase one of your products or services based on something they see in your email content.
The information you present to them in this format can help customers become more engaged with your company, and in turn, increase their confidence in your brand.
If you plan to target an audience that speaks a language other than English, or if you have already translated your website into other languages, you may also want to consider translating your newsletter for these audiences.
Translating your email content is a positive step for your multilingual or international email marketing strategy.
Whether they found you through print marketing, or from your website or landing page, translating your email marketing content means you have a way to directly talk to your multilingual leads, and continue to provide value for them as you convert them into raving customers.
Here are some things to consider when it comes to translating your email content for your subscribers.
What should you consider before translating your email content?
Once you’ve decided to translate your email content, there are a few key things to consider before making the investment.
First, make sure you understand exactly who your audience is that you plan to target. Build an avatar of your desired target audience.
Where do they live (in the United States, in another country, in multiple countries)? What is your audience demographic? What is important to them? What cultural nuances may offend them?
Knowing exactly who your desired multilingual customers are will help you as you move into the planning stages.
From there, analyze your current marketing strategy for this market. What is your goal for this audience?
Knowing your current marketing goals will help you put together a roadmap for what type of content you need to have available for your multilingual audience.
Once you know this, decide on the type of content you need to either translate from your existing English text, or create specifically with your multilingual audience in mind.
How will translating your email content impact your multilingual or international marketing strategy?
Translating your email content is a great way for you to reach a new target market and gain visibility with new subscribers.
Allowing your customers to subscribe to your email list puts your content directly in their inbox, which they can then check easily and refer back to later.
Seeing your company’s emails in their inbox keeps your brand top of mind. They are more likely to move through your sales funnel if the content is available in their preferred language.
Translating your email content also means increased web traffic.
The links contained within your newsletter will allow your customers to easily navigate to your website, enabling you to continue engaging with them through the content you have there as well.
If your website is also translated, include links in your newsletter to pages with the correct language for a smoother and more authentic customer experience!
In 2014, Common Sense Advisory reported that over half of all consumers simply will not make a purchase on a website if information is not readily available in their native language.
If you have non-English-speaking customers who have shown interest in your products or services, being able to engage them in their own languages can have a huge impact on your ROI.
In fact, studies show that for every $1 you invest in localization, your ROI will be roughly $25!
Does translating email content provide value for subscribers?
Translated email content is a great way to show your non-English-speaking audience that you care about them.
Personalizing email content for your multilingual audience helps this audience feel seen, and could result in more loyalty to your brand. In fact, most customers will choose your brand over another whose content is only available in English, if they continue to have a good experience with you.
Your multilingual audience will also be willing to share your brand with friends and family, especially if it provides value in their native language. And word-of-mouth referrals can, over time, build a larger following of customers who are loyal to your brand.
Should multilingual email campaigns be designed differently?
Email content, just like any other content you decide to translate, should be localized for your target market.
When the email content is designed, refer back to what you know about your target audience based on the avatar you created for them.
Choose photos and colors that will appeal to this target audience, and don’t assume that what you have designed for your English-speaking subscribers will be best and appropriate for a multilingual audience.
Email content that has not been properly localized for your current audience will not feel authentic. Your readers will be able to tell if something feels off, which will impact how and if they interact with your brand.
Remember to take text expansion and contraction into consideration when it comes to designing your multilingual emails.
Depending on the target language, you may find that the translated text uses more or fewer characters to express the same idea. This will impact the overall design in terms of spacing and placement. Once your content is in place, it’s a good idea to have your translation team review the content before you send it, just in case any of the copy was misplaced or any errors were introduced during the design process.
Other things to consider when translating and localizing your email content
Outside of translating and localizing the main text blocks of the email itself, there are a few other pieces to consider to ensure your multilingual subscribers have the best experience with your email content.
Here are just a few examples:
– ALT text (alternative text) or image descriptions and names for images included in your email
– Any file names that may be seen when clicking on a link
– Subject lines and email preview text
– Footer content
Additionally, if you include a link for your subscribers, it’s important that they be able to read the content on the page where the link leads them, whenever possible.
And consider your foreign audience’s time zone(s). Research when the best time is to send your emails to a particular audience, and schedule them appropriately.
Also, remember to change or remove text that is specific to another audience. For example, if you are translating text describing a promotion for your English-speaking subscribers, but are running the promotion during a different time period for your multilingual audience, you will want to check to make sure that the dates are updated accordingly, along with any other pertinent details that may change depending on the audience receiving the email.
Engaging your multilingual customers via email is a great way to continue to build and grow relationships with this audience. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance when it comes to keeping this audience engaged with translated and localized email content.