International emailing campaigns
Email marketing is more powerful than it’s ever been. In 2016, Email delivers the highest return on investment for marketers, and is a great way to grow your business abroad, and acquire new customers in foreign markets. But email used to be quite different from what it is today, due to technology changes. Openvalley helps marketers looking to engage with foreign customers, with an international email marketing campaign.
Companies that have success using direct marketing in their home country often try to use the same approaches abroad. International e-mail marketing is a simple way to win global business, at an affordable cost. To run an international e-mail marketing campaign successfully, here are the steps we follow:
1. Research the legal requirements
Different international laws relate to emailing, regarding privacy and consent, can be confusing. However, even there are some specific requirements and details of compliance in foreign countries, the underlying principals relating to data protection, privacy and consent are universal.
The underlying principle is to maintain a high level of transparency. We need to be transparent throughout the process of collecting and using customer data to conform to current legislation. We help you find clever ways to build your email databases using the right tactics, such as subscribe link in emails, newsletter sign ups, subscribe for offers and news, social networks, content marketing and more.
2. Take into account different time-zones and local holidays
Time-zone differences can have significant impact on the results of an international marketing campaign. For that reason, we use an email marketing platform that enables to schedule the campaigns by different international time zones. Taking also into account local ‘event dates’ for each country provides additional opportunities for email marketing. We check that the date of your international e-mail marketing campaign does not fall on a local holiday. Some of these dates are unique to each country, and others, fall on different dates in different countries: for example, Mother’s Day.
3. Translating and localizing the e-mail content
Translating content requires more than a literal switch from one language to another, so we work with local translators who understands differences in phrasing and languages. It is definitely worth to have the email translated by a professional translator to reach your overseas customers.
As concerns localization, cultural sensitivity is important when trying to reach international audiences. For example, an email campaign targeting China will have to pay special attention to the colors of your stock images. Having the email localized can make a difference to reach your foreign customers.
4. Be aware of the importance of mobile
53% of emails are opened on mobile devices. For that reason, we are using email templates that are automatically optimized for both desktop and mobile email clients. Penetration of mobile device for reading email is now very high, meaning that using mobile friendly content and responsive design is compulsory.
5. Seize the opportunity of automated emails
We help you taking advantage of the opportunities related with automated messages sent to individuals triggered by some sort of action such as transactional emails, purchase receipts, confirmations, shipping notifications and password resets. Open rates for transactional emails are much higher than traditional emails, so we use them to provide additional information to your potential customers.
6. Be ready to reply
You also need tobe prepared for the replies from your international e-mail marketing campaign. We can also help you in the process of answering emails with native speakers.
7. Understand metrics
Understanding which aspects of your email campaign drive engagement and influence purchase decisions is critical, so that we can improve campaign performance over the long and short term. However, the KPIs of a successful email campaign in one country can differ from those in another.
For example, cultural differences may mean that a high click-to-open rate in one country indicates a successful campaign. Conversely, in another country, where culturally, recipients are less likely to click through, the click through rate will be less significant. We also need to measure ROI and track the effectiveness of your email campaigns beyond clicks, and measure conversions on your website.
We can help your company set up effective international emailing campaigns to capitalize on the specific interests of millions of customers, reaching them with compelling, relevant emails that will drive better business results.
Some fundamental questions need to be answered before sending out an emailing campaign targeting foreign customers. We can help you run an international e-mail marketing campaign. Call us or send us an email to get a quote.