A while back I briefly discussed some of the things you may want to consider when taking your email marketing international. I could dive into the obvious differences and probably should provide you with some back story but for now I will just get straight to the point.
When considering your international email marketing strategy, the first thing to consider is your audience. After all we’re not talking about your neighbors or even someone who lives within your local community. We are talking about an audience that speaks multiple languages, is built on different principles, has a culture all its own, uses the web in many different ways and most importantly will likely interact with your company differently than most of your domestic customers.
Because of these differences I have put together, what I believe to be, the top five questions you may want to ask yourself when you begin to write your copy and designing your email creative. Hopefully this will allow you to define a more effective strategy, for your international email campaigns.
1. How does my international audience use email? (How frequently should I email my international customer base?)
2. How does my company currently interact with my international customer base? (Online only, via one-to-one communications, website feedback loops, etc.)
3. What cultural differences should I consider when designing my layout? (What works for some, may not work for others)
4. What are the laws around SPAM in countries outside of the US? (Stay legit, some countries carry rules that are tighter than the US)
5. How will I track, measure and manage my email metrics once my email is deployed?
Of course there are many others, and this assumes that you have already asked yourself, the important questions like; “How do I measure my ROI?”, or “What are the goals and objectives of my email campaign?” Hopefully this will simply get the conversation going in your marketing department, or when you sit down with your sales team to discuss your global sales and marketing tactics. It’s important to remember that understanding the differences between your US customer base and your international customer base will determine your success in the international email marketing space. Let me know what you think, did I leave something out, what else would you add to the list?
Next up I’ll cover, Part II: Going International – The message and the delivery. In this portion of the series I will review some of the design principles and standards you may want to consider, and how to find basic demographic information about your international recipients.
Until next time,
Cheers
