Why do email open rates vary for specific languages and countries?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests the subject line translation might not resonate with the audience or the content might not be relevant or could potentially be insulting. Delivery rates are not the problem.
Email marketer from Mailjet Blog explains that cultural and linguistic nuances play a significant role. What resonates with one audience might not with another due to differences in humor, values, or communication styles. Translation errors can also lead to misinterpretations and lower engagement.
Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that legal and privacy considerations vary across countries. Regulations like GDPR in Europe impact email marketing practices, including consent requirements and data handling. Adhering to local laws is critical for maintaining deliverability and building trust with recipients.
Email marketer from HubSpot shares that analyzing data by country helps you tailor your campaigns for specific regions. Review open rate data and dig into what may cause the difference. Knowing specifics enables the development of more effective campaigns.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum responds that trust and sender reputation vary across countries. In some regions, users might be more cautious about opening emails from unknown senders due to concerns about scams or phishing. Building a strong sender reputation locally can improve open rates.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares that segmenting email lists by country and personalizing content based on local preferences can improve open rates. Tailoring email campaigns to specific regions demonstrates a better understanding of the audience's needs, resulting in higher engagement.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that different devices and browsers rendering emails affects open rates. The way emails are rendered on different devices and email clients can vary significantly across countries, which impacts user experience and engagement. Optimizing for various devices and browsers is essential for achieving consistent open rates.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that local holidays and events impact email engagement. Sending marketing emails during culturally significant events or holidays might lead to lower open rates as people are less focused on commercial content. Tailoring sending schedules to local calendars can improve engagement.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor Blog explains that mobile usage and email client preferences vary by country. Some countries have higher mobile adoption rates than others, influencing how people interact with emails. Similarly, the popularity of different email clients (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, local providers) can affect how emails are rendered and opened.
Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog shares that spam filter sensitivity varies across countries and languages. Certain keywords or phrases might be flagged as spam more often in specific regions due to local regulations or spam trends. This can impact inbox placement and thus open rates.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that open rates are very different country to country, as well as spam/engagement rate etc.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that cultural context is a vital point to consider when looking at different open rates in different regions. A key element is to understand the culture and their relationship with communications. What works in one country may not work in another and in some cases may cause problems such as people feeling their culture has been disrespected. If this happens then expect people not to open your messages.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that regional blacklists and whitelists can vary significantly by country. ISPs and mailbox providers maintain different reputation systems based on local spam complaints and user behavior. Being blacklisted in a specific region can dramatically affect deliverability and open rates.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that language-specific spam filtering is a major factor. Certain languages or character sets might be more prone to being flagged as spam due to historical abuse or how spam filters are trained in those regions. Using specific keywords associated with certain languages can also impact deliverability.
Expert from Email Geeks asks if there is a cultural difference in loading images, suggesting these countries could be blocking image loads more than English-speaking recipients.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from IETF explains that encoding standards play a crucial role in email readability across different languages and regions. Incorrect character encoding can lead to garbled text and reduced open rates. Understanding and implementing appropriate encoding practices are important for effective communication with international audiences.
Documentation from Google explains that Gmail's spam filtering algorithms adapt to regional spam trends and user behavior. These algorithms analyze email content, sender reputation, and user interactions to identify and filter spam, which can vary based on language and geographic location. This directly impacts inbox placement.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that Outlook's regional settings influence how emails are rendered and displayed. Character encoding, date/time formats, and language preferences can affect the appearance of emails, potentially impacting user engagement. Ensuring proper encoding is crucial for international audiences.
Documentation from RFC Editor explains the standards for internationalized email headers. RFC 6532 introduces support for non-ASCII characters in email headers, enabling the use of local languages. Proper implementation of these standards ensures correct display and processing of emails in different languages, which impacts deliverability and open rates.