Brand expansion into new markets is always a challenge and a test of brand strength, as it involves not only scaling all marketing channels and processes but also creating new marketing campaigns relevant to each local market. When it comes to localizing email marketing campaigns, we're talking about more than just translation; we're talking about adapting the email to the cultural, ethnic, and social characteristics of each market.
How can these challenges be addressed effectively? Should campaigns be localized by a single, centrally managed email marketing team, or should all email marketing tasks be delegated to separate local brand teams or specialized agencies?
This article will answer the question of how to choose the most effective solution.
What's at stake if you don't localize your email campaigns?
This article would be incomplete without first answering this question: Do you really need localization? After all, English is the lingua franca of international communication, widely recognized in many countries, and localization requires a significant investment of time and money.
The problem for global brands is translating everything, and nailing the cultural details costs 20%–40% more while adding a couple of weeks to the process. Sticking to English is cheaper and quicker, especially for brands targeting expats or running global campaigns, but it regularly feels off and doesn't connect well.
Therefore, before discussing which content localization option to choose, let's consider the email marketing risks when a brand cuts corners on localization and uses only English-language campaigns for all local markets.
These risks include the following:
- lower engagement and conversions;
- risk of cultural missteps or offending the audience;
- legal risks (translation of promotional and transactional emails into the language of the country is mandatory due to local legal requirements);
- missed opportunity to build trust and credibility.
And some more data that confirm this:
- companies that prioritize localization see a 1.7 times increase in revenue growth compared to those that don't;
- 76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their own languages;
- 40% of consumers refuse to purchase in a non-native language.
Moreover, in recent years, marketers have increasingly emphasized that simple translation is not enough for success. Hyper-localization of every message is necessary, specifically tailoring your email marketing to the needs of local recipients in any market, including their languages and cultural contexts.
Imagine you cracked a joke, but then you had to explain it. The humor would be lost even if the right words were used. Similarly, when entering a new market or launching a product in different countries, translation isn't enough. When trying to connect with the local audience, you need to capture the feel, tone, and cultural relevance so that people feel a sense of connection, leading to a higher conversion rate.
There are certain cues, such as a decline in engagement from the target audience, low click-through rates, or receiving unusual responses from them, that indicate the need to build a local team for the campaign. The local team brings the nuance and understanding of the public and media, which would help in getting higher returns. However, starting with centralized localization in the initial phase, such as for translation and slight adaptation, makes sense. In later stages, aligning with locals' values, humor, and emotions is needed to connect on a deeper level, resulting in higher conversion rates and engagement.
Now we're ready to talk about how to choose an approach to teamwork with localization: centralized localization or local teams.
Benefits of centralized localization
Centralized localization of email campaigns involves adapting email content (language, visual elements, subject lines, and dates) to different local markets by a single email marketing team. This approach typically creates more neutral email campaigns in a base language with content that is well suited for translation and adaptation.
All information and process controls are located in one place. A single email marketing team is responsible for everything and can engage translators, specialized services, AI, or Google Translate to prepare translations.
For example, in our article about how teams handle email localization, where we detailed all the workflow methods for localization performed by the email marketing team, CleanMyMac at MacPaw told us that the centralized email marketing team submits emails to specialized translation services and then downloads the finalized content into an email editor.
Pros and cons of centralized email campaign localization
Pros:
- cost-effective scalability;
- a consistent brand identity across regions;
- high ROI potential;
- quicker implementation than full-staff recruitment.
Cons:
- requires specialized tools/workflows;
- risk of text sounding "translated" if done poorly;
- risk of missing country-specific communications due to a lack of context.
How Stripo helps make processes more efficient
If you choose this approach in Stripo, you can use the Email Translate Service built into the editor. With Stripo's Email Translate Service, you can translate emails right in the editor, upload your custom translations from XLS and JSON files to all emails at once, switch between language versions without leaving the email, and export all language versions at once to your favorite ESP with one click.
For example, you can select which languages you need to translate from a list:
And you get all language versions at once in the email layout:
To ensure the translation is accurate, you can submit this version for proofreading by commenting on it using the collaborative view link without adding a new user to the account.
Benefits of hiring a local team
With this approach to localization, a local brand team is established for each country or group of countries, or a local agency is hired to maintain a direct presence in the market. Its task is to localize email marketing, taking into account all cultural nuances and values. With this approach, email campaigns can be more diverse, and strategies for each country vary from global ones, as they are developed specifically for the local market and implemented by the agency.
For example, one of the winners of the Stripo Choice Awards 2025, Kinesso Greece, creates Nespresso Professional email campaigns for the Greek market, aiming to increase B2B sales. It handles all the work of creating emails tailored to the specific needs of Greece.
(Email by Kinesso Greece)
Local teams deliver value by creating content that resonates emotionally, not just linguistically. They adapt brand messaging and posting times to local holidays, events, and behavioral patterns, and support global teams with market feedback.
Pros and cons of hiring a local team
A local team will know your product more intimately, understand your brand, and communicate its value in a way that resonates more deeply with the audience. Because they are integrated into the business, they can often turn content around faster and respond more quickly to shifting priorities.
Local contributors, whether agencies, freelancers, or in-house hires, tend to be more in tune with evolving cultural trends. They can help create or adapt local terminology, especially for niche products or services where direct translations may not yet exist. This cultural proximity often results in more authentic and impactful messaging.
On the other hand, there are cost and complexity considerations. Freelancers are usually the most budget-friendly option, followed by agencies, while building an internal local team is the most expensive. Hiring locally often requires setting up a business entity, complying with local labor laws, and coordinating support across legal, HR, and finance teams. These added layers increase both cost and operational complexity.
Pros:
- a deeper understanding of cultural context, humor, tone, and sensitivities;
- authentic local voice;
- better market penetration;
- real-time insights into trends, regulations, and competitors;
- ability to build stronger long-term customer relationships and increase brand loyalty.
Cons:
- higher financial costs of creating a separate team or outsourcing;
- slower scaling globally;
- more complex control over all processes and brand consistency.
How Stripo helps make processes more efficient
To ensure local teams work together and maintain brand consistency, Stripo makes it easy to use collaboration tools, module libraries, and master templates. Local team members are added to a single account and use modules created by the central office. These modules include all necessary brand colors, fonts, and technical settings for localization.
Furthermore, you can create a unified email design system that is accessible to all teams, eliminating the need for time-consuming email approval processes.
Centralized localization vs. local team: How to decide
How can you determine when you need a local team or when localization is enough? Use signals and cues for this.
Data is your friend. Is the business seeing meaningful growth or engagement in that region? That's often the first signal to dig deeper.
But it also depends on the business case. Is your product niche something that appeals to the average consumer? How familiar is the local audience with what you're offering? Buying shoes is one thing; signing up for a digital financial tool is another. The more specialized or trust dependent the service, the more localized support and insight you'll likely need.
It's crucial to understand how people in that region engage with your product or service. Are you seeing strong organic traffic, social engagement, or even user-generated content? Are local trends showing rising demand for what you offer? And what are competitors doing? Have they localized and how?
Another key factor is whether your product is actually ready for the market. Testing and piloting are great starting points, but only if you're also setting potential customers up for a seamless experience. For instance, if you launch in a new market but don't support the most common local payment method or customer support language, even the best localized messaging will fall flat. Focus on internationalization first: Make sure the product is functional and accessible, then localize content based on real user insights and feedback.
Centralized localization is usually sufficient when you're testing demand in a specific market, have a limited budget, and are running small email campaigns. If you're ready to scale, entering highly competitive markets, and want to develop highly personalized email campaigns, consider hiring a local team.
Hybrid model
You can also combine these two approaches: use localization workflows for content but engage local specialists (e.g., translators, sales specialists, and marketers) for cultural support, ensuring authentic responses in emails.
Localization ensures reach and consistency, while local expertise ensures relevance, leading to trust, higher open/click rates, and better conversion rates.
The approach I've seen work best is combining in-house strategy and oversight with local creation and production.
Hiring native speakers who understand both the language and cultural nuances of your headquarters and the target region can be incredibly valuable. They help bridge the gap between global strategy and local relevance, acting as cultural connectors.
For straightforward products and services, a well-trained freelancer or agency can be highly effective and potentially sufficient if they truly understand your brand, know how to engage your audience, and are supported by clear processes and strong collaboration.
Best practices for the transition from centralized localization to building a local team
The first step would be to create a style guide for the brand that contains all the necessary information, such as values, brand tone, voice, and messaging frameworks, among others. This helps the local team stay on the same page and have a clear understanding of what would be beneficial to bring to the table.
The second thing is to maintain collaboration between central and local teams to determine which aspects of local knowledge would be helpful. Onboarding, check-ins, and feedback are equally essential, as they help the new team understand the company's journey, purpose, and expectations better. Lastly, local teams and freelancers bring vast knowledge, so giving them space and a platform and letting them explore and put their ideas freely would also help in a smooth transition.
If you're considering moving from centralized localization to a local team, consider these recommendations:
- Create a strong brand foundation first: Document your brand values, tone of voice, messaging frameworks, glossaries, and localization guidelines. A clear style guide enables local teams to make informed decisions, eliminating the need for constant approvals.
- Start small and test before scaling: Begin with freelancers or a local boutique agency to validate the market, workflows, and collaboration model before building a full in-house local team.
- Invest in structured onboarding: Onboarding should explain not just what to do but why — covering the company's journey, goals, audience, and expectations. This accelerates alignment and reduces trial and error.
- Maintain continuous collaboration between global and local teams: Regular check-ins, shared documentation, and feedback loops help determine which local insights are most valuable and how to apply them at scale.
- Enable two-way knowledge sharing: Localization shouldn't be a one-directional process. Local teams should actively share market insights, cultural nuances, and performance learnings with the central team.
- Give local teams ownership and creative space: Trust local experts to adapt messaging, test ideas, and propose improvements. Treat them as strategic partners, not just executors of global templates.
- Align on decision making and approvals early: Clearly define what local teams can decide independently and what requires central approval, especially for brand, legal, and compliance-sensitive content.
- Build processes, not just teams: Establish repeatable workflows for collaboration, approvals, feedback, and performance tracking to ensure consistency as the local team grows.
Start small. Bring in freelancers or partner with a local boutique agency to test the waters. Begin building your foundational elements, including frameworks, a documented brand voice, glossaries, and best practices. Establish strong two-way communication with your global team to ensure alignment.
Invest time in onboarding. Create space for knowledge sharing, not just from global to local but also from local back to global. Your local team can offer valuable insights that inform your broader strategy, not just support execution. Treat them as strategic partners, not just local contributors.
Wrapping up
Entering new markets always comes down to finding a balance between speed and depth, efficiency and relevance. Centralized localization is often the right starting point; it helps teams respond quickly, maintain brand consistency, and test demand with minimal risk. As engagement grows and market complexity increases, local teams bring the cultural knowledge, authentic connection, and flexibility needed to turn interest into long-term loyalty.
In practice, many successful brands combine both approaches, leveraging centralized structures and tools while empowering local experts to adapt and refine messaging. The key is choosing a model that aligns with your business goals, market maturity, and audience expectations, as well as creating processes that can evolve as your global email program scales.
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