Translating email campaigns: How teams work and which challenges they overcome

When a company expands internationally and begins running multilingual marketing campaigns, it introduces additional complexity to team coordination. New people and roles are introduced into the process — occasionally external specialists who aren’t part of the core team, such as freelance translators and proofreaders. 

Despite this, all localized email campaigns must maintain a consistent brand style and messaging across languages. Efficiently managing translations while simultaneously ensuring brand consistency requires a well-structured workflow. Thus, translating email campaigns is a team effort and does not involve merely handing over text to a translator. 

In this article, we’ll explore how to optimize the translation process and manage a team effectively so that preparing an email campaign doesn’t become a never-ending task.

Key teamwork challenges in email localization

Beyond text, images, and email elements — factors we covered earlier — one of the biggest challenges of localization is establishing an efficient workflow and smoothly integrating translations into the email production process.

Below are the main challenges email marketers face when managing multilingual campaigns:

1. Coordinating multilingual workflows — ensuring seamless communication among all stakeholders involved in the translation process.
2. Maintaining content quality across languages — ensuring translations align with brand guidelines, legal requirements, and regional nuances.
3. Preserving email code and design integrity — verifying that translated content doesn’t change the layout or cause rendering issues.

These challenges turn into specific tasks that take up the time and resources of specific team members, who must:

• tackle uncoordinated edits from multiple contributors;
• address the lack of a standardized process for reviewing and approving translations;
• manage a diverse team of translators, proofreaders, and designers across different companies;
• translate visual elements, such as banners and embedded text; and
• ensure quality control, which involves conducting final checks and minimizing errors.

Different companies adopt varied approaches to email localization, depending on their team structure, the number of languages involved, and the type of email campaigns they run. This article explores various strategies and breaks down the key steps involved.

Step 1: Preparing the original email

The first step in the localization process is creating an email in the primary language — typically English. This includes writing and refining the copy, designing all elements, and creating the email.

The person responsible for this stage is usually the email marketer. In larger teams, a campaign manager might oversee this specific email. Their role is to collect approvals from all stakeholders and ensure the email is finalized in the primary language before sending it for translation.

Step 2: Working with translators and editors

At this stage, an email marketer’s main challenge is managing communication among all participants involved in the translation process.

Who handles email translations?

The approach to email localization varies depending on the company’s structure and the number of languages the email needs to be translated into. The following are a few common translation workflows:

• in-house translation teams — when emails need to be translated into just a few languages (typically two or three) and the company has native speakers among the staff;
• localization teams — dedicated teams, often part of product development, manage all translations across email campaigns, websites, social media, and other platforms;
• native-speaking proofreaders — employees or freelancers who review translations for linguistic and cultural accuracy;
• automated translation tools (Google Translate, DeepL, GenAI) — primarily used for initial drafts, but always require human editing.

AI-based tools are most commonly used for automating translations of triggered emails in which only small text fragments require translation, often based on website localization settings.

• specialized translation platforms — companies streamline their translation process using Smartcat or Crowdin. These platforms automate text transfers instead of relying on manual email exchanges. These systems notify the teams once translations are ready for download;

• outsourcing to translation agencies — certain businesses entirely outsource email localization, using agencies that handle end-to-end translation and adaptation.

Large global companies often adopt a hybrid approach, combining internal teams with external translation services.

How to prepare texts for easy translation and quick email formatting

To streamline the translation process and ensure smooth email production, companies use different methods for transferring text files:

1. Localization during copywriting

Once the writers have finalized the copy and the email design is being prepared, the copy is sent to an external translation service. When the translated versions are returned, they are integrated directly into the final email layout.

2. Localization after final HTML formatting

This approach creates a fully designed HTML template, thus enabling the team to identify potential display issues — such as dark mode compatibility or text length adjustments — before sending the email for localization.

3. Exporting text files for centralized translation

To facilitate translation into multiple languages, companies often export email text as structured files (.xml, .json, or .xls). 

(Source: The Stripo editor account)

4. Global localization workflow

For large-scale localization efforts, the process typically begins with creating an English-language template, followed by developing visual assets. Translations are managed through platforms such as Crowdin, after which internal teams review the localized content.

Each method has its advantages, and companies often combine multiple approaches to balance efficiency, accuracy, and design consistency in their email localization workflows.

Translating the visual elements in emails

Translating text within graphic elements — such as banners, images, and interactive components — is more complex than working with standard text blocks. Even major brands occasionally overlook this step, leaving untranslated text on images.

Here’s how email marketing teams handle this challenge:

• manual translation and design adaptation: Email marketers send the text that is part of the visual elements for translation and then pass it on to designers, who create separate image versions for each language. These localized images are then inserted into the respective language versions of the email in the editor. While effective, this process adds an extra step to email production and increases turnaround time;
• automated translation via API integrations: Certain teams streamline this process by integrating API translation platforms to automate text localization in graphic elements.

Step 3: Integrating translated texts into the email editor

In most cases, email marketers handle the localization of email campaigns themselves. They receive translated texts and integrate them into templates. However, if the email is sent through an external service, backend developers or technical support specialists possibly take on this task.

The key challenge: Maintaining the logic and layout in translated emails

One of the greatest challenges email marketers face when inserting translations into templates is ensuring that the new text doesn’t break the layout or disrupt the email’s logical flow.

A well-known issue in localization is the varying word lengths across different languages. Certain translations may significantly expand the text, thus making it difficult to fit within the agreed-upon design. This problem isn’t just for email designers to solve — everyone involved in the translation process must be aware of it.

How to prevent layout issues in translated emails

1. Establish localization standards

In global companies, localization isn’t just about email campaigns — it impacts all aspects of business communication. This is why localization standards are typically documented in brand books and style guides for each target language. These standards and requirements are taken into account both when writing a basic email and when translating it.

For example, a global company has defined all localization requirements for 22 languages in its brand guidelines. These include tone of voice, specific email localization rules, character limits for buttons and banners, and even punctuation preferences. These predefined rules significantly speed up the translation process, thereby ensuring consistency and reducing the number of back-and-forth revisions.

2. Provide HTML files for translation

When translators work directly with HTML files, they can better understand the context and structure of the email. They can see which texts belong to buttons, headlines, or body content, thus ensuring that translations fit the designated space.

3. Test translations in the final layout

One of the most critical steps in email localization is testing how translated content appears within the email layout. Since different languages have varying word lengths, the structure of the email may shift and, thus, affect its visual appeal.

To address this, consider the following two possible solutions:

• linguistic approach: Use synonyms or shorter phrasing to fit the design;
• design adjustments: Modify font sizes or adapt the template layout.

This structured approach enables teams to maintain localization accuracy and visual harmony in multilingual email campaigns.

How the localization review process is organized

Email marketers ensure that every localized version is thoroughly reviewed and approved before it is sent out. This is why, after integrating translations into email templates, these marketers often conduct an additional round of checks.

There are several ways to approach this:

1. Built-in quality checks: Certain platforms offer built-in review tools that help detect common errors, such as missing letters or formatting issues that could alter the message’s meaning.
2. Automated translation verification: While some email marketers use tools such as Google Translate to quickly cross-check the translation, the localization service remains responsible for translation accuracy.
3. Native speaker review: In certain cases, internal team members who are native speakers review the localized emails to ensure linguistic and cultural accuracy.

What an ideal email translation workflow should include for team collaboration

A well-structured email translation workflow for global teams ensures accuracy, efficiency, and seamless collaboration. Here’s how one international company manages its localization process:

Example of an email translation workflow in a global company

1. The in-house localization team finalizes the master version of the email and sends it to the Crowdin platform for translation.
2. Crowdin translates the email into 22 languages.
3. The localization team creates a spreadsheet in which each row represents an email element and each column corresponds to a language version.
4. Native-speaking employees within the company review the translations for their respective languages.
5. If the email contains text embedded in images, designers prepare localized versions of such visuals.
6. After the review, email marketers assemble the final versions using the translated text from the spreadsheet and the prepared images.

How much time does it take?

This workflow is exclusively used for global promotional campaigns that are simultaneously launched across multiple countries. Since such launches require careful planning, the process typically begins two to three months before the scheduled send date.

How to streamline team collaboration in the email translation workflow

Maintaining an efficient workflow is key to avoiding chaos and delays when working with multilingual email campaigns. While we won’t evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches, here are a few best practices to enhance team collaboration and accelerate localization:

1. Ensure automation, version control, and clear communication

• use automated tools for translation management and version tracking to prevent outdated or conflicting content;
• establish a centralized communication channel on which all updates, revisions, and approvals are logged;
• ensure that every team member has access to the latest version of the email, thereby reducing back-and-forth confusion.

2. Define roles and responsibilities

• assign clear ownership over each stage of the translation process: decide who translates, reviews, and provides the final approval;
• synchronize translation with design and coding processes to avoid bottlenecks;
• establish clear communication rules for providing feedback, revising, and approving final versions.

3. Manage edits without disrupting design

• decide whether to finalize the translation first or permit real-time edits during the design process;
• ensure translation adjustments don’t interfere with the email layout, particularly for languages with varying text lengths;
• leverage collaborative tools — such as Google Docs, Figma, and Stripo — to streamline feedback, revisions, and approvals;
• use Stripo’s built-in Email Translate Service, Modular Email Design, and Collaboration Tools to simplify multilingual email production. Features such as real-time co-editing, custom roles, and in-editor commenting help teams work together seamlessly, thus ensuring efficient localization without unnecessary delays.

Wrapping up

Localization isn’t just about making content more accessible — it’s a crucial factor in shaping your brand’s reputation. Poor translations or cultural misinterpretations can negatively impact how your company is perceived. This is particularly critical for legally significant content, where relying solely on machine translation without appropriate review can lead to serious consequences.

While automation is key in streamlining the translation process, it’s not a substitute for human oversight. A successful email localization workflow requires a balance between efficiency and accuracy. This implies implementing quality control measures, maintaining version consistency, and ensuring that all stakeholders — translators, designers, marketers, and native speakers — collaborate seamlessly.

Since localization involves multiple teams, reducing the number of participants isn’t always realistic. Instead, the focus should be on making their collaboration as efficient as possible. Clear roles, centralized communication, and appropriate tools for real-time co-editing and feedback can eliminate bottlenecks and prevent last-minute issues.