How to Run Multi-language SMS Campaigns for Global Audiences?

Take advantage of multi-language SMS marketing to generate more leads.

Reaching out to diverse audiences from various backgrounds is key to boosting sales and increasing brand loyalty.

Of course, when you want to talk to these audiences, understanding language differences is crucial.

While English is a global lingua franca, it’s not always the best option for talking to every audience.

When you talk to people in their own language, you’re actually building a more intimate relationship with them. This will definitely increase the engagement rate and customer retention.

In this blog post, we’ll guide you through running multi-language SMS marketing campaigns and explain how you can use WP SMS to simplify the process.

Why You Need Multi-language SMS Marketing?

First, let’s review the benefits of multilingual SMS campaigns for your business:

1. Enhanced Engagement with Personalized Communication

It’s obvious that people are more likely to engage with text messages that are written in their native language.

So by leveraging multi-language text messaging, you can create personal connections. This will bring better engagement and more trust whether you’re sending promotions or transactional messages.

2. Including Cultural Items in Text Messages

When you write a text message in a specific language, you have the chance to include some cultural characteristics that don’t exist in other cultures.

In fact, language is tied to traditions and emotions. So running multilingual campaigns enables you to consider the sensitivities of each culture.

3. Winning Global Markets

When you run your SMS campaigns only in English, you’ll lose the chance to compete with local companies in other regions. 

For example, multi-language bulk SMS services allow you to find customers in lucrative regions like Asia, South America, and Africa.

4. Legal and Compliance Benefits

Some countries have strict laws about communicating in local languages. For example, if you want to run an SMS campaign in France, you must send marketing messages in French.

So using a multilingual SMS approach is a must if you want to grow your small business into an international company.

What to Consider Before Running International SMS Campaigns?

Before embarking on your SMS campaign, you need to think of the following items:

1. Understand Your Target Audience’s Language

SMS tools like WP SMS allow you to segment your customer data to divide them into various groups based on different factors like language, age, gender, etc.

Language is one of the most important factors when segmenting your audience. You can include the language preference in your signup forms or segment your audience based on your locations.

2. Consider Cultural Nuances

If you’re running an international campaign, bear in mind that a one-size-fits-all translation strategy won’t work. You need to consider cultural sensitivity to avoid misunderstandings or offending your audience. 

Various languages have multiple dialects depending on the region. For example, Spanish in Argentina differs from Spanish in Spain, and Canadian French isn’t the same as Parisian French. As a result, some items like humor or urgency in some cultures will not be interpreted the same way in others.

So you have to customize your message according to regional differences. Fortunately, AI-powered translation plugins can now understand these sensitivities so you have to leverage their power or collaborate with employees who know the target languages.

3. Get Familiar with Local SMS Marketing Regulations

Apart from language differences, you need to consider the differences in the data protection and marketing regulations in different countries.

For example:

• The GDPR in the EU needs explicit consent for SMS marketing.
• The TCPA in the U.S. restricts unsolicited text messages.
• Many countries limit the timing of SMS delivery.
• Some countries mandate language requirements.

So you need to get familiar with these regulations to avoid any troubles in the future. The good news is that when you work with a platform like WP SMS, you can be sure of compliance in every region.

4. Manage Time Zones

SMS is a time-sensitive communication channel and you need to pay special attention to the time you send your messages.

When you run an international SMS campaign, apart from language differences, you have to think of the time of the day in the target place.

You can’t send your messages to all of your audiences without considering the time zone. Sending messages at inappropriate hours can annoy recipients and harm your brand reputation. 

So ensure you consider time zones and schedule your messages to be sent at the best time of the day in the target region.

Steps to Creating A Multi-language SMS Strategy

Now that you know what you need, it’s time to learn how to send promotional and transactional messages in different languages.

Here is a step-by-step guide to running a multilingual SMS marketing campaign:

Step 1: Define Campaign Goals

Every marketing effort needs SMART goals. Without defining your goals, you don’t know what you want, so you can’t devise efficient plans.

So spend enough time thinking about the main objective of your multi-language SMS marketing campaign.

Ask yourself:

• Am I promoting a new product?
• Do I need to find new customers in other countries?
• Can I drive traffic to my site?

If you define clear goals, you can easily decide on the tone, content, and overall approach of your SMS marketing campaign.

Step 2: Select Your Target Markets and Languages

Now, you have to choose the regions in which you want to run your marketing campaigns in. Then, you can select the languages you want to include in your SMS messages.

You’d better focus on the primary languages in each region. Of course, sometimes you can consider secondary or regional dialects.

For example, in India, messages in Hindi, Tamil, or Bengali can reach more customers than messages in English. Also, in Canada, the primary language is English, while in Québec, people speak French.

Step 3: Choose An SMS Gateway Provider

An SMS gateway is a platform that facilitates the process of sending text messages from a computer to mobile devices.

Not all SMS gateways support every language, so you have to choose the one that supports your target languages and regions.

Overall, you need to consider the following lingual factors when choosing an SMS gateway:

1. Character Encoding: Languages like Arabic and Chinese that have unique characters need specific encoding (UTF-8).

2. Regulatory Issues: Regulatory compliance in some regions might restrict certain languages in your SMS campaign.

3. Technical Limitations: Some SMS gateways are not able to handle complex scripts or multi-byte characters effectively.

Here are the top three SMS gateway providers that support many languages in SMS campaigns:

• Twilio: It supports over 100 languages for SMS. However, in some languages, it may not support specific character sets or local dialects.

• Nexmo (now Vonage): This provider supports many languages, but its services for certain less common languages are limited.

• Plivo: Plivo supports multiple languages, but it lacks some dialects or regional variations.

Step 4: Choose and Set Up An SMS Platform

Now, you need to choose an SMS platform based on your resources, requirements, and also your current tools.

For example, if you have an ecommerce store or use a WordPress website, your best choice is an SMS plugin like WP SMS.

It supports all famous SMS gateways and offers segmentation, localization, automation, and translation solutions using various integrations and add-ons.

WP SMS is user-friendly, and its installation process is straightforward. You just need to go to your WordPress dashboard and search for WP SMS in the “Plugins” menu.

If you face any problem in the installation or activation process, you can watch the following YouTube video or contact our team:

Step 5: Build A List of  Subscribers and Segment Them

Running an opt-in campaign is an essential part of any SMS campaign, especially multilingual SMS marketing campaigns.

You can do that using various methods like:

• Forms on your website
• Social media promotions
• Email campaigns
• Opt-in SMS campaigns

In the opt-in campaign, you can ask the preferred language of your target audience. This way, you can segment them based on their language or location.

Step 6: Create Customized Content for Each Segment

Try to focus on localization in SMS marketing instead of using direct translation tools. Remember that tools can’t translate some important dialects and this will cause misunderstandings in various cultures.

Try to collaborate with native speakers or professional translators to craft SMS templates in different languages.

For example, you can consider the following SMS templates for a flash sales campaign:

1. Generic English

2. French

3. Spanish (Mexico)

4. Hindi (India)

Step 7: Personalize Messages with WP SMS

WP SMS allows you to define dynamic variables in your SMS templates. This is a great chance for you to personalize your communication with your recipients.

In fact, the tool allows you to automatically mention specific details of each recipient so that they think you’re talking specifically to them.

Try to include customer names, locations, or other personalized details in your messages. Look at the following sample to see how you can personalize your messages:

When you use personalization and combine it with multilingual strategies, you can gain the trust of your international customers. When they see you’re speaking their language and talking to them at a personal level, they will be highly likely to engage with your campaigns.

Step 8: Test SMS Campaigns In Terms of Language

You must be sure about language-specific SMS errors before running your campaigns.

Remember that your campaigns should be error-free and culturally appropriate. Otherwise, your brand reputation will be dented, and you might get blocked by the recipients.

Step 9: Schedule SMS Messages by Region

WP SMS has an easy-to-use scheduling feature that allows you to determine the date and hour you want to send your messages. Try to determine these times based on the target region’s time zone.

Step 10: Run A/B Tests

To find the best version of your text messages in terms of language, time, and offers, you can use A/B testing.

You just need to consider an item like language and create two variations of the SMS. Then, send them to two segments of your audience and see the results. This way, you can optimize your messages and reach a higher marketing ROI.

Conclusion

Running multi-language SMS campaigns is key to engaging global audiences. This is really impactful in boosting your sales and improving your brand reputation in the world. 

Try to talk to your audience in their own language to respect them. Also, try to include cultural items in your SMS campaigns to make them believe you’re one of them, not a foreign seller. 

Instead of reaching out to numerous recipients, try to build trust and a long-lasting partnership with your international customers. 

Here at WP SMS, we’ll simplify localization, scheduling, and automation to help you in your multilingual SMS campaigns. 

Try the demo version of our SMS plugin to make sure about its capabilities.

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