How to Localise Cold Email Campaigns for International Markets
By Email ExtractorPublished 9 min read
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Why Localisation Matters for Cold Email
Sending the same English-language cold email to prospects in Germany, Japan and Brazil produces poor results. Beyond language, each market has different business communication norms, legal requirements and expectations around unsolicited email.
Key dimensions of localisation:
Dimension
What changes
Impact on results
Language
The words you use
Comprehension and professionalism
Formality
How you address and sign off
First impression and respect
Compliance
Legal requirements for commercial email
Whether you can send at all
Timing
Business hours, holidays, work patterns
Open rates and response rates
Cultural norms
Directness, relationship expectations, humour
Whether the email feels appropriate
Technical
Character encoding, email client preferences
Whether the email renders correctly
Legal Requirements by Region
Before localising content, confirm you can legally send cold email in each target market:
Opt-in requirements
Region/Country
Law
Cold B2B email permitted?
Key requirements
United States
CAN-SPAM
Yes
Must include physical address, unsubscribe mechanism, honest subject line
Canada
CASL
Restricted
Requires prior consent or qualifying existing business relationship
European Union
GDPR + ePrivacy
Varies by country
Most require consent; some allow legitimate interest for B2B
United Kingdom
UK GDPR + PECR
Yes (B2B with conditions)
Must identify sender, include opt-out, have legitimate interest basis
Germany
UWG (Unfair Competition Act)
Restricted
Prior consent generally required; "presumed consent" in narrow cases
France
LCEN + GDPR
Yes (B2B to professional addresses)
Must be relevant to recipient's professional role
Australia
Spam Act 2003
Yes (B2B with conditions)
Must include sender identity, contact details, unsubscribe mechanism
Japan
Act on Regulation of Transmission of Specified Electronic Mail
Restricted
Opt-in required since 2008; some B2B exceptions
Brazil
LGPD
Yes (with legitimate interest)
Must have legal basis; data subject rights apply
India
No comprehensive anti-spam law (as of 2025)
Generally permitted
IT Act covers some aspects; follow best practices
South Korea
Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network
Restricted
Opt-in required; strict penalties
China
Anti-Spam Regulations + PIPL
Restricted
Consent required; data localisation rules
Compliance checklist for international campaigns
Requirement
Implementation
Identify the applicable law
Based on where the recipient is located, not where you are
Check B2B exceptions
Many countries have different rules for B2B vs B2C
Accented characters, non-Latin scripts may display incorrectly
Use UTF-8 encoding for all international emails
Right-to-left text
Arabic and Hebrew read right-to-left
Use proper RTL HTML attributes
CJK characters
Chinese, Japanese, Korean characters need specific font support
Test rendering in popular email clients in each market
Email subject length
Character width varies; CJK characters take more space
Keep subjects short; test display on mobile
Name formatting
Different name order conventions (family name first vs last)
Research naming conventions for each market
Email client popularity by region
Region
Popular email clients
Testing priority
US
Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail
Gmail (desktop and mobile)
Europe
Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail
Outlook (widely used in enterprises)
Japan
Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Japan Mail
Test in Yahoo Japan Mail
South Korea
Naver Mail, Gmail, Outlook
Test in Naver Mail
China
QQ Mail, 163 Mail, Alibaba Mail
Test in local providers; note that Gmail is blocked
Russia
Yandex Mail, Mail.ru, Gmail
Test in Yandex and Mail.ru
Brazil
Gmail, Outlook, UOL Mail
Gmail and Outlook
Building International Prospect Lists
Finding contacts in foreign markets
Method
Approach
Local business directories
Each country has its own business directories and industry associations
Chamber of commerce lists
Bilateral chambers of commerce (e.g., British Chamber of Commerce in Germany) list member companies
Trade show exhibitor lists
International trade shows publish exhibitor lists, often as PDFs or HTML pages
Government trade databases
Export/import records, business registrations (see local equivalents of Companies House or Secretary of State)
Local LinkedIn
Use LinkedIn with location filters; note that LinkedIn penetration varies by country
Industry publications
Local trade magazines and websites list companies in specific sectors
Download exhibitor lists, directory pages and trade association member lists. Upload them to Email Extractor to extract email addresses from PDF, HTML, CSV and other formats. Review the source column in the CSV export to confirm which file each address came from.
Validating international email addresses
Challenge
Solution
Country-specific domains (.de, .fr, .jp)
Verify with a service that has good coverage of local mail servers
Local email providers
Some local providers have unusual MX configurations; verify before sending
Catch-all domains
Common in some markets; verify with caution
Character encoding in local parts
Some email systems support non-ASCII characters; most cold email tools do not
Measuring International Campaign Performance
Benchmarks vary by market
Metric
US/UK benchmark
Adjustment for other markets
Open rate
40-60% (cold B2B)
Lower in markets with lower English proficiency if sending in English
Reply rate
5-15% (cold B2B)
Higher in relationship-oriented markets if properly introduced; lower for cold
Bounce rate
Under 5%
May be higher with less-verified international lists
Unsubscribe rate
Under 2%
Higher in markets where cold email is less accepted
A/B testing across markets
Test separately in each market rather than applying global learnings:
Test variable
Why it varies by market
Subject line
Cultural references, humour and directness preferences differ
Email length
Some markets prefer longer, more context-rich emails
CTA type
"Book a call" works in the US; in Japan, "reply to discuss" may be better
Formality level
Even within a language, regional preferences vary
Follow-up cadence
Acceptable follow-up frequency varies significantly
Common Localisation Mistakes
Mistake
Consequence
Prevention
Translating idioms literally
Confusing or unintentionally funny email
Use native speakers for review
Ignoring local compliance
Legal penalties, blacklisting
Research each market's laws before sending
Same sending schedule globally
Emails arrive outside business hours
Schedule per timezone
Assuming English is fine
Low response rates, appears lazy
Translate for markets that prefer local language
US-centric cultural assumptions
References that do not resonate
Remove region-specific references
Ignoring name conventions
Addressing someone incorrectly
Research naming conventions (e.g., family name first in East Asia)
