Stephanie Benoit

Lessons learned while failing at localization

Breaking into new markets isn’t as simple as translating an email and hitting send.

I knew that. I really did.

But I also had a strategy that worked exceptionally well in the U.S.—one that drove engagement, reviews, and conversions. So, when we set out to break into the Brazilian market, we figured we had the right formula:

  • Email campaigns
  • Incentives
  • Review platforms

Six months later? Almost no engagement.

Here’s what I learned about localization the hard way—and how you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Lesson 1: Saying yes to everything is fun (but also risky)

What happened

A lot of my first year was spent managing off-page SEO—monitoring review sites, tracking competitors, and keeping an eye on affiliates. Brand policing was my world. Optimizing profiles and engaging with customers was interesting, but honestly? It sometimes felt like mopping the ocean.

And then—Brazil.

Why Brazil?

Brazil consistently ranked in our top five traffic sources, so it was already on my radar. At the same time, my former CMO was having conversations with the owner of B2B Stack (Brazil’s G2 equivalent), and suddenly, the opportunity was right in front of us.

In April 2024, we officially launched our mission to build social proof in Brazil.

The language barrier (Obrigada, takes a bow)

  • Now, I took two Portuguese classes in college. My proficiency stops at:
  • Ordering food
  • Asking for directions
  • Telling you how many siblings I have

And that’s about it.

So running a Portuguese-language marketing campaign? Yeah, a stretch.

Luckily, we had amazing allies—our CSM and our marketing ops lead were incredibly helpful. But this was never a top priority, which slowed progress.

The (overly) simple plan

Step 1: Run a review campaign on B2B Stack.
Step 2: Add on Product Hunt (a mistake).
Step 3: Email… everyone.

At first, I was going to send the campaign to my power users segment—but my boss suggested we only target Portuguese speakers. It made sense, so I went with it.

But here’s the kicker:

🚨 The email was in English. 

So let’s start with epic fail #1.

Why it didn’t work:

  • Mismatched platforms – B2B Stack and Product Hunt serve different audiences. Treating them the same was a rookie mistake.
  • Conflicting CTAs – The email had two different calls to action, confusing users.
  • Poor engagement – The cohort had 435 users, but the campaign resulted in just 2 completed reviews.
  • We tried again—this time, fully in Portuguese.
  • Click-through rate improved to 10%, but the review completion rate was still dismal at 0.5%

Clearly, something bigger was at play.

Lesson 2: Optimizing the page first (Because email alone wasn’t the problem)

What happened next

After the first campaign flopped, I sat down with our CSM to figure out what went wrong. The consensus? The email wasn’t the only problem.

If we wanted better results, we needed to think beyond the inbox—so we shifted our focus to the review page itself.

  • The plan was simple:
  • Make sure the landing page actually made sense for Brazilian users.
  • Fine-tune SEO—so that when people searched in Portuguese, we’d actually show up.
  • Set benchmarks to track whether our changes were making a difference.

It sounded like the right approach. But in hindsight? We weren’t looking at the big picture.

The problem: Optimizing in a vacuum

We translated the page. Great.
We adjusted the search terms. Smart.
We set KPIs. Necessary.

But we never actually asked, “What happens after someone clicks through?”

We looked at the landing page, but not the full experience of leaving a review.

  • We didn’t test how easy (or frustrating) it was.
  • We didn’t check if users had the context they needed.
  • We didn’t even confirm whether the site made it clear why reviews mattered.

We assumed that once people landed on the page, they’d just… do the thing.

Spoiler: They didn’t.

Side note: The language segmentation surprise

Around this time, I also looked deeper into how Pendo determines a user’s language.

Turns out, it’s not based on what language they actually prefer—it’s based on browser settings and how the website loads.

Why does this matter?

If you’re traveling and your browser switches to Portuguese, Pendo thinks you’re a Portuguese speaker.

Which means that some of the people we sent this campaign to… probably weren’t the right audience at all.

Key takeaway?
Language segmentation isn’t always accurate—so don’t rely on it blindly.

It didn’t tank our campaign, but it may have played a role in our low engagement.

Lesson 3: If the user journey isn’t working, Nothing else matters

At this point, we’d done everything we thought we were supposed to do.

  • The emails were in Portuguese.
  • The landing page had been translated and optimized.
  • The audience was better segmented.

So why were people still dropping off?

I needed to figure it out. So I did what any marketer should do before launching a campaign—I tested the process myself.

And that’s when everything clicked.

A broken review experience

From the moment I clicked the CTA, the problems were obvious.

  • The site was buggy. Forms didn’t always load properly, and clicking through felt clunky.
  • There were too many steps. Every additional click was an opportunity for someone to drop off.
  • No progress indicators. I had no idea how long the process would take, which made it feel endless.

It wasn’t JUST the emails. It wasn’t JUST the landing page.

The review process itself was a conversion killer

Why this was a dealbreaker

The entire campaign hinged on user action. The goal wasn’t just to get clicks—it was to get people to complete reviews.

But the reality was:

  • A frustrating UX kills conversions. If something feels like a hassle, people just won’t do it.
  • No momentum = high drop-off rates. Progress bars, step indicators—these small details make a huge difference.
  • Cold leads aren’t going to chase us down. The review site only had a generic form, and all the buttons (except two) pulled up that form, getting us leads, but they were nowhere near ready to buy.

At this point, no amount of email optimization was going to change the fact that people didn’t want to go through this process.

What actually works instead

So what should we have done?

  • Cut unnecessary steps. The fewer clicks, the better.
  • Make the process feel rewarding. A progress bar, a “You’re 80% there!” message—anything to reduce friction.
  • Send reminder nudges. A simple, automated follow-up:
  • “You started your review—finish it in just 2 minutes!”
  • Rethink the flow. Instead of dropping users into a cold, impersonal form, we could have guided them through a more engaging journey.

The hardest lesson

I spent six months trying to crack this.

By the time we finally understood what was happening… well…

But this was one of the biggest takeaways I’ve ever had:

If the experience is broken, the campaign will fail. No matter how good the strategy is.

So who’s actually getting localization right?

So, we learned that expanding into new markets isn’t just about swapping languages.

I like to think of it like traveling to a new country.

The first time I went to Italy, my vocabulary was… limited.

I knew:

  • Parle inglese? (Do you speak English?)
  •  Ciao. (Hi/Bye.)
  • Arrivederci. (Goodbye.)
  • Salve! (A very polite hello.)

Oh, and of course, I knew per favore, grazie, and di niente.

And trust me—I was Grazie-ing people to death.

  • But now? I can confidently say things like:
  •  “Sì, è alla prossima fermata.” (Yes, it’s at the next stop.)
  • “Mmm… voglio una aranciata e patatine, per favore.” (Mmm… I’d like an orange soda and fries, please.)
  • “Posso accarezzare il tuo cane, per favore?” (Can I pet your dog, please?)

(You know, the essentials.)

The point is: you pick up the language and cultural nuances over time.

It’s not just about knowing the words, it’s about understanding how people interact, what’s normal, and what actually makes sense in context.

And that’s exactly what brands need to get right when expanding into new markets.

Localization isn’t just about translating words, it’s about adapting messaging, embracing cultural nuance, and making people feel like you get them.

Some brands have nailed this.

Here are three companies doing localization right, and what you can steal from their playbooks.

Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign and personalized localization

Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign is a masterclass in hyper-localized marketing. It wasn’t just about printing names on bottles—it was about making sure those names resonated in every market.

  • In Australia, Coke swapped its logo for popular first names like Emily and Jake—making the product feel personal and shareable.
  • In China, where individualism isn’t emphasized the same way, they went with titles like Classmate and Best Friend instead of first names.

Why it worked:

  • They didn’t assume what worked in one country would work everywhere.
  • They adapted the campaign’s messaging to fit local culture.
  • They made it fun, interactive, and shareable—driving organic engagement.

Localization Takeaway: Don’t just translate—adapt. What’s meaningful in one country might not hit the same somewhere else.

Netflix: Winning with region-specific content

Netflix understands content localization isn’t just about subtitles—it’s about creating content people actually want to watch in their own language.

A great example? Sacred Games.

  • Set in Mumbai, this Indian Netflix original wasn’t just “Bollywood for Netflix.” It was a gritty, well-researched, high-quality production that felt like it was made for Indian audiences—because it was.
  • Netflix didn’t just dub Western content—they invested in local creators, writers, and actors to make authentic content from the ground up.

Why it worked:

  • They prioritized culturally relevant stories instead of just translating American content.
  • They let regional creators take the lead.
  • They tailored their marketing—ads for Indian users weren’t the same as those for U.S. viewers.

Localization Takeaway: People don’t just want translated content—they want content that speaks to them. If you want engagement, create for the culture, not just in the language.

Nintendo: When in doubt, adapt the experience

Nintendo is one of the best in the game when it comes to localization—literally.

  • In Animal Crossing, Japanese holidays like Setsubun (bean-throwing festival) are adapted to Groundhog Day in North America.
  • Food items, clothing, and even character dialogue get tweaked to better fit each region’s cultural norms.
  • In The Legend of Zelda, some jokes and idioms are completely rewritten to make sense to Western players—because a direct translation wouldn’t land.

Why it worked:

  • They adapt beyond just language—gameplay and cultural references change too.
  • They think about the entire user experience, not just the words.
  • They ensure local audiences get the same level of enjoyment as the original market.

Localization Takeaway: Go beyond language. The way people experience your product matters just as much as what you’re saying.

How to get localization right (and not fall on your face like I did)

Want to actually succeed in a new market? Borrow these winning strategies from brands that nailed localization:

Hire Local Experts: Get native speakers and cultural insiders involved early.
Adapt, Don’t Just Translate: Customize messaging, visuals, channels, approaches, and even product features to fit local norms.
Test, Test, Test: Before launching, have actual users from the target country review your content, UX, and experience.
Use Full Locale Targeting: Instead of just picking a language, specify country + language (e.g., fr-FR vs. fr-CA for French in France vs. Canada).
Watch for Technical Pitfalls: Language segmentation is messy—make sure you’re actually reaching the right audience.

Localization is a chess, not checkers

Expanding into a new market isn’t as simple as translating a few emails and hoping for the best. The companies that win internationally do more than just speak the language—they become part of the culture.

So before you hit send on that next “localized” campaign, ask yourself:

 Does this feel like it was made for this audience?

If the answer is no, it’s time to rethink your approach.

Good luck!