MAC Cosmetics is a global makeup brand owned by Estée Lauder Companies. It is known as an innovative and inclusive brand with products representing all ages, races, and genders.

Globally, the brand has over 10,000 customer sales representatives, or artists as they are called at MAC. The customer experience is particularly important to the brand because the customer group is inclusive, yet MAC wants each customer to feel welcome and understood when shopping at MAC.

The focus on representation, along with a wide array of products, evergreen items, and new launches, places a heavy demand on continuous training and upskilling for employees, which is why the company developed an eLearning app.

We spoke with Sophie Cash, Digital Education Manager at MAC for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India, about the decision to place translation for the eLearning app with LanguageWire and the significance of translating and localizing content for training purposes.

The challenge

Initially the participation and engagement rates on MAC’s eLearning app were unsatisfactory with completions rates as low as 20%.

Previously Sophie and her team used to do the translations themselves. This meant that content in the different languages ended up varying to a degree where the learning experience and outcome was inconsistent.

Additionally, the team spent way too much time and resources on the translations instead of on their core competencies.

The solution

The process of approving the translations is seamless, says Sophie, particularly due to the use of SmartEditor, which is quite unique. When the texts have been approved, Sophie and her team get the files back in a SCORM package that they can upload directly to their LMS and publish.

Sophie says she has gone from spending a majority of her time doing translation related work before using the services of LanguageWire to now only spending a small fraction of her time managing translated content. The same holds true for her team of trainers that have freed up around a quarter of their time. Sophie also praises LanguageWire on doing an excellent job of taking any questions about the content directly with the team that develops the material, so Sophie doesn’t have to spend time acting middleman the way she used to when they were translating everything in-house.

Also the in-house competencies didn’t cover as many languages as needed, which meant that employees in certain regions weren’t being upskilled sufficiently.

The results

Drastically improved completion rates for online training mean upskilling employees across all regions to the same level.

Translating the content is not only saving Sophie and her team valuable time and resources, but it has also made a significant difference for many employees at MAC.

With the help of LanguageWire, MAC Cosmetics now translates their eLearning content into 15 different languages. Research shows that learning new skills in your native language helps you retain them far better than learning in a second language, and all videos in the MAC eLearning app now offer subtitles in the available languages.

The results of translating and localizing the learning content have been nothing short of remarkable. Employee engagement was not meeting Regional and Global Targets for online courses. However, today almost all employees are engaged with the app and completing modules, with many markets consistently achieving over 80% completion.

The improved upskilling of employees means that all MAC Cosmetics artists now have easy access to the training they need to provide premium customer service across regions and markets.

Translation and localization are now part of the DNA at MAC Cosmetics.