5 Tips for Successful Localization

Localization is essential for a successful global market expansion. Without an appropriate localization strategy in place, businesses are likely to miss out on a large market of potential customers who prefer a user experience adapted to their language, customs, preferences, and habits. In fact, studies have shown that up to 60% of global customers rarely or never purchase from English-only websites. 

Localization is the process of adapting your products or services to meet the linguistic and cultural needs of the target market you’re trying to enter, ensuring that customers get an experience tailored to their needs and wants. 

When done right, localization can give businesses a significant edge over their competitors and enable them to expand their global reach successfully.

Translation vs. localization

First things first, you’ll need to understand the difference between translation and localization. Although they are often confused, localization and translation are two distinct processes. 

Translation is the process of rendering a message from one language into another. To expedite this process, it’s not uncommon for translators and businesses to use translation software. The best translation software has features like a translation memory, translation glossary, quality assurance features, etc., that enable them to improve the speed and quality of the translation.

Localization, on the other hand, is the process of adapting a message to the local context of the recipient. And while translation is a major part of it, localization takes the cultural and linguistic nuances of a specific region into account. It requires an understanding of local cultures and customs in order to provide a product or service that feels native to the target audience.

For a successful localization, translators must take into account factors such as regional dialects, idiomatic expressions, preference for colors and imagery, payment methods, currency conversions, plus any legal requirements like consumer protection laws.

So localization is a more complex and time-consuming process than a simple translation. However, when done properly, it can ensure that businesses can reach foreign markets with products or services tailored to their specific needs and preferences.

Prepare your localization strategy

The first step you need to take for successful localization is to research your target audience. As mentioned previously, localization is not just about translating words; it’s about providing potential customers with a familiar experience. Localization takes into account the cultural, demographic, and market nuances of the intended audience. 

This includes etiquette, slang, humor, currency formatting, and other elements that create relevance and trust. To ensure that your product and services resonate with your target audience, it’s important to conduct research and address these issues right from the start. 

Assemble the Team

Building a successful localization team requires not only technical expertise but also diverse skills from various professionals. A project management expert is necessary to ensure organized and coordinated efforts in a timely manner, while programmers will ensure that the technical aspect is in order. Designers have an important role as they are responsible for ensuring a great user experience, while marketers can provide input on how best to promote the product or service. 

Of course, translators are essential in crafting precise translations of all content that needs localization. Finally, a localization manager helps to keep everyone focused and on track while managing any unexpected issues along the way.

Localize the Content of Your Website

Localization is about delivering a fully native experience to prospects, and that’s why you should leave no stone unturned. While this might burden your budget, it should be on the cards if you want to conquer international markets the right way.

Localizing your website content, including images and videos, will help you deliver your brand’s message much more effectively. Think about those individuals that need guides and tutorials to properly use your products and services, those content pieces have to be high quality and informative, with not a single piece of information slipping through the cracks of the language barrier. 

In addition, remember that no one wants to browse for products or services and pull up the exchange rate list at the same time. Give shoppers the perfect shopping experience by providing all pricing in their native currency.

Test the Waters

You might feel tempted to go all out and conquer the whole world. However, to test the effectiveness of your localization strategy, start by analyzing markets that are similar to your current one. 

Take notice of these new visitors’ behavior, how much time they spend on your website, and which pages they viewed to gather valuable insights into international expansion opportunities. 

Engagement is another crucial factor. Suppose you are receiving a lot of traffic, but no one is interacting with the features you have used on your site, such as your incentives or email-opt-in forms. This might indicate that the prospects you are targeting are not responding well to the experience you’re currently providing. But since you take your time and are very cautious with your entire localization strategy, you have the ability to quickly make necessary adjustments and improve your localization efforts.

Revamp your SEO

When you want to target audiences from different regions, you must adopt different SEO tactics than the usual local SEO. Here are a few tips that you can use to boost your SEO in the market you are focusing on:

• Keyword research. Some of the keywords you target might be effective only in your local region, as in, individuals in that particular market search for them. You can’t expect those same keywords to perform as well in international markets. This is why you need to complete keyword research tailored to the market you are currently targeting.
• Using “hreflang” meta tags. This will allow search engines such as Google to recognize the exact language used on your site. Let’s say that your prospects click your site on Google, the search engine will redirect them to a tailored site specific to their geographical location and language. This is of utmost importance as more than 50% of Google searches are in a language other than English.

Make the most of localization

Localization should never take the backseat when you are trying to expand your business internationally, it is an essential part of the process. Companies must consider how their product or service will fit into new markets, countries, and cultures. Even subtle changes can make a world of difference in terms of success.