By Carina Cesano
If you’re planning to take your business global, website localization is essential for your success. Going global means learning to adapt to local markets, and you’ll need to create localized versions of your website for each new market you’re planning to conquer.
Whether you already sell abroad with your English website or you’re still wondering how to attract the public to your business, you can start addressing local audiences in their native languages.
Here are five reasons why you should hire website localization services when building your marketing strategy.
1. “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy”:
A study by Common Sense Advisory revealed an important fact for companies willing to sell outside national borders: 75 percent of global clients coming from Europe, Asia and South America prefer to buy from websites in their native languages. And 60 percent of them would never buy from English-only websites.
If you want to sell, you must connect with people using their local language. This requires way more than a word-to-word translation of your English content.
Website localization means adapting your website to overcome cultural and language barriers. Colors, visuals, layout, units of measurement, currencies, icons, calls to action – everything must be customized to meet your clients’ expectations.
Ignoring these details means providing an incomplete user experience for your audience. This will increase your bounce rate – which isn’t only bad for your business, but bad for SEO as well.
And this is just one of the negative effects that bad translation of your website has on your target public.
2. People Trust Information in Their Native Languages:
56 percent of internet users think having information about products in native languages is more important than price. Furthermore, in Europe, 42 percent of customers won’t even consider buying a product from a website that doesn’t provide information in their native language. And as many as 95 percents of Chinese internet users don’t buy from websites in foreign languages!
People gather information about products before making a purchasing decision. Peer reviews, forums, websites, and word of mouth are important sources for internet users.
If you can’t tell people about your products, you risk losing their business. Speaking a language they understand and using the words they would use can make the difference for your business.
By localizing your website and your marketing strategy, you gain trust. This is the only way to boost your sales and grow your business in the long run.
3. You Risk Losing Market Share Against Competitors:
The localization industry has been growing, with more companies willing to provide customized content for their local audiences. It’s time to check your competitors to see how many of them have already started localizing their websites.
If you find competitors’ websites in foreign languages, then you’re already starting with a disadvantage, but you can’t afford to lose more ground.
Website localization can put you on a par with, or even ahead of your competitors–either way, you win!
4. Website Localization Has a Good ROI:
Most companies that have localized their website and ads have registered increased conversion rates – from 20 to 70 percent higher. When done well, website localization can bring you significant benefits, which include higher sales and consistent growth in local markets.
Yet, you need to make sure you do the math before starting your localization project. Choose those markets where you have higher chances of selling your products. Do some research to learn more about:
- Number of internet users in each country you’re aiming to conquer
- Online buying habits
- Local laws and regulations regarding online publicity, payments, shipping, and storage of personal data
- Potential competitors – local and international
- Local Google Trends that can tell you what keywords people use to look for products like yours online
This data can help you to calculate localization costs and to estimate revenues. Which can give you a better idea of the efficiency of your expansion, depending on what countries you localize for.
If you manage to keep costs low, you can boost localization ROI and get new funds to expand into more countries.
5. You Miss Growth Opportunities:
Only a quarter of all internet users speak English. An English-only website cuts bridges between you and the rest of these users. These are people who could have an interest in your products, but who can’t find relevant information about your business.
Website localization puts you in front of a wider audience. You get to grow brand awareness and improve your image globally. Ignoring it means missing a wide range of business opportunities.
Website localization allows you to keep growing your business in the long run, while staying local limits your possibility of growth. So, stop ignoring website localization and open up a new world of possibilities for your company.
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