What You Should Know About Website Localization

Although you don’t really hear the term “World Wide Web” much these days, there’s one word in that phrase that should really stick out: world. As in, not everyone who goes online is an American, or even an English speaker. It can be easy sometimes to forget that.

The problem is, if you own or are working for a company that does business online and you expect to snag customers from outside of the USA and Canada, it just may be a good idea to look into localization. Let’s take a look at how localization helps companies reach out to not only a wider audience, but a more receptive one.

Localization can put the whole world in your hands.

Localization Defined

Localization is defined as the process of adjusting the functional properties and characteristics of a product or service to accommodate the particular culture, language, politics, or social norms of a foreign market or country. In this particular case, it’s applying to websites.

The Language Barrier

The whole purpose of website localization is for a business to better sell itself to foreign markets by literally and figuratively speaking to them in their language. The article “Website Localization Key to Improving Customer Experience” cites a Common Sense Advisory poll that surveyed ten countries and found not only a strong bias in favor of localized sites, but also an actual avoiding of English-language sites if English wasn’t their first language.

If you pause and consider that for a moment, shouldn’t that finding be screamingly obvious? What amazing revelation did the next poll reveal? That the majority of people feel that pain hurts? This just in: water is wet.

If you’re an American, think back to any experiences you’ve had with foreign websites that try to communicate in English and sell you something. More often than not, they become a source of hilarity and “let’s repost this funny thing on Facebook” fodder. It’s hard to take them seriously, let alone consider them as a viable source for goods and services.

That sword cuts both ways, folks.

When In Rome …

Okay, so the point’s been made that companies trying to tap into an overseas market need to localize their websites. Exactly how is this done? Localizing your brand is called transcreation, and it’s more than just making sure that your text is in the native language of your target market.

With transcreation, you change not only the language, but the entire approach, taking into consideration cultural differences (and taboos), idioms, symbols, everything that makes one nation different from another.

This also involves making sure that the pricing is set up in the correct local currency, units of measurement are compatible (grams versus ounces?), and things like the local calendar is taken into account.

Who Does Localization?

While it’s certainly possible to accomplish transcreation in-house, it requires an outlay of time and the proper personnel knowledgeable in the language, customs, and local social mores of the target market.

On the other hand, there are services out there that can handle exactly this sort of task, thereby sparing companies the hassle of attempting it themselves.

It’s An Investment

If oversea sales aren’t your target market, then none of this matters. But if you want to make inroads into the international market and be taken seriously by foreign customers, you need to deal with them on their terms. Think of it as just another form of customer service that’s geared towards fostering sales and continued loyalty. It’s not an expense; it’s an investment.

If you still need convincing, check out “Multilingual Technical Content Increases SEO And IT Sales”. It’s a big world out there, and you can get your share of that market through localization and transcreation.