How to Use Localization for Global Ecommerce Brand Building?
Going global means that your target audience will speak more than just one language. Consequently, you'll need to adapt your e-commerce business. Did you know that: 80% of decision-makers in the marketing community of the US, the UK, France, and Germany state that localization is a must when entering new markets. Over 50% of Google searches are in a language that is not English. Around 72% of users will stay on the website longer if it is in their native language. 78% of online customers claim that it is more probable that they will make a purchase online if the store is localized. These statistics reveal how important localization is for growing your brand in the global market. The relevance of localization is indisputable but the process itself can still be complicated to some. For that reason, here are a few helpful tips that will give you some explanation of how to use localization for global brand building of your e-commerce business.
Explore the Target Audiences
Localization is a form of personalization. It adapts the content to the audience. As in any type of personalization, there is one key aspect – knowing your target audience. How can you localize if you don’t know who are you localizing for? Almost half of US marketers believe that the content they create should be more relevant and targeted localized content that will comply with the needs of different audiences, markets, and geographies. You don’t want to have these regrets and that is why you need to do the research. Assuming that you already know the markets you are targeting, you now need to discover the following: the languages which are used cultures that are present in those areas demographic of your target audience in those countries For example, if your e-commerce store is selling exercising equipment you need to do some research about the demographics of people who make the majority of buyers of exercising equipment in that country. Based on your findings you’ll know who you are targeting which will ease your branding efforts.
Work on Localizing the Shopping Experience
The best way to ensure a good reputation and spreading brand awareness is by providing customers with a seamless shopping experience. Your local customers might be satisfied with your services but now it is time to adapt to the global customers as well. This brings us to the localization of the shopping experience. To localize the online shopping on your website, you’ll need to handle several aspects of your business: Offer customers a choice to browse through the website in their native language (localize the website) Showcase products based on local preferences and trends (check out the difference of product recommendations on landing pages of Chinese Amazon, American Amazon, and German Amazon) Display pricing in local currencies Adapt paying methods to the target market Transparently show important information such as shipping costs, duties, estimated delivery date, and potential hold-ups (customs) The customer experience in their shopping journey is the way they will perceive your business and envision your brand.
Be Careful with Translation
Localization of your content and website won’t be complete without accurate translation. If you make rooky mistakes in the translation, all the changes and adaptations will fall in the shadow of poor translation. How you present the content will help you build a presentable image of your brand. You need to do more than just translate the content word for word. What you need is to consider the cultural context. “The mistakes that are most often seen in the translation are the misuse of idioms, phrases, and slogans. You must adapt every aspect of your content to the target language,” says Amanda Willis, a translator at TheWordPoint. The quality of translation and localization of content will affect your brand's reputation. If you consider the region's norms and context you will be able to fulfill their expectations.
Use Translation Plugins
Ease up the process of translation by using translation plugins. If your e-commerce website is hosted on platforms such as WordPress, Shopify, or BigCommerce, there is a variety of translation plugins that will help you with localization. Some of the best translation plugins that you can use are: Weglot (WordPress, Shopify, BigCommerce, and others) WPML (for WordPress) Polylang (for WordPress) LangShop (for Shopify) Langify (for Shopify) There are two ways of adding the plugin translation: Through native platform plugins – If your platform has one you can add it without coding. Just download it from the dashboard. Through JavaScript integration – When there isn’t a native plugin, you can add translation capabilities by copying and pasting a JavaScript snippet to the website.
Produce High-Quality Content
In case your e-commerce business offers blog content or some other type of additional written content such as to-do lists, pamphlets, tutorials, and others, you need to adapt that as well to your target audience. Instead of opting for quick translation, think about producing some new content that will be specifically targeted for a certain target audience. Additional content such as blog posts can play a huge part in building your global brand because it will make your e-commerce business more discoverable. To create targeted content it is best that you cooperate with local writers. You can find freelancers for short term projects on online marketplaces such as Upwork or Freelancer.
Localize Social Media
Social media can also help you with building a global brand. Social media networks can spread brand awareness, emphasize your brand's personality, help you create a relationship with users, and increase your sales rate. For social media localization, you can use existing features such as Facebook’s Global Pages or Instagram’s geotags that will attract the attention of the local audience. Another option is to create different social media accounts for different countries or languages. What will you choose depends on the regions on which you plan to spread. If there is a big cultural difference it is better to create different accounts. In any case, you need to respect the cultural norms of the region and adapt posts accordingly.
Some Final Thoughts
Branding demands devotion and dedication. Each of these steps shows you how localization can help you with establishing a global brand. What you probably already know is the key ingredient – persistence. Besides applying these methods you should also perform periodical analysis of your conversion rate, customer engagement, social media popularity, and so on. This will help you to keep track of your activities and make changes based on real results. Read the full article