How do you think, would you buy goods when you don’t know the price? Or if you see the price, but don’t know the currency? Or if you don’t know nothing about the product? Probably, you won’t buy a pig in a poke.
In case of international commerce customers should understand what you offer them. And you need to know how to stimulate your foreign customers to make a purchase. English is a modern lingua franca, but not the universal method to do an international business on the new markets. Much more profitable is to adapt your store to the habits and conditions of market.
If you plan to expand your store into new regions, localization is what you need to do it well. It’s not just a translation, but the compound strategy of adaptation of business to new conditions. Here are the tips to take into consideration to improve your localization strategy.
Localization strategy: what is it?
What makes localization different from translation? Localization considers particular qualities of the region or country and makes products and services not just understandable, but appealing for locals.
Localization strategy is a plan how you will adapt the content of your site for the new market. It consists of content strategy, social media marketing, price policy, search optimization marketing, etc. Valid localization strategy contains as much points as it could have.
Is it important to have a localization strategy?
CEOs of big corporations say that one of their priorities is to expand into new locales and regions.
Without the strategy of localization every company risks losing:
- time;
- money;
- chance to enter a new market effectively.
Understand that the role of localization strategy is to provide a great customer experience. Your foreign clients should make themselves at home with your service. It’s almost impossible without a good localization.
How to improve your localization strategy?
Research is the first of all
Don’t dare to enter the market without the research! Is your store relevant for this country? What are the competitors and what’s about their positioning there? What is the best way to sell your goods?
Every market has got its own specificity, ways of thought and customer behavior. If you want to succeed, you need to find out how your competitors behave and rethink their strategy to improve our own.
Check the competitors websites, local media resources, social networks and product reviews. You need to get as much data as you can and then analyze it to create your strategy.
Localization is not the translation
The translation of your website is just a start of the localization. Average website content consists of text and images, diagrams and graphics, messages and products, user agreement and privacy policy. It’s long and hard work to translate whole this content. But is it enough to be effective?
After the translation all the content should be adapted for the special region. One word can have different meaning in several countries. Some peaceful images can be offensive in different cultures and confessions. Likewise, you should adapt the agreements and policies for the local law system for not being fined. Also remember that the products can be not relevant in some countries, thus, you need to replace or upgrade them.
Professional text translation, message and image match, demand for goods and regulatory compliance are making the development of the localization strategy so complicated.
It can be easier to create your strategy with LangShop: translate the text and edit the content translation of your Shopify store. Dynamic content and currency translation is provided. 14-days trial version is free, so don’t lose a chance to check all the features.
Work with the locals
In your home office all or almost all staff speaks one language and it’s easy to work in these conditions. You can even use slang or local jokes in communication with your native customers. But how to create such kind of communication in the country which is absolutely unfamiliar country?
In this case you should hire some local experts. If it’s possible, of course. Try to find local marketologist or manager, who can provide accurate translation and make the messages of your store comprehensible in this country.
For example, in India there are 21 official languages and more than 6 religions. The population of this country is 1,35 billion people. It’s a huge market, but it’s too difficult to enter it without knowing local habits and traditions. The local expert will help you to understand the needs of customers and the way of thinking in different states of India.
LangShop can help you to get the best result with the option of Professional translation. It’s a translation made by the qualified interpreter. Professional translation provides the best customer experience which is important for success of your localization strategy.
Explore, expand, earn
Use these 3 tips to make your localization strategy better and increase the income of your store. Always do the research before the expansion, do more than the translation of content and work with the local specialists. And visit LangShop to get more information about the development of your store.
