Dont get lost in translation, Localization is the key to E-commerce success

Localization is adapting a product or content according to the values norms and culture of the society. It is an era of digitalization. In the language of E-commerce, localization is translating your website in customer’s native language. Main objective and goal of localization is to make trustworthy relationship between website and consumers so that they can easily make purchases from website resulting in profit.

The common fault with localized website is translating the web content to another version of pages in the original language. If translation is not in cultural context of the society than there is no use of it.Research by IDC revealed, web browsers purchase four times more from the companies who communicate in their own language furthermore browsers stay for a long time on the website if site is available in their native language by Forrester Research.

Cultural relevance in context

Thorough research is needed to expand business operations in global market. Localizing the website will determine how you achieve your business objectives. Consumer behavior of the target audience need to be understood by the help of local agencies. Furthermore it should be analyzed that your product is according to core cultural values of the target market. Every country has different customs and practices which need to be understood. For example if we talk about US and Poland. The style of doing business in US is more relaxed and outgoing as compare to Poland where method of doing business is more formal that is why many US companies find it difficult to enter Poland market where method of doing business is more formal. If we talk about Japanese culture we will found that Japanese are very strict in following business protocol. Italian people are very

Spontaneous so if Italian people want to do business in japan, they would need to know nuance of differences in culture. One of the most important aspect of Japanese culture is that sarcasm doesn’t exist if your content has sarcasm than your Japanese clients won’t understand. To understand the nuance of different cultures and the tact’s of doing business local consultants are needed to be hired who will make sure that your message is heard and well understood by local potential customers.

Knowing the values and goals of the Company

Successful communication between different cultures are very cumbersome task. If the company and a person shows up with all the details of what they are all about. If you want linguist to convey your text properly. You need to provide detail description of your business and how your customers will profit from your businese. You need to give style guide to linguist in order for a linguist to convey your message properly. Steps which need to be include in Style guide are

1. Business Description both for company employees andlinguists.
2. General language guideline for company employees such as marketing copy for your website, email marketing copy, notifications, and legal documents in order to have future content consistent with existing copy.
3. Style and tone of voice should be looked upon.
4. Need to use numerals for example how to use currencies, what punctuation rules to make use of it.These small things have great impact on overall image of businese.
5. Restrictions which need to be considered in language according to cultural norms

Legal Considerations

Each country has its own rules and regulations regarding cyber-crime, consumer behavior, customer support and taxes. Your documents translation should abide local laws. If you want to operate legally in foreign market than you need to hire a local legal specialist. Their assistance is expensive but it will safe you from paying more for infringement of local laws. Let’s assume if you are doing business across Europe and you are targeting three main countries that are Switzerland, Germany and Austria. You are not only required to translate your documents only. Different rules and regulations are followed in these countries for example refund for products on the internet so you are required to get translate your web pages and ensure that refund window for each country needs to be correct. Next step is you need to find out how to be accessible in these countries.

Functional and Cultural Aspects

Functional and cultural aspects of the society needs to be considered to have error free native translation and to meet the requirements of target audience. Functional content is logical base and it is easy to rectify. For example date and time, direction of the text (left to right or right to left), weights, measurements and currencies. Cultural aspect of translation is very difficult to examine and literal translation will lead to confusion fragile operation. For successful translation of content into native language, culture specificity needs to be considered. This will further remove any offense related to graphics colors, images, values and traditions so it is understood that for marketing the product in foreign market translation only can’t work, localization is also required to get your marketing message understood by foreign masses.

Localization Success and business Success

The great effort is done by Coca-Cola in translating its marketing content and localizing it. In 2011 and 2012 When Australian were running a campaign named share a coke. This campaign went global and 150 renowned Australian names were changed for Denmark, Norway, and the UK.This made Coke realized that localization if done properly is above simply changing names. In China the huge volume of first names made it incredible to use and coke bottles portrayed nicknames of classmates and close friends with courtesy from Chinese social media. This campaign got hit in China’s Youth market and led to enormous sales in the region.

Think globally and speak locally

It is an era of globalization. Globalization will lead your businesses to reach new markets and across borders to enhance revenue opportunities. For growth strategy of your business, translation of the content according to culture of the target audience is very important. Investment in localization will will pave way for future profit. It will help you reach your target audience with the right message with local touch beyond geographic barriers.