In the modern world, the Internet has become a household necessity, where even 90 year olds are using it like a pro. Which is why globalizing your business should be a high priority. However, e-commerce businesses must be precise with website globalization for it to be effective enough to generate much needed sales. Website globalization goes beyond simply translating your home page and directing traffic to the appropriate pages.
There is a lot more to website globalization than what most think. In order to make your website more international and create an unforgettable experience for your clients, there are a few things that you need to know. Every globalized website should pay attention to the following factors in order to enhance user experience.
1. Go Beyond The Façade
E-Commerce is an intense business where customers are constantly looking for the best deal or discount. But more importantly, customers are always on the look out for items that may be of interest to them. Sadly, customers can be restricted in their search because many websites are either completely in English, or only the home page of the website is available in their native languages.
If a customer cannot read the product pages in their own language, the chances of abandoning their shopping cart increase by 65% (according to Forrester Research). Globalizing just your home page is never enough; it is a façade that is shattered as soon as the client reaches the page he or she really needs. Translate all useful pages and never stop at what you might think will be just enough.
2. Don’t Just Translate, Localize
There are a lot of differences between simply translating your website and localizing your website. To localize your website, you have to go beyond words and think about the people in your target market. Research your target market, see what kind of things they prefer and then add that to your website. For example, use images of native people in your banners and product images rather than hiring people from your company’s base country. Seeing their own ethnicity and culture reflected in your website will also help your brand image.
3. Have Native Speakers Translate Your Website
There is no point in denying that a local knows more about his or her culture than any of your experienced staff. Having a native translator or group of translators working on your website translation will have a greater impact on your potential customers because the translators will know how your target audience speaks, interacts and what they prefer. Experienced and native website translation services will be better at connecting with your audience rather than someone who simply knows your targeted language.
4. Reduce Your Webpage Weight
Not every country is the same. Every country has their own style of website that may be very different from how things work in your country. They will have their own bandwidth and web page weights. If you really want to improve your website globalization experience, you may have to reconsider the weight of your website and web pages. Set a limit to your webpages in KBs in order to better adapt your website to the target market.
5. Be Culture Appropriate
For a better website globalization experience, a website needs to be culturally appropriate. Your website colors, characters and graphics need to be along the lines of what the locals expect. Remember cultural references, fads and all things in vogue when you are globalizing your website. Having a famous local face on your website banner will be a lot more accurate and successful than any other person.
6. Consider Time Zones And Dates
The overall look of your website matters a lot, so when you are looking at your web design, do not forget to consider time zones, date and time formats. In order to properly globalize, your website needs to follow local time zones, and time formats. It needs to generally “eat, sleep and breathe” like the locals do.
7. Culture Apt Content
The content (or lack of thereof) of your website matters a lot. For this, you will need to research your target market and see what your competitors are doing. Every region has its own preferences; some like more content while some are more partial to images and graphics. For example, the South American region market prefers a mixture of content and graphics, whereas the Middle East prefers more text than images. Keep this in your mind when you are thinking about content and web design.
8. Ruminate Privacy Regulations
User privacy is very important and it may be subject to local regulations. If your website fails to follow local regulations, it will definitely damage your reputation and brand image. The EU has always had very strict requirements for user privacy and when you add local policies to the mix, you may have to work out some middle ground to make sure your website not only fits in with your targeted audience, but complies with the local law as well.
Globalizing your website is a time consuming task, but definitely one worth doing. Having a professional website translation service provider will give you an edge and help you with the complete process. It may seem difficult right now, but it will be a rewarding investment that has the potential to increase your sales, generate revenue and help create a brand rather than just another international company trying to make it big in a new region.
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