According to National Geographic, in the mid-1900s, 9% of the world spoke English as their first language and by 2050 projections say that number will DECLINE to approximately 5%. So why ignore 90% of your audience with your website content only in English?  Website translations will be your most rewarding investment.  

7 Tips for Successful Website Translations That Attract Customers

 We understand that your marketing and selling prospects probably do not include the entire world. However, we do understand that if you sell or promote using the internet, an audience who doesn’t understand your message won’t even consider buying from you. A report from AdWeek revealed that one of the most common habits among online shoppers is research. Here are a few tips to capitalize on this habit –

 “How do I get them to research MY website?”

#1 Make Your Website Searchable.

While that might sound obvious, consider the extended actions before throwing around terms like “SEO” and “Meta-tags”. If a significant portion of your target audience is among the Spanish-speaking community for example, professional website translation of the product descriptions and other promotional copy is critical to communicating with your shopper. But before the shopper arrives, they search. And although your North-American-English-speaking customer may be searching for a “color laser printer”, your Puerto Rican customer is searching for the same product as “Impresora Laser a Color”. Unless the website developer’s code and page tags includes that translation, your website may very well be overlooked and potentially miss a customer. In many cases, online sales can be boosted through a partial translation and localization of the site or by a fully multilingual website.

#2 Facilitate Product Comparison

Side by side comparisons are very helpful for shoppers in order to consider features, options and manufacturers. Because product names and descriptions can become lengthy, shortened language and abbreviations are often used. Accurate and culturally relevant translation (aka “localization”) will help your shoppers in other languages to understand and use your website, encouraging them to return, buy and recommend your website.

#3 Enable Pricing Comparison

Making the shopping process easy through currency is an obvious step toward a culturally friendly website. Whether by use of a conversion chart, or fully localized website, taking the time to look at your website from your customer’s perspective can help garner more web hits, views and (most important) purchases.

# 4 Help your Customer

Sizes, measurements units, color names, even the way you make phone calls internationally- vary from country to country and language to language. To help your customers understand this crucial content and ease them into the purchase, you must localize your website and all elements of the web content so that it is easily understood by your target audience. For instance, if you’re selling clothing, there are different measurements of sizes in UK, USA, and Spain as shown below:

Spain          UK          USA

32                  4             0

34                  6             2

36                  8             4

38                 10            6

40                 12            8

42                 14           10

44                 16           12

46                 18           14

Shoe sizes are tricky too, as there’s no international standard and conversions are even less precise than for clothing. This means you’ll need to place emphasis on deciding how to best convert such measures properly in order to help out your customers. 

#5 Include Customer & User Reviews

A staggering number of potential buyers site “fear of going through the returns” process as a reason NOT to buy online. If you have current customer testimonials, you’ve got a pot-of-gold already hiding in your records. By using these as part of your website translation scope, shoppers find what they’re looking for while alleviating their fear of buying. Through your use of testimonials as part of your professional website translation, shoppers read what other buyers have to say about your products and services. This enhances the shopper’s confidence as well as their expectation of a good experience while they convert themselves to a buyer. User generated content needs to be translated as it was written.

#6 Provide Shipping Options
The rise of global e-commerce has led to massive increases in cross-border orders that must be fulfilled to satisfy international customers.  Careful assessment of your order fulfillment system must therefore be a part of your to-do list during the website translation process.  Part of this assessment includes researching possible shipping options to offer customers in different global markets.  Factors related to customs clearance and handling of return shipments differ for each global region and must be considered among other factors when devising effective shipping methods for each target market. 

Other crucial tasks in this process include planning for translation and localization of shipping forms as well as text messages regarding product delivery status. 

#7 Customer Service in their Language

This trend or feature in your multilingual site is sometimes overlooked, but it is still extremely important to consider in your website translation process. It is a great addition to have a customer services number or a chat that can serve your customers in their language. These options might not be one of your first services when going global, but they will add great value to your site and to the international image of your brand. 

Use Experienced Professionals

At Eging Translation Services, every multilingual translation specialist is a native speaker who can guarantee you precise, culturally accurate and professional relevant translation services. We can help translate your website into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese Russian and Spanish, for multiple uses and budgets and our experience is sure to make your website connect with your audience worldwide.