Last updated on June 22nd, 2020 at 05:14 pm

The E-Commerce Experience

Do you shop online? Probably. So do your clients, and the rest of the world. Do you know all the possibilities of taking your e-commerce business multilingual? Start reviewing options of translation services for your multilingual e-commerce.

Think about each aspect of the customer experience. In addition to your website, do you have a storefront where people window-shop or come in to shop? For your website, what keywords do people use to search and find you? Where do they go online and in person to look for your products and services? What logo do they see? What tagline are you using? Are they appropriate for the new languages? When you start unpacking all that needs to be done for an e-commerce website translation, then add the fact that you may know little of the culture(s) linked to that language, the situation looks intimidating. That’s why you need a professional and experienced translation company at your side. We’d like to share some trade secrets with you today.

How Much Content Do I Need to Translate?

Translation for an e-commerce website means translating the entire client experience, from the moment they find that you exist to after the sale, and the one after that, and after that. Product descriptions, chatbots, video ads, reviews, confirmation emails, sales emails, and much more content needs to be translated and localized.

There’s more that goes into a quality translation job than converting one language to another. Language is inextricably bound up in human culture, which influences our beliefs, taboos, likes, and dislikes. Proper localization, which is the process of adapting a message to the dialect, locale, and culture of the intended audience, is necessary for an e-commerce translation to be complete and for it to work at its best.

Why to Go Multilingual Online?

Online space is growing exponentially and shows no sign of stopping. According to recent data from eMarketer, global e-commerce has grown by over 270% since 2014. China’s online presence is projected to grow by 70% by 2023, and the United States by 45%. Statista reports that in 2019, global e-commerce produced 3.53 trillion U.S. dollars. That’s 384 trillion Japanese yen, 3.16 trillion euros, and 4.8 trillion Canadian dollars.

Most people using the Internet today speak a language other than English as their first language. But most of the Internet content is in English, so the opportunities for e-commerce business owners in the multilingual world are vast and you can rank faster in other languages that in English since the space has less competition.

Add to Cart for Translation Services

When you visit an e-commerce website that has similar products to others, what makes you buy from them instead of someone else? Consider the following influences on the world’s online buying choices.

Local Reviews

If you have your e-commerce site translated into Hindi, a positive review in Hindi or from a place where Hindi is spoken sends a message of legitimacy.

Currency

Even if you have an accurate currency converter, it is more attractive and direct to shoppers to immediately see prices in the currency they use.

Measurements

Most of the world uses the metric system, most English-speaking countries use a mix of both, and the United States mostly uses the imperial system. You should use the measurements that your buyers use and understand making interaction with your content easy and clear. A good rule of thumb is to present measurements in both systems. It is not only measurement but temperatures, formats for dates, formats for addresses and zip codes, name of postal services, among others, many elements have to be considered, and especially the use of vocabulary and names of your new audience in their language.

Localization Checklist for E-Commerce Websites

We mentioned that the entire customer experience must be taken into account when translating an e-commerce website. Here are a few things you need translated:

Web Page Content

If your website doesn’t read clearly, that makes you look less professional and like you didn’t put in enough effort. Translation for the marketing of your product and services needs to be done by professional translators who are native speakers of the language and with knowledge on the subject matter. Some content is medical, some content is technical and others are legal or financial, or HR related so each industry needs its vocabulary localized to the country or area where it is going to be used.

Social Media Content

Social media can be a goldmine if your content is well-tailored to your audience. Social media must be localized carefully to appear as if originally written by a native speaker of that language and member of that particular culture. Especially in this area, a mistranslation of the local language will be obvious to a native reader and damage your authenticity.

Video Content

You have a wide range of options when it comes to video translation for e-commerce. You can replace the spoken audio with a new multilingual voice-over, use multilingual subtitles, or even use both.

Create future videos with translation in mind by sending the script to be translated and localized before shooting. If you do not have the script, no problem, we can transcribe the script and generate the multilingual translations as the base for the video translation project.

Logos

If you’re marketing to China, red is a good color for your logo as it is culturally tied to good fortune. In South Africa, red is a sad color and would be a mistake. If you are translating your website into Arabic, the logo will need to change from the upper left to the upper right. Logos might need to be translated or not, changed or not; it is good to pay attention to all the details.

Slogans and taglines

Taglines are one of the most difficult elements to translate since usually they are catchy and use colloquialism or double meanings. This is an area for transcreation so it makes sense for the new audience that you are trying to attract.

Remember the famous “Got Milk?” campaign? The American Dairy Association tried that line in Spanish with a faulty translation that was closer to “Are you lactating?” Professional translation and localization for slogans can make you a legend instead of a joke. The most important part is to connect with your audience.

Legal Materials

It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to make your legal materials, including contracts, licenses, terms and conditions, privacy policy, and any other legal document or file available in the necessary languages.

International SEO – Keyword research in every language

Localize your keywords! For search engine optimization to work, you need to have the right keywords and phrases embedded in your e-commerce site’s content. Do not forget to do your keyword research homework to include the right keywords in the translated content.

Translating Toward Home

To successfully translate your e-commerce websites, we use only native speakers of each language, even the local dialects. Our language experts are deeply familiar with the desires and tastes of the intended market as well as being industry professionals. If you need a legal translation, the translator who works on your project will be a legal professional. If you need a marketing video translation, your translator will be able to account for words or phrases not found in other languages and make the audio fit the time allotted to it. Some languages just take longer to say than others.

Localizing for Maximum Return

The ROI on a well-done e-commerce translation and localization project is excellent. According to a recent report from the Aberdeen Group, localized content with a strong brand identity get a little over twice as much ROI as those who don’t. The client retention rate for localized brands is also about 46% higher.

E-Commerce translation and localization is something more than worth investing in. Call us today and let’s explore just how far you can go with translation services for multilingual e-commerce.