Businesses and professionals often fail to understand the need for professional translation services. Although translating marketing materials leads to extra expenses, it has the potential of improving business returns. This post will give you 3 reasons why you should translate your company website. More and more companies are now reaching foreign markets and communicating with a global audience. That is why they are finding it necessary to translate their website content, company documentation as well as their marketing materials. The outcome is that bigger budgets are getting allocated for translation services, which a good number of small to medium businesses generally lack or say they canāt afford.
Going Global
Companies trying to develop international presence or dealing with multinationals will benefit greatly from utilising website translation services. This approach should form their long-term business development and marketing strategies. The quest to maximise profits requires reaching for unseen markets. It is vital for any business to have an international customer base if targeting expansion and international trade participation.
What is Localisation
Localisation refers to modifying a product and making it both suitable and usable for a particular target market. As such, website localisation generally refers to moulding a western-oriented English website into one conforming to a foreign audience. The Internet is a medium by which businesses are capable of reaching an international audience. Companies now recognise that this process is vital for ensuring successful marketing campaigns abroad. There are at least three major gains thatĀ come along with website localisation – they are theĀ reasons why you should translate your company website.
- Speak the Language of your Customers
First, about one-third of web users are non-native speakers of English. PC ownership and internet access is increasing at very high rates outside Europe and North America. By breaking linguistic barriers, website localisation opens doors to different continents. The Harvard Business Review reports that 90 percent of internet users visited a native-language website, given the choice of languages. According to the survey, 72.1 percent of them acknowledged spending majority of their time on websites in their local language. Business enterprises now keenly acknowledge the presence of other languages and their influence on doing business, including Spanish , French, German, Arabic, and Chinese. It has led to more foreign-language pages being produced online than ever before.
- Gain Credibility and Trust for your Business
Next, localisation of websites also builds credibility for a company. A business which avails online information in different languages will possibly gain more credibility than an exclusively English-language website. Localising a website is evidence of being a genuinely international player. Localisation demonstrates that you understand and appreciate a particular region or country. The Harvard report stated that 56.2 percent of consumers said price played an inferior role compared to the opportunity of obtaining native-language content for a particular product.
- Boost your Sales and Revenue
Website localisation is also known to boost the revenue of businesses. A lot of money is lost by businesses in dollars, pounds and Euros owing to failure to localise information on their web pages. Harvard Business Review reported that 72.4 percent of consumers indicated they would more likely purchase a product that relayed information in their native language. Not only that, 42 percent of them claimed they did not purchase services or products in other languages.
Overall, a majority of web users feel more comfortable and understand a company much better when the information about their services or products is presented in their native language. So don’t think twice and start looking into localising your website content today. Translate your company website and see yourĀ visits and conversion grow, which will inevitably lead to higher sales for your business.
What about you? Have you ever experienced the fact that customers would buy from you more quickly if you had your content translated? Share your story in the comments below…