The Benefit of Good Consumer and Retail Translation Services

If you want your business to be more focused towards an international client base, translating your retail site could be just what you need.

However, using an untrained translator or getting bad advice can mean you will not achieve your plans of being able to connect with them.

Online retail has its own rules and quirks and to produce a good translation, the translator you hire must understand them and take them into consideration.

Online codes of retail

Online retail differs in many ways from its more traditional cousin, the old-fashioned storefront.

The customer processes are clearly not the same and the reasons providing them to make purchases are not the same either.

Presentation of a product in a traditional shop, its packaging and availability, as well the attitude and efficiency of the sales assistant, play a key role in a customer’s buying experience in this sector.

There are any number of e-commerce sites where buyers can order practically anything, from clothes, to furniture, to cosmetics to toys, or even food and tools for DIY or building things.

All of these things are just a click away.

As surprising as that might seem, it is also possible to buy wood or fabric on these sites!

On a retail site, a number of other aspects should be taken into account, such as product photos, descriptions, directions for use, reviews from previous customers, and shipping fees to be paid.

It is therefore key to be more rigorous than in-store retail if you expect your brand to make a mark on the internet and within the digital industry.

Retail translation is the key to success for your retail site

If your retail site has been successful in your company, you probably dream of going global with it and, therefore, making it multilingual. Expanding into strong online markets such as the French e-commerce, German e-commerce or the Korean e-commerce industry requires adapting not only the language but also the visuals, the tone and the user experience to local expectations.

To provide this, you can enlist a professional translation service that specialises in website localisation. If your site is already multilingual, you will surely know how vital communication through good-quality translation is in the market.

As we noted earlier, text accompanying product photos is a determining factor in making a purchase, offering the client an idea of a product even though it is not in front of them and to realise why this product is necessary to them and why they should buy it.

To enhance your product images and engage customers effectively, consider using a photo editing app.

If you unfortunately use the services of a poor-quality translator, they will have limited knowledge of how to communicate your brand’s spirit while adapting the content to the requirements of the target companies.

On the other hand, if you use a qualified translator who is an expert in retail, they will know how to reach your consumers and, consequently, how to help you set yourself up in another part of the world.

Retail translation is the key to success for your retail site

The advantage of good retail translation services for your retail site

 There are many advantages of a successful translation for your site:

  • If your page is in another language, it will be more relevant and will resemble, as much as possible, the one you built in your mother tongue.
  • Your brand or company’s buzzwords will be faithfully respected; the spirit that you want to give your brand will be maintained and adapted to the best of the professional’s ability.
  • Your site will be adapted to the target audience and, if necessary, changes will be made to your original text to ensure that it meets the specific expectations of your international client base and doesn’t shock or offend them with certain terminology, slogans, product names or colours. What is acceptable in one country can differ greatly in another. For example, while white represents purity for Europeans, in Arab countries it is the colour of grief.
  • Your international clients will therefore have a pleasant, user-friendly experience and probably won’t even realise that they are using a translated page, helping them to buy your products more easily.

How do I know if the retail translation services used for my retail site are working?

There are several ways of checking whether the retail translation services that you ordered have been carried out, bearing in mind the criteria provided above.

If sales are not taking off in the countries targeted by your translation, that might indicate that your site hasn’t been translated thoroughly.

For example, maybe your product names haven’t been changed even though they should have been, or even that the description of your products and services hasn’t been appropriately written.

On the other hand, if your translated site is working, your linguist has most likely done a good job.

They have respected your requirements and produced an adapted text rather than just a literal translation of your source text.

If you need a reliable, efficient professional translation service for your retail site, look no further than our team of experts here at BeTranslated.

If you have any questions, contact us at global@betranslated.co.uk or call us at +442030269848. If you would like to request a free, no-obligation quote, get in touch today.

The Tremendous Value of Having a Multilingual Website

In our increasingly globalised world and thanks largely to the internet, expanding into international markets is a reality for many businesses.

Most companies are well aware of the importance of having an active online presence, but this digital content is of no use to potential international customers if they can’t understand it. Hence the importance of a multilingual website.

Having your website translated by a professional translation service will make your products or services accessible to new clients and allow them to feel connected to your brand.

But why are multilingual websites so important, and what factors need to be considered when translating them? Let’s take a look.

Translate your website for strong customer relations

Studies show that 55% of customers prefer to shop in their own language : who can blame them?

Navigating the web through your native language is not only a much more relaxing user experience that eliminates the chances of misunderstandings, but it also makes you feel like the company is speaking to you, that their products or services are for you.

These days many web browsers offer instant machine translation of websites and, while this function can be useful in a pinch, the quality is extremely low which leaves users feeling frustrated and confused.

Customers can’t be blamed for questioning why they should give money to a company that has made no effort to make their digital content accessible.

Is this the impression you want your business to give?

By hiring a professional translation service to translate your website, you will open your business up to a whole new world of potential clients!

Translate your website for strong customer relations

Your multilingual website should be easy to find

As well as helping you create strong relationships with prospective clients, translating your website into relevant languages actually increases your search engine rankings, making it easier for your company to be found online.

This is because having your content available in multiple languages means it appears in keyword searches in those languages, not only English, giving your business better exposure.

While we’re on the topic of SEO and search engines, it’s worth acknowledging that around the world different search engines are used: in Russia people use Yandex, in China it’s all about Baidu whilst in South Korea, Naver far outperforms both Google and Yahoo.

It pays to research how people use the internet in the country your business wants to expand into to give your website the best chance of being found by potential customers.

Your multilingual website should be easy to find

Make switching between languages easy

It’s all well and good making your website available in multiple languages, but if people can’t find the language switcher, they will be stuck viewing the site in English regardless!

It should be an intuitive process so that users don’t have to waste time and get bored. Most websites opt to place the language switcher at the top right-hand side of the page, so this is usually the best option.

Once you’ve settled on the position of the language switcher, you have to decide if you’re going to use flags or words to indicate the languages (or both, though this can look overcrowded).

Flags have the advantage of being visually appealing and simple, but can be rather exclusive; think about all the countries that speak Spanish, for example, they won’t feel represented by a Spanish flag.

If you decide to use words, we recommend having the language written in the relevant languages, i.e. the button should read ‘Deutsch’ instead of ‘German‘ or make it easier for users to find.

Make switching between languages easy

Localisation can be just as important as translation

Translating the verbal content of your website is only part of what goes into creating a successful multilingual website; you should work with a translation agency that can also localise your site.

Localisation is the process of altering content, whether that’s a website, a video, or a brand’s advertising campaign, to make sure it is received in the appropriate manner by the target audience, taking culture into account.

When it comes to localising websites, things to consider include images, date and address formats, and brand slogans, to name a few.

How to ensure an efficient translation process

Allowing your translator access to links to the original website they are translating will make life much easier and ultimately result in better translations.

Translation does not exist in a vacuum and knowing if the text they are working on is an image caption, a CTA (call to action), or button will inform how a translator renders it. Similarly, communicate with your translation agency about the best format for the source and target texts.

This will help both your translator and webmaster, who is not likely to understand the target text.

Now that we’ve convinced you of the importance of having a multilingual website, perhaps you’d like more information about BeTranslated’s talented website translators? For more information or a free, no-obligation quote, get in touch today.