INTRODUCTION

The ability to speak and understand multiple languages has been a deeply cherished skill and one at the heart of international relations ever since the domestication of horses led to long-distance travel across the Central Asian steppes in 3700 BCE.

Well-known humourist and fantasy writer Douglas Adams even went on to confer God-like qualities on his fictionalised linguistic marvel, the Babel Fish, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Being popped in a person’s ear, it could translate any language in the galaxy directly into the recipient’s brain. Somewhat cynically, Adams then goes on to suggest that “effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.”

While aiming for laughs, Adams also makes an important point. Simply translating words from one language to another is not enough – in fact, it can be downright dangerous in some quarters. To foster real understanding, language must come complete with nuance, context and cultural reference.

Perhaps it’s just as well that the Babel Fish was made up. But, we are in an age where the automated translation of one language to another is increasingly possible. It’s an age of opportunity, but also one where we must tread carefully.

In this report, you will learn from a panel of eight brand marketers for whom the management of translation and transcreation is a critical, strategic tool for commercial success in a global marketplace. They will demonstrate:

• Why there is a world of difference between simple translation and brand localisation.
• What a localised company culture looks like to build success for the future.
• Where outsourcing localisation efforts can accelerate growth, particularly in markets that are culturally far removed from the company’s home territory.
• How automation and human resource must necessarily work together to build an efficient but authentic localisation experience.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Why localisation matters

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of people who discover products online do so via Facebook, compared to 55% via search, 43% on ecommerce sites and 41% on brand or retailer sites. ^[1]

The motivating factors for buying products from foreign countries are primarily driven by whether items are available locally and how their price compares to the local market.

A survey run by eShopWorld in 2021 found that 33% of 25-34 year-olds were most likely to have made eleven or more ecommerce purchases outside their home country in the past year, with 35-44 and 18-24 year-olds not far behind (32% and 29% respectively). Respondents to the survey claimed that being able to shop a site in their local language (34%) and in local currency (34%) while seeing all charges, taxes and duties clearly displayed (33%) were the most important factors in their purchasing decision. ^[2]

Defaulting to global brands can miss local nuance – such as optimising only for Google as a search engine. In China, Baidu is a clear leader with 77% market share, while local search engine, Yandex, is a close challenger to Google in Russia, holding 43% market share compared to the latter’s 55%. ^[3]

Another study also shows that 67% of cross-border to holiday shoppers have used a messaging service to contact a business showing that shoppers still want the personal touch. And more have messaged businesses as online shopping has increased.^[4]

Translation to localisation

It’s not enough to find linguistic equivalency. Effective localisation means being aware of and sensitive to local culture and individual characteristics that may not be immediately obvious. Most missteps in localisation come from the translation of seemingly innocuous phrases or content used without an awareness of their loaded meaning in local markets.

While there is a desire to be sensitive to local tradition and cultural norms, any concessions mustn’t dilute the original brand values. Customers buy from brands because of what they represent as well as the levels of convenience and keen pricing.

There can be a tendency, particularly in commerce viewed through a Western lens, to assume there are some universal global standards. In fact, even international payment brands are much less relevant in some countries than in others. It’s vital to localise the practical elements of your brand, as well as the communications.

Imagery is as much of a language as words. Companies are increasingly creating their brand assets with localisation in mind to make sure they don’t waste resources on recreation or inappropriate materials.

Designing a localisation-first organisation

To achieve trust and the authentic tone of voice consumers demand, marketers can’t ‘ape’ a local experience. Rather, this is achieved by pulling together all the elements of culture, linguistic naturalness, relevant imagery and context – and applying a native human layer where possible.

Employees native to the local culture are the brand’s last line of defence but are also the point at which the centralised marketing team has to relinquish a degree of control. Many companies look to groups of employees or third-party suppliers to review and sense check before localisation efforts go live.

For distributed teams to work effectively, centralised systems allow access to up-to-date assets and content. This means teams can avoid multiple rounds of requests and approvals on top of translation and transcreation efforts. It also helps teams stay ‘on brand’ as all approved assets are housed within a single repository.

As with any ongoing digital strategy, iterative optimisation is the key to staying top of consumers’ consideration lists. Testing during the optimisation process also surfaces undiscovered cultural and linguistic nuances that the company can address quickly.

Is it more effective to in-house or outsource localisation expertise?

Effective localisation requires investment – in technology, human resource and assets. Companies must prioritise markets to make sure they gain the best reach without compromising on quality.

Native speakers are essential in terms of quality control as well as contributing to the creative process. Not every company can populate its in-house team with the full complement of nations at the level of expertise required. Many use global agencies with multiple skillsets – media, marketing, PR – and local offices to support their efforts.

Not all support teams have to be professionalised or part of a formal marketing agency set up. Many brands rely on active fan communities or social media mavens to help augment content and promote their brands locally.

Specialised agencies are a must for countries which are culturally, economically and linguistically far removed from the company’s country of origin. China is the most commonly cited market where expert help with everything – from trade to culture and PR is vital to entering the market successfully.

Automated localisation for scale and efficiency

Most companies rely on automation for some of their localisation efforts. Most view this as a tool that supports human activities, rather than replaces it. First and foremost, it is a tool for helping companies scale, taking on simple but volume tasks.

Automated translation tools are viewed by most as only providing basic-level assistance, they’re helpful for translating directories or similar. Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems are being considered for more complex tasks but marketers feel that there is still either too much margin for error, a lack of nuance or not enough data for the systems to learn in a way that keeps pace with the business’s needs.

Automation is useful in serving customers personalised messaging and improving discovery Measuring audience reaction to automated, targeted content is helpful in test and learn scenarios, and broadening sales scope.

ABOUT TRANSLATEMEDIA

TranslateMedia is a language service provider and technology company that helps businesses expand into different markets. They can help you ensure that your marketing messages are culturally adapted to suit the needs of specific target audiences in local markets while maintaining the intent, style, tone of voice and context of the original.

The company provides the technology to seamlessly integrate your eCommerce store or content management system with its translation management platform – allowing for high levels of automation while delivering high-quality, search engine optimised content regardless of the target country, language or audience.

Contact Simon Kinsey at simon.kinsey@translatemedia.com to find out more.  

ABOUT ECONSULTANCY

Econsultancy’s mission is to help its customers achieve excellence in digital business, marketing, and ecommerce through research, training, and events.

Founded in 1999, Econsultancy has offices in New York, London, and Singapore.

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METHODOLOGY

This report was conducted across two phases. Phase one involved desk research to identify the appetite for localisation among consumers worldwide and the efforts companies have made so far to address this challenge. The second phase involved conducting in-depth interviews with leading marketers from global brands, for whom localisation is a priority.

Econsultancy would like to thank the following interviewees who contributed to this report:

• Ralph Aoun, Global Marketing Manager, Facebook
• Dan Baker, General Manager, EMEA, Student.com
• Jamie Brown, Head of Language Development & Localisation, what3words
• Anais Harmant, Head of Brand, Communications & Media, Mano Mano
• Mark Henry, Director of Central Marketing, Tourism Ireland
• Oliver Kern, Chief Commercial Officer, Lockwood Publishing (Avakin Life)
• Karen Mullins, Senior Director Audience Marketing, Expedia Group
• Natalie Wills, Global Director – Marketing, Zalando

WHY LOCALISATION MATTERS

There can be no doubt that we all operate in a global marketplace. Whether a company is the smallest mom and pop store or a multinational conglomerate, the internet is the level playing field that provides fairer access to the world.

Facebook’s Global Marketing Manager, Ralph Aoun, reveals that “If eCommerce is about search and purchasing through a website, it means people are limited to finding the products they already know they want that.

Today’s most successful marketers recognize that technology can enable personalized shopping experiences and invest in strategies that go one step further than eCommerce alone.

By combining data and machine learning, consumer needs can be met, and even anticipated. At Facebook we call this kind of marketing discovery commerce.

In fact, nearly three-quarters (74%) of people who discover products online do so via Facebook, compared to 55% via search, 43% on ecommerce sites and 41% on brand or retailer sites.”

Geography, Aoun says, is no barrier to discovery. What actually drives people to move from discovery to purchase, he adds, is a combination of convenience and relevance. “Localisation is incredibly important because it makes customers feel more comfortable navigating seamlessly from the ad onto your site and then completing a successful purchase.”

When looking for companies and products, the appeal of search engines and social networks seems increasingly split by age of consumer. It will come as no surprise to find that the younger the consumer, the more likely they are to be searching for brand information on a social network rather than on a search engine (see Figure 1, below).https://prwire.com.au/pr/95464/new-study-finds-western-media-alone-is-an-ineffective-way-to-connect-with-chinese-speaking-audiences-in-australia

“From a strategy perspective, there’s no such thing as a global customer. They’re all local, they all belong somewhere. It’s extremely important that whatever communications we are building hits the mark locally. Localisation is very important,” insists Natalie Wills, Global Head of PR and Social Media for Zalando.

It’s also understandable that younger, digitally native consumers shop global brands more often. A 2021 survey by eShopWorld found that 33% of 25-34 year-olds were most likely to have made 11 or more ecommerce purchases outside their home country in the past year, with 35-44 and 18-24 year-olds not far behind (32% and 29% respectively).^[6]

The survey also found that brands can’t afford to consumers leave the localisation efforts up to the big online marketplaces. The burgeoning Gen Z cohort has a marked preference for shopping directly from the brands themselves, and there is a stated preference to shop from those companies that localise. The eShopWorld study also found that consumers cite being able to shop a site in their local language (34%) and local currency (34%) while seeing all charges, taxes and duties clearly displayed (33%) were the most important factors in their purchasing decision.

As you might expect, English is the lingua franca of both the internet and global commerce, covering 60% of the world’s top 10 million websites. The next closest in terms of volume of language sites is Russian with 7.3%. ^[7]

However, dominance shouldn’t lead to complacency. In fact, brand owners need to be cognizant that their English language website may be turning off significant communities even within an English language territory.

Take, for example, the significant Chinese Australian population. Its number has doubled to 600,000 from 2011 to 2016, and the 2021 Census suggested it was still growing further. Of that 600,000, 84% speak Chinese at home. It is no surprise then that 60% of Chinese-speaking consumers appreciate translations to Mandarin. 57% trust brands and 53% would be more likely to buy from brands that translate their ads into Chinese. ^[8]

Figure 2 shows the scope for brands to expand their linguistic borders and target their audiences more effectively. The UK may be second in terms of ecommerce adoption, but there is a broad range of nations shopping extensively online.

Wills agrees that there are degrees of localisation that often depend on audience and media type. Out of home, for example, is often translated to the local language but, she adds “the need for localisation differs from market to market because most people speak simple English.” Similarly, with organic social the company doesn’t have a policy to localise because “the target for social tends to be Gen Z and Millennials and they understand a lot of English;” but there is localisation when it comes to the influencers Zalando works with. “We use English across the different countries but then we rely on the creatives [influencers] within those countries to communicate with their audiences in their native language. In paid social though, it’s translated to the local language more often than not.” Wills adds.

Equally, defaulting to Google as a search engine – given that it still accounts for the lion’s share of searches worldwide – ignores some key facets of localisation. In China, Baidu is a clear leader with 77% market share, while local search engine, Yandex, is a close challenger to Google in Russia, holding 43% market share compared to the latter’s 55%.^[9]

In Econsultancy’s International and Multilingual Paid Search Best Practice Guide, it was suggested that limiting paid search activity can reduce the overall visibility of ads and, therefore, the potential traffic. But with expanding reach geographically, local nuance still must be observed. Companies can’t advertise work or education opportunities abroad in Belarus, but, the report notes, this is fine in advertise neighbouring Ukraine. Equally, the morning after pill cannot be advertised in Italy but is an ad keyword in the UK.

Search and social are just two aspects of how global audiences find and interact with brands. Indeed, they are a veritable tip of the iceberg. Aoun adds that it’s not just ads that need to be localised. “Nearly two addition thirds (63%) of cross-border shoppers globally state that having native language availability on websites or apps is important in their purchase decision. In addition to convenience and language, transparent pricing (71%), user privacy (70%), and authenticity guarantee (68%) are also highly valuable factors when making cross-border purchase decisions.” ^[11]

But he adds: “The journey does not end at purchase. Make sure you build a loyal fan base by delighting your customers post-purchase. In fact, 67% of cross-border holiday shoppers have used a messaging service to contact a business showing that shoppers still want the personal touch. And more have messaged businesses as online shopping has increased.^[12]

To localise effectively, translation is just the beginning.

TRANSLATION TO LOCALISATION

There are more tools than ever that will help you fish for the right word in a foreign language, whether you’re on holiday trying to decipher the menu or surfing an unfamiliar website. They are very useful in their most basic application – you get the general gist and can move on to order the sea bass in confidence.

But beyond simple equivalency, there is so much more to language. When speaking face to face, you have assistance from facial expression, tone of voice, gesticulation and the environment you happen to be in. When that conversation moves online or into marketing communications, the marketer relies on so many other cues to work together to bring the message accurately and authentically to their audience.

So when it comes to localising a brand, translation is only the start. It is in transcreation and adapting contextual information, from platform choice to payment options, visual assets and campaign timing that can make all the difference. All of this goes to make up the brand’s localisation strategy.

 

There have been many well-worn examples of companies failing to understand the difference between translation and transcreation. From KFC’s ‘eat your fingers off’ literal translation of its ‘fingerlickin’ good’ strapline, to the unfortunate phonetic challenges presented to German audiences of the Vicks medication brand, there is plenty to laugh up your sleeve about.

However, failing to research your audience’s needs and make sure your assets fit the local context can cause significant financial damage. In one well-reported example, HSBC was eventually forced to undertake a $10m rebrand when its ‘Assume Nothing’ strapline ended up as ‘Do Nothing’ in several markets. ^[13]

BEYOND TRANSLATION

It’s often said that every company is in two businesses – it is in the business of selling the thing it makes, and it’s in the business of publishing. Content is across every part of the organisation and, as a result, language and how it’s used is a precious tool.

Take what3words, for example. what3words is a geolocation company used by companies and individuals to provide a precise location for their home or business. Every three metre square has been given a unique combination of three random words: a what3words address. High profile media stories have reported how what3words has been used to help the emergency services locate stranded people on otherwise featureless mountains or beaches. And, as the name suggests, the product is made up of three words.

These three words do not have to have any meaning together. In fact, people often delight in their utterly random allocation. Apparently, the entrance to Buckingham Palace is ///fence.gross.bats ^[14] and the infamous Shibuya Junction in Tokyo is ///moons. inflict.rental – to an English audience at least. The localisation service is available in 50 languages so far. But that’s not to say the company doesn’t have to be careful about how words are used.

“No one would find the word ‘turtle’ unpleasant in English but in Tamil they are considered bad omens. As a result, we have to make sure we avoid any reference to it. We try as hard as we can to get rid of any words that people might find offensive. This is why we work with a lot of people who come from different backgrounds so we can use their unique perspective,” explains Jamie Brown, Head of Language Development and Localisation, what3words.

It’s also critical to understand how language is linked to culture in the geographies marketers want to target.

We try as hard as we can to get rid of any words that people might find offensive. This is why we work with a lot of people who come from different backgrounds so we can use their unique perspective.”

Jamie Brown, Head of Language Development and Localisation, what3words

“Our brand is a bit quirky and we try not to speak the same way our competitors do. We try to make jokes but this is very difficult to do from one country to another,” explains ManoMano’s Anais Harmant, Head of Brand, Communications and Media. This doesn’t mean the company shies away from its jocular approach, but it has to have a robust set of checks and balances in place. In this case, their local copy editor may review the copy. Still, it is also sent to several people who all share the nationality to ensure that “the joke really is universal for the market.”

Tourism Ireland’s Director of Central Marketing, Mark Henry reveals why there is too much potential for unintended mistakes or even offence to leave to chance. “When you think of history of the island of Ireland, a lot will be captured in church ruins or Mesolithic tombs. But none of this will resonate with the office in United Arab Emirates because of the Muslim tradition to avoid graveyards. We have to be careful of bringing journalists from the region to iconic locations in case there is a grave attached.”

While companies are naturally sensitive to local sensibilities, Karen Mullins, Senior Director Audience Marketing, Expedia Group cautions against throwing your values out of the window in an attempt to appeal to everyone. Expedia’s home rentals brand, Vrba, is open to all holidaymakers looking for a more ‘home from home’ experience but Mullins claims that it is particularly in tune with large, diverse and blended families. That means addressing their needs and highlighting those in their marketing – whatever the market.

“We are brave. We won’t do something that is illegal in a country of course, but we don’t shy away from any backlash. In France, we featured same-sex parents in ads at a time that companies were getting negative social commentary about it. We want to be diverse and for everyone and we’re not going to let something like this stop us.”

Oliver Kern, Chief Commercial Officer at Lockwood Publishing, the creators of metaverse gaming app Avakin Life, says that managing cultural mores is all about balance and choice: “Because of our approach to inclusivity and openness, we have done a lot around LGBTQ+ communities and Pride. As you can imagine, in markets like Russia or the Middle East you have to be quite careful. That content is still there for people to discover – some of our audiences go to Avakin precisely because of this – but we don’t promote it as heavily in those markets to make sure it’s not ‘in your face’.”

We are brave. We won’t do something that is illegal in a country of course, but we don’t shy away from any backlash.”

Karen Mullins, Senior Director Audience Marketing, Expedia Group

PLATFORMS AND PAYMENTS

There can be a tendency, particularly when looking through a Westernised, mostly English-language lens, to assume that the preferred platforms and payment types here are top dogs the world over. But what anglicised brands may consider a given as global platforms – Visa and Paypal – can figure far less importantly in other markets.

“Currency is an interesting one,” says Student.com’s General Manager EMEA, Dan Baker. “Our business grew up out of China so it has a foundation in understanding Chinese culture and payment technologies which are totally unique. We accept AliPay and WeChat Pay which can be real barriers to entry to landlords who want to sell direct to Chinese students. They just won’t have a UK or US bank account.”

“Making a Cross-Border Business purchase journey frictionless is what increases its chances of success. In fact, there are many friction points on the shopping journey, and they often prevent customers from completing purchases. Offering delivery tracking, reasonable shipping time, easy return/refund, and multiple payment and shipping methods are important factors to securing a successful conversion,” suggests Facebook’s Aoun.

Expedia’s Mullins agrees, saying of Vrbo: “We’ve got 50-plus sites in more than 20 languages and nine currencies. You can suggest that everyone pay in US dollars, but that’s not ideal. The basics can be really technical, but they’re the foundation of localisation.”

VISUAL CUES

Incurable romantics may speak the language of love. Still, marketers must also be conscious of the language of visuals, as important if not more so than the words that accompany them. Here too, there is ample opportunity to make a misstep. Understanding audience motivation is vital.

“Visuals resonate with our audience and what attracts a visitor to Ireland from the UK versus the US is often very different. History and castles resonate particularly well for the latter, while German audiences are very much into nature and the outdoors,” Henry explains, adding that while Germans enjoy a sense of isolation with deserted views, US travellers are very much the opposite. Catering to both tastes can be interesting

For Avakin Life, it’s arguably the visual language that is the first and most important introduction for players to the new world. “In a 3D virtual world, grounded in real life you have to create familiarity and that starts with the avatar and the environment. If they then feel at home, that creates a much stronger bond. It’s up to us to facilitate but then it’s down to the users to make it theirs,” Kern explains.

Kern notes that developing that familiarity means working with designers on the ground in different countries to create an authentic look, not one that someone not native thinks it should be. Bland is not on brand.

That said, part of creating the authentic metaverse is inviting brands to participate in the same way as they would ‘in real life’. Here, Kern notes the challenges of helping brands stay relevant while being met with a unique set of localisation challenges. “Authenticity is important, and an app like ours is a great way to get in front of a large Gen Z audience. But it is a global audience and sometimes the brand will want to focus on an audience, say, in Switzerland. That would be challenging for an app like ours. When we’re talking to global brands like Nike or Ray-Ban, it needs to be meaningful for most of our users.”

He does add that Avakin Life has featured some bespoke, localised campaigns such as one for a cosmetics company in Brazil which was then integrated into the company’s below the line campaigns. However, Kern admits, “it’s always easier if there’s a global approach.”

Many of the executives interviewed have discovered that planning in advance and keeping imagery neutral – yet still enticing – is the way to address multiple markets at once without constantly reinventing the wheel.

“We are conscious of money, so we try to have global strategies. We are cautious when we shoot for ads so that they are representative of every country we have in every market,” Harmant insists.

Mullins adds: “In the last couple of years we’ve really made a move to tailor our TV ads to our major territories, including the US, Canada, UK, France, and Germany. However, in the last quarter our ads were completely localised with the visuals for the UK being filmed on a beach in Cornwall. This worked so much better than using a US beach which would have worked in the US but looked jarring in the UK – especially as it’s clearly been illegal to travel!”

We tend to use local faces for marketing initiatives and we do invest heavily in influencer marketing, which is another great tool for localisation marketing.”
Natalie Wills, Global Director – Marketing, Zalando

Above all, it’s about finding a balance – images that convey the brand’s values, its tone and style as well as reflecting its audience. “Most of our content is shot in Germany with models that are more in line with our values rather than localisation,” Wills reveals. “Diversity and size inclusivity are key. But for marketing campaigns we would select five or six markets that are playing the majority of our ads and recruit talent from that market. It will resonate much better. We tend to use local faces for marketing initiatives and we do invest heavily in influencer marketing, which is another great tool for localisation marketing.”

DESIGNING A LOCALISATION-FIRST ORGANISATION

For the most part, the executives we spoke with agreed that localisation was very much a strategy that was ‘baked in’ to the company, alongside customer relationship management or customer experience. The idea that localisation was somehow an afterthought, layered on after creating immutable content assets, or plugged in to deal with an otherwise non-core set of customers, was seen as unworkable. Localisation is a living, breathing part of the business.

“We truly believe that being locally relevant and having a marketing plan, delivery and payment options that work for the local customer is what’s going to make us win. Localisation touches every part of your business;’ states Zalando’s Wills. “We have teams of people and all our business priorities (are) designed to make sure customers get the best experience in their country. You don’t want to be average everywhere. You want to be the best.”

NATIVE PEOPLE FOR NATIVE CONTENT

Authenticity is critical, and audiences can quickly tell when a brand is pretending to be something it’s not. Just as Gen Z will spot when a marketer is trying to be excruciatingly down with the kids, local audiences will immediately recognise an impostor in their midst.

This is not to say foreign customers don’t welcome outsider brands. Quite the opposite. But they expect them to have put every effort possible into addressing – and responding to – them in the right way. In every case, our interviewees highlighted the critical role played by native speakers in creating and policing their localisation strategy.

ManoMano is a Europe-wide marketplace specialising in DIY and home care products. Currently in six markets – France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany – it is heavily focused on delivering an authentic experience.

“We truly believe trust comes with localisation,” states ManoMano’s Harmant. “We don’t want to be a European company; we want to be a British company and a German company. Our customers need to trust us, so all our teams have natives from each country to make sure that our communications, marketing and customer support can all remove what might be a friction for our customer.”

Student.com’s Dan Baker takes a similar approach: “We want to position Student.com as an Indian company for Indian students and a French company for French students. We have local people as well as a couple of suppliers on hand in the countries working across translations and most content goes through them. It’s a true company effort to make sure we can flag things when they don’t make sense. We are selling a high-value product. It will be the most expensive thing these young people have bought. It’s very considered, and they need a lot of information which presents challenges for localisation.” In fact, for quality control purposes, Baker insists that each member of staff accesses the website in their own native language at all times, so they are always on hand to pick up on any anachronisms or mistakes.

Travel is naturally a sector where you want the inside track on culture and content. Mullins describes the process. “A lot of the work in translating the Vrbo website and marketing is automated, and it’s mostly the global teams that design our creative, but we do have local market teams too. Those in key markets feed the local relevance back in a way which is less about language and more about cultural nuance. They also put culture guides together for the global team – details about where the average German likes to go on holiday, what is important to them, what families need and so on.”

There must be a significant element of trust when relying on native speakers to manage the brand in another language. Carefully crafted brand guidelines and tone of voice are now exclusively in another’s hands. The marketers we spoke to had a range of ways to make sure communications stayed brand appropriate, while also continuing to tap into the unique properties of the destination language and culture.

“We are very lucky in some respects. Within the teams working on localisation are people who have been working with us for a number of months, literally recreating the product. So we have ready-made translators who are also invested in the product, with a deep understanding of how it works. They become part of the what3words family and are ready to continue working with us,” Brown explains. Not every company will want to assimilate every translator. Still, it is an object lesson in the value of forging close relationships with the people and agencies in charge of such a fundamental part of the business.

The wider an organisation casts its net geographically, the larger the volume of localised assets to manage becomes. Everything from social media to customer contact centres, advertising and packaging clamour for attention from all corners of the globe. Brands deal with this in many ways, but centralised, joined-up data and assets are at the heart of successful operations.

CENTRALISATION FOR EFFICIENCY

Interviewees for this report all recognised that content and asset management are key for localisation to be effective and as error-free as possible. Having a centralised resource that all teams could access, with guidelines as to how assets could be used, the appropriate territories and tone of voice means the business can react quickly. This is essential across social media and chat platforms in particular.

“The CMS is fundamental;” Baker states. “You might write the content in English or Chinese, but it’s then pushed to people who can translate and it becomes a waterfall effect as it goes to many people in many different countries.”

Henry adds that the Digital Asset Management or DAM system is so important as it allows Tourism Ireland to maintain a comprehensive database of all the most up to date assets that teams can access at will and then adapt to their own markets.

Equally, having localisation front of mind when new assets are created is also critical. Setting out with assets that are as broadly usable as possible saves extra expenditure and streamlines the company’s asset resource. Henry notes this is something Tourism Ireland sets out to achieve initially but acknowledges it may not be quite as simple for every sector.

The CMS is fundamental. You might write the content in English or Chinese, but it’s then pushed to people who can translate and it becomes a waterfall effect as it goes to many people in many different countries.”
Dan Baker, General Manager, EMEA, Student.com 

“We produce so much content centrally, that you can pick and choose what works. But it is our job to produce enough. We have to design a sufficient breadth of content to make sure that we can motivate Brits, Americans, Canadians, French and Germans – our main markets. There has to be a sufficient breadth of talent that also reflects what the typical visitor looks like. We design that in from the beginning. The language layer comes later. But you can imagine that unlike for FMCG brands, for example, there is unlikely to be a single edit of an ad that will work everywhere.”

From a customer service point of view, the ongoing challenge of joining up customer journeys and making data accessible to the right teams at the right time is central to a seamless operation. In this way, even distributed customer service teams can access the correct information to answer customer queries on the right platform at the right time. It is worth noting that the centralisation of assets and data also lays essential groundwork for companies exploring the possibilities of localisation automation.

Testing and learning is the essential, final piece of the puzzle. Facebook’s Aoun states: “The localisation process can sometimes be inadvertently built on assumptions. Perhaps that one market is assumed to care about price and therefore the ads focus, for example, only on discounts. Innovative businesses are enabling machine learning which can help deliver ads that are personalized to people’s diverse motivations and locations. They build varied creative for different motivations and test which ones drive the best
business results. Successful measurement can help answer critical business questions to understand the impact of marketing efforts.”

Mullins adds that even testing can prove challenging, particularly in emerging markets or those new to Vrbo. There is not always the volume of data required to reach a statistically significant result in a short window of time. Therefore, we sometimes take learnings from one market and launch winners in other markets, monitoring the pre- and post- conversion impact. It’s art and science. “There are similar patterns between UK, Canadian and German customers – they tend to book in advance, booking at Christmas and through Q1 summer travel. You take those learnings and launch into another market to test what pre- and post-campaign conversions look like.”

IS IT MORE EFFECTIVE TO IN-HOUSE OR OUTSOURCE LOCALISATION EXPERTISE?

The decision to enter a foreign market is down to several factors: Logistics – can the company deliver there in a timely and cost-effective way? Payments – as the landscape becomes ever more diverse, can organisations offer practical ways to pay in every region? Market size – localisation requires investment and the size of the opportunity may or may not be worth the extra financial commitment.

“We do have geo-prioritisation where we decide our level of investment in different markets and the scale of our localisation-to-automation varies accordingly. There is a clear threshold for every market, and giving a relevant customer experience is key to us.” Mullins reveals.

This is an essential consideration in terms of resource. We have already seen that compelling localisation needs ‘boots on the ground’ expertise. That may be natives of that market who work at the company’s head office, individual teams deployed in-market, or it can also mean partners who can access the relevant expertise and connections. This is particularly important when it is either too difficult or punitively expensive to employ native speakers and brand marketing professionals.

THE SUPPORTIVE MIX

Tourism Ireland is active in 16 markets with local offices in 12 and outsources representatives in China and India. The agency creates campaigns centrally from the UK, which it then pushes out to its agency’s ‘hubs’ for localisation. “Local planners will get involved in localising content, which our local contact will then approve. The hubs are charged with resourcing the transcreation, and that’s part of our need for a global agency – they’re native to the language;” Henry explains.

He notes that social moderation is managed by a dedicated agency, as content is created in-house or by their agency and then engagement is dealt with by a third party. “There are people in the markets proficient in the language who manage the conversations. Our local colleagues have regular check-ins to review the tone of voice, as well as kick around ideas to stimulate engagement,” he adds.

ManoMano relies on a single, global agency primarily for its main advertising needs but then reaches out to local teams for support in more bespoke areas like PR or social media. “What can be globalised should be globalised. For media we have a central agency but then we have local partners for PR and it’s the same for influencers because this is more unique to the market and you have to be present there,” says Harmant.

There is, of course, a vast reserve of talent that many brands can tap into that comes free, gratis and for nothing – fans. For Avakin Life, they play a crucial part in maintaining the app’s authenticity. “We use both professional and community panels,” Kern reveals. “We have our discovery lab where we invite players based on different personas that we have for our app, and they work with our researchers answering lots of questions. Then, in quite a few territories, we have community managers who are professionals, there to give us feedback.”

LOCAL EXPERTISE

Alternatively, a territory may require specific expertise that is only realistically available within that country’s borders. Henry reveals that Tourism Ireland has a dedicated agency in China with two local employees focusing on consumer and trade marketing, respectively. They rely strongly on that local presence to guide their strategy. Game of Thrones and Titanic sing the island of Ireland to Chinese audiences – popular culture is a strong motivator in the Chinese market, he adds.

Working within more complex markets like China almost always require some form of partner relationship. In Econsultancy’s Third-Party Marketplaces Best Practice Guide, author Colin Lewis reveals what it takes for foreign brands to sell effectively through Tmall, an Alibaba-owned ecommerce platform. In particular, Lewis highlights the speed at which the Chinese marketplace moves and how foreign brands have to adapt to demand and new opportunities quickly. ^[16]

Having a local partner means they will help with order fulfilment and Chinese customer service. They will also provide translations and localisation of brand content and product listings as well as digital marketing campaigns and Tmall store design. Benji Lamb, Director of China and South Asia for Vitabiotics, which entered the market in 2015 and whose quarterly sales have been doubling every year, told Lewis: “As long as you take a localised approach to marketing and you listen to teams on the ground, China is the most enabling market in the world.”

There is, of course, the perennial worry for marketers that outsourcing a critical part of their brand – its communications – could lead to mistakes in terms of tone of voice or a drop in service quality. The executives we interviewed universally agreed that, as with any agency or vendor partnerships, building relationships and having solid guidelines was the way to build trust and reliability in the process.

As long as you take a localised approach to marketing and you listen to teams on the ground, China is the most enabling market in the world.”
Benji Lamb, Director of China and South Asia for Vitabiotics

AUTOMATED LOCALISATION FOR SCALE AND EFFICIENCY

As mentioned earlier, efficiency and authenticity go hand in hand when it comes to successful localisation. It is clear from the interviews with our eight marketing experts that the human influence on localisation is imperative and needs to be supported. According to CSA Research, “Organisations must automate as much of the localisation process as they can in order to deliver services for mushrooming volumes of content and code.” ^[17]

However, the company goes on to say: “Interviewees expressed frustration and reservations […] The high-velocity process tends to defeat the goal of delivering an acceptable global customer experience.”

TECHNOLOGY AS ENABLER

Our executives largely agree with this sentiment. Technology was is seen as a boon in its many forms, from the Translation Management System (TMS), which automates and stores translations for native teams to revise for context, to chatbots, Content Management Systems (CMS) and asset management systems.

“Now we need to scale we use both humans and technology;” reveals Harmant. “We have translation tools to make sure we learn from what we have already done and can also find resources. One of the challenges is in getting all the teams to use the same tool. We are an 800-strong business, and we’ll be 1,000-strong in six months. What was obvious in terms of systems when we were a company of just 200 is not anymore. In the past, we had four tools – we now need to unify those for more efficiencies in the teams.”

However, interviewees also urged caution. “We have toyed with some of the systems and software that do automated translation, and it’s not where it needs to be to be truly native and natural for students,” Baker insists.

One of the most surprising examples of human over automation came from what3words; given the sheer volume of information the company processes, Brown revealed that most of its content verification was done manually.

“There are 57 trillion potential what3word combinations. Each of the three-metre square locations is generated randomly from a list of words in each language, but we make sure the original list is good then test them out before launching them.” Brown admits they can’t check every single one. Still, they do go in depth, so far as to weed out the US/UK spelling variations that would cause problems in accurately finding someone if the original location containing ‘color’ was spelt ‘colour’, for example. “Technology is great, but language is human,” he adds wryly.

THE EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENT LANGUAGE AUTOMATION

The consensus was that automation certainly has potential, and executives expect it to deliver more and more accurate interpretations of context and content in the future. Platforms like Facebook are certainly doing the legwork that helps brands take advantage of automated localisation.

Aoun shares that “Facebook’s personalisation engine utilizes machine learning fuelled by an understanding of people’s interests, preferences and behaviours. This technology can suggest automated content translation to marketers and deliver the right language to the right person at the right time. It can also display your products’ localized information such as stock availability and currency information based on buyers’ location.”

“We’ve looked at chatbots,” admits Tourism Ireland’s Henry, “but the variety of queries are just so varied that it wouldn’t be worth the effort to train them. It wouldn’t be worth the investment.”

Harmant is more favourable when it comes to integrating chatbot technology into the experience: “We have a community of experts and a chatbot on our website. Two or three questions can be answered by the machine then it goes to specific local people who can help.” She points out that this critical community – a team of Manodvisors who are online DIY, home & garden enthusiasts based in each local market – are at the heart of supporting customers. “DIY can be very specific and it is very different building a house in the UK than in Spain. We have 2.3m conversations and the technology helps.”

We’ve looked at chatbots, but the variety of queries are just so varied that it wouldn’t be worth the effort to train them. It wouldn’t be worth the investment.”
Mark Henry, Director of Central Marketing, Tourism Ireland

Henry is one of many to add that solutions like Google Translate are simply “not sufficiently robust” for critical content on the website. However, he adds that the latter’s content is part automated, going for checks to a third party once content is translated. Henry does admit that out of sheer necessity, the “tens of thousands” of third-party accommodation listings that the site hosts, such as B&Bs, are translated via Google, but this is a practical measure. Brand and hero content is his focus.

“Al is a huge opportunity, but can be challenging,” Mullins admits. “Vrbo launched a chatbot a couple of years ago in English. Chatbots learn from data entered into the system, and as more questions get asked and answered, it learns and improves. If you have smaller markets with fewer consumers, the Al has less data to learn from, and therefore takes longer to build and improve. It’s the same with testing one piece of content against another on a site. You need enough traffic in the test for it to be statistically significant.”

“At the moment, our customer service is a purely human resource in 20 different countries,” Baker explains. “Our future state will be to filter some of this through AI and chatbots. We need to be able to reduce the load where we can. Most of the queries are quite simple – where is my booking reference, for example.”

However, Baker adds that whatever innovations are embraced and in whichever platform, the overall experience must be augmented, not diluted. ‘There is no point sending someone an email in the best Spanish, then they land on a website that has been poorly translated, only to be directed to a contact centre where the only option is to speak English.” The long-term goal, he suggests, is to introduce dynamic content, but he admits that the scale of the task is enormous given the size of the audience and the number of languages and cultures involved.

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS AND NEXT STEPS

Look beyond the expected channels

There’s no denying sites like Google and Amazon have unparalleled worldwide reach, but local versions such as Alibaba (marketplace) and Baidu (search engine) resonate more closely with local consumers. It’s not a question of using one or the other unless resources are very squeezed – don’t compromise quality with volume – but paying attention to local distribution channels will dramatically extend your reach.

Localise across the business

When localisation is just viewed as a linguistic challenge, attempts at localisation can become very superficial, lacking authenticity and sometimes even practicality. Localisation also means examining the warehouse network, customer support staff, payments technology and more. From a communications perspective, teams need quick access to assets as well as clear guidelines around tone of voice so they can act independently and with confidence.

Go native

There is no substitute for native-language speakers who are immersed in the destination market’s culture. Arguably using a native speaker who has been away from the country for decades is still only half a solution as countries and cultures move with the times. If available resources don’t allow for in-house native staff located in the destination market, you may want to consider partnering with a language service provider with professional translators that are located in country to bring fresh perspectives as well as the ability to sense check.

Establish a practice of continuous optimisation

Even hitting on a winning formula will generate diminishing returns over time. As with any marketing strategy, localisation efforts need to be continually tested and optimised. By creating an experimental localisation culture, companies can discover new customer segments or different routes to market and foster growth.

Embrace tools with pragmatism and an open mind

The world of translation technology is continually evolving and AI looks set to be a promising addition to marketers’ arsenal, however it will take time for it to be truly effective at wholly-automated localisation. There are many automated tools that marketers can use to reduce the burden on staff who would be better used improving the quality or creativity of communications. Just because technologies like chatbots are not 100% proficient, doesn’t mean they don’t have utility. Brands can use them on a basic level to triage customer support queries, for example. Working with translation technology should be a process of continuous learning.