By Jamie Epstein
TMCnet – August 15, 2011
As online shopping continues to expand, organizations are looking for different ways to gain attention from shoppers located over the world. A new report from TransPerfect indicates that website chat translation is very crucial, however many websites lack the tools needed to translate their content.
In the survey featured on BizReport.com, results showed that 63 percent of consumers prefer buying from websites written in their native language, 64 percent of companies say they are “unsure” if translated websites will impact sales and only a small margin — 19 percent of executives admit that website translation is a priority.
In the article, TransPerfect's Co-CEO Liz Elting spoke to Kristina Knight about the survey findings.
Knight asked, “As more brands go 'global' do you see chat translation efforts becoming even more important?”
Eliting responded in a statement, “Yes. As companies and brands expand internationally, they need to tailor their marketing and brand messages to engage on a local level – and they need to do it well. Targeted messages allow the brand to build customer loyalty and a strong brand image. It is very clear to buyers when the messaging or language is either not properly targeted or of low quality and low quality website instantly conveys a lack of interest or investment in that market. In many cases, a poorly translated website can do more damage than having no website in that language at all. When going global, brands need to make top quality localization efforts a priority as it can be the difference between success and failure.”
When asked in the interview why are more companies not focusing more time on translating their online content, Elting replied, “I think that executives fear the cost and have concerns regarding the time associated with project management. It's also possible that they are unsure of the degree to which localized online content will drive sales in the targeted markets. However, the tools for managing multilingual content have come a long way in the last five years and is now an easy process to implement. There's never been a better time to undertake a comprehensive multilingual campaign, and as this survey shows, consumers are hungry for content in their native languages and are more willing to buy from websites who offer that.”
In conclusion, translating information found on websites will greatly help to get a brand’s message out to many people who speak multiple, diverse languages that previously couldn’t read and understand the message due to the fact it was written in a foreign language.