It’s no secret that in order to build a successful brand globally, you need to understand your international target market, which results in meeting their needs.
A recent study by CSA showed that 55% of respondents only purchase on websites where information is written in their language; 56% will either spend more time on sites in their own language or avoid English URLs completely. So are you potentially missing out on engaging with more than half of your target market? Are you taking advantage of Sitecore translation?
The reality is, if your website is not optimised to speak to your global customer base then the answer is yes. So what are some of the factors that can make your leap into the international sphere a success?
Time
The above statistics show that authoring and publishing multilingual content has to be done efficiently without having to compromise on quality. Customers simply won’t spend time on your website unless the content specifically speaks to them, they’ll just go elsewhere. If you have a new product or service you want to bring to market and your competition is also launching something similar, getting ahead in the right language is essential if you want your brand to be seen as the “go-to” for that offering.
Investment
Many businesses make the mistake of embarking on the localisation process without the use of expert language service providers. This often results in a drain of company resources and a loss of profit, whether that is due to having to use several different providers who use different platforms or due to making fatal translation errors when launching abroad – just take a look at Apple’s recent iPhone 7 embarrassment. Using a sophisticated content management system (CMS) such as Sitecore, businesses can also reduce costs through integration.
Consistency
The coordination of multiple language projects has the potential to get messy and can leave room for error with consistency. Couple this with trying to import content to your various language websites and it becomes even more challenging. Using a multilingual CMS such as Sitecore provides a centralised solution that helps to simplify the process to help keep your brand voice clear and consistent.
As a company grows, it’s likely they’ll find themselves translating more and more content, which often means it’s not practical to manage multilingual websites individually. Sitecore translation has made the management of multilingual websites a breeze, boasting features and benefits such as easy-to-implement design templates, international character set support, tracking and monitoring jobs in real time and enhancing the customer experience via its simple integration across multiple platforms (mobile, e-mail, social, commerce and more).
It’s for these reasons that we have developed the translate plus Sitecore connector, which enables Sitecore editors and administrators to simply and efficiently get content translated. Thanks to the connector’s intuitive, easy-to-use interface, users can send, receive and monitor translations directly within Sitecore – there’s no need to copy-and-paste, manually import/export XML, switch to another application, or worry about how to create or update translated versions of your Sitecore items.
You can read more about our new translate plus Sitecore connector and contact us today for more information!