Products today can take many forms, such as websites or mobile applications, as the definition continues to evolve. Because the internet allows us to connect to clients globally with a single action, all businesses can now sell their items in a much simpler way. To take advantage of the global market, your product should be accessible to people from diverse backgrounds. Still, it is not enough to only translate your product manuals, websites, or advertising materials into different languages.

As a corporation grows in scale, it is only natural that it would start looking into strategic growth and the means of attaining it. Your business must make its presence felt in other countries, and this is why you should learn how to address new people and new customers. Product localization has resulted in companies like Netflix, Walmart, and McDonald’s taking a significant portion of the market and spreading it to different countries. These businesses have managed to expand to new regions by fitting their goods to the needs of local customers, unlike using their regular approach everywhere. Product management courses, which are offered by Oxford Training Center, are getting in high demand day by day. Their versatile methods and teaching skills are renowned around the world. 

What is product localization?

To localize a product means to customize it to the language and cultural background of a certain target market. It requires changing marketing materials, websites, apps, and manuals to make them understandable in another language.

Making goods and services fit the needs and preferences of local buyers is called product localization. It means adjusting a company’s goods and services to appeal to people around the world while still considering their local politics, spoken language, way of living, and popular trends. When seeking global markets, most companies will make their products suitable for the new country and plan them out well. Product localization aims to reach new markets and attract new customers without having a detrimental effect on ongoing business operations and financial circumstances. 

Localization of products is done to ensure that the product seems to have been designed for the target market and not a redesigned version of the original. This enables you to penetrate several new marketplaces simultaneously and much faster.

Importance of product localization

In the case of companies, the localization of products is very important as it ensures that you give the customers what they want.

• The world represents a large field, and each country possesses its own requirements, peculiarities, and nuances.
• Product localization is necessary in order to make sure that goods and services will be attractive to ‌consumers on the local market.
• To assist your company in expanding into new areas. 

This kind of research demonstrates the effects of local market adaptation. In order to build trust and loyalty with audiences who might not be familiar with your goods or services, localization is also necessary in new markets.

Working on product localization

There are numerous moving components in product localization. One should consider a few factors, which include preparing the code to be translated, managing the localization process itself, testing, and maintenance. To give you an idea of what goes into product localization, let us run through its main elements:

1. Getting ready to localize your product

You must first internationalize your product before considering localization. Building or designing your product to accommodate several languages from the outset is known as internationalization (i18n). The goal of the procedure is to get your product ready for localization. Aspects of internationalization include selecting a framework for exporting hard-coded string identifiers to facilitate future translation, incorporating support for right-to-left languages, and employing the appropriate text encoding (UTF-8 is a good choice).

2. Best software, website, and marketing localization

Software localization is the most crucial aspect of any product localization endeavor. The other components of your localization process won’t be very important if you don’t do a good job of localizing the software product itself. This implies that all user interface components, splash screens, in-app tooltips, and other in-product material must be modified to make sense for your intended audience. It also entails adjusting currencies, date formats, and units of measurement to conform to regional norms.

When a potential buyer sees your product, they frequently visit your website first. Unless they pass through the site, visitors will not even see your product. It is for this reason that it becomes very important not to overlook the localization of your website and to make sure that all your pages are properly localized. Again, this will involve the modification of images, videos, and other visual elements besides changing the textual content into the desired language.

Marketing localization does not only involve the translation of your marketing materials into other languages. It all comes down to knowing your target audience and tailoring your message to appeal to their cultural sensibilities. This covers anything from coming up with fresh taglines and slogans to coming up with brand-new advertising campaigns tailored to the target audience. In certain situations, it may even be necessary to create a whole new brand identity that better suits regional tastes.

Top examples of product localization

Examining successful localization examples from multinational corporations can be beneficial, regardless of whether you’re new to product localization or seeking to enhance your approach. Here are some noteworthy instances:

1. Netflix

One of the best streaming services in the world, Netflix has effectively entered 190 countries and is still growing quickly. Targeted localization is largely responsible for Netflix’s success in achieving this kind of expansion in many areas. They adopted a strategy approach that involved collaborating with local partners to obtain additional cultural context, as opposed to attempting to penetrate several markets. Netflix was able to provide foreign content according to audience preferences and provide customized local content using the audience data they collected. In order to appeal to each area in which it expanded, Netflix developed a localization strategy that included viewer preferences, language, and cultural variations.

2. Airbnb

Getting localization right is crucial for a business whose product is built on local experiences. Rules and laws in each nation, along with language and design adjustments required for customers to trust the platform, are also taken into consideration while localizing their products. In order to make material accessible to hosts and guests, they must make sure their product is available in local languages while also honoring local, cultural, and legal norms in those nations.

How to approach product localization?

Waterfall and agile are the two primary methods of localization; continuous localization is the final version of the latter.

1. The waterfall approach

The more conventional of the two localization strategies is the waterfall approach. Under this model, a product or service’s whole content is translated before its introduction in any market. Besides being time-consuming and expensive, this method is also not popular among the more recent and agile development teams. The advantage it has, though, is that it ensures that nothing is left unlocalized at the time of launch. When you choose to follow a waterfall, it is very important to start planning localization as early as possible in the development cycle. This will give ‌you a lot of time to make sure that all the content is translated and meets the localization standards in every market.

2. The agile approach

Agile localization is a more contemporary and adaptable method. Under this technique, translated content is made available in tiny chunks. Additionally, agile localization enables you to react more quickly to market developments. You can swiftly modify your localization approach based on user feedback in the event of an extraordinary event. Having a flexible localization tool on hand is crucial if you decide to use an agile methodology. By doing this, you’ll be able to control the translation process and guarantee that all of your material is uniformly localized.

End up

Product localization is a complex procedure that requires proper planning and execution. You may find out that localization can be fun and that the outcomes of having localized products make the efforts worth the challenges, provided that it is conducted properly and that common issues are taken into consideration. A product that has been localized well will be more appealing to potential consumers, and it is also likely to succeed in foreign markets. When planning a product localization project, it is always important to consider all factors that can influence the success of this initiative.