E-commerce aggregators and marketplace platforms—including websites such as India’s Flipkart, Latin America’s Mercado Libre and China’s Tmall and Alibaba—empower brands to serve global markets by providing a centralized “virtual mall” experience for online customers.
These popular sites are perfect for engaging international customers, especially since so much of the on-site (or in-app) customer experience is localized for their needs:
- They offer locally preferred payment options
- They provide security that gain consumers’ trust
- And most important, they present product descriptions in their preferred languages
But savvy brands understand that even when their products are sold in these marketplaces, their own company websites and omnichannel content still play a vital role in the digital customer experience. That means extending the localized customer journey beyond those marketplaces and onto their own websites.
Here’s why this is so important.
Extending the Buyer’s Journey is Vital
Most e-commerce aggregator sites display product information in the languages their users prefer. This is obviously a good best practice, since customers can learn about what they're buying.
But when products are complex or expensive-where the purchase may require more consideration than normal-it's common for buyers to conduct online research beyond the aggregator site. This ensures they're making the most informed decision about their purchase.
This legwork often naturally sends them to the brand's official website. But if that branded site hasn't been localized in the customer's language, the buyer's journey is completely derailed. The once-seamless shopping experience-what had continuously provided information in the language the customer understands-is eliminated, and quickly turns sour.
The fallout? Global customers rightfully feel shortchanged and ignored. Worse still, this frustration can drive customers to competing brands that offer fully localized customer experiences.
Ultimately, localized content signals to international customers that companies are committed to their markets. Customers understand they can get information and support for their purchased products in the languages they speak-and effortlessly learn more new products, too.
Getting Started with CX Localization
Companies often wonder where to start with website localization. Here are some key first steps:
- Use analytics data, including inbound traffic from aggregator sites and traffic from global markets, to help determine which languages will help you best serve international customers
- Localize your CX, including website and omnichannel content, for these international customers first
- If budget constraints limit how much of your website you can translate, start by localizing the mission-critical sections of your website
- This means localizing information for items listed on third-party marketplaces
- Accompanying documentation such as product manuals should also be localized to support customers post-conversion
- Translate your site’s navigation, conversion funnels and contact forms
Website Translation Improves Your Aggregator Content
You may have some control over the localized content that appears in your product feed, depending on the e-commerce aggregator or marketplace you’re using.
If you can provide the platform with translated content, take advantage of this. Use a world-class localization vendor to craft accurate translations that match your brand voice and product content. If you can include multimedia in your content, take care to localize all text within any images, and provide videos that are either dubbed or subtitled.
Localizing your website comes in very handy here. You can benefit from leading solutions' content-detection and translation memory capabilities. They provide these benefits:
- Digital translation solutions can detect and localize all content on your website, including multimedia and JavaScript applications
- All translated content is stored in a translation memory database, and is automatically reused, at no additional cost, every time the phrases appear on your website
- Better still, great vendors enable you to repurpose this translated content for omnichannel use, including aggregator / marketplace product feeds, at no extra cost
If you can’t exercise control over how a marketplace localizes your product content, operating a localized website becomes even more vital.
These marketplaces often use translation software to localize product feeds. While you may benefit from the cost-savings associated with machine translation, the quality of those translations can be substandard or confusing since translation software often struggles to understand creative word choice and technical terminology.
Always anticipate that customers may either be underwhelmed by a marketplace's machine translations, or will crave more translated content about your product. In either scenario, they're are likely to visit your company's website for more information. Be ready for them with great localized content.
Making Content CX Translation Easy
The best way to localize your CX for customers coming from aggregator sites is to partner with a translation vendor that specializes in localizing website and digital omnichannel content.
Look for a localization solution that offers:
- Expert translators who craft authentic, localized content that generates customer trust
- Capabilities to detect and localize images, multimedia and dynamic content
- Flexibility to work with any CMS, e-commerce solution, product feed or other platform
- Business optimization technologies that boost traffic, engagement and revenue
- Free, unlimited access to previously translated content to reuse for any asset or channel
Conclusion
If your brand serves international customers via e-commerce aggregators and marketplaces, remember that localizing your full customer experience—including your corporate website—plays an integral part in educating customers, and your global growth.
Partner with a superior translation vendor that localizes digital content to craft an immersive buyer’s journey that fosters brand awareness and trust, no matter where your global customers live, or purchase your products.
Last updated on August 28, 2019
