8 Crucial Steps to Implement Product Localization

Product localization is the process of adapting your product or website to your target market consisting of a wide range of users. In other words, Product Localization is making your brand accustomed across different countries, cultures, regions and local languages.

Let us now understand the different  ways on how product localization strategy is implemented

1. 1. Build the Team – The first step towards implementing product localization is to gather your team. The size of your team would depend on your company’s size and resources to ensure effective localization. But, every localization team will need the following members –
      • Localization Project Manager The responsibility of a project manager is to organize the localization team throughout the process. A project manager should have extensive experience in managing projects and should have excellent communication skills. He/she should be fluent in the languages you plan to localize.
      • Translator or Linguist Translators are responsible for converting the entire product language into another. They must be native speakers of the source and the target language.
      • Product Designer The job of a designer in product localization is to ensure that all the elements such as user experience, and branding are adapted to resonate with the diverse cultures. They collaborate with the localization team to create a seamless product experience globally.
      • Quality Assurance Engineer Quality Assurance Engineer is responsible for carrying out tests for the localized products to ensure their proper functionality, linguistic accuracy and cultural appropriateness.
      • Localization Engineer Localization Engineer carries out all the technical aspects of localization such as internalization, software engineering and other localization tools.
   2. Know your Target Audience – Conducting market research is the most crucial step of product localization. Before expanding your market base into other countries, you need to understand your target market. Factors like cultural characteristics such as language, cultural norms etc. should be considered. You must also understand the language that most people in your target market speak and translate them accordingly. For example if you are localizing your content in Chinese, you must know the audience and localize accordingly. You need to know if you want to localize your content in Chinese Simplified or Chinese Traditional. Understanding the local laws and regulations is also an important aspect which should be done while doing the target audience research. Products or Startups related to smoking, alcohol and gambling need extra care in terms of local Laws and regulation.
   3. Think about Localization Strategy – The third step is to decide on a localization strategy. Usually, there are three types of localization strategies such as Agile, Waterfall, and Continuous Localization.
      • Agile Localization – Like the name suggests it is a flexible type of localization which is based on continuous improvement and feedback.
      • Waterfall localization – It is a linear approach of localization. It begins with planning, translation, and testing wherein every step is completed one after another.
      • Continuous localization – It is a continuous form of localization wherein localization activities occur continuously. Different Tools such as content management systems (CMS) and translation management systems (TMS) are being used to streamline the workflow.
   4. Choose the right tool for Localization – The next step is choosing the right kinds of tools for your localization process. Tools such as Translation management system, content Management system, Translation memory (™), Glossary are used for Product localization. These tools make your localization easy, improving efficiency, maintaining consistency and reducing different costs associated with Localization.
   5. Internationalization is a must for Localization – After choosing the right tools, deciding on a strategy, and assembling a team, the next step is to start the product localization with internalization. It involves a series of steps,namely –
      • Extract Texts in Translation file – Extraction of text for translation consists of a series of steps which includes parsing or decoding the file structure, text extraction, export segmentation and merging.
      • Localizing Usual Visual Elements – Different cultures may have different interpretations of visual representations and symbolism. Therefore localization must take this step into account.
      • App in Unicode Compatible – It is yet another step of internalization wherein a unique number is provided for every character across languages and scripts.
      • Localizing Currency – It is the process of formatting currency for each country using symbols, codes and patterns to indicate a currency and its value of exchange.
      • Localizing Time & Date – It is a crucial aspect of global communication and understanding which shows that you understand your audience’s regional preferences.
      • Left or Right text Alignment – It is necessary to improve readability and help readers track where they are.
   6. Localize Your Product & Other Assets – The next step in product localization is to localize your product and other assets. The FAQ, user manual sections etc that you see on a site falls under this category. One can’t deny that all these resources enhance the beauty of your site even more. Let us understand what are the aspects of this.
      • Application Screens or Website Page – It is the site that you see on your mobile phone or a laptop. It is a very important part of localization because it is what your customers will see when they first enter on your site.
      • Video and Banner – The videos and banners are also a part of your website which needs to be localized in different languages according to your target market.
      • Physical Product Localization – Physical Product localization is the process of adapting your product or service according to the norms of any cultural audience.
      • Packaging Localization – It involves modifying the text, images, symbols, and other graphical elements on the packaging to make them culturally appropriate and understandable to local consumers.
      • Marketing Material & Customer Email – Localization of marketing material is important in order to increase maximum awareness. Email copy localization is necessary in order to sign-up clients, sales automation customer onboarding etc.
      • Documentation – It is also known as document localization where documents are translated and tailored to meet the needs of target audiences.
      • Support Assistance – This ensures that the software reflects the cultural preferences of your audiences.
   7. Perform Localization testing – Localization test is a kind of test which is performed to know if your product/service works in a particular region or locale. Different kinds of tests such as localization quality assurance etc are performed during this step of product localization.
      • Localization Quality Assurance – It is the process of verifying done to see if a product or service satisfies the requirements of your target audience.
      • Functionality quality Assurance – This step ensures that your product’s software meets the functional requirements thus ensuring its proper functionality for the end user.
      • Visual Quality Assurance – This step ensures that there aren’t any defaults and if there is then they can find out and detect faster with accuracy.
      • Compliant Quality Assurance (Like GDPR) –This step ensures that all the special regulations, industrial standards and ethical requirements are met while launching a product in the market.

All of the following steps are the concluding steps before a product is launched in the market. After these tests are done it’s time to finally launch the product.

8. Measure the key Performance – This step is also a very important step of product localization wherein you get an idea of how your product is doing in the target market and what kind of engagement it got. Evaluating performance is crucial because it makes you aware of your mistakes and the things you should have done and things you should have not etc. You should also keep a close eye on your market share, if it has increased or not. An increasing market share means your audience is engaging with your product/ content. Social Media Engagement is also another factor that is a base for evaluating your performance , since most of the users today come to your website through either facebook, instagram or tiktok. Evaluating these social media platforms gives you a clear perspective of how your product is actually doing in the market.

Conclusion

Framing the right strategy, finding the right tools and assembling a team that knows how to get the job done are the most essential aspects of product localization.

If this blog helped you in any way and you’re looking for the right team for your business to expand borders, then contact us for Localization strategy at https://linguidoor.com/  ! We will be right by your side to help you!! HURRY