How to Maximize Sales with Localized Content

How can you increase your software sales? Well, one of the benefits of electronic software delivery is that business is cross countries, which means you can access a large mass of potential buyers all over the world. We've come to know however, that globalization is not the answer but rather the tool to expand your target. The answer is localization.

Multilanguage order interface

It's so natural to enjoy being addressed in your native language or to recognize familiar things such as your local currency. It builds trust, creates comfort and encourages shoppers to go throughout the checkout process. This is particularly useful when you want to enter markets with high potential but where language is either an obstacle (people are not all English speakers) or a sensitive issue (in countries with a higher nationalist spirit). It may be costly because translating such important pages as the order interface should be treated with the utmost care: native translators, specialized (preferably) or at least with knowledge in eCommerce, proofreading.

Also consider double proofreading with a different translation company (or a native friend/partner) to ease your mind. It's easy to measure results afterwards because you only have to watch sales volumes and the list of countries from where the orders come. While also looking at these data, figure out which language to implement next. At Avangate, we already have a strategy for localization and each month we add a new language that eventually brings more sales to our clients software vendors.

Client support

Now here is a debate - should there be multilanguage support for shoppers who may have problems or not? You need to answer this question after you consider a little who your buyers are. Your eCommerce provider will take care of support for questions regarding online orders and payments; Avangate has this service in place 24/7 by email and phone, which means at any time your clients may call and find an answer to their issue and finish the order. However, this is not all. For any questions regarding products, support should stay with you and if you think about localization, then you need to do some math. Multilanguage support means hire more people and this is an investment you need to measure against business interests and profit at the end of the day.

Also, multilanguage support is not the right answer. Here is what we did: for the Americas we introduced a toll free number which answers so well shopper expectations on the most active online market. Our advice, look for what counts best for people in the country you target, see how important that country is for your business and assess investment.

Local currency payments

As a software vendor you want to be as appealing to your shoppers as possible and still you want your accounting to stay smooth. Imagine accepting and being paid in seven different currencies to seven different accounts - that would be a problem.

However, using an eCommerce solution solves it. With Avangate, for example, your clients can choose their local currency (it is actually automatically displayed thanks to an integrated geo-location tool) but there is no fuss for you. In the back office local currency is exchanged in the currency established by you, the software vendor. At the end of the agreed period you receive the money from Avangate, in the currency established, of course. Most importantly, you get to set your own exchange rates or even different prices for different countries (currencies) according to your sales strategy.

Localized content on website

That would be important for your traffic first of all - and good traffic may bring you in a top position in Google, even a localized Google page. Hence, more orders for you. Also, never forget about localization when creating banners and landing pages for an event taking place in another country. Work with Google Analytics or your analytics tool and see how visitors behave on these pages once you put localized content there.

Your product: localized software

Not necessary, but important. It depends on the type of product you sell (how complex, for whom it is designed, if it's highly specialized or just for entertainment), its appeals to a particular country or a certain type of consumers (poor not at all English speakers, etc).

It is easy to promote such a product and also to snatch costumers from competition. When you think about product promotion, you should first of all think about cover mount CDs that are a big attraction and magazines would more gladly agree to accept your product if it is localized. Read also our article: The Importance of Software Localization.

Your people: feel the market

Business is made by people and this will for ever stay true. It's more effective to go with localized approach and sales or marketing people who know that specific market and (even better) the local language. They can keep more easily track of market changes, competition moves, contextual opportunities, they get in touch and establish relations at a more solid level than if they were speaking only English (of course, it is also a matter of what you say, not just about the language!).

Overall, employing in key positions people who speak various foreign languages (or even natives) and can have a targeted approach on a specific market, is the strongest advantage in negotiations.

All these will increase your sales. How much they will depends on what country you apply such localized strategy for, its potential and how well you made your choices. You do not need to localize everything or take countries alphabetically till you've covered them all. It's a matter of profit versus investments and at the end of the day you must consider the most effective balance.