Translate Landing Pages to Personalize the Global Buyer Experience

March 28, 2022
Contributor: Francesco Papagni

Cater to global software buyers in their native languages and generate more leads and sales with accurately translated landing pages.

If you’re a software or SaaS provider aiming to serve global buyers in their native languages, it’s critical to personalize the buying experience on your website. This entails tailoring website content to fit each visitor’s needs or interests to offer a seamless purchase experience.

Translating landing pages into multiple languages will let you reach global prospects with the same effectiveness in messaging, resulting in more leads and sales. So whether you want to reach global buyers in different languages or target a specific demographic, translating landing pages will help your software business stand out.

In this post, we explain why and how to translate landing pages to boost global appeal for your product or service. But first, let’s understand the significance of translated marketing materials.

Global buyers prefer marketing materials in their native language

Prospects are more likely to be interested in learning about your software when marketing materials are available in their first language. Most software buyers believe it’s essential to translate marketing collateral into their native language, per Gartner Digital Markets’ 2021 Global Software Outlook survey. (Read the survey methodology at the end of the article.)

Importance of content in user's primary language

Translated marketing materials offer a lucrative opportunity to expand your global reach, differentiate yourself from competitors and deliver more value to potential software buyers. They are easily consumed by prospects who speak languages other than English or reside in countries that would otherwise go unnoticed among the din of competitors. 

Two benefits of translated marketing collateral:
 
  1. Convey the same message to audiences in different countries without any confusion.
  2. Share your brand's persona across borders and speak in your customer’s language.

Why is it important for software providers to translate landing pages?

Landing pages are vital for digital marketing and sales, and serve as a crucial tool for attracting prospects and converting them. However, if visitors don’t understand the language of your landing page, it could result in a drastic conversion drop.

About 66% of software buyers believe it is imperative to read or access software companies’ sites and landing pages in their first language, per Gartner Digital Markets’ 2021 COVID-19 Impact on Business Strategy survey. (Read the survey methodology at the end of the article.) 

If you're a software or SaaS provider planning to target overseas customers to boost leads and sales, make sure your landing pages as well as marketing materials, such as brochures and user guides, are translated into target market languages. 

Five ways translated landing pages boost conversions:
 
  1. Enhance exposure and market reach: By translating landing pages into foreign languages, you tap into a larger pool of potential customers living in areas where English is not the first language. By doing so, you capture a bigger share of the global market, increasing your customer base and revenue opportunities.
  2. Establish credibility and build rapport: Translated landing pages reinforce the legitimacy of your software business in the eyes of potential customers. They highlight professionalism and courtesy, as prospects can easily access information about your software offerings.
  3. Improve search engine optimization (SEO): Translated landing pages are likely to have better SEO ranking because they are mentioned and shared more. The indexed pages for a search term increase when the same webpage appears in multiple languages, resulting in a higher ranking.
  4. Increase marketability: If prospects land on a foreign language webpage, they might leave because understanding information in an unfamiliar language can be cumbersome. Translation helps you avoid losing potential buyers due to linguistic boundaries. More languages mean more reach, which increases marketability.
  5. Maximize product or service value: Translating landing pages into different languages boosts the product value because foreign prospects are more likely to purchase if they understand everything the product offers. Moreover, landing pages in prospects’ target language make them feel valued, resulting in more leads and sales.

How to translate landing pages for a seamless global buying experience

 

1. Decide where translation is worth the effort and cost

When translating landing pages, decide which pages should be localized based on the needs of your target audience. The needs may differ across regions, so consider translating certain pages or restructuring the page content and overall flow accordingly.

Translations will be effective only if they're done well and targeted at the right websites, audiences and campaigns. You'll find that translations on smaller, niche sites are much more likely to perform well in comparison to generic websites.

Translation is an effort, so it’s crucial to get it right. Here’s how to make it worth your while:

  • Identify the different languages your prospects speak to determine target languages for translation or localization.
  • Focus on high-value pages and audiences to prioritize translation.
  • Carefully evaluate each site, campaign or audience to decide if localization is indeed required.

2. Tweak keywords and messaging for local audiences

Every country has a unique market in terms of culture, values and language. When localizing a website or landing page for international markets, don’t ignore this aspect because it can result in missed sales opportunities.

So how do you tweak keywords and messaging per local audiences while translating landing pages? Here are a few steps to follow:

  • Ensure consistency along with localization: Keep the message consistent for better customer engagement yet refine it for local buyers. For example, America's favorite snack “french fries” are known as chips in British English and "Pommes Frites" in French. Understand your target market’s dialect and tweak messaging accordingly to avoid translation mishaps.
  • Understand international SEO: Understand buyers’ search intent to target keywords relevant to global audiences. For example, if you want to rank for the keyword "red widgets" in German, your landing page content should include words like "rot," which is German for red.
London landscape

Webinar: European Buyer Trends

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3. Hire an expert translator

If you don't speak the language of your target audience, don't translate your landing pages on your own because you'll most likely create contextually incorrect content. Get language and cultural experts involved in the process to reduce effort and workarounds.

But the question is: How do you find the right talent? Should you go with a translation agency, hire a freelancer or create your own in-house translation team? Or should you partner with sites that already have localized websites? Here are some options you can explore:

  • Hire freelancers: Freelance translators are ideal for small projects that require occasional translation work. If you're looking to cut costs on your landing page translations, freelancers could be a great option. However, freelancer hiring can result in issues such as difficulty tracking progress and inconsistent translation quality.
  • Create an in-house team: In-house teams have a sound understanding of your company's products or services and are well versed in the industry and language pair. They also ensure consistent high-quality translation output. However, having an in-house team requires significant investment and a dedicated project manager to keep everyone on task.
  • Choose a professional translation agency: Third-party agencies are more efficient because they have dedicated localization teams proficient in target languages and with industry expertise in creating localized landing pages. These agencies maintain a consistent brand voice throughout by leveraging translators who specialize in your industry.
  • Partner with networks that already have localized sites: They can help you save time and effort since they specialize in your target industry, language and location. This way, you can direct interested buyers to the highest quality page written by experts who know how to speak in the language of your target market.

Ready to serve global buyers?

The global software market is vast and ever-growing. If you don’t cater to buyers in their native languages, you will miss out on many potential sales opportunities. Now that you know the “why and how” of translating landing pages without losing the core messaging, it’s time to act on them by implementing the tips we’ve shared in this article.

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Survey methodology:

Gartner Digital Markets 2021 Global Software Outlook Survey

Results presented are based on a Gartner Digital Markets study to understand business challenges and approaches to technology and software investments. The primary research was conducted between October and November 2020 among a total of 1,349 respondents in the following countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, India, Spain, Germany and France.

Companies were screened for number of employees (2 to 249) and total annual revenue (less than 100 million USD in fiscal 2019) to arrive at small and midsize businesses. Respondents were also required to be involved in purchasing technologies for the organization and hold a position of manager or above in the company.

Gartner Digital Markets 2021 COVID-19 Impact on Business Strategy

Results presented are based on a Gartner Digital Markets study conducted to understand the current practices around demand, buying practices and investment practices pertaining to software solutions. The research was conducted online from November through December 2020 among IT decision-makers across companies in Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and India.

Francesco Papagni

Francesco Papagni is an Associate Director of International Marketing at Gartner Digital Markets, where he helps companies grow faster and scale their operations efficiently. He has 12+ years of experience in international omnichannel marketing and expertise in multilingual digital strategy and execution. Connect with Francesco on LinkedIn.

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