When expanding your business into international markets, the user experience you provide online can make a big difference.
According to a 2023 Salesforce survey of 11,000 global consumers, 80% of customers say that the experience a company provides is just as important as its products and services. And great customer experiences drive real business outcomes. 71 percent of consumers say they have recommended a company to others after receiving great customer service, and 88 percent say a good experience makes them more likely to buy from a brand again.
Designing a customer experience with international users in mind often comes down to getting the details right. Here are some strategies to keep in mind:
- Build a Comprehensive Website
If you don’t translate your website into the local market’s language, you could be missing out on a significant portion of your entire target market. A 2020 CSA Research survey of nearly 9,000 global consumers found that 76 percent of online shoppers prefer to buy products that offer information in their native language. A whopping 40% said they’ve never shopped on a website in another language.
But translation is only part of the picture. Formatting and design are important, too. Take an address, for example: In the United States, checkout forms always have fields for state, city, and zip code. However, other countries separate addresses differently, using state, city, neighborhood, etc. Making sure your site offers options for these fields will help make your products accessible to customers around the world with confidence.
The same goes for dates, currency formats, phone numbers, and units of measurement, according to localization software company Lokalize. “your product should look and feel as if it was created in the market or country you’re targeting,” says Lokalize.
- Customize Customer Support
Your customers should be able to access support when they need it, regardless of their location. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your international customers need the exact same support you offer to customers in your home market, according to international business consultant Nataly Kelly.
Instead of “all things in all markets,” Kelly suggested in a 2023 Harvard Business Review article that you can choose to customize the customer experience for each regional market. For example, you could offer a chatbot in your home market that’s accessible 24/7 by a human agent, but “it might be logistically easier to launch in the local market with human support reps than to localize your chatbot,” Kelly said.
“You can build greater brand trust with humans initially,” she added. “The cost of human talent is typically lower in the new market anyway.”
- Make localization a priority
Localization, the process of making something relevant to a specific location, is critical to a company’s international marketing strategy and digital presence.
This goes beyond translation. According to translation service Weglot, a key part of localization is taking local culture into account through region-specific slang, grammar, spelling, and word choice. Not only does this help you build a more authentic connection with new audiences, it’s also crucial for effectively reaching international customers. For example, when a shopper in the UK types “jumpers” into their browser, your sweater brand may not show up.