What Is Localization? A Comprehensive Overview

What is localization?

Localization is the adaptation of content, products, or services to meet the linguistic, cultural, and functional expectations of a specific region or market. Localization goes beyond translation to modify the design, currency formats, and legal requirements for a new locale.

Translation vs localization

Translation is the first, and most important, step in the localization process. Translation conveys your message to audiences who don’t speak your language. Localization, on the other hand, helps to ensure that the message is available to and resonates with them.

Localization abbreviations

Before we move any further, let’s clarify abbreviations associated with localization:

• l10n stands for localization, where 10 is the number of letters between l and n.
• i18n stands for internationalization, which is the practice of developing software that can be easily adapted to international markets.
• g11n stands for globalization, which is a strategic approach businesses take to reach global markets.
• t9n stands for translation, which is something you need to understand this message: エフォートレス・ローカライゼーションのためにセンタスをお試しください。

Localization goals and objectives

This is where things get hairy as there are too many localization goals and objectives to focus on.

Hopefully, the previous section gave you a thorough understanding of localization benefits. Prioritize the ones near and dear to your company’s strategic vision to set broad localization goals. Then, narrow them down to create specific localization objectives.

Let’s start with localization goals:

Your company might want to increase a market share, revenue, or customer engagement. It can also pursue better accessibility, user experience, SEO performance, brand reputation, or legal compliance. Other goals localization helps to achieve are enhanced customer loyalty and conversion rates.

Localization objectives are more specific.

Case in point:

This localization objective is optimized with the SMART framework. It’s attainable, specific (reach a 30%), measurable (open rate), relevant (localized emails), and time-bound (in 3 months).

Your company can pursue any number of localization objectives, including:

• Higher visitor numbers
• Lower bounce rates
• More time spent on a page
• Higher conversion rates
• Higher click-through rates
• Higher social media engagement
• Higher localized revenue
• Higher average order value (AOV)
• Higher sales conversion rates
• Higher customer lifetime value (CLTV)
• Higher customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• Higher brand consideration
• Higher aided brand awareness
• Higher customer satisfaction index

Why do you need localization?

Localization pays off. And in more ways than one.

Here are the main benefits of localization:

Benefit #1: Lead generation

Of all the lead generation strategies, which one is the best?

Here at Centus, we think highly of localization. Our customers regularly report increased traffic to their localized websites, which is followed by new leads.

But don’t take it just from us:

For example, look at all the traffic the American software company, Asana, gets for the Spanish version of its website:

That’s 2.2M monthly visits 🤯!

Even less frequently-used languages bring Asana a wealth of potential leads.

Take German, for example, which garners the company 380K visitors each month:

With the SEO conversion rate of 2.4 percent, the company is projected to generate 52.8K Spanish leads and 9.1K German leads.

Clearly, localization is a powerful tool for generating leads, and it works across the board.

No matter which language you localize into, you can almost certainly boost your traffic and, consequently, get more leads.

Benefit #2: Enhanced audience coverage

Localization helps you build an audience on social media. Whether you grow organically or buy ads, speaking the audience’s language is key to grabbing their attention.

For instance, the American company, Adobe, has created localized versions of its YouTube channel, and it pays off handsomely. Currently, the localized channels boast 91.2K subscribers for the French version and 59.8K for the German version.

Of course, not every company can afford to create local YouTube channels. But it doesn’t mean you can’t at least localize your ads.

The American software company, Zendesk, localizes its ads across the board, thereby substantially increasing its audience coverage.

For example, here’s Zendesk’s YouTube ad, which has reached between 3.5M and 4M French-speaking viewers.

Given that the conversion rate of YouTube ads is around 0.5 percent, Zendesk is looking at 17.5K to 20K leads. Worthy investment!

And here’s the company’s localized LinkedIn ad.

After being shown for just two days, the ad gained between 10K and 50K impressions among French-speaking LinkedIn users. At the conversion rate of 3.5 percent, Zendesk can expect from 350 to 1,750 leads.

The company has repeated the trick with different versions of the ad, converting large swathes of LinkedIn audience.

If you’re after similar results, give this localization strategy a try.

Benefit #3: Increased engagement

If you browse social media profiles of corporate giants, you’ll be surprised by how little engagement they get.

Just look at this Saleseforce’s video with over 4M views that has garnered a mere 18 comments and 517 likes.

To move the needle, companies should either localize their content or (horror!) make better content.

HubSpot, for example, excels at both—creating great content and localizing it for local audiences. Just look at its YouTube page where videos garner thousands of likes and dozens of comments.

With 161K views, the video has 127 comments and 2K likes. Another win for localization.

Benefit #4: Cultural alignment

By localizing your product, you embrace local cultures, thereby creating a deeper connection with your customers. This connection fosters brand trust and loyalty.

A company that kills at it? Pepsi. Just look at its hyperlocalized can design:

Cultural alignment is not easy to get right. But if you do, you’ll turn your customers into advocates for your brand. And that’s worth every penny.

Benefit #5: Competitive advantage

It’s simple: no localization, no leads. And those who know it, enjoy a competitive advantage. Why?

Because 76% of online buyers prefer to buy in their own language.

If your competitors haven’t realized how easy it is to localize their content, don’t wait! Follow our advice to create a localization strategy and gain a competitive edge.

Levels of localization

Companies with different budgets localize their offerings to varying degrees:

Partial localization

SMBs with a limited budget, focus on localizing landing pages, pricing page, and website menus. If your offering is good and the website reflects it, the visitors will overlook an unlocalized chatbot or legal pages.

Complete localization

If there’s a strong demand for your offering in a local market, localize your marketing assets, brand identity, customer support, and other customer-facing content.

Complete localization is usually pursued by established enterprises. The rule of thumb to follow here is to pursue complete localization only if you’re confident the investment will recoup itself.

Complete localization encompasses:

• Translation is the conversion of content from one language to another.
• Cultural adaptation is the alignment of content with the local culture.
• UI/UX localization is the adaptation of website or product UI/UX to meet local preferences.
• Payment localization is the adjustment of payment methods and the conversion of currency prices to match local financial systems.
• Format localization is the adjustment of dates, times, and other formats according to local standards.
• Technical adaptation is the adjustment of the product to ensure compatibility with local devices or platforms.
• SEO localization is the optimization of keywords for local search engines.
• Legal and regulatory localization is the modification of legal terms and conditions to comply with local laws and regulations.
• Customer support localization is the resolution of customer issues in their language.

Localization assets

I’m afraid I have bad news for those hoping to localize their product quickly and move on.

Sure you can go for low-hanging opportunities and localize just your product and website. But how satisfied will your customers be without localized onboarding? And will you be able to retain them without localized customer support?

For best results, localize the following assets:

• App
• Software
• Website
• Marketing assets
• Brand identity
• Technical content
• Legal content
• Social media
• Knowledge base
• Chatbot

Naturally, your budget has its limits. And so should your localization efforts.

Assess your company’s needs and customers’ expectations to select the primary areas of localization. Then, prioritize the overlap between the two, as it has the highest business potential.

Start with landing pages, demos, and onboarding materials. If your budget permits, move on to legal materials, social media, and customer support.

Put simply, localize everything that helps you sell your product and helps your customers buy it.

This brings us to the cost of localization.

How much does localization cost?

The localization cost varies depending on the scope of your project and languages you’re targeting. The key cost considerations are:

• Content volume
• Content type
• Content languages
• Quality expectations
• Developer time
• Designer time

Since content translation is often the largest expenditure in your localization budget, let’s cover it first.

Consider the average translation rates for the world’s popular language pairs:

If you want to localize your offering completely, you’ll also need to account for developer and designer time.

The developers need to adapt code for multilingual support and manage localization files. The designers’ time is required to adjust layouts and add translations to images.

In 2024, developers and designers command the following rates for typical localization tasks:

Now, if you want to localize a 100-page SaaS website into Spanish, the total estimated cost would be from $6,800 to $24,000.

Don’t let these numbers dissuade you from localizing your product.

Using a localization management platform, like Centus, you can substantially lower your localization costs. Here’s how.

How to minimize localization costs

Translators can handle up to 3,000 words per day. For large projects, this pace is not only painfully slow but also prohibitively expensive.

Cue Centus.

Centus boosts your translation team’s efficiency, significantly reducing translation costs.

With Centus your team can bulk translate content for your website or strings for your app. Once that’s done, they can edit automatically-generated translations.

The result?

Up to 90% cheaper and faster translations.

To further help your team, encourage the use of Centus glossaries. This will help to keep the translations consistent throughout your entire project.

Is Centus only for translators?

Of course, not! Bring your editors, designers, developers, and managers to Centus to finish your project weeks ahead of schedule.

For example, here’s how Centus-Figma integration looks like:

Your team members can work side-by-side, sharing feedback and screenshots to perfectly localize your product.

Centus is packed with other features that minimize localization costs while increasing its quality. There’s not enough space to detail all features here, but if you want to see them, request a demo. Better yet, take Centus for a spin with a free trial.

Tips to avoid localization mistakes

Crafting an effective localization strategy is a bit like walking a tightrope—it requires balance, precision, and a clear focus. To avoid common pitfalls, follow these tips:

• Tech is great, but people are better. Although machine translation has advanced, it cannot replace the nuanced understanding of a human translator. For accurate and culturally relevant translations, blend machine efficiency with human expertise.
• Don't set it and forget it. Localization is an ongoing journey, not a one-time fix. As your brand and markets evolve, keep your content fresh and relevant. Think of it as a living, breathing thing!
• Allocate your resources wisely. Balance the cost of localization with expected returns. You should also regularly evaluate the ROI of your localization efforts to ensure effective resource utilization.
• Measure and optimize. Use KPIs like website traffic, conversion rates, sales, and customer feedback to assess and optimize your strategy regularly. This helps in identifying areas for improvement.
• Local experts are your friends. Partnering with local organizations/distributors who know their domestic market is a smart move. They'll guide you through legal regulations, help you adapt your marketing, and even connect you with local influencers.
• Rules matter. Every country has its own legal and privacy regulations. Do your research and make sure your localized content plays by the rules. For example, Facebook faced fines in Europe for not complying with GDPR regulations. Ensure you're aware of and comply with these local laws.
• Avoid over-localization. Be careful not to dilute your brand identity in an effort to localize. Maintain a balance between adapting to local markets and preserving your brand’s core essence.
• Consider cultural sensitivities. Humor, imagery, and even colors can have different interpretations in different cultures. Conduct cultural audits and involve cultural consultants to ensure your localized content resonates without offending anyone.

Parting thoughts

While complete localization is desirable, it’s rarely achievable. Because, in most cases, you’ll have more words than dollars.

Nevertheless, partial localization isn’t something to lose sleep over. Start small and if your localization efforts prove effective, scale them up to fully localize your offerings. In either case, Centus is your reliable localization partner.

Try Centus now!