E-commerce is often more profitable than the traditional form of selling due to greater access to potential foreign customers. However, in order to maximise their sales opportunities, a retailer should not limit their shop only to their native language or English. As statistics show, more than half of all customers buy products online if they have access to information in their native language.
Translation – but not just any kind
Lack of translation content in an online shop can often discourage customers from making a purchase. It is worth remembering, however, that a poor quality translation can be even worse than no translation at all. A translation generated by AI or Google Translator will sound artificial and, instead of encouraging, may put customers off by evoking associations with scam or fake sites. Another element of good translation is localisation – adapting the content to the culture of the country. Localisation of the website takes into account the preferences of the users of the country by, for example, adjusting the currency, metric system and size chart.
What to translate?
The heart of an online shop is its homepage, the first web page that customers see when they open the link leading to the shop. It is therefore important that its translation is not only correct, but also attractive and customer-oriented. Product or service descriptions will also play a major role; after all, it’s their selling point. The content of the descriptions should sound natural and inviting to the foreign customer. Care should also be taken to correctly translate the opinions of other customers, regardless of whether their opinion is favourable or not. A poor translation can be associated with internet bots.
SEO in online shops translation
It is worth remembering that a translation will not encourage a foreign customer to buy if the site is not suggested by their search engine. It should also be borne in mind that different countries use diverse search engines, which arrange pages by referring to different criteria. A professional translator will ensure that not only the keywords, but also the phrases most frequently searched for in a particular country appear on the page. This will ensure that the website will appear high in the search results of potential foreign customers.
(A.W.)
