We live in an era of globalization in which the physical boundaries between countries are blurring and it is easier than ever to cross borders. In fact, today, with all the technology we have at our fingertips, it is possible to do so without even getting up from the couch. And this presents a great opportunity for online businesses; let's not forget that more than half of the world's population has access to the Internet, which means that there are more than 3,500,000,000 users surfing the Internet. world wide web, by performing informational and transactional searches (these are the ones we are interested in).
With so many diverse markets within reach, it is only logical that the ecommerce to launch to conquer them, very often without taking into account the specificities of each market. A website poorly adapted to the target country can be synonymous with total and resounding failure in a shorter period than you might think. To avoid this situation, read on to find out what you need to take into account before internationalizing your online store:
- The domain name: It may seem obvious, but if we are going to create a new website for foreign markets, choose a domain name that is adapted to the country, the language and that users do not perceive it as a "domain name". foreign will be one of the first things to pay attention to.
- A correct translation: we continue with another basic but key aspect when it comes to internationalizing our online store. We must make sure that the texts in the target language are appropriate for the context and that there are no errors. The best option is always to have a native translator translate our texts into his or her mother tongue, so that our website perfectly mimics the target country and so that users feel that they are in the right language. home. Of course, Google translator is not an option.
- Localization: following on from the previous point, we would like to place special emphasis on the importance of localization; just as translation is responsible for translating a particular text into a new language, localization is a process that goes beyond this: it makes a website or application culturally relevant and appropriate. This process often includes changes to the design, communication style or the way users enter data, even as basic as colors. Doing this cultural adaptation as well as possible will be a determining factor when it comes to conquer to our foreign users.
- Usability is critical: our website should be adapted to the way users in the target country navigate. There are some really interesting and useful analyses that explain what patterns users from different parts of the world follow when scanning a website. The most famous is probably that of Nielsen Norman Group, which highlights the F-shaped pattern and explains its implications. For this I leave here the link to the NNG study: nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/
- Adapt your platform for international sales: finally, it will be of little use that we have followed the above points to the letter if, at the time of purchase, we do not give confidence to our customers. To avoid this, we will need to incorporate into our site the payment gateway most trusted by consumers. In our country, for example, PayPal and Visa are the most common payment methods and the most trusted, but depending on the country, they may be more adapted to Google Wallet or Apple Pay.
As you can see, each local market has its own particularities and the local markets are retailers online must know them all in order to penetrate a foreign market. It is not an easy task, but from Geotelecom, we encourage you to go abroad and tell us about your experience in the comments.