Too many businesses view the translation of websites, articles and other marketing assets as an expense to be minimised, rather than an opportunity to drastically increase the turnover of their business. However, in most cases, money spent on translation is an investment with the potential for tremendous returns.

That’s why we’re here to spell out very clearly how the translation of your marketing assets can send you sales through the roof. Here are four ways an investment in translation can give you that elusive competitive advantage in an incredibly cost-effective way…

1. Attract new customers by fulfilling unmet needs

Customers prefer to make purchases online in their native language. The UK is a hugely diverse country, with statistics showing that 22 percent of Londoners don’t speak English as their first language and 300,000 London residents speak no English at all. It is also a tourist destination and business hub that attracts visitors from all around the world. That means there’s a lot of foreign language needs which aren’t being met.

As a simple example, Chinese visitors spend a huge amount of money in the UK, but how many British hotels and online stores do you know that translate their websites into Mandarin? In fact, only 18 percent of British hotels provide travel and tourism guides in Chinese and only 21 percent plan to do so in the next 12 months. If that’s not a huge opportunity then we’re not sure what is.

2. Get a search engine boost

Any online business will know that getting a website made is only half the battle. It then needs to be promoted and marketed extensively to gain visibility in the search engine rankings. Without translating your site, you will never be found by international users or British-based browsers who do not use English as their first language online.

And remember, the search engines reward quality. That means, if you create an error-strewn site that you’ve run through Google Translate, you’ll be penalised by the search engines and banished to the bottom of the rankings.

3. Engage your customers

The modern age of social media and content marketing is all about customer engagement. The more you engage your customers, the more likely they are to trust your brand and be loyal in the future. The key to engaging your customers is to speak to them in their language. That means inviting discussion and sharing interesting and entertaining content, but more literally it means speaking to them in their language. You cannot engage your customers and build relationships if they do not understand your content.

4. Improve customer satisfaction

If you have a multilingual customer base then multilingual customer support is something you should seriously consider. Receiving good reviews and dealing with customer queries quickly and in a language your users understand will help to create repeat customers, which directly boosts your bottom line.

Here are a couple of statistics to illustrate the point:

• 74 percent of customers would be more likely to purchase from a company that offers post-sales support in their language;
• 71.5 percent of customer service leaders said support in a customer’s native language increased their levels of satisfaction, while 58.4 percent said it increased their loyalty to the brand.

What are you waiting for?

Looking for a way to gain a competitive advantage and boost your ROI? Get in touch with Linguistica International today to discuss your translation or transcreation project.