Can You Measure Localization ROI?

In the grand scheme of making the necessary investments to successfully enter a new market, localization is an immensely important expense.

However, when it comes time to report on how exactly localization has increased profit or revenue, it becomes more of a pipe dream than a definitive explanation. Why? Because measuring localization ROI requires isolating tangibles that aren’t isolatable.

Localization is only one of the necessary investments in market profit. It’s hard to determine what percentage of revenue is allocated to localization and what is allocated to all other business and strategy aspects of market entry. In this article, we’ll dive more into the challenges of measuring localization ROI and how to better navigate showcasing its worth.

Challenges of Measuring Localization ROI

While increased localization ROI is the goal for companies, it’s also challenging to prove exactly how much localization improves ROI. As important as localization is to increase market profitability, that value is also shared with several other components, including:

• Marketing efforts (traditional, digital, search engine optimization, etc.)
• Ongoing brand integrity efforts in current and new markets
• Outbound sales teams  
• Accepted payment systems for any given market
• Compliance with managing accounts receivable
• Local agencies increasing brand awareness

Each of these components contributes to the overall revenue associated with any specific market entry. This is what makes determining localization ROI the “holy grail” attempt for localization managers. It’s also why focusing solely on ROI when deciding on localization expenses is short-sighted. When you’re unable to give a definitive answer about the profitability of localizing, it’s easy to consider neglecting how important it is. A better approach to determining the worth of localization is to measure the costs/risks of not doing it.

Why Should You Localize Your Content?

Although it’s nearly impossible to measure localization ROI, it can become very apparent that it damages your ROI when done incorrectly. One way to see this is by analyzing your website’s bounce rate.

This is a calculation based on how many visitors leave one of your site pages without performing any specific action, i.e. clicking another link, filling out a form, buying a product. An optimal bounce rate is between 26-40%, with anything over 56% being considered high and worth looking into. If your content isn’t localized well, modern-age consumers typically won’t stay on your site for very long.

They would rather search through the abundant other options to find a site that’s more suited to them and spend their money there. Another big indicator of poor localization damaging your company’s ROI is consumer complaints. As we stated above, consumers are very impatient and unforgiving when it comes to deciding if they like a website because there are always other companies they can choose from.

A huge part of this unforgiving nature shows up in poor reviews and complaints about your content. Consumers want to feel that your brand audience includes them as well. Not localizing your content or doing so poorly does just the opposite.

Localization is as much about accurate translations as it is about brand likability. Consumers have to understand your content well enough to enjoy it and endorse it and give you a decent shot at being a profitable competitor in a new market. Treating localization as an unnecessary expense because you’re unable to determine exactly how much it increases ROI can be more damaging than fully investing in it, to begin with.

How Does Localization Improve Website Success?

When done well, localization elevates your website’s efficiency to intrigue consumers long enough to buy your product. The following components are a few ways to track how well localization has aided your website’s appeal in a new market. While they may not give exact dollar amounts to demonstrate profitability, they do present an opportunity to help measure localization success and further prove its worth.

Increased Sales

Localizing content properly gives your website more credibility in new regions. It provides consumers a user experience that feels tailored to them and helps set your product up to be credible amongst competitors. This kind of content increases the chances of consumers purchasing your product. The boost of brand integrity that comes with localizing your content accurately and appropriately for each region will increase profits.  

Improved Keyword Ranking

If you have an SEO strategy in place, localizing your content ensures you continue to get those SEO benefits across markets. Successful localization strategy includes mapping integral keywords and maintaining them and their value during translation. The more regions you localize your content to with mapped keywords, the more value you get out of your initial SEO strategy, which can be a very expensive marketing technique.  

Increased Website Traffic

Just as localization can improve keyword rankings, it can similarly increase website traffic. Localization gives you the best chance to rank higher in searches and be recognized as a reputable brand. Increased website traffic brings increased brand popularity and profitability.  

Optimize Your Localization ROI

When localization isn’t done right, it can cost you much more than the initial expense of it. Working with a localization management platform that can provide transparent pricing and project monitoring gives companies a much easier route to localizing their content.

Additionally, it provides a way to help monitor projected ROI in terms of website success and make real-time adjustments to any part of the localization strategy that could negatively affect it. Partnering with a translation agency that can provide successful strategies for localization and every other phase of adapting your content for market entry gives you the best shot at achieving high revenue and company growth.

At Bureau Works, we understand exactly how important localization is to profitability and we believe in providing a comprehensive and dynamic platform to make sure it’s done right the first time.