Do We Need App Localization?

Undoubtedly, the world is becoming more interconnected than it was ever before. This interdependency is transparent, and everybody knows it. Events taking place in one part of the world have a significant impact elsewhere. The Covid-19 pandemic is an obvious example of that. 

Consumer Preference Data

On the other hand, Social media has enabled IT companies to gather a lot of data. This data particularly pertains to consumer preferences. 

The business world, especially the customer service sector, needs to be aware of consumer buying behavior. And once you attain that, your mobile application will be able to cater to a larger consumer base. 

Mobile Application Market:

App Downloading

Around 700 million mobile applications are downloaded on a daily basis. This shows that consumers are downloading all kinds of apps. 

The main reason behind this is that there is an app for almost every possible human activity. Whether it be financial tasks, or keeping up with the latest current affairs. You name it, and you’ll probably find an app for that. 

Professional App Localization Solutions

If a mobile application is popular in a particular region, the probability of it being successful in another country is relatively high. And the probability increases if one utilizes a professional app localization solution. 

App localization services can help you like they helped Nintendo’s Pokémon game. When it was introduced in areas like New Zealand and Australia, the gaming applications were localized for that particular region. 

This increases the popularity of their brand worldwide, something that every organization strives for. 

The Need For App Localization 

However, if you are still confused as to what is the need to opt for mobile app translation & localization. Let us clear out how app localization benefits companies;

• Easy Penetration Into A Foreign Market

If you think that introducing your mobile application in just one market, will make you a global brand, then your thinking cannot be more wrong. 

In order to cater to a global audience, you need access to a global market. And nothing can enable an efficient penetration into a foreign market than a localization service.

Moreover, businesses operating in America assume that majority of the mobile application users are based in the USA. This statement is far from the truth.

Factually speaking, over half of the world’s mobile application users are from third-world countries. This shows that organizations need to translate or localize their applications as it will allow them to increase their user base, market size, and revenue. 

• Increased Profits 

There are around 7.1 billion mobile phone users worldwide. This number is eventually going to hit the 7.26 billion mark.

 With an increasing number comes the challenge of language barriers which can only be bridged by localization services. 

And if you want to introduce your application in another country, you need App localization services for successful foreign market penetration. 

And once you do that your sales will increase, which will naturally ameliorate your profits. But the aim must be to localize your mobile app in such a way that you are able to keep the cultural intricacies and linguistic preferences intact.

Is Mobile App Localization Too Good To Be True?

Are there any downside or drawbacks to mobile app localization, or is it just a perfect model?

This question is always discussed when applications are localized for a particular region. The reason behind this is that penetrating a foreign market by translating an application is just not enough.

There are other steps that you need to inculcate along with translation and localization. They include:

• Optimizing the design
• Understanding the cultural expressions
• Study the nuances of the language
• The demographics of the target audience
• The buying behavior of the consumers
• The post-purchase app usage time of the subscribers.

Being Aware of How The Consumer Thinks 

Businesses often make the mistake of assuming that just translating applications in multiple languages will get the job done. 

Though people might know the translated languages, there are no guarantees that they will be able to relate to the message you are trying to convey. In order to relate with your audience, you need to be aware of how the consumer thinks. 

The thinking process, and especially the consumer purchasing thinking process, needs to be understood first before you translate the mobile application. 

Consumer Experience

Mobile app localization inculcates all the above-mentioned points. It is not just a simple word substitution from one language to another. Rather, it is a consumer experience. An experience that incorporates the user’s belief systems, ideas, culture, and social climate. 

Organizations that are able to do all that can expect their consumers to advocate their apps. And nothing becomes more popular than word of mouth of an application. 

If your user experience compels the users to promote your brand and application, then understand that you have been successful in localizing the app. 

Now that we have understood the need for app localization. Let us try to understand how we can localize the mobile application.

How To Localize Your Mobile Application 

Once you have decided that you are going to penetrate a foreign market by introducing your application in the target language, the next step is to localize your application both on iOS and Android platforms. 

There are minute differences that you will have to understand in order to curb problems. However, the step by step process of localizing your platform is as follows;

1. Attaining Resources

The first step is to gather all the resources that are necessary for localizing your application. This may pertain to all the coding resources. Hence, include;

• The text or content that will be translated
• All the visual imagery 
• The necessary tutorials
• Data files that may contain the codes of the programs 

Organizations mainly have two resources in this scenario. They can either go for outsourcing or an in-house localization process. 

It depends on your budgetary constraints and the target market that you are planning to penetrate. 

• Layout

The layout is very important during app localization. The issue posed by space during designing the application is one of the biggest challenges that you have to deal with. Hence, preparing for it is very crucial.  

Layout pertains to the length of the letters. Now every letter or word takes a different physical space in a different language. Hence, you have to design your application layout accordingly. 

• Context

In localization, the fundamental aim is to convey the exact and intended meaning to the target audience. And in order to do that effectively, the professional translators, whether in-house or outsourced, need proper context. 

Hence, when the resources are finalized and then transferred to the translators, your job as an organizer is to ensure that they are familiar with the context as well. 

Conclusion 

In this article, we discussed the need for app localization. App localization has become the need of the hour considering more and more businesses are attempting to penetrate foreign markets.

However, in order to successfully introduce your application, you need to conduct thorough research of the target market. 

It mainly includes the cultural context, which is crucial for translators. Then comes the layout structure that needs to be decide considering the language of selection. Once the layout issue is resolve, firms need to go through the app localization testing phase.