Translation ROI

Translation and localization are an investment that unlock new revenue streams for your business.

If your product is software or online, it can be easy to create potential demand for your product in new regions. Gather data about what regions website visitors come from, as this information helps you gauge interest in your product in new markets.

If your website allows visitors to select their language, note which languages are most commonly selected. You’ll start with those languages first.

But, maybe you aren’t lucky enough to have that data available to you. Instead, something is holding you back. Whether it’s finding an affordable, reliable translation company or convincing your executive team. You need to assess the demand for your business in a new market and create a compelling business case and identify metrics for ROI.

Remember a few things:

1. 1. Localization and translation are a long-term strategy and commitment.
2. 2. Understand the opportunity cost of not expanding to new markets.
3. 3. Compare costs of goods sold between your current market and new market.
4. 4. Track costs and revenue over time. You should start seeing a return on your investment.

Long-term strategy

What are your business goals? Do you see your company expanding its services across the continent or even around the globe?

If you see your company growing and expanding internationally, then translation and localization will be necessary. The good news is that while you may pay higher rates per word initially, that cost goes down over time as you translate more into your target language. In other words, you’ll get a higher value for the money you spend over time.

Take small steps as you start to expand your business. Choose one country or region to begin. Once you’ve successfully launched in one new market, you’ll have more experience and launching into other regions will be easier.

Opportunity costs

Assess the value and interest in your product in your new market. Are you bringing something brand new to your market? What does your competition look like? Could you delay your launch?

Develop a business case for opening in a new region. Start with looking at data you already have, like where your website gets traffic from.

Maybe you don’t have a business case that’s already clear. In this case, you need to research your new region and target market. Gather the following information about your audience:

• • Types of software and tech used
• • Pain points and problems they need solved
• • Average income of your target market
• • Current pricing and product quality of competitors, if they exist
• • Media exposure -- where should you advertise
• • Cultural preferences for brand visual style and messaging
• • Legal requirements for conducting business in your target region

You need to understand the value of opening in a new market and what it will take to launch before you start moving in that direction.

Cost Of Goods Sold (COGS) assessment

Next, you need some numbers. Consider how much it costs to create and provide your service in your current region. This number includes developers, writers, marketers, and sales representatives.

Now, consider the cost of localization and translation. This number may include some developer time depending on how ready your code is for translation.

To really narrow in on the cost difference -- compare how much you pay for the written content to be produced (salary of tech writers, designers, and marketers) with how much you’ll pay for translation.

Paying for translation maximizes the impact your team has at a fraction of the price.

Track costs and revenue over time

Once you’ve made the investment and launched, you’ll need to track your return. Chart costs and revenue in your new market to visualize your return. Overtime, you should see increasing revenue that more than covers your costs.

Translation and localization have higher upfront costs. Once the initial work is done, the maintenance costs tend to be low. So, once you’ve expanded into a new region, it can be relatively inexpensive to grow in that market.

After you’ve successfully expanded into one new market, you can take those learnings to successful launches in other international markets to continue to grow your business.

References:

https://multilingual.com/articles/responding-to-translation-price-reduction-requests/
https://www.globallyspeakingradio.com/episodes/tracking-data-to-prove-roi/