You have probably visited a website that asked which country you are in before showing you its products. That is localisation at work: creating versions of a website targeted to different market audiences, from prices in local currency to imagery that reads correctly in the local culture. Done well it is one of the most direct routes to new markets a business has.

Localisation is adaptation, not just translation

Almost anything can be localised: logos, branding, product ranges, even television, the same show retold for each market while keeping its essential attributes. The point is that localisation goes beyond translation into adaptation, and it is not the opposite of global branding: the biggest global brands assimilate local adaptation into one worldwide strategy.

Does your website need it? If you want customers in other markets, very likely. Around 72 per cent of internet users say they are more likely to buy when product information is in their own language, and a similar share spend most of their time on sites in their native tongue. Language alone, though, is only the beginning.

Start with the strategic questions

Which countries are you targeting? The answer scopes everything. A UK site courting American visitors has no translation work at all, whether colour keeps its “u” will ruin nobody’s day, while a launch into markets with a different language and script is a different project entirely.

Does your branding fit the culture? Colours and gestures do not travel neutrally: green means luck in one market and purity in another; a thumbs-up is friendly in most of the world and offensive in parts of it. Audit your imagery for associations you cannot see from home.

How well known are you there? If your brand already operates in the target market, keep the localised site close to the original, too much change confuses the customers you already have. Launching fresh gives you more latitude to tune the brand to local tastes, or even occupy a slightly different niche than at home.

The practical checklist

Budget before you begin. Nail down the scope, translation only, or a genuine redesign of major sections, and cost the developers, translators and specialists before hiring any of them.

Think globally, act locally

Localisation done well keeps the overall look and feel of your site while creating a more familiar environment for each market: adaptation, never accidental rebranding. If new markets are on your roadmap, our web design team builds sites with localisation in their bones, structure, performance budgets and all.