Ecommerce brands and retailers are increasingly looking beyond domestic borders to capture and engage global audiences — to expand their reach, launch into new markets, and ultimately, increase revenue.
However, capturing the attention of consumers in different markets requires a lot more than just translating content. To truly connect with global audiences and ensure that their content resonates, retailers need to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of cultural differences and ensure that they adhere to local regulations, which definitely isn’t easy.
At Amplify24, our Customer Day, Landmark Group, one of the largest omnichannel retailers in the Middle East, was on stage discussing how they localize content for their audiences across 57 brands in 21 countries. Watch the fireside chat here.
For localization at scale, AI technology becomes invaluable, revolutionizing the way brands deliver content in different regions, and ensuring that content resonates with and engages consumers worldwide.
Why is content localization so important?
For brands and retailers looking to expand internationally, localization is a critical strategy. And it’s not just about translating text from one language into another; it involves adapting messaging to fit the cultural, social and regulatory contexts of each individual target market. In fact, failing to localize your shopping experience could cost you 40% or more of your total addressable market.
Successful content localization improves the customer experience, builds brand loyalty, and drives conversions. Content relevance and local context also improves search rankings, making your site more likely to appear in local search results, driving organic traffic and attracting potential customers.
Understanding cultural differences for a competitive advantage
Cultural differences can significantly influence consumer behavior and preferences. For example, consumers may prefer products associated with their cultural identity, cultural behaviors such as household size can influence which products a consumer buys and in what size, and cultural factors such as traditions, societal norms and shared beliefs can shape consumer attitudes and behaviors.
Culture can also shape how consumers respond to prices and brand advertising, so by demonstrating an understanding of cultural differences between regions and tailoring the customer experience accordingly, retailers are far more likely to connect with and engage their audiences in different markets, leading to increased loyalty and ultimately, increased revenue.
AI technology plays a huge role in helping retailers to both analyze cultural nuances and efficiently tailor messaging and content to ensure that it resonates.
How AI improves content localization efforts
Data-Driven Insights: AI can analyze large volumes of consumer data to highlight trends and preferences in different markets, helping brands to understand what resonates with their audiences in each region and enabling them to build targeted campaigns that speak directly to their needs and values.
Content Personalization: whether you’re translating content into multiple languages to ensure that your brand message is understood by your customers globally, or you’re offering personalized product recommendations based on individual customer preferences, AI (and specifically, Amplience AI) enables you to tailor your content and generate endless variants for every audience, channel and purpose.
A/B Testing Across Markets: AI technology enables brands to conduct A/B tests on localized content across multiple markets simultaneously, allowing them to quickly identify the content that resonates the most in each region and therefore helping them to make more strategic decisions in their marketing efforts across locales. Amplience’s Headless CMS allows you to seamlessly integrate A/B testing into your content strategy, empowering you to optimize customer experiences, improve engagement metrics and drive higher conversions.
Navigating regulatory compliance
When a retailer is launching into a new market, they also have to consider local regulations regarding advertising, data protection, and consumer rights. Leveraging AI technology can help compliance teams to improve efficiency, freeing them from lengthy and complex processes that could otherwise slow them down and impact a retailer’s time-to-market.
Real-Time Regulatory Monitoring: AI algorithms can track changes in local laws and regulations, alerting retailers to adjustments they need to make in their content and marketing strategies. By leveraging the technology, retailers can take a proactive approach to compliance, which helps to mitigate legal risks.
Localization of Legal Documentation: from privacy policies to terms and conditions, AI tools can translate and localize legal documents, helping to improve both the accuracy and speed of output from a compliance team. This ensures that a retailer is meeting local legal requirements while maintaining transparency with their consumers.
Best practices for leveraging AI in content localization
To maximize the benefits of AI for content localization, retailers should consider some best practices:
Choosing the Right AI Tools: invest in AI solutions that offer comprehensive localization features and are capable of understanding cultural nuances specific to your target markets.
Combining AI with Human Expertise: while AI can analyze huge datasets and automate processes, human oversight and input is crucial for ensuring that localized content feels authentic, culturally appropriate and contains human emotion that will resonate with customers.
Leveraging Customer Feedback: by gathering and analyzing customer feedback, retailers can refine their localization strategies and make data-driven decisions about future campaigns.
Staying Agile: consumer preferences are constantly evolving, so retailers need to be agile and reactive in order to remain relevant, and to set themselves apart from the competition. By leveraging AI, retailers can quickly adapt to changes in consumer and market trends.
Conclusion
AI technology is transforming how retailers approach content localization, enabling granular data-driven insights across regions and helping eCommerce teams to understand both cultural differences and local regulations, and ultimately helping them to improve their marketing strategies to ensure their content resonates in different locales. By leveraging AI, retailers can establish and strengthen connections with consumers around the world, supporting brand growth and ultimately, increasing revenue.