You’re familiar with the phrase “The customer is always right,” right? Unfortunately, when it comes to translation,newresearchfromTransPerfect shows that businesses aren’t taking that advice to heart.
The survey examined attitudes towards translation among consumers and executives from across the globe. Clear, quality translation was a priority among the respondents who completed TransPerfect’s survey, with 63 percent of the respondents stating that they would be more likely to buy products from websites that have been properly translated into their native languages. When presented with a website with no translation options, consumers were forced to either “make do” with automatic tools like Google translate or to simply give up on the purchase.
The sample size of 200 respondents may seem small, but the results dovetail quite nicely with a survey published by Eurobarometer earlier this summer, which found that 42% of consumers wouldn’t buy a product online if the website was in another language. Really, can you blame them? Not being able to understand the terms and conditions of the website you are buying from is a recipe for poor customer experiences and dissatisfaction.
However, only 19% of the executives who took the survey called translating websites a “high priority,” and 64% were not even sure how translation would impact global sales for their business.
Why the disconnect? In an interview with BizReport.com, TransPerfect’s co-founder and CEO Liz Etling outlined some of the reasons:
“Many of the executives and decision-makers surveyed are English speakers and are accustomed to being able to read every website in their native language. Unless they have personally experienced a problem purchasing products on a non-native language website, I can see how it might be a challenge to recognize the difference a translated website can make in the consumer’s purchasing decision.”
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, quality translation and localization services are a smart investment for many businesses. Remember: the customer is always right!
