Localization Automation: Fast-Track Your Market Entry

With 76% of consumers preferring to buy products in their native language, a localization solution is essential for any brand looking to expand overseas.

However, manual website translation can be a cumbersome process, leading to slow updates and inconsistent messaging across languages. The best approach comes in the form of automation – an approach that allows businesses to achieve quicker launches in new regions and simplify content management when using multiple languages.

So how to get started? Right here, of course! This article will detail all of the practical strategies needed for automating website localization, and the best practices used to maintain quality and cultural sensitivity. We’ll also discover how dedicated tools like Weglot can accelerate your efforts and steal a march on the opposition.

Automating Localization: Benefits and Challenges

First things first – the term ‘localization automation’ refers to the use of technology to improve the process of adapting content for different languages and cultures. This approach offers significant benefits for businesses aiming to expand globally, including the following:

• Increased efficiency: By automating repetitive tasks such as file handling and content extraction, businesses can speed up their localization processes, reducing the time it takes to adapt content for new markets.
• Cost reduction: Automation minimizes the need for manual intervention, allowing companies to allocate resources more effectively and focus on strategic initiatives.
• Improved scalability: As companies become more adept at localization, they can enter new markets faster and be more competitive.

However, implementing localization automation isn’t without its challenges:

• Setup and integration: The initial process can be complex, requiring careful planning and upfront investment to ensure compatibility with existing systems.
• Need for human expertise: While automation excels at handling repetitive tasks, it often struggles with nuanced cultural contexts – tasks only local experts can safely deal with. The best automation tools recognize this need by allowing for both automated processes and manual refinement to ensure quality content.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of localization automation far outweigh the drawbacks, making it an essential consideration for businesses looking to maximize their chances of success.

Streamlining Workflows and Reducing Time-to-Market

As we’ve touched upon, localization automation improves workflows by eliminating many time-consuming tasks. Automation tools excel at detecting and extracting content, integrating with Content Management Systems (CMS) to simplify the management process.

By enabling parallel processing of multiple languages, automation accelerates the overall project. Automated quality checks and formatting ensure consistency across all translated content.

These features allow localization teams to focus on more complex, value-adding activities like cultural adaptation and creative translation, while automation handles the routine stuff. As a result, businesses can manage larger volumes of content across numerous languages, reducing timelines.

Such savings can be seen in Angell Mobility’s localization project. The smartbike developer was able to go international in just a few weeks, by using Weglot to automate their translations into three new languages. Our software saved the brand 50+ hours usually spent on manual translations, and helped them pick up 50% of their global sales from their newly-targeted destinations.

Ensuring Consistency Across Multiple Languages

Maintaining consistency across multiple languages is a must if your brand is going to earn consumer trust and deliver a winning user experience. Automation plays a vital role in achieving this consistency, providing several key advantages.

Firstly, automated systems can apply approved translations across all content, ensuring that key terms, brand names, and common phrases are consistently translated. This reduces the risk of human error in repetitive translations.

Secondly, automation helps you maintain a consistent brand voice by using predefined style guides and terminology databases. Users will encounter familiar language and tone, regardless of their preferred language, ensuring a good overall user experience.

As localization automation evolves, it increasingly incorporates AI-driven context understanding. This advancement has the potential to bridge the gap between efficiency and cultural nuances, allowing brands to not only translate but also adapt their messaging in a way that connects with diverse audiences.

Powering Automated Localization for Global Businesses with Weglot

For premium localization automation, Weglot is a solid choice. It works by detecting, translating, and displaying the content of a website, no matter what technology you’ve built your site with.

Weglot’s automation toolkit includes the following:

• Automated content detection and continuous localization through real-time translation updates. Users also maintain the ability to fully edit the machine translated content, plus have access to professional translators.
• Support for multiple content types and formats.
• Integration with popular CMS and ecommerce platforms.
• Translation management tools including built-in glossary, visual editing, team member collaboration, and translation memory.

Weglot’s automation significantly reduces manual workload usually associated with translating a website, enabling businesses to maintain consistent multilingual content. For instance, when a product description is updated on your original site, Weglot automatically translates and publishes the changes across all language versions, ensuring global content consistency.

Moreover, Weglot allows for manual intervention to refine translations and address cultural nuances through its Visual Editor and translation glossary, which includes customizable rules for specific words and phrases. This feature ensures that brands can maintain their voice while adapting to local markets.

Our software’s effectiveness in improving localization processes for global businesses can be seen in our case studies, including how REVIEWS.io made gains by using Weglot. Here’s what Rich Ball, Marketing Manager at REVIEWS.io, has to say:

“We needed a product that dramatically increased the speed of website translation. Our clunky manual coding approach was time-consuming, but with Weglot, it's fast and effortless.”

Weglot’s Comprehensive Integration Capabilities

We’ve designed Weglot’s integration capabilities to fit into existing development and content management workflows, enabling businesses to implement multilingual functionality without extensive coding.

The platform offers native integrations with popular systems, including WordPress, Shopify, and Webflow, allowing for quick and easy implementation of multilingual features and is compatible even with custom-built websites. See all our integrations.

Alternative Automated Localization Solutions

Here we’ll take a look at five other leading tools designed to automate localization, highlighting their features and limitations to help you find the best solution for your needs.

Crowdin

Crowdin is known for its powerful automation features that reduce timescales throughout the localization process, making it ideal for agile teams. Its user-friendly interface and extensive integrations with tools like GitHub and Google Drive improve accessibility for techies and non-techies alike.

It’s worth noting that Crowdin is less flexible than other solutions when it comes to modifying approved translations.

Phrase

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Phrase is known for its powerful API that integrates easily with existing systems, providing options for developers. Its user-friendly interface makes it accessible for non-technical users, while comprehensive support ensures teams can get help when needed.

Phrase is typically considered an enterprise product as pricing can be high for small businesses or startups.

Lokalise

Lokalise has a centralized workspace that improves collaboration among team members. It integrates well with various development tools and offers customizable style guides to maintain brand consistency across languages.

Like Phrase, Lokalise is best for enterprise clients with fewer budget restraints.

Cloudwords

Cloudwords automates many localization processes and features excellent analytics and reporting tools that help track progress and performance. Its vendor management capabilities facilitate collaboration with external translation services, improving workflows.

DeepL

DeepL is recognized for its high-quality translations, making it a popular choice among localization teams. Its user-friendly interface allows easy navigation, and it offers flexible integrations through its API.

To note, DeepL has limited language support compared to other platforms.

Implementing Localization Automation: Best Practices and Pitfalls

While localization automation can save time and resources, correct implementation is needed to guarantee the best results. To achieve effective localization automation, consider these best practices:

• Develop a clear automation strategy aligned with your localization goals to ensure all efforts are focused and measurable.
• Select localization tools that integrate with your existing systems, enhancing workflow efficiency without causing disruptions.
• Start small, automating simpler tasks before tackling more complex processes to build confidence and experience within your team.
• Maintain human oversight to preserve quality and cultural nuances, ensuring that automated translations connect with local audiences.
• Regularly review and optimize your automated workflows to adapt to changing needs and improve performance over time.
• Provide thorough training for team members on new automated processes to maximize effectiveness and minimize errors.

Common pitfalls to avoid include:

• Neglecting data security in automated systems, potentially exposing sensitive information.
• Underestimating the importance of cultural context in localized content, risking disconnect with target audiences.

Bigblue: A Case Study in Automated Localization

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Bigblue, a logistics app, effectively used Weglot to transition from a single-language site to a bilingual platform in English and French.

Initially facing challenges with manual translations and SEO issues, they found Weglot’s integration and user-friendly interface ideal for their needs. Weglot proved to be a vital solution for expanding Bigblue’s reach and accessibility.

“We needed to have the entire website in French, including the blog. Now we spend ⅓ of the time we spent before to translate new pages, so it’s a big win for us!”

– Tim Dumain, Co-founder, Bigblue

Accelerate Your Global Expansion with Weglot

Weglot’s advanced localization automation platform can help any business accelerate their global expansion projects. With features like automated content detection and instant translation, companies can swiftly adapt their websites for new markets, minimizing delays in reaching international audiences.

Our plugin’s advanced multilingual SEO capabilities also give international visibility a boost, ensuring that your content ranks well in diverse markets. A cloud-based translation management system enables collaboration across teams, and integration with popular platforms simplifies the technical aspects of going global.

If you’re ready to outpace your competitors and seize global opportunities, try Weglot's 10-day free trial!