Imagine you stumble across an app that does not have a language of your choice; would you download this app? Chances of downloading it depend on if you are fluent in that language or not.
Mobile developers and digital gurus these days have been working day in and day out to create and execute strategies to increase Monthly Average Users (MAU’s) through mobile app localization. Therefore, the maximization of potential reach should be the priority of every marketer.
In the era of globalization, having a localized app can be a game-changer for your business since English is not the only common language in the world. Therefore, you need to adapt and procreate your mobile app if you want to get a green card to access the global market. A study conducted by Distomo has reported that localization of mobile apps resulted in a drastic increase of mobile app download around 128% and consequently, the revenue increased by 26% for each country.
What is Mobile App Localization?
It’s the processes in which you customize your app and make it works in various languages according to your target audience. Moreover, in localization, different dialects of the same language are installed to make it more user-friendly to the audience.
For example, en_CA and en_US are different locales of the English language.
But Why Mobile App Localization is Important?
It has been reported by Statista that internet penetration rate in the Middle East has risen to 67.2%. It only paints a picture of how app localization can be a great strategy to capture the market share.
Some of the other benefits that come with localizing your mobile app are:
- Reaching more people
- High profitability
- Diversity in customer pool
Now another question arises, How Does Mobile App Localization Work?
Here’s the initial process that you should undergo for customers to get the best app experience.
- Market Research and Market Planning
- Identifying Your Target Market
It is true that with the help of internationalization, you can basically select any market or all of them but that would be a waste of time and effort. Spend your energies wisely on the markets that are right for your product or service. In order to find the right market, you can also use Market Finder by Google. It’s an effective tool designed for you to identify suitable markets online for your products and services.
- Check the analytics of your app
App analytics is a perfect way to look for opportunities of growth within your established user base. Furthermore, these analytics can help you to understand how you can get to your potential customers with the help of behavioral data extracted by the app. Hence, targeting and reaching your goals become easy.
- Have user Feedback
You will have to keep an open mind when it comes to going international. You should be willing to take all kinds of reviews from the customers because it makes them feel valued. Moreover, it also gives an outside perspective of the app and it definitely helps to shape the app in a better way.
Competitor analysis
A thorough assessment of your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses can help you to know where you stand in the marketplace. And according to this information, you can strategize and execute your plans.
Stay within your budget
It is likely to get off the budget when you have too many things to do on the list. Therefore, allocate the budget for every step carefully by coordinating with your programmers and team members. Deciding on the money matters will help you set a cost limit to each step which will ultimately let you stay within the anticipated budget. Also, keep analyzing your goals in accordance with budget to avoid knocking your decided costs off the track.
- Identify the Right OS for your App
It requires proper market research to know which operating system is suitable for your app. Therefore, you should know whether you want to pitch your app to iOS or Android users. However, in an ideal scenario, it would be great if you have the budget to target both Apple and Android users. It is true that this would cost you way more but on the other side, you will be gaining the attention of a much larger audience.
- Get an Experienced Localization Team
It’s exhausting to work on this project alone; having experts doing your work can be so much relieving if you get the right team that understands the dynamics of your app. To increase efficiency, you should bring together a solid team that not only understands your content but is able to optimize your app.
It is recommended that there is a specialized person for every task; for instance, translators should handle the translations with the help of latest translation tools; programmers should use their knowledge and skillset to instill uniqueness in your app and marketing consultants who can develop strategies that can help the app to grow in the hearts of the allocated target markets.
In the end, there should be a collaborative environment among all the stakeholders and to have that kind of work ethic, a good manager can help develop synergetic relations among the team members.
There are many translation service providers in the industry claiming to provide accurate translations, but always partner with a company that has years of experience under its belt and has a team that understands your goals and objectives.
One of the most trusted translation services provider and localization partners that have been around for around 24 years pioneering the translation and localization process, is Contentech. With the help of their competent team of translators and industry experts, they are fully capable to meet all your needs regarding localization of your content.
- Why You need a Global ASO Strategy?
App store optimization (ASO) refers to tweaking the elements in the app store to rank higher in the app search results. It includes the optimization of description, videos, reviews, title and etc.
Trends vary from market to market; therefore, it is imperative that you monitor the trends and behaviors of local customers consistently to learn about your target market, in order to pull off an ASO strategy that can increase your chances of your app getting searched. It can all be found in the form of data regarding what customers are looking for through their keywords. It’s up to developers to utilize this information to design an effective ASO Strategy. The higher it ranks, the more visible your app is to the potential customers.
Therefore, you will need to hire an expert that specializes in developing ASO Strategies so that he comes up with the best descriptions and titles for your app. Also, make sure they use relevant keywords so that customers aren’t misled.
Market localization and planning
Prior to execution, it is essential to strategize a marketing plan for your app. The reason being is, new audiences have distinct buying habits and behavioral patterns; therefore, customizing your shopping list considering the local practices and ethical values of the culture, can translate the message better for the target audience. In addition, in order to have sustainable growth, you will need to devise a strategy to keep your app installed in customer’s phone.
What Are The Key Stages of the Localization Process?
The stages that include the localization process are as follows:
- Deciding on your App Localization Strategy
There are various methods to decide number of markets you want to target. One of the most common ways is to choose the popular languages and leverage your time and money on them.
Another method is to choose a limited number of markets based on certain criteria and target these markets by adopting your app to fit them; this is called deep localization. By undergoing into this app localization strategy, it is easier to introduce new features that are suited to the needs of a local audience.
However, some apps localize least number of features to capture the attention of more users. Here are some of the benefits of opting this method:
- Simplifies the mobile app to make it more understandable to the target market
- Rapid expansion
- Cost effective
- Extraction of Resource Files
Firstly, in order to start your localization process, you will need to extract your resource files. Most translation management systems allow you to upload the project files and make them available for translation. In this process, you will need to create a specific resource file for every translation, it will refer the most suitable file from all the files and load it instantly on the basis of customer demographics.
- Selection of Translation Method
Gone are the days when you had to send countless spreadsheets to translators as now with the help of translation management software, app localization has been streamlined. Moreover, having a hybrid approach in translation methods meaning the use of translation management software and the manual intervention of a proficient translator can enhance accuracy in the process. Some of the key systems are used in our translation process are:
- Cloud-Based Collaborations
- Content Management Systems
- Translation Memory
- Translation Business Managers
- On-Demand Platforms
- Reviewing Translations
Accuracy is your number one objective while you have a translation project, so you should keep in mind that having a translation error is not an option.
Pseudo-Translation is one of the most efficient ways to keep your translations accurate as it replaces the symbols in your text with other symbols that are different from the original ones. Also, doubling and tripling of characters can help in the app’s performance, so through this, we can identify the mistakes and solve them.
Moreover, after screening your translations through different systems, a competent translator expert in the linguistic aspect can review the translations and eliminate mistakes and inconsistencies by working with the program.
If you want to ensure efficiency-oriented results, the App translation service provider like Contentech can take the load off you with the help of its highly efficient TEP process.
The process is structured based on the scope of the project. However, the structure of core steps is standardized. To achieve the highest quality, expert linguists work in each stage without communicating with one another. As a result, the unbiasedness is eliminated and quality of the content is taken a notch up. 
- Copying Translated Files into Code Structure
With the help of a translation management software or platforms, you can utilize features like translation memory, effective content management system and cloud-based collaborations, you can not only manage the content but translate it with accuracy.
Conversion of your resource files into XML format is a crucial step when you want to make the file suitable for many languages. By using a translation software, you can directly upload the files and then it will do all the extraction and make the file available for translation. Next, you will need to copy the translated files into a code structure and import that in your app.
- Releasing your translated content
Finally, when the translated content is free from errors, the developers will run tests and freeze your app so that you cannot change the code. The process is called ‘String Freeze’. When you are done with the testing phase, you can carefully compiled in your app before its release. But before you release your content, here are a few things you need to take care of:
- Display Errors
- Formatting issues
- Locale-Specific Settings
- Layout of content
Translations iOS App
You must be wondering how translations iOS apps are done.
Well, in iOS, the content is exported in the form of strings. Exporting files is done with the help of Apple’s Base Internalization. Furthermore, all of the resources are duplicated and by Xcode and a separate folder is created for each translated language. Apps like Uber have successfully localized their app to make it easy for the customers of different backgrounds.
Here’s the translation that has been done in Arabic and English Versions in iOS.
Translations an Android App
You will need to export the content in string form code and converting XML files to XLIFF format to get a bilingual file.
Here’s the translation that has been done in English and Arabic Language in Android.
Advice from Contentech
Being a top-notch translation provider with decades of experience under its belt, Contentech ensures that your content meets the highest standards. Moreover, with a long list of high-profile clients all over the world, we have been translating all kinds of documents, apps and websites with absolute precision.
Here are some of the things you need to consider while localizing your mobile app:
- Test your app with multiple users.
- Take care of cultural differences.
- Using a reliable web-hosting server.
- Make sure you don’t skip on the most profitable languages.
- Finding the best translation service provider for your app.
Localization is a continuous process
Bottom line is, localization is important in today’s world; therefore, you need to keep the process going. It is not a one time task, it’s a never-ending one and works best when you are constantly making developments in your app. Just make sure that whenever you make a change to your app, it doesn’t affect your localized versions.
With the assistance of companies like Contentech, you can make sure that your app will be localized efficiently according to the market you are targeting. Now get your app localized with Contentech and expand your reach in the global arena. Contact us now for more details and get your free quote.
