Study Shows Lack of Checkout Translation Means Less Ecommerce Conversions

Even if you’re not keeping up on the latest industry trends, it comes as no surprise that with people spending extended periods indoors over the last few months due to the many shops and services being closed, that online shopping has surged.

In fact in the UK, the value of ecommerce is expected to reach €222.5 billion by the end of the year, which would be a €22 billion increase on 2019. So, with the increased interest and spend, how are ecommerce sites approaching their global brand ambitions? Well not very well according to new information from online payment company Stripe, who after analysing the top 450 e-commerce websites across Europe, found errors across the checkout process with the most common relating to a lack of professional website translation into local languages.

The study, which looked at sites in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Sweden found that 74% were not translated into local languages, with none of the checkout processes they analysed in Spain offering this or offering local payments. The Dutch ecommerce sites were found to be most likely to have translations into other languages. As surprising as the figures are, it is no surprise that offering translation into different languages has been treated as an afterthought or in some cases not at all, something that we at Talking Heads feel strongly about. Ecommerce translation is a vital component the more connected products and services become around the world. Those that risk not providing professional website translation options ignore it at their peril, alienating potential customers across the globe.

Why Translation for ecommerce is a Major Benefit for Businesses

It goes without saying if you reach more customers, then the potential for increased conversions and revenues whilst growing your brand cannot be understated. However, many may feel relying on search engines to translate for you is the easiest and most cost-effective option, but this can leave the context and details of your messaging diluted or just plain confusing. That’s why we take a human approach to ensure translating your website into the choice of languages you require is flawless and reads like it was always in that language. This approach means your target audience will be more engaged with your website and not put off by poorly applied machine translation or even non-existent translation.

We use real linguists, many of whom are native speakers of the language you need translating into, ensuring that no context is lost and no glaring mistakes in localisation are included. We successfully helped Boohoo.com in this exact way when they were preparing to enter their first international market, starting with France then leading to Germany, Italy and Spain.

Attention to detail is important and when preparing an ecommerce website for global markets, the details cannot afford to be left to sloppy translation methods.

Get in contact with us today to find out how we provide a fully immersive account solution and translate accurately products, services, website content and marketing text into any language you choose, with our professional website translation.

With worldwide ecommerce sales projected to grow to $6.54 trillion by 2022, can your ecommerce business afford to miss out?