These days, consumers spend a lot of time on their smartphones and much of that time is spent engaging with apps. Why? Some apps are really fun and some are super convenient. From playing games to checking emails to navigating a new city to ordering food, smartphone apps play a major role in our daily lives.
If an app developer wants to capture the attention of multiple markets (and they stand to gain a lot by doing so), then they need to prioritize localization. Here’s why.
Why localization can boost reach for developers
When you develop an app for a user, you have to do just that — develop the app for their exact needs. It’s only natural a user won’t go out of their way to understand an app that isn’t in their native language.
When you localize your app to the languages spoken in your target markets, you make yourself a stronger competitor in the space and can compete with local developers who designed their app with their local population in mind.
While it can be very tempting for developers to turn to machine translation to make the process of localizing their apps faster and more cost-effective, this usually isn’t the best way to go. Why? App content typically is made up of short strings of text that have little to no context. Machine Translation can struggle to accurately translate this style of content. You need human involvement to translate and test this content effectively.
How localization can influence app reviews
Localizing your app helps improve the user experience and that can lead to much stronger app reviews. Understandably, if someone struggles to understand and navigate an app due to a language divide, the true quality of the app won’t even be taken into account. A frustrated user who walks away from an app due to a language divide isn’t going to leave a positive review and may even leave a bad one.
You don’t want to sleep on reviews. Having good reviews helps your app rank higher in the app store. Which means when consumers are searching for apps, they’re more likely to find yours.
Important considerations when localizing
When you do start the localization process, there’s some important factors worth keeping in mind.
To start, you don’t want to only focus on the language your target audience speaks. You also want to pay close attention to their culture. You want the content of your app, as well as the form and functionality, to resonate with your audience and to be intuitive to use. This is why it’s a great idea to hire a localization expert who is from the region you’re looking to target, since they have a strong understanding of the local culture.
It’s also important to test your app before you launch. The last thing you want is to receive bad reviews because you didn’t perform a quality assurance test before launching.
