With the popularity of online surveys, it is easier than ever to reach your audience and collect more information. However, just because you can distribute your survey as-is across the globe, doesn’t mean that you should. Translation is an important, but often forgotten step in the global survey process that gives you the ability to harvest the most accurate and authentic data.

Let’s take a look at what makes surveys such a powerful tool, and what survey translation can mean for your organization.

The Power of Surveys

We’ve all been asked to take a survey at one point or another in our lives, but what exactly is their role in the business world and how do they help companies grow?

Customer Surveys

You may think that the age of high-tech analytics has decreased the need for customer surveys, but in reality, surveying is just as beneficial as it ever has been. Customer questionnaires can reveal:

• Performance of customer-facing units: Measure customer satisfaction in settings such as retail locations and with customer service teams.
• Inefficiencies and issues in processes and delivery: Customer input on delivery experience can be used to improve the shipping process, packaging, and more.
• Potential product improvements: Product surveys show what customers like and don’t like about the products or services they purchased.
• Consumer demographics: Surveys aren’t developed solely to learn about the customer experience post-purchase. They can actually be utilized to gather important consumer data that will inform your marketing team so that they can formulate a strategy prior to selling a product.
• Demand for products that haven’t gone to market yet: Have a product idea? Get a pulse on the demand before manufacturing even begins.

Surveys reveal how consumers think, rather than simply how they act. These insights on behavior, values, and satisfaction give companies the ability to improve and fine-tune products, services, and marketing tactics.

Workplace Surveys

According to the National Business Research Institute (NBRI), “the importance of the annual employee survey cannot be overstated.” Surveys issued internally can be used to gauge feedback on a number of things such as:

• Employee engagement: These surveys reveal the level of employee dedication – both to their job and to the company – and focus on elements like accountability, communication, and workplace relationships.
• Employee satisfaction: Satisfaction surveys tell employers how happy their workforce is, what sorts of issues they face, and what opinions about the company they hold.
• Culture and climate: These help companies understand the feelings, perceptions, and opinions regarding the culture and work environment.
• Exit surveys: When employees leave, exit surveys give Human Resource departments an idea of why that person is leaving, and how they can prevent future turnover.

All of these types of workplace surveys are usually conducted with one goal in mind: collect data so that weak points can be identified. The data allows company leadership to improve policies and practices in order to create a better work environment yielding greater employee satisfaction, higher retention rates, and boosted productivity.

The NBRI summed up the need for surveys across the board with the following statement: “No executive wants to run an organization without a firm grasp on the two most important human factors controlling their destiny: the thinking of their employees, and the thinking of their customers.”

Survey Translation

It’s easy to see why surveys are an indispensable tool enabling businesses to thrive, but there’s another element that will boost the impact of your polls and questionnaires: survey translation.

Why Survey Translation Is Important

If your company operates on an international scale, making your surveys available in multiple languages provides you with even more data. Survey translation is a critical tool that allows your marketing researchers and managers to effectively include non-English speakers in the coverage and data provided by your survey.

Translation also demonstrates an appreciation and respect for the needs and opinions of a diverse group, which goes a long way with customers and employees.

From a customer survey standpoint, this data can be segmented to pinpoint unique product development and marketing opportunities based on location demographics. With internal surveys, you may discover specific issues or roadblocks that non-native speakers may face in the workplace that aren’t apparent with native speakers of a single language.

How It Works

When initially created, the wording and syntax of survey questions are carefully crafted. The same care must be taken when translating. Failure to properly translate surveys can result in the respondents not understanding the questions, causing skewed and inaccurate results.

With surveys, simple word for word translations oftentimes aren’t sufficient to accurately convey the meaning and intent behind the questions. Cultural differences must also be considered when localizing survey content to meet audience needs.

Once the original source-language survey has been developed and finalized, a translator translates and reviews the document to identify any difficult words, phrases, and concepts in the target language. Because they are translated by native-speakers and subject-matter experts, new surveys will flawlessly read as if they were originally written in the target languages. Cultural nuances, specific audience demographics, and ease-of-use for the target audience will all be taken into consideration.

After painstaking translation, editing, and proofreading, the last step in the survey translation process is Quality Assurance. Here, the translation team compares the target-language survey to the original to ensure that each question’s intent has remained the same. When the final product is delivered to the client, it is ready to be immediately shared with audiences.

The Results

Now that you’ve successfully distributed your survey in multiple languages to employees and customers, it’s time to get some results. If your survey included open-ended questions, it may be difficult to understand the responses. A survey, no matter the language, doesn’t do your company much good if you can’t properly analyze the data you receive.

A professional translation company will help make sure that you can clearly interpret the results and responses of surveys. This is just one of the ways that translation services can be catered to your project’s exact needs.

In Conclusion

Surveys are extremely useful tools that can reveal even more information if translated into the languages of your intended audiences. Whether you’re a company selling globally and searching for customer insights, or a business surveying your international workforce, accurate translation is critical in order to obtain reliable results. With the help of a professional translation agency, your surveys will have a global reach, and be able to effectively take the pulse of your intended audiences.

The post Multilingual Surveys: How to Increase Effective Feedback on a Global Scale appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

Amazon is the world’s largest e-tailer, and it’s growing relentlessly. So, too, are an Amazon seller’s opportunities and challenges. Branching out into a new market, selling in product categories that are gated, knocking down shipping costs and breaking language barriers – these are questions you’ll need to face, sooner or later. But the first question an Amazon seller asks is: ‘Where do I begin?’

Before we go into what it takes to expand internationally on Amazon, we should first point out that language plays a big part in the process. Relying on the resources of a multinational team can open doors for you on venues that don’t use your native language, as we’ll see below.

So, here’s how to go about expanding:

1. Choose a Venue

There are several things to consider here. Catalog size, inventory size, logistics, profitability estimates, your product’s local demand and popularity, the type of competition, etc. Figure out what resources you’d have to put into each one of these venues, find the pros and cons of selling on them, and then narrow down your list to 2-3 options.

2. Sort out Taxes

While taxes, duties and custom fees can be very similar on certain types of goods for neighboring countries, aspects like tax registration and filing tax returns can be very different. Germany’s tax system, for instance, is hard to navigate, by all accounts.

With only 2-3 venue options left, it’s much easier to look into tax requirements for these ‘finalists’ only, rather than all 14 venues. Try to get a realistic estimate based on the type of products you’d like to sell, preferably from accountants who operate in the countries you’ve selected.

3. Set Out Your Price Strategy

There are experts out there who can provide price calculation samples for you to see and compare. Once you’ve also prepared an estimate of how much you can hope to sell and earn based on the price calculation sample, it should be much easier to decide which venue to go with. Also, now is the time to set out your overall strategy, and to think about how you’d like to price your products to turn your goals into reality.

4. Speak to Local Sellers

By now, you must have a clear favorite. But before you commit to anything, look for unbiased advice from Amazon sellers with experience. We recommend speaking to local, experienced sellers face-to-face, if possible. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt to travel to the country in question, to get a feel for how businesses are run there, and to familiarize yourself with customs and other cultural aspects.

Local Amazon sellers may be able to offer valuable insights. Issues like Lang Law, for instance, may not be on an accountant or a consultant’s agenda, but a French Amazon seller may be able to offer some insider tips.

5. Open an Account

Now you’ve made up your mind, you’ll need to set those wheels in motion. Amazon representatives can help set up the new account, transfer your listings to the new platform, and occasionally offer some insider tips.

From then on, you should consider using professional human translators, and ideally a one-stop professional translation company that can serve as a partner to centralize all translations. Assigning them to take control of content creation for your listings will help your product descriptions sound more natural. The best translation company for you will vary. Whichever approach you decide upon, please ensure translators are professionals and are paired by subject matter expertise. The message you convey to Amazon users via storefront information is also very important, and translators can make sure that you come across as a reliable and customer-oriented seller.

6. Find Customer Support Staff

You’ll need someone to handle your incoming and outgoing communication with Amazon representatives and buyers. Amazon has made it very clear that it expects native or fluent speakers to handle emails in the local language, whichever fulfillment channel you use. You may need to choose between having in-house representatives and relying on professional translators to carry out the task.

7. Outsource Some of Your Operations

There are three ways to go about selling on a new venue: trying it on your own, relying on third-party experts, or depending on an Amazon representative from the Services Team (provided you received a formal invitation).

For smaller, below-the-radar sellers, this tends to be a two-sided debate, because Amazon’s reps tend to focus on more prominent sellers. Also, for those who have the privilege of being invited, the deal-breaker is the fact that once the account is up and running, the appointed representative is no longer there to help.

We recommend the second option – relying on delegates who can give you access to their business partners, warehouses and logistics. You may be able to outsource most of your operations, in fact. Some third-party experts can handle all of the issues mentioned above, and they can help you meet performance targets, reinstate lost privileges or keep track of changing regulations.

If you’d like to learn more about the advantages of using third-party support from Amazon merchant specialists to expand internationally, download the free Global Selling eBook. Better yet, check out SellerEngine’s service package, and let’s grow your business together! SellerEngine makes Amazon easy.

The post Conquering Amazon Globally: 7 Steps to Expand Your Business Internationally appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

Multilingual Website for a Global Audience

Any single language can address no more than 30 percent of the global population. For example, English is commonly regarded as one of the world’s most used languages. However, 70 percent of web surfers don’t speak English as their first language. In recent years it has been researched that only 21 percent of the traffic from the world’s top ten international websites originated in the United States. Large markets exist beyond the English-speaking world and savvy companies are trying to include these markets in their daily commerce. In order to expand their audience base, enterprises are investing in the localization and translation of their websites. A multilingual website, when done professionally, can only help your organization achieve this goal.

Localized Campaigns Outperform English Only, Counterparts

Localization is the process of catering to a specific region. It doesn’t stop at the language translation itself, colors and numbers can also have an impact. For instance, white in one country may indicate weddings and celebrations, while it signifies death in another. As a result, a company might have different color themes for its ad campaigns depending on the region. A multilingual website must also be adapted and localized in terms of layout, color and culture. In mobile advertising, 86 percent of region-specific campaigns outperformed their English only, single market counter parts in terms of conversions and click-throughs. Localized sites and campaigns often utilize professional website translation services to target specific geographic regions, because geo-targeted posts have been found to be six times more successful than broad international posts.

Multilingual Websites and Multilingual Apps

Before you make a plan to localize your website, you should do your research in the prospective regions you are targeting. For example, 92 percent of China’s 25 best-selling iPhone applications use Chinese names over English names and 80 percent of Japan’s top 25 Android apps follow the same localized model. In the Google Play store, 4 out of its top 5 grossing countries are non-English speaking, while the iOS App Store has equal parts English and non-English speaking countries in its top ten profit regions. From 2012 to 2013, Asia’s annual app revenue increased by 162 percent. International markets hold plenty of promise for companies that can connect with diverse audiences. A professionally localized website or mobile app can assist you in reaching out to these customers.

People Want to Shop in Their Native Language

How do you connect with consumers? Connecting with consumers means speaking their language. A multilingual website allows you to do that. While people abroad may speak English, it is typically easier to speak and understand information in their mother tongue. In fact, 72.4 percent of international consumers prefer online shopping sites in their native language and 55 percent only do business with sites offered in their native language. Clearly, having access to a site in a consumer’s native language is important. When people shop, they want to feel comfortable and connected with the brands they do business with. Translating your website will make your web presence more welcoming to the target region.

The Challenges in Creating a Multilingual Website

Translation involves much more than swapping one word for another. Translators must account for idioms and standards that apply to other cultures. An automated translation service will not do this for you. For a true multilingual website to be effective, it needs to be done correctly by a professional human translation team. If you want to ensure effective implementation of localization practices, utilize professional multilingual website translation services.

The post Why Go Multilingual? The Top Benefits of a Multilingual Website appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.