here is a growing demand from startups, developers and entrepreneurs for localization as the main key to increasing their app’s visibility and exposure in global markets, as seen with popular apps such as Waze, Moovit or Houzz.

Localization is how an app can reach new users and potential market segments, but unfortunately, too many apps fail in going global because of bad localization. Only successfully localized apps can get more downloads, automatically lead to an increase in the app’s MAU (monthly active users) and ultimately their revenue.

Plenty of amazing startups are out there, but how do they reach their international audience? There is an unequivocal answer — only through professional localization!

Startups can be more successful and accessible in marketplaces around the world as localization guarantees that the app speaks the language of its target audience.

Statistics show that mobile apps are on the rise and the number of smartphone users is expected to grow from 2.53 billion in 2018 to around 2.87 billion in 2020, making the smartphone the most common item in every person’s pocket (Figure 1).

Localizing mobile apps has become a necessity as it helps in customizing apps based in different locations around the world. Localization opens new doors and attracts new users who will increase the growth and revenue of startups.

Almost half of the world’s population is online, looking for new apps. These are potential buyers of any startup, and localization is a great way to speak their language on a local level.

Figure 1: Smartphone users, in billions. Source: eMarketer, April 2016.

Why localize?

Figure 2: Worldwide mobile app revenues in 2015 and 2016, and projected 2020, in billions of US dollars. Source: App Annie, via Statista.

Moovit. Moovit is the world’s number-one transit app — an urban mobility data and analytics solution for municipalities and transit agencies to better manage their systems. It offers real-time arrivals, schedules, maps and more. The app has over 300,000,000 riders and is used in 86 countries and over 2,700 cities around the world. The company has reached those numbers after conducting professional localization.

Houzz. Houzz is an app and a platform for home designing, decorating and renovation. The app (and its related website) provides information related to home remodeling or decorating. With this app you can share your design ideas and find other home ideas; you can ask and get quick advice from designers; and you can find a list of professionals in your area, such as architects, interior designers and home contractors. You can even buy home accessories and furniture to design your home from the app.

Houzz was founded in 2009, based in the US and expanded overseas. Its biggest market is the US and then UK, Australia, Germany and Russia. It has launched a site and apps for Asian markets such as Japan and Singapore.

CEO Adi Tatarko told TechCrunch that “the company decided to localize for Singapore because its platform was already doing well there,” and added that “There are two main criteria we look at when evaluating new markets for Houzz: one is a strong local demand for the Houzz offering and the second is demand from the global Houzz community in a market’s design aesthetic and expertise… Both Japan and Singapore met these criteria.”

With the localization for Singapore, Houzz focused mainly on adapting the language and certain terms according to the target market. For example, instead of using “laundry,” the app uses “service yard.” Other changes and additions have also been made to match to the new market style and its preferences.

Last year Houzz also launched its localized platform for India. In an interview on India’s Economic Times website, Tatarko said: “We look at two things when we consider localization: one is the professional community and industry, and the second is interest among our global community to get access into another country.”

Localization and internationalization

Localization is the process of customizing the app’s content in order to serve different users with different preferences and habits in different regions.

Internationalization is the process of customizing the app’s code for localization so it can be modified and released in other languages. It is the first step in the process of mobile app localization as the code needs to be ready before installing the localized content. For efficiency, it has to be done in parallel with the app development process.

Localization and internationalization need to go hand in hand as they are dependent on each other.

Entrepreneurs and startups see the success of their innovative app as the Holy Grail in their field, which is why there are no shortcuts in presenting their app to world markets.

Localization is not just about translation and converting messages. It is a long process that requires a great deal of investment. There are four stages in the app localization process and this process is usually carried out by a project manager, localization engineers, professional translators and quality assurance engineers. The stages are development, internationalization, localization and testing.

Development, research and analysis

Table 1: English words are often shorter than many equivalents.

So, before they even start translating the first word, startups need to meticulously plan their localized project and after conducting thorough research, they can decide which language(s) to localize into and where their potential users are going to pay for the app. They need to localize everything; the app’s description, how to use it, the warranty, support, terms of payment and all marketing materials as well as their website, information about the company and all legal liabilities.

Translation

Translators have to get a list of keywords that relate to the target audience and to the search engines in each specific region. Local SEO is very important since startups need to think like their local users.

There are some important elements to consider during the translation process.

In each language there are different linguistic, cultural elements and variations; even in the same country there might be differences from region to region.

For example, consider target audiences in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, where English is the spoken language. But obviously, the audiences speak British English, American English, Australian English and New Zealand English. It may seem to be the same language, but there are slight differences between them as the culture affects the language. The cultures in these countries may also differ among states or regions, as they do in the United States.

Spanish is notably one of the most requested languages for app localization in the world, and there are obviously different types of Spanish spoken around the world.

As for design and space issues, some languages are longer than others and they take different amounts of space in the mobile app. There is a difference in the length of words. For instance, in German words can take 30% more space than English. However, in Japanese, words may take up less space than English.

Table 1 shows comparative lengths of the word Flickr used for views as a ratio to the original in English.

Another issue is the vertical writing sometimes used by Chinese, Japanese and Korean, which may require significant changes in the app.

Cultural sensitivity in each language is also very important and there is a need to choose the appropriate images and the right colors in order to respect the audience’s culture.

There are also some languages that have bidirectional text, like Hebrew and Arabic, so there is a need to reverse the text and likely the order of the images or icons as well.

Time to test!

Localization testing is a must, as it ensures quality of the app and verifies the linguistic accuracy according to the target audience and its specific area.

In addition, after this phase of localization it is a good idea to have the app used by a focus group consisting of potential users of various ages from the target area. Collect their feedback on every element of the app: the language, culture, layout and UX, then make all the changes and final adjustments.

Ready, steady, release

Finally, the app has been internationalized, localized and tested and it’s the right time to move forward to the next stage — to release it and spread this amazing innovation to the world in its languages.

Once that project is completed, it is time to look ahead to the next localization phase in other languages, which will likely be easier and more effective as the process is now familiar and somewhat predictable.

The success of every startup in entering into a new market depends on preparation: thorough research, detailed planning and professional localization. Investing in these initial steps in advance will help to minimize risks, introduce the app successfully and to increase sales significantly.