The benefits of having multi-language and multi-currency websites.
Before you launch your ecommerce business, you'll be faced with many considerations when it comes to the creation of your website, some of which go far deeper than the products you feature, or the layout of your images. One crucial issue that many retailers often overlook involves determining whether to make their website capable of being viewed in multiple languages and of accepting currencies. Fortunately, you don’t need to absorb a 100-page guide to multi-currency payment processing to gain an understanding of the benefits of taking this important step.
Familiarity breeds profits.
As you assemble all of the elements that will comprise your optimal sales website, one of your highest priorities is to make your customers feel comfortable, safe, and at home. That’s why you should point out the security measures you have put in place to safeguard their sensitive data. You’ll also want to ensure that your navigation is intuitive while streamlining the purchase process. Create product descriptions and a return policy that are transparent and easy to understand. When consumers are convinced that the company they are doing business is worthy of their trust, they are far more likely to spend money on their products.
For enterprises looking to expand their presence to customers around the globe, making buyers feel at home is even more important. After all, visitors are taking a risk by sending their money to a company that isn’t even headquartered in their homeland. The more you can do to calm these concerns, the better.
One of the most effective ways to set consumers' minds at ease is to enable your website to accept the currencies used by customers in your target countries. Once your site has this capability, potential buyers will know exactly which price they will be charged, in a currency they understand. If you also enable your site to display in the area’s language of choice, the benefits of familiarity are further multiplied. In the end, your foreign consumers will appreciate the lengths you have gone to respect their needs and preferences and should respond positively.
Improved organic visibility.
When consumers search for a particular item on Google using their own language, the results will be significantly different and more specialized. Businesses that want to be graced with a higher ranking in the local search results for a particular nation will find that having a multilingual website can help to make that happen. Buyers will be more likely to click on a site even if it is international when they have found it themselves by using words and ideas in their language. Combine that with offering payments in a familiar currency and you will find that your efforts will quickly bear fruit.
Boosted conversions.
For any company that sells items via a website, the first major hurdle is getting potential customers to click in the first place. Search engine optimization and affiliate marketing are just two of the strategies that many entrepreneurs utilize to pull potential customers in. Creating an eye-catching and easy-to-navigate website with compelling products, attractive design, strong security measures, and multi-currency and language capabilities all encourage customers to peruse your site and make purchases.
People know that there are many businesses out there competing for their hard-earned dollars, yen, or euros. Bearing that knowledge in mind, they can be highly discriminating about which seller they choose to offer their trust and long-term loyalty to.
Heightened credibility.
In spite of its increased popularity in recent years, ecommerce still sometimes carries the stigma of the fly-by-night. Customers cannot necessarily visit a brick-and-mortar store with your brand name on it, and there is always the nagging fear that you might lack integrity or staying power. However, this wariness can be minimized significantly when potential buyers recognize that you not only speak their own language but also accept their local currency easily and seamlessly.
For today’s sellers all over the world, the name of the game is brand recognition and loyalty. Once your name, logo, and unique niche appeal become household words with international consumers, they will begin to shower you with that most vital gift: Word of mouth referrals. Enhance this free advertising with multilingual social media posts from your happy customers and the love will be spread even further.
Easier financial dealings.
Like many entrepreneurs, you may have resisted the urge to sell internationally for one reason: Fear of the bookkeeping complications that were sure to arise. There are good reasons for this wariness. After all, you may have previously believed that you needed to construct a different website for each country. By operating in this way, you would definitely need to prepare a distinct profit and loss statement for each website at the end of every financial year.
However, many of these complexities disappear like magic when you instead set up one website that incorporates all of the nations you are targeting. Today’s shopping cart software and ecommerce platforms enable you to accept numerous types of currency all in one place. As a result, your financial statements can be prepared based on your base currency of choice, rather than on all individual denominations.
When you take the time to invest in a website platform that takes the languages and currencies of your target consumers into consideration, everyone wins! Your buyers will be able to navigate your pages with ease, choosing exactly the items they want because of the clear descriptions that have been translated into their native tongues. They’ll not only make purchases today, but will be brand loyal in the future. Some will even offer those all-important positive reviews and referrals. In turn, your company and your brand reap the benefits — and that amounts to a language that everyone loves to speak. Not to mention, money in the bank.