User experience and localization
This is where it all starts
Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress is here again! This international mobile technology fair showcases all the latest in devices, apps, technologies and platforms for a huge variety of sectors from health and well-being to the energy sector, the car industry and marketing.
Besides creating useful and effective technologies, all software and website engineers have one main concern: ensuring good user experience. Well, good isn’t enough, it has to be the best.
What is user experience?
User experience defines how a user interacts with a given product or service. Said interaction generates a positive or negative perception of the product or service.
It is very much related to usability, but it isn’t quite the same thing.
Since it has a lot to do with emotions, culture plays its part in user experience, especially as every culture has its own value scale. And that’s where we translators come into action.
A good user experience will have a positive impact on your brand
User experience and localization
Localization involves linguistically and culturally adapting a product, so user experience is therefore something we should definitely bear in mind for users to feel that a product is properly adapted to their culture.
As we all know, first impressions are the most important. Just like we only have seven seconds to make an impression on people who are visiting our websites for the first time, we also have very little time to cause a positive first impression on an app store.
When we talk about app localization, we’re basically focusing on software. Once we check that everything works correctly, we publish our app on the app store.
But sometimes we need to look at something more basic.
Our potential user goes to the app store and carries out a search. Fifty apps that seem to cover their needs pop up on their screen. They open the pages for the first five, but your app isn’t one of them. Why?
Because the page your app is on is in another language and your user feels more comfortable with information in their own language.
That makes the user feel something, which is usually negative. Which in turn leads to a negative user experience.
Unless the user already knows your app and goes out of their way to look for it, if you want your app to stand out from thousands of apps on the market, you need to bring your user closer to it. How? By speaking their language.
It’s not something automatic, that’s for sure. Nor does it mean you should translate everything all at once. As I explained once before, mobile app localization is a gradual process and it involves so much more than simply translating your app.
Considering your mobile app international expansion strategy as a global project, in which the user is the central role, will undoubtedly help ensure a positive user experience, which will have positive effects on your brand as a whole.
We all come out better off. The user understands what you can do for them, seeing you as a brand that is close to its audience and that respects their language and culture, making things easier for users. And, last but not least, as translators, we feel proud to have acted as a bridge between your company and your international customers.
See you for the next post!