Localisation, Language, and Loyalty - The 3 Keys to Customer Experience

Article
Paul Fennemore
C-Level Digital Transformation and Customer Experience Consultant
Sitecore
Globe with world map

“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language - the language they use every day, the language in which they think”. This quote from ad-man David Ogilvy may be 50+ years old, but in today’s connected world, where localisation is a competitive differentiator, it resonates more than ever.

It’s always been the case that companies wanting to succeed with customer experience must first succeed with understanding their customers. For companies wanting to do this across regions, it’s about nurturing (rather than just acquiring) potential customers. The best way to do this is by using the local language. If a customer has to translate an experience to match their local expectations, you’ve lost them.

The key to building loyalty is to keep things as seamless and natural as possible. With that in mind, here are some ways companies have applied this localisation of experience and language, to raise the bar in customer experience.

Volvo

Delivering a consistent experience across 93 countries takes a particular type of localisation.

Volvo offers experiential features including an interactive digital showroom and an online car configurator, enabling users to select according to local preferences. As a result of these sorts of innovations, its mobile website was named ‘best in class’ in the L2 2018 Automotive Digital IQ Index report.

L’Oréal

I’ve included the global cosmetic group due to how it’s cracked two notable markets: India and China. L’Oréal first entered the Indian market in 1994, and by 2020 hopes to have a 150+ million client base. In China, where the 1.3 billion population poses unique challenges in terms of devices and user experience, L’Oréal has become the number 1 in the luxury beauty market.

Integral to its success is producing localised products such as Colossal Kajal from Maybelline New York and Garnier Color Naturals. The web presence is similarly localised, no mean feat when you consider L’Oréal’s goal to refresh and relaunch 600 websites for 15 brands over a three-year period. Customised product offerings are based on consumer profiles, while staying consistent across brands.

Philippine Airlines

The country’s flag carrier recently partnered with Sitecore and Accenture, to create localised websites for Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. Supported by personalised marketing campaigns, traffic and conversions ‘dramatically’ increased as a result.

When you consider that running international websites poses plenty of SEO challenges (such as making sure websites don’t compete), this achievement is all the more impressive. Philippine Airlines was named as one of the world’s 10 most improved airlines for 2019.

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