“ Our product is popular in the domestic market, so now we are thinking of going international. Where do I start as a product manager? "

« - , … ».

About this I regularly hear from people who are starting to bring their product to the international market. The complexity of reaching the global level is usually underestimated, and this leads to delays, additional costs and crushing failures.

In this article, I would like to go through my checklist of questions compiled on the basis of generally accepted recommendations for localization and my 10-year experience in international scaling of software products (these are mobile games, B2C applications for the mass market, and SaaS B2B products) .

Note. This list is by no means exhaustive. It discusses mainly what will help the product manager. ( , ).

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( — i18n) — , .
( — l10n) — , .
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The underestimation of the volume of work on internationalization and localization is often associated with the fact that these processes are perceived only as a translation of the user interface and documentation, whereas in reality these are much more complex tasks.

The relationship of the various processes within the product. Source: Adobe Blog .

Translated to Alconost

And now - the promised list of questions!

I will break it into three categories: business and marketing, design and development, customer service and support.

Business and Marketing

Which will we use the international strategy?

Depending on the product and audience, a global, transnational or integrated international strategy can be considered. A few examples:

. Microsoft , . .
. McDonald’s . «», : « » , — , — . , (-, ), — , -.
. , Uber, : , — — . — Pokémon Go: 35 . , .

A variety of Pokemon names. Source: Applanga.

An experienced product specialist will try to determine the international strategy as early as possible and notify the owners and team, as this can affect the main architectural and business decisions, which will be quite difficult and expensive to change at later stages of product development.

What are our priorities in expanding to the international market?

It is imperative to select regions for international expansion in a specific order - rather than relying on intuition. Prioritization models such as ICE will be especially useful for this purpose (here's an example of how Dropbox used it).

Do not try to set strict deadlines or plan to launch in several countries at the same time, especially if you are entering other markets for the first time. It is best to group regions by level - for example, like this: 1) highest priority, launch in one or two countries, deadline - as soon as possible; 2) high priority, launch over the next two to three quarters; 3) everyone else - and act in order of priority. There is an excellent publication on this subject from Mina Radhakrishnan, Uber's first product director .

What are our success indicators?

Why are we entering new markets? In fact, this allows you to use the multiplier effect - an increase in coverage, number of purchases, engagement and monetization by entering every new market.

The simplest return on investment (ROI) formula for localization will look like this:
ROI = (total localization benefit - localization cost) / localization cost

The next question: “How to calculate the total profit”? Think about what additional revenue a company can get by releasing a localized software product. Ideally, this forecast is compiled by product specialists in conjunction with sales and marketing departments, taking into account demand indicators in target markets. However, in practice, the necessary data is not always available - therefore, it is necessary to measure the total localization benefit through indirect indicators:

Potential increase in market share as a result of localization.
Increased page views and application downloads.
Conversion rates before and after localization.
.
SEO.
.

As for the time horizon, I recommend calculating the cost and costs on an annual or at least semi-annual basis - so you can take into account the long-term effects of localization, as well as the internationalization budget, which usually covers all regions.

How competitive will we be in the new market?

The presence of this item is quite predictable :) A good product manager prepares in advance and studies the competitors, and then determines whether to improve functionality, review the design and price of the product, and so on.

Photo - Kyle Glenn , Unsplash platform .

What is the difference in the needs, context and habits of the target audience in the new market compared to the current base of users (customers)?

This item is more complicated. If the needs and habits of users in this region are significantly different from the domestic market, then localization may require a complete rethinking of business logic, interface design and approach to consumer comfort, as well as prices and design.

I had to deal with this problem when we scaled Netpulse (a platform for increasing the activity of clients for fitness clubs) to the EU market. The system worked perfectly in the original market - in the United States, where most gyms are inexpensive, and personal training is considered a paid service. In European countries, for example, in Germany, the situation was somewhat different: a monthly subscription was more expensive and included the help of personal trainers in the hall. To fit this region, we adapted the product: added direct interaction between clients and trainers.

As part of the localization strategy, one should analyze the expectations of the product in the new region and find several potential users (customers) from this market who can be interviewed - and thus verify their assumptions. You can recruit respondents for research from the desired region and a specific social group on the Respondent website .

Do I need to change content in the App Store and ASO?

We are talking about screenshots, videos and descriptions of the application, which can and should be localized when adding a new language standard. It’s also helpful to update your keywords as they increase your ranking in store search results.

What else can be done to improve your SEO performance?

Going on vacation, the British will google holidays, Americans are vacations , and Italians are vacanze . Find the correct keywords that you use to search for your product on the Internet, and use them in texts and metadata (title, description and meta tag keywords). See the Google manual for more details .

Yes, and when we say “google” - this will not necessarily be a search through Google: in some countries it may be necessary to optimize the product for working with popular local search engines - for example, Baidu in China or Yandex in Russia.

What data protection rules apply in target markets?

This is where the real fun begins. If your product is from the EU, you (I hope) have already ensured compliance with GDPR; if from sunny California - you probably know about CCPA. But what about China? Australia? Japan? Before deciding which markets to enter first, talk to the legal department: local data protection requirements can significantly affect the calculation of return on investment and, therefore, the product development plan. A good example is the requirement for data to be located in China: since 2017, an infrastructure operator with critical information must store “personal information” and “important data” in China. An exception is if the business has passed the state safety assessment. That is, to avoid violating data placement requirements,Some companies will have to organize the transfer of data abroad, which means changing the structure of the relevant mechanisms.

When I need to quickly compare data protection rules in different countries and formulate specific questions for lawyers, I go to the DLA Piper website .

What content restrictions are there in the new region?

When I was engaged in mobile games, we had to make numerous edits to materials for the Chinese market. Firstly, it turned out that local censorship forbids showing skeletons, so they had to be removed. Then they rejected all the games that mentioned "rebellion." Finally, we had to remove the pools of blood.

One of our favorite games is Kotokalipsis (the probability of an exit in China is 0% ...)

Design and development

What principles and processes will we apply in the politics of internationalization and localization?

Product managers need to discuss the entire process with the team and document it so that everyone has the right information. Consider the following:

Changes to the general library of product requirements and development system.
The translation management system (TMS) that you will use.
Who will do the translation: full-time specialists, freelancers or agencies.
Guides for translators on terminology, style, etc.
Localization workflow: for example, importing source XLIFF files to TMS, translation, verification, delivery to end users.
Create and maintain a common repository of text strings.
( — SDK).
.

If you postpone the discussion of these issues, it will result in a waste of time and money - which happened to me when I got to two years ago as a mobile application with about 10 thousand hard-coded lines of text. We had to pay to translate the same text twice (for iOS and Android), and then spend the time for developers to add translated lines to the code. It took me about 4-5 months to clear all this and transfer the application to a single text storage for iOS and Android, connected to the translation platform.

The cost of solving the problems of internationalization after the release of the product can be astronomical. Source: Adobe Blog .

Country, region, language ... locale?

Suppose you have already set your sights on a certain country - the next step will be to search for language standards that apply to it (the “language standard” is the language and cultural expectations for the region).

Take, for example, the United States. It may seem that upon entering this market it is enough for the product to "speak English", but millions of people in the USA speak other languages at home. Therefore, the product for the mass market may need support for Spanish and Chinese.

Source: Statista , USA; US Census Bureau; 2018; from 5 years

In addition, depending on the region, several language standards may be required for one language, for example, for Spanish in the USA: es_mx (Spanish - Mexico), es_us (Spanish - USA) andsome more . Finally, to encompass Spain, the localization of es_es (Spanish - Spain) may not be enough ; for one of the mass products that we launched in this region, it turned out to be extremely important to maintain the language standard ca_es (Catalan - Spain).

How does our interface look with texts in different languages?

The main rule is: “The more flexible the interface design, the better.” I recommend that designers take into account the average elongation of texts translated from English into other languages - this data can be taken, for example, from IBM's recommendations on globalization :

Source: IBM Globalization

General rules for internationalization and localization should be part of the product design system so that the team can consistently apply them to all functions. This will include rules on the margin for lengthening text, wrapping or truncating long text, requirements for images and icons, etc. (A good example is the Meetup system .)

How will the language standard be applied? Will users be able to change the language?

In mobile applications, usually the language standard is applied according to the device language: a user from the USA who specified Spanish (USA) on the phone will see the application in the language standard es_us .

For the Internet, everything is a little more complicated: you can rely on the browser language settings - but for many users they will be incorrect. Imagine an American working in Germany on a corporate laptop: he needs the language standard “en-us” (English - USA), but de-de (German - Germany) is installed in the browser , and only the company administrator can change this setting. Bad luck ...

To avoid confusion, give end users the opportunity to change their preferred language, so that this can be done during the application.

This also applies to other elements of internationalization - for example, the transition from the British system of units of measurement to metric, as well as to the choice of currency in which prices are displayed.

Currency switcher on Booking.com

Which locale will be the base (default)?

As a rule, English will be the base language - however, you need to choose the language standard : for example, UK or US (Great Britain or the USA). All translations will be done according to the texts of this language standard - it will also be used by default if the product does not support the language of the user device.

Do I need to support different directions of writing?

In some languages - for example, in Arabic and Hebrew - the text is written from right to left (RTL); in traditional Chinese it is allowed to write from left to right (LTR), and from top to bottom (TTB). Depending on the type of product and the profile of the target audience, you may need to slightly update the interface or even completely rebuild it.

Source: Airbnb Design Blog .

Please note: in the screenshot below, the order of the items in the Hebrew Airbnb menu is changed, as native speakers not only write, but also read from right to left.

Airbnb mobile application in Hebrew and English.

Does the product have fillable forms that need to be localized?
If the answer is yes, then you have a lot of fun!

Take for example the names. We usually don’t even know how different the structure of human names in other countries can be. I had to learn this from my own hard experience: we launched an application in Indonesia for registration in which we had to enter the name and surname, and the next day after the launch we received a bunch of complaints ... from mononyms - people who do not have a "last name", from - why they could not get registered. Not a very pleasant surprise.

Other name-related changes in forms: interchanging the name and surname (Korea, Hungary), checking the entered data must accept special characters, spaces and characters outside the ASCII range - for example, ë in the name Zoë (for other examples, see W3.org website ) .

Another complication is addresses and phone numbers.

The order of elements in an address varies from region to region. Pitfalls here are usually: unnecessary required fields (state), a fixed postal code format (US only), obscure signatures and hint texts.

As for telephone numbers: it will be necessary to decide whether to use the local or international format, whether to break the number into groups of numbers or not.

Source: Flexport blog.

Depending on product features, you can choose one of three common approaches to internationalizing forms: specific, variable or standard formatting - more about this in an excellent article by Luc Wroblewski .

I advise finding a balance between the need to obtain accurate data from the forms and the ease of use. If possible, fill in some fields of the form automatically, using a context, for example, geographical location, SIM card data or zip code - this will simplify the task for users.

Do I need to localize prices and currencies?

If prices are displayed in your application, then you need to make sure that users see the correct prices - in a familiar form and in local currency.

Customers visiting the site from Germany expect to see prices in euros, and buyers from the US in dollars. Canadians will also expect to see dollars, but they will need to know whether these are US dollars (USD) or Canadian dollars (CAD) ... (for more information on formatting currencies, see the excellent article from Etsy ).

Source: Etsy Blog .

You can imagine the price as a structure consisting of an integer, currency, decimal places and delimiters. Depending on the use case, it can be divided into the main price and taxes - for example, VAT.

Discuss plans for supporting multiple currencies with colleagues in the development and design departments in advance - this helps to take into account the necessary level of flexibility and avoid serious refactoring in the future.

What about the different unit systems?

At Netpulse, we developed a product for regulars of gyms and fitness enthusiasts, so we had to consider that in different countries they prefer to use different measurement systems. For users in the USA, the default height, weight and distance were in the British system of units (feet and inches, pounds, miles), for Europeans - in metric (meters and centimeters, kg, km). And, of course, the unit system could be switched in the settings.

Source: Statista.

Does our product display date and time?

A variety of date formats will really “please” your team ... Let me just quote the words of one developer:

“I would like everyone who comes up with a new date format to be beaten in the face with a hot frying pan until he refuses programming in favor of growing cacti.” - DevRant.com

Source: DevRant.com

When choosing the right date is crucial for the user (for example, when buying a plane ticket), you need to show the calendar and indicate the month in words.

Source: Google Flights.

What about time zones? And with daylight saving time?

Working with time zones is difficult, because you will have to take into account a huge number of borderline cases, and each of them will surely come across to you as soon as you decide to free up:

Daylight saving time: one day a year will last 23 hours and the other 25 hours (however, in some regions the clock does not work).
.
24, 38 (: ?), — , , — UTC+5:30.
.

The main conclusion: do not rely on the assumptions of "default" . If the time zone is not obvious, specify it in the user interface, consider borderline cases and allocate enough time for quality control.

What is the meaning of our badges and symbols in the new market?

You need to be careful with the icons, symbols and pictograms in the interface: in the region where you are going to go, they can be understood differently.

For example, images of animals may take on unexpected significance: in the USA, owls symbolize wisdom , and in some Asian regions, on the contrary: stupidity. Therefore, if suddenly on the website of online courses the owl badge is used as an indicator that a user or student is getting good points, then for visitors from Asia such an image can be offensive.

Do we have images of people or avatars?

Look at them with a fresh look: do they represent the local population, is gender, racial and age balance maintained?

I led the development of one of the applications, and before entering the international market, our team had to remove all the avatars and replace them with pictures uploaded by users, and use the first letters of the name and surname as the default image. So I had to do it so that users were represented in the application properly, and so that no one was offended by the lack of a suitable avatar (more about avatars can be found in the UXCollective article ).

How does a new audience perceive colors?

Colors should be carefully selected depending on the target market so that they reflect local cultural characteristics (for reference, you can use this symbolism table ).

What fonts do we use and will they look good for writing in other languages?

If you plan to go out in regions where the non-Latin alphabet is used, you need to check the fonts and make sure that they support special characters and symbols - to avoid the appearance of crocodiles. The Google Fonts page has a handy language support filter.

Source: Phase.com

Is our account login and identity management solution suitable for the new market?

Let's say your product allows you to log in via Facebook or via email, and you plan to launch it in South Korea. In this country, 83% of the audience uses KakaoTalk, so they can expect to be logged in through the Kakao social network.

Applications used to communicate on social networks may and may not coincide with those used to enter accounts. If your product relies on social networks and (or) referrals, it would be wise to get acquainted with instant messengers and social networks popular in the new market (for example, WhatsApp in South America, WeChat in China).

Can we accept payments in a way that is convenient for us and our audience?

International payments are a big and difficult task: literally everything can go wrong here, from hidden commissions to problems in the security system and exotic legal requirements. What you should pay attention to:

The prevalence of your preferred payment method in the target market.
Regulatory requirements for Internet payments, for example, the need to have a local merchant account or request a security code for each transaction.
Is it possible to use such well-known systems as PayPal and Stripe to launch the beta version, and add others (with lower fees) later.

Can the API return data in local formats and in different locales?

If you have open APIs, you must allow certain or more locales to be included in API requests and return appropriately formatted data in responses.

Support and customer service

Does our customer service department have data and product information related to the new market?

An important responsibility of a product manager is to keep new colleagues in the sales and customer support departments up to date so that they know how to present the product in a new region. “Localize” materials used for training newcomers: add statistics and analytics for each new market (you, after all, are a product manager, and data is your main tool).

What to choose a sales strategy in a new market?

In some markets, you organize sales directly, in others, through local partners. In the second case, partners can start bombarding you with questions, comments and requests for new features ... so it's better to figure out what and why they might need in advance.

Do we have local customers (B2B) or end users (B2C) to launch the beta?

Start small, polish the product, and only then deploy it fully. No matter how you try and no matter how well you plan everything, there will be surprises - and it’s better to deal with them while you work on a small scale.

Is there a difference in service agreements and other documents?

Legal issues - mortal boredom, but without them anywhere. Gather together with lawyers and the customer service department and review the contracts and service agreement templates that will be used in the new region - if you do this in advance, you will save a lot of time and nerves.

Do we have localized materials for those. support?

Like internal materials for beginners, resources for those. user support will need to be supplemented: manuals, answers to frequently asked questions, help pages - everything should be displayed in the correct (local) version, in the correct language and regularly updated. Otherwise, get ready for an avalanche of requests for support from users from the new market.

Will we hire local support representatives for the new market?

By the way, someone will need to quickly deal with these applications and respond to them. This means that it will be necessary to organize global or local support lines, translate status pages, hire local support representatives and change the appropriate work schedule to cover new time zones.

Will there be changes in the structure of the weekly or daily load that need to be taken into account?

When a product launches in a new region, it can become popular (you count on it, right?), And load patterns will change. It may be necessary to change the schedule of service and product release - so as not to fall on peak hours. In addition, you can ask the development and operations department to organize a " deployment without downtime ."

Good luck and let your products live long and prosper in all corners of the world!

About the translator

Translation of the article was done in Alconost.

Alconost localizes games , applications and sites in 70 languages. Native translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, project managers 24/7, any format of string resources.

We also make advertising and educational videos - for sites that sell, image, advertising, educational, teasers, expliner, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.

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Internationalization: how to bring the product to the international market (and not go crazy)

Business and Marketing

Design and development

Support and customer service

Good luck and let your products live long and prosper in all corners of the world!

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