So much content, so many languages! When adding support for a new geography or language, how deep do you go? Localize every single help file, marketing page, tutorial video ... or something less than that? Who gets to decide and what's their process for doing so? This session shares best practices and frameworks for making these decisions, collected from several content strategists at leading companies. We’ve asked the tough questions so you don't have to! This presentation was given by Anton Bollen as part of the GALA panel at TC World 2018 in Stuttgart Germany, November 2018.

1. Drawing the Line on
Content Localization
How Much is Too Much?
Anton Bollen & Daniel Foster
TC World Conference / GALA Session
November 14th 2018 - Stuttgart, Germany

2. Anton Bollen
European Customer & Market Strategist
Global Strategy Team
Daniel Foster
Product Strategy Lead for
Snagit
Drawing the Line on Content Localization
How Much is Too Much?

3. • Software company from Michigan, USA
• 250 employees
• Main products (Snagit, Camtasia) are
localized in four languages:
• English, German, French and
Japanese
• Products sold in 194 countries
Anton Bollen
European Customer & Market Strategist
Global Strategy Team
Drawing the Line on Content Localization
How Much is Too Much?

4. As product creators, should we…
• reduce the number of help articles for easier localization?
• stop including language-specific UI screenshots in
localized documentations?
• delay or cut scope for a major release to put in a more
efficient product localization framework?

5. Our Sources
90 - 400,000 employees
3 to 38 languages supported
• Telecommunication
• Security Software
• Mobile Gaming
• 3D Software
Interviews
with companies and
consultants
GALA Book: Truly Global
Obviously. Great Summary of Global
Strategy

6. Observations
Most interviewees wanted
to stay anonymous.
Guarded Strategy Focus on Tactics No One-Size-Fits-All
• Optimize process
• Decrease spend
• Increase quality
Different products,
audiences, languages,
markets…
Not much information
on strategy available.

7. Presentation Goal:
Provide guiding principles
and themes that you can
apply to your content
strategy.

8. Key Takeaways
• Strategy is more important than tactics.
• There are many levels of localization.
• Experiment and measure to learn what’s
right for your audience.

9. Getting Started
First, define a
global market strategy.

10. GLOBAL MARKET STRATEGY
Tier ranking: Possible criteria and factors
• Revenue
• Existing user base
• Expected growth
• Piracy rates
• Established local partners
• ….
Tier 1
Germany
USA
France
Tier 2
UK
Japan
Spain
Brazil
Tier 3
India
Italy
Turkey
A framework within which localization
prioritization can happen in a logical way.
Tiers | Investment | Entitlements

11. Tier 1 Presence Product Ecommerce Support UA Marketing
Germany HQ or local
office
All products
localized
EULAS
Docs
-Fully localized store
cart, receipts etc.
-Local currency and
payment
-Local phone number
+ local hours
-Localized KB
-Support ticket
-Localized chat
-Localized Help File
-Localized
Videotutorials
Localized:
-Website
-Newsletter
-E-Mail series
-Social Media
--PR Agency
USA
France
Tier 2
UK Local partner Main product
localized
EULAs
Docs
-Localized store cart,
receipts etc.
-Local currency and
payment
-Localized KB
-Support ticket
-Auto-translated chat
-Localized Help File
-EN-Videotutorials,
localized captions
Localized:
-Website
-Newsletter
-E-Mail series
-Ads
Japan
India
Brazil
Tier 3
Spain Online
presence only
No localized
product
-English store cart
-Local currency and
payment
English KB
-Auto-translated chat
-Top 20 KB articles
localized
-English Help File
-EN-Videotutorials
-English (Global)
Italy
Turkey
Example: Tiers | Investment | Entitlements

12. • textWho decides on localization
content strategy?

13. • text
The team responsible for
global growth prioritizes
content localization.
Localization drives market growth.
because…

14. 3D Software Security Software Mobile Gaming
Product Teams
• Product-driven company
• Responsible for growth
• Localization part of their
budget
Local Partners
• Partner-driven company
• Requests come from the
field
• Promise of increased
profitability
Chief Marketing Officer
(CMO)
• Localization is a marketing
expense
Who decides on localization content strategy?

15. • textUse data to set
localization priorities.

16. Mobile Gaming
Use data to set localization priorities.
• What geos are installs coming from?
• Analytics software
• Trends (age groups and
geographies)
• Device language settings
Video Software
• Downloads per region
• Active users
• Revenue
• Piracy rates
• English Language Tolerance Level

17. • textIf you don’t set the
strategy, know the
strategy.

18. If you don’t set the strategy, know the strategy.
• Contribute in a more meaningful way
• Optimize your work
• Look at data more intelligently
• Identify opportunities
Digital Signing Software
Madagascar

19. Audit what you have.

20. Audit what you have.
• Create a list of all existing content
• Identify content owners: Sales, Service, Support etc.
Evaluate:
• Is the content still up-to-date?
• Is it relevant for the new market?
• What does „localize“ mean for each type of content?
• Tip: Look for business cases for the original creation of the
source/domestic content; to apply to localized content.

21. Expanding to a New
Market
What’s your minimum
viable product?
bit.ly/drawingline-lean

22. Minimum Viable Product
• De-risking an idea through quick build-measure-learn cycles.
• Faster learning allows better optimization.
• Reduces wasted time and money.
Image & Concept Credits: iphoneandgo.it. & https://www.yolocalizo.com

23. „MVL is the equivalent to the minimum viable
product approach in development.
It refers to a strategy for testing different
markets and their potential for an application.“
Minimum Viable Localization
Concept https://www.yolocalizo.com & bit.ly/drawingline-mvl

24. Minimum Viable Localization
Concept https://www.yolocalizo.com & bit.ly/drawingline-mvl
• Localize ONLY some of the content, not the product.
• Get product listed in the local maarketplace.
• Create hypotheses to test.
If you get enough traction, you can invest more and
localize the product and more of the content.
Ask yourself:
Can I launch without localized product or content?
What is my MVP & MVL?

25. Define a core set of
content.

26. Security Software
Identified 100 KB
articles that solved
80% of support cases.
eCommerce Firm
Importance
Shelf-Life
H
H
L
L
100 KB articles are
part of the core set of
content.

27. User Journey Mapping
• Who served?
• Distinct profiles
Adapt
personas
• Where enter?
• Critical paths
Map journey
• Align to journey
• By type or piece
Fit content

28. • Who served?
• Distinct profiles
Adapt
personas
• Where enter?
• Critical paths
Map journey
• Align to journey
• By type or piece
Fit content
Develop Content Tiers

30. • Who served?
• Distinct profilesAdapt personas
• Where enter?
• Critical pathsMap journey
• Align to journey
• By type or pieceFit content
Personas for customers in
region X
• Identify main path
• Key content pieces (to
localize)
Apply path to other regions
• Look for similarities and
differences in user base or
customer experience
Apply User Journey
Mapping Globally
Develop Content Tiers

31. Match localization quality
to needs.

32. Digital Signing Software Mobile Gaming eCommerce Firm
French:
• High Quality Human Translation
Spanish:
• Freelancers & Auto Translate
Chinese:
• In-House - Chinese employee
Scandinavia:
• Product & in-game content
fully translated
• No localized blogposts etc
Other Markets:
• Mix of human-localized
content, machine
translation, and English
In regions with a local presence:
• 80% of localized content
is provided by Head
Quarters
• 20% is transcreated by
local team for optimal
quality.
Match localization quality to needs.

33. Develop cultural IQ to
avoid missteps AND
diminishing returns.

34. bit.ly/drawingline-efpi
Ask yourself:
“How sensitive is my audience in this geo
to English (or other source language)?”
i.e. Netherlands and Scandinavia are seen as
being comfortable with English content.
Telecommunication
Internal Spanish Content
• MX, ESP, LATAM --> ESP (Castillian)

35. bit.ly/drawingline-specs
To Translate or Not to Translate? Determining Specifications
Yulia Sadovnik, Localization Project Manager, Allcorrect
Motorcycles
Culturally relevant translations: Ask your users

36. Develop tiers by content
category.

37. CONTENT TIERS:
This type of content gets that type of localization treatment.
Mobile GamingeCommerce Firm
Premium Content
(Best Localization + QA)
Applied to:
High visibility items along customer
decision workflows
• App Store Listings
• Initial On-Boarding Content
Tier 1 (Best Localization)
• Website Interface
• Best selling products
Tier 2 (Ok Localization)
• Lesser selling products
• Premium Help content
Tier 3 (Machine Translation)
• Secondary support articles

38. Adapted from:
Mapping Your Enterprise Globalization Content Strategy
Alessandra Gobbi, NetApp
bit.ly/drawingline-mapping (GALA - $)
Low volume High volume
Brand
(landing page, banner,
press release, video)
Human
50-100%
Educational
(data sheet, white
paper, tutorial video)
Human +
Machine +
Post Edit
0-50%
Documentation
(manual, quick start
guide, online help)
Machine +
Post Edit
Spot check
Support
(knowledge base article,
live chat)
Machine
Post edit if
needed
Localization
model
QA
model

39. • textMeasuring Success

40. Measuring Success
Talk to field staff,
partners or customers to
find out what’s working
and what isn’t.

41. Agree on a set of KPIs that
matter to the business.
Review them quarterly.

42. Black box vs Transparent
(process) (outcomes)
% Right first time quality
% Translation error rate
% Translation project milestones missed
$ Translation cost per word
# Volume translated content by month
# Volume per project manager
% Transitioned to automated workflow
$ New revenue from global markets
# New customers from global markets
Names of new global accounts landed
Sales team feedback
% Visitor conversion
# Traffic (by country and language)
# Downloads (product or demand gen
kit)
% Market share vs competitors
% Translation ROI
Counting What Counts: KPIs for Translation and Localization
Kåre Lindahl, Venga Global
Truly Global, Anna Schlegel, NetApp

43. bit.ly/drawingline-roi (GALA - $)
bit.ly/drawingline-roi2 (slideshare)

44. Key Takeaways
• Strategy is more important than tactics.
• There are many levels of localization.
• Experiment and measure to learn what’s
right for your audience.

45. Truly Global: The Theory and Practice of Bringing Your Company to International Markets
(Anna Schlegel)
http://bit.ly/drawingline-trulyglobal (Amazon - $)
The Lean Startup | Methodology
http://bit.ly/drawingline-lean
MV ... what? the Minimum viable concept applied to Localization! (Miguel Sepulveda)
http://bit.ly/drawingline-mvl
EF English Proficiency Index
http://bit.ly/drawingline-efpi
To Translate or Not to Translate? Determining Specifications (Yulia Sadovnik)
http://bit.ly/drawingline-specs
Mapping Your Enterprise Globalization Content Strategy - NetApp (Alessandra Gobbi)
http://bit.ly/drawingline-mapping (GALA - $)
Counting What Counts: KPIs for Translation and Localization (Kåre Lindahl)
http://bit.ly/drawingline-kpis
Measuring Translation ROI for the Corporate Sector - Starwood (Ora Solomon)
http://bit.ly/drawingline-roi (GALA - $) | http://bit.ly/drawingline-roi2 (slideshare)
References

46. Anton Bollen
a.bollen@techsmith.com
@antonbollen
TechSmith Booth: 2/F29
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