There is an explosion in the number of mobile phones that people handle in all corners of the world. But, more exponentially, there is a never before seen increase in the number and frequency with which the applications of these devices are consumed.
Now look at something counter-intuitive about this growth: There is also a hard-to-miss shortage of high-quality localized applications in emerging markets from what we gathered from an ArabNet report. And do you know the irony? This is holding back the adoption and use of apps!
We are not talking about tribal or luddits, but about smartphone owners in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and around 2,500 of them. The survey highlights that Arabic apps faced resistance to downloads because 30% of respondents perceived that they were not of good quality. Then there was 16% who seemed not as interested in downloading thanks to a bad experience with an app they had in the past. Now consider this: even if 34% indicated a preference for international applications, they were unlikely to have the same level of relevant information and services as localized Arabic applications.
Do you understand drift?
Its application may be the most skillful, fluid and superhuman in the midst of a group of rivals on its own ground or in a major international market, but it will regress and be reduced to a mere “also executed” if it is not adapted to a region, culture , market or local language.
That, my friends, is what they call – Location. The good news and bad news are: it can have a profound effect on your application ROI!
If your app doesn’t support a certain country, locale, language or culture, it will appear at the wrong end of some numbers – remember what Distimo (App Annie), an app statistics and data editor, revealed in a survey covering 200 applications “The impact of application translations”? Downloads can increase by 128% and revenue can increase by 26% just one week after publishing an iPhone app in a new language. That should explain why in one experiment, David Janner, editor-in-chief of MAKE APP Magazine, got up to 767% more downloads when making sure of the app’s keyword localization.
ROI happens easily when you take care of some fundamental aspects of the location:
1. Placement should address all the small and large elements that can define user experience and app stickiness. It can be data time formats, currency, keyboard usage, form factor differences, symbols and corollary, layout optimization, expressions that work there, other nuances and usage habits that a new audience would lean towards, location of the image, details of the user experience and design as well. Instructions and layout that work in English will not necessarily be followed in other regions and languages. Therefore, pay attention to expansion differences, the form factor used, spacing, left-to-right and right-to-left support depending on a language, vertical or horizontal dominance of alphabets, and a host of other factors. that affect the display of text and fluency in a new language.
2. Proper and prudent internationalization is the basis for effective localization. Unless you make your code and design accessible from scratch to a suitable location where and when needed, this process will get quite complicated and chaotic. Internationalization will allow your content to have discrete localizable elements from the start. The code and language will also easily adapt to different regions and requirements quickly and smoothly. A good translation tool and expertise can help you complement and even mitigate internationalization efforts and expenses to a great extent.
3. Consider major platforms, such as iOS and Android, before conducting major reviews. Also find the location of the cross-platform app. Resource and data files that involve content, any complex data sets or graphical content outside of its code, images, tutorials, and other elements that accompany the executable code of a program should be outsourced to facilitate localization. Keep the default option open at all times as they are not marked with any locale or language qualifiers and can help with standard usage and requirement cases.
4. Good translators will always work with context in mind, and that is precisely what gives an application an ROI advantage. It should be tested in environments that are developed in the case of real users. Therefore, the knowledge of multiple devices, a variety of screen sizes, form factors and issues such as line wrapping, breaks in sentences and strings, inaccuracies in actual use, untranslated texts and strings, incorrect layout, etc. . it must be taken care of with proper tests and expert help.
The game is no longer just about a great app, but about making it friendly and smart enough for any user who wants to tackle.
Speak the language they speak. Get the ROI.
