How To Create Effective Global Websites For Local Audiences

Many businesses create global websites hoping to replicate the success of online business in their country in other countries.

Some companies see a return on investment in creating multiple websites, and some companies find it difficult to grow their business in foreign countries.

Creating effective global websites requires attention to several essential factors to ensure they resonate with local audiences.

In this article, we learn from successful global companies like IKEA, McDonald’s and KFC and apply it to global website best practices.

Adaptation of the linguistic and cultural product

It is essential to understand and implement locally unique customer interests and preferences. In many cases, global websites are created by translating/localizing the main page multiple times.

IKEA

IKEA is known for its huge warehouse-style buildings. In the US and most countries, people drive to IKEA ready to buy large items that can only be transported by car.

In Japan, although most people own a car, they don’t drive every day. Having cavernous warehouse stores limited their business potential in Japan.

To increase business in Japan, IKEA targeted people who shop on foot in major cities. He opened a much smaller footprint in the middle of Harajuku in 2020.

At the downtown store, people can purchase 1,000 items that they can easily carry out, as well as order larger items through a delivery kiosk.

Based on this initial test, it also opened additional stores in the high-traffic areas of Shibuya and Shinjuku. These stores not only increased in-store sales of items, but also provided easy access to an additional 9,400 items available online.

Although this is an example of a brick-and-mortar store, the idea of ​​understanding customer needs and putting them into practice can be equally applied to their online business.

Since IKEA has adapted many of its products specifically for the Japanese market, where houses are generally smaller, saving space is a priority.

On its Japanese website, it highlights compact, multi-purpose furniture that suits Japanese urban apartments, with suggestions for optimizing smaller living spaces.

McDonald’s and KFC

Similarly, the websites of McDonald’s and KFC are localized by pushing locally popular items in each country, as shown below.

By creating special menu items that cater to local Japanese culinary preferences, McDonald’s conveys a sense of cultural sensitivity, making the brand seem more “local” rather than foreign.

During the festive season, KFC Japan’s website prominently displays its Christmas offer, with family meal packs and seasonal items.

The site encourages early reservations as these special holiday meals are extremely popular.

By understanding your local audience, you’ll know which products to promote and when to promote them on your site.

By promoting special web offers around local holidays and cultural events, such as Christmas in Japan or Ramadan in the Middle East, KFC and McDonald’s position themselves as brands that celebrate local traditions. these market-specific adjustments will generate higher conversions/sales.

In many markets such as Japan and India, local residents tend to use mobile devices to access content.

Ensuring the correctness of your website and applications mobile friendly user experienceincluding fast loading times, streamlined interfaces and intuitive navigation that appeals to efficiency and speed preferences.

This makes it easier for users to quickly locate nearby stores, order online and access promotions.

Best practices for adapting your website to a global audience

Translate all content

Website translation and localization projects require significant resources and budget. It is understandable that some websites are not 100% localized.

I used to sympathize with those sites, especially those owned by small businesses. However, s AI advances in localizationthere is no excuse. You should translate the entire page, including user-generated content.

More than just translation, the type and depth of content reflects an understanding of local buying preferences.

In Japan, customers greatly appreciate detailed product descriptions and customer reviews, which must be in Japanese.

This level of localized and market-specific detail is consistent with the Japanese tendency to do extensive research before purchasing.

Optimize your website with localized colors, images and videos

From language and product selection to seasonal promotions, tailoring your site’s content to reflect local tastes and customs helps establish a sense of authenticity and resonance with users.

Too often, local markets only have translated text, leaving the website design and media content the same across all pages.

Needless to say, the site feels much more relatable when they see images and videos that are familiar to them. For audiences in some countries, the color scheme could unfavorably change the impression of the site.

IKEA Japan localizes the site using faces that look like those in the local market.

With free and low-cost AI image design tools, price is no longer an excuse not to optimize images.

You can also start a website Google’s Vision API to preview your images and help localize the replacement image text. More importantly, you can use the safe search feature to flag sensitive content as well as any colors or situational elements that could become a problem in the marketplace.

Make it easy for users to convert

It goes without saying that you need to build trust by ensuring secure transactions, reliable delivery and customer protection at the level of local e-commerce websites.

You need to integrate with local platforms and payment methods to allow your brand to become part of the local digital landscape, making it easier for users to interact and transact.

Ensure that all forms – especially those involved in the engagement or conversion flow (registration, contact, order, etc.) – are tailored to the local market.

Since these are your most important pages, you want to make sure you remove any ambiguity and friction as they move through the conversion process.

Regardless of how people get to your site, organic, ads, or direct traffic – if your forms aren’t well-tuned for their local audience – they may abandon the form and not convert for you, even when they want your services or products.

For example, if you receive orders from foreign countries, but the form is formatted for the US (or wherever you are based), requiring data or a format that is not recognized by the local market, customers may not be able to complete the form.

Make your forms and billing pages flexible enough to accommodate different digits and styles for phone numbers, zip codes and addresses; make sure you don’t need a US state name.

Usually, Japanese addresses are quite long, combining both numbers and characters. If your form has a maximum character limit that is too short for the market, they may not be able to fill it out.

If you have a multinational website, display the name of the specific target country at the top of the “country” selection form.

In addition to form localization, there are other critical website functions to consider.

For example, different login methods and payment options are used around the world.

In the US, in addition to email/ID login, many sites offer social media logins, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as Google and Microsoft logins.

While it works well in many countries, in some countries, like China, your standard options may not be as popular or even available.

Conclusion: Building a cohesive global presence

Creating a successful multinational website is a strategic investment that requires careful planning and continuous adaptation.

Focusing primarily on the local user experience, including localization and local customization combined with geo-targeting, SEO, technical infrastructurecompliance and analytics, executives can develop a website that aligns with local expectations while reinforcing a consistent brand identity.

As your global site evolves, continue to listen to your audience and monitor performance to better understand consumer behavior and adapt to the unique requirements of each market to maintain a competitive edge.

The digital landscape is constantly changing, and proactive adaptations will keep your brand competitive in a diverse global market.

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