I want to propose a question - if you are a Platform owner or Service owner and you offer multiple languages to your end users, do you track it?
As I write this, do you know how many English users you have vs Language A and Language B, in order to see if you're achieving your original goals / objectives?
Usage and ROI
In any implementation of any technology solution there is always a set series of objectives to be achieved, these are then measured so that the business can validate if they have achieved a quantifiably good "return on investment" for the given objective.
In my experience, when languages are involved one would be to provide that service in the language of the targeted end-users and as such one of the metrics available for that is to measure how many users are using it and therefore consuming that offering.
It stands to reason that if you expected 1000 end-users to consume that given language that you put in all of the effort to provide, are all 1000 end-users actually consuming it? Because if they aren't there are many possible reasons as to why, which could bolster your ROI even more.
Before I go into those possible reasons I'll explain how you can measure the number of users with a per language preference.
If you install the "Localization Framework", navigating to the "Insights Dashboard", there is a report on said dashboard called "Language Preferences":
This report is generated nightly by the aggregated count of the Active user's "preferred language" value. The image above is taken from my own instance using demo data to represent how it's displayed.
So we almost know why we'd want to know this data, in that we would like to know if our target audience is consuming the content we provide in the language we provide, but what if they're not, what could cause this?
What if our audience isn't consuming what we thought they would?
This is a good question and there are many possible reasons for this. So let's start at the very beginning:
- Does the target audience know the language is available to them?
This could be as little and as innocuous as literally knowing if the language is available to them, as in have they ever been told? Could an internal marketing push be beneficial for recent newcomers?
- Could it be a UX (User Experience) issue?
Last week I posted about making the language selector more prominent so as to help people who don't necessarily read English well. Could making some adjustments to the UI be beneficial to emphasise the offering?
- Is the quality good enough for their needs?
This is always a challenging aspect, in that some topics when translated can have some very particular nuances and so if not handled correctly, or performed in the right way might not make a lot of sense if generalised.
Would it be worth providing a feedback mechanism for the target audience (or at least some selected representatives) have a feedback loop to you offering suggestions either for amendments or corrections?
- Is the UI in a mixed state?
This is also often a challenging aspect in the tech world, in that are some UI aspects translated and others not, making it either difficult or confusing or even jarring to consume?
When it comes to translating an interface (especially when additional functionalities are added) there is a concept called "Continual Localization". Which at a high-level means, it's not a one and done activity, there is always more to do over time.
Very often some of the best ways to mitigate any uptake issues, is to involve some native speakers (like a specified pilot group) to be involved in early testing of the translations so that they can provide feedback. This serves a few benefits, in that they will see the translations in-context and so can guide on it's relevance of that given term, coupled with whether it suits that particular area of the UI.
Is there the capacity within your Dev cycle to include corrections for translations prior to publication / go-live of that feature?
If you'd like to learn more about this concept, check out our dedicated Learning Path on NowLearning here.
One of the main aspects with translating into another language is the consistency of it. The more consistent the experience, the better the experience, which is nearly always attributable to a higher uptake.
I often joke about the Polish word for Case, because there isn't one. If it's literally translated its closest meaning is "Suit case" so an alternative needed to be defined in the Glossary. So, once reviewing feedback from your end-users, do you have an opportunity to improve your Glossaries and Style Guides?
Summary
As you bring on additional languages, it's always good to measure their performance and how well they are received by the target audience. Do they make sense? Is the intended user-audience consuming the content provided in those languages etc.
Over time, as your KPI metrics mature, you should be able to evaluate if Self-Service is working as intended causing an increase in Case deflection (for example) if you provided a Portal and KB in other languages, or if End-users are able to find what they are looking for, because the view counts and ratings of non-English KB Articles are increasing over time.
Much like any process, Localization also has a degree of CSI (Continual Service Improvement), in that it might need tweaks here and there to optimize it, whilst also reviewing how it's being used - frequently.
Don't be afraid to ask your users what they think of the service provided, hopefully what they can give back is constructive enough to take on board.
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