Mirela
All companies, whether small startups or large multinationals now find themselves rapidly attracting attention from international markets. Some may not require full-scale localization, yet there are specific signs it’s time to localize at least the most important content. If you choose to ignore the signals, you may end up missing on some great opportunities for growth.
1. Organic traffic or usage is increasing in non-native markets
Let’s start with the most obvious sign. When looking at your website/mobile app data traffic data, have you noticed a spike in users from other countries who visit your site, download your app, or sign up for free trials? If so, you may have also noticed that they don’t convert. Cart abandonment is high, session duration is low, and bounce rates climb.
This is not always because of a pricing or product fit issue. Often, it’s because of a cultural usability gap. Visitors can’t understand the language and they can’t relate to your interface either. Without localization, you’re basically leaving it up to the users to do the hard work of translating your interface to figure out what you have to offer, as well as the terms and conditions. Let’s be real, most won’t.
2. Support tickets are increasing from specific regions
If your customer support team reports an rise in tickets from users in specific locales, especially ones that involve not know how to use a feature or how to find something, it could be a sign you’re not dealing with just a UX flaw. Have you considered it could also be that the interface is not properly adapted for the users searching for products or services such as yours?
Users who struggle with interfaces not designed for their linguistic conventions (e.g., RTL languages, local date/time formats, or numeric notation) are left confused even if the product technically functions. After all, localization is not just translation. So, when your users’ expectations are not met, they seek support. Try to address any issues related to adaptation and see if you notice a decrease in the number of support tickets.
3. Your competitors are already localizing
Localization is no longer a differentiator; it’s become an expectation. If your competitors have begun localizing and you haven’t, you’re losing customers. The market is watching not just the product, but how it’s delivered. Does it speak the user’s language? Does it feel native? If not, consider localization. If your rivals localize first, they shape the narrative and win trust. The sooner you localize, the sooner you start accruing market-specific brand equity.
4. You’re ranked poorly in local search engines
Another one of those telling signs it’s time to localize is poor visibility in local search results. This could be an indicator that your product isn’t properly adapted for multiple markets. Even if your content is technically available in another language, search engines prioritize material that feels native. So we’re talking more than words, because you also have to adapt the metadata, structure, and regional context.
Search engines like Google use signals such as hreflang tags, localized URLs, and regional backlinks to determine relevance for a specific market. If these signals are missing, your pages may be suppressed, misindexed, or shown to the wrong audience. In markets where local search engines dominate, the problem is even more pronounced. How are you going to grow your business without multilingual SEO?
5. Expansion metrics plateau without explanation
You’ve entered new regions, you’ve launched ad campaigns and you’re even seeing solid interest, but usage stalls. Retention is weak. Growth slows despite best-practice execution. You’re probably wondering what you’re doing wrong. If your product is sound and your funnel optimized, the problem may be simpler than it looks.
Have you considered it’s probably because you’re not speaking to people in a way that feels personal? Localization can help with that; it drives engagement. It makes your product theirs, not yours. If you’ve done everything by the book and progress flatlines, check whether your audience feels like they’re engaging with a foreign service or one that feels more relatable.
6. Your partners are creating unofficial translations
If you’re working with local partners like distributors or resellers and notice they’re creating their own language versions of your product or marketing material, it means your content as-is doesn’t serve local needs. But it’s also a sign that there’s enough demand that people are hacking solutions.
High demand is a good thing, but you definitely don’t want an ad-hoc approach to localization. This can result in brand inconsistency and quality control issues. You need to localize your products yourself to ensure accuracy, quality, and version control across different regions.
7. Your brand message loses power when translated literally
Brand identity doesn’t always survive translation, because a direct translation risks sounding awkward. We’ve probably all heard of Pepsi’s “Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi Generation!” campaign slogan which was mistranslated as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead!” for the Chinese market.
A slogan built around wordplay or idiom likely won’t survive direct translation. But localization is more than just translation. It creates meaning and emotion in culturally compatible ways, and that’s just what you need. In many markets, the story is the differentiator.
Localize with POEditor
If you’re seeing the signs that it’s time to localize, the next step is… starting. And one of the first steps you’ll have to take is choosing a good translation management system. Here’s where we come in. With POEditor, you can streamline collaboration by inviting your in-house team, freelance translators, growth-market partners, and any other member of your team into a single project.
Connect POEditor to GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or your CI/CD system, so that every time you ship new features, new text flows automatically to translators and back to your repo. You can also use our API to sync translations programmatically.
With features like translation memory and glossaries, you can maintain consistency across releases, reduce costs, and speed up turnaround. So, if you’re serious about converting those international visitors into loyal customers, give POEditor a go.