Product internationalization by Tejaswini Marathe

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11. Tejaswini Marathe
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R

12. Product
Internationalization
Tejaswini (TJ) Marathe

13. We love industry jargons!
g11n?
i18n?
l10n?
t9n?
Globalization
Internationalization
Localization
Translation

14. i18n
g11n l10n t9n

15. Agenda
1. Why globalization?
2. i18n 101
3. l10n Playbook
4. Q&A

16. Why
globalization?

17. Increasing Internet users (+potential) outside of the US
Internet Users – Top countries, 2018
Global internet users = China @ 21% of Total… India @ 12%... USA @ 8% Global internet users = Asia Pacific leads in users + Potential
NOTE: Internet user data is as of mid year.
SOURCE: united Nations/International telecommunications Union, USA Census bureau, Pew Research (USA), China Internet Network Information Center (China), Islamic Republic News Agency / InternetWorldStats
/ Bond estimates (Iran), Bond estimates based on IAMAI data (India) and APJII (Indonesia)
0 0.8B 1.6B
Mexico
China
India
Indonesia
Brazil
Iran (I.R.)
United States
Japan
Russia
Germany
The Philippines
United Kingdom
Nigeria
France
Turkey
Internet users Non-Internet users Internet Users – Top countries, 2018
0 3B 6B
North America
Europe
Latin America and Caribbean
Asia Pacific
Africa and Middle East
53% of Global internet users
45% Internet user penetration in Region
15%
78%
13%
32%
10%
62%
9%
89%
Internet users Non-Internet users

18. Increasing Non-English speaking internet users
Top ten languages used in the web – April 30, 2019 (Number of internet users by language)
Top ten languages in the internet
World population for this
language (2019 estimate)
Internet users by
language
Internet penetration
(% population)
Internet users growth
(2000-2019)
Internet users % of
World (Participation)
NOTES: (1) Top Ten Languages Internet Stats were updated in April 30, 2019. (2) Internet Penetration is the ratio between the sum of Internet users speaking a language and the total population estimate that
speaks that specific language. (3) The most recent Internet usage information comes from data published by Nielsen Online, International Telecommunications Union, GfK, and other reliable sources. (4) Population
estimates are based mainly on figures from the United Nations Population Division and local official sources. (5) For definitions, methodology and navigation help, please see the Site Surfing Guide. (6) These
statistics may be cited, stating the source and establishing an active link back to Internet World Stats. Copyright 2019, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.
English 1,485,300,217 1,105,919,154 74.5 % 685.7 % 25.2 %
Chinese 1,457,821,239 863,230,794 59.2 % 2,572.3 % 19.3 %
Spanish 520,777,464 344,448,932 66.1 % 1,425.8 % 7.9 %
Arabic 444,016,517 226,595,470 51.0 % 8,917.3 % 5.2 %
Portuguese 289,923,583 171,583,004 59.2 % 2,164.8 % 3.9 %
Indonesian/Malaysian 302,430,273 169,685,798 56.1 % 2,861.4 % 3.9 %
French 422,308,112 144,695,288 34.3 % 1,106.0 % 3.3 %
Japanese 126,854,745 118,626,672 93.5 % 152.0 % 2.7 %
Russian 143,895,551 109,552,842 76.1 % 3,434.0 % 2.5 %
German 97,025,201 92,304,792 95.1 % 235.4 % 2.1 %
Top 10 languages 5,193,327,701 3,346,642,747 64.4 % 1,123.0 % 76.3 %
Rest of the Languages 2,522,895,508 1,039,842,794 41.2 % 1 ,090.4 % 23.7 %
World total 7,716,223,209 4,386,485,541 56.8 % 1,115.1 % 100.0 %

19. Changing customer preferences
56%
claim that their ability to get
information on products and
services in their native
language trumped pricing in
terms of preference.
87%
who can’t understand English,
won’t buy from English-only
websites
20%
Of the World’s population on
the planet speak english

20. i18n
Making software flexible enough so that it can
adapt easily.

21. es_ES
Spanish spoken in Spain
en_CA
es_US fr_CA
English spoken in Canada
Spanish spoken in the US French spoken in Canada
Best practices: Create a Locale

22. Pitfall 1: All languages are as concise as English

23. Pitfall 2: All languages have the same format

24. Pitfall 3: There is one version of the language
Languages are unique to the region/country
● Temperature: Celsius or Fahrenheit
● Decimal Separator: Comma or Dot
● Thousand Separator: Dot or Comma
● Distance: Kilometers or Miles
● Weight: Pounds or Kilograms

25. Pitfall 4: One official language per country

26. And so on and so forth..

27. Best Practices: Design with i18n in mind

28. L10n Guidebook

29. Phase 0:
Internationalization
Incorporate i18n best practices into software code
Image credits: https://www.redclick.com.my/cash-on-delivery

30. Determine launch strategy
How to use data to identify the next opportunity for your products?
1. Publicly available sources
2. Screening product reviews for insights
3. Developing insights into existing portfolio
4. Enabling export directly to customers where you see a demand
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

31. Hyper localized version vs one-size-fits-all?
Netflix’s success can be attributed to
two strategic moves:
● a three-stage expansion process
into new markets
● the ways it worked with those
markets (local-to-local and
local-to-global)
Source
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

32. Foundational research and benchmarking
Perform International foundational research
● Data connectivity
● Battery life
● Device cost and capability
● Data cost
Do Benchmarking study against competitors
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

33. Define l10n MVP
Determine the MVP and locally relevant features (i.e Customer delighters)
Example: Cash on delivery
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

34. Recruit team and local partners
Recruit:
● Core team: Marketing, Legal, PR, Tech,Customer Service
● Local teams: Manufacturing contractors, translators, supply chain deals
Set Milestones for Project
● Always leave more time!!
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

35. Difference between translation & localization
What’s in a name?
● Not everyone has a family name
● People are not always called by
their first names
● Sorting lists of users with latin vs
non-latin names would be tricky
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

36. Plan to work around dependencies
● Be wary against creating hard
dependencies against variables
that may not exist (Example:
Determining a user’s location based
on zip codes).
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

37. Is the cost of compliance worth it?
Two additional factors to consider:
● Compliance difficulty
● Market opportunity

38. L10n to acquire customers
● Creating marketing material in
localized language
● Auto switching based on the user’s
geo-location
● Creating a toggle button for websites
and apps.
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

39. L10n Best Practises
Maintain the products’ USP while still adding locally relevant features.
Capitalize on culturally important sporting events, food and holidays.
Timelines: Add culturally relevant features first
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

40. Launch activities
Launch:
● Soft launch / Invite only launch
● Dial up
● Launch (PR event)
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

41. Post launch activities
● Monitor Customer reviews
● Reporting ( Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly)
● Post-mortem
Ground work Set up Development Launch Post Launch

42. Thank you!

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