Localize Marketing Content
When you are spending money on services or solutions, you want to make sure that your investment was worth it. Return on investment (RoI), key performance indicators… all this sounds quite abstract. It becomes even more abstract when you try to apply it to your translation efforts. Is that possible at all? How is it possible to visualize benefits or capture specific figures?
You set up a translation management system, but what is the benefit of it? First of all, there’s the obvious: producing translations must become cheaper than before. Does the cost of implementing a new TM software in your company balance out? Employees have to be trained, the software has to be rolled out, workshops and trainings have to be added. Looking at these expenses, wouldn’t it be better if everything remained as it was? After all, the existing translation process is working, even quite well so.
Perhaps you simply lack a baseline in order to initiate a change in your process. Here are some examples of what can be measured and recorded.
Not everything can be expressed in concrete figures
Keep in mind: many things remain abstract and cannot be measured directly in numbers. This includes, for example, the cost of poor translation, corrective loops, damage to the brand through incorrect translations, and so forth.
Consistency and quality of translations create memorability and thus strengthen brand recognition. These are important factors to consider in a process as complex as the translation of corporate content.
Here are some positive aspects of a professional translation management solution like ONTRAM TMS at first glance:
- No damage to brand recognition by poor translation
- Higher brand recognition through applying consistent language and terminology
- Higher conversion rate with localized landing pages
- More readers reached through translated content
- Higher customer satisfaction through localized content
Counting Beans
But there are also concrete things that can be captured in ONTRAM TMS. Looking more closely, many parameters can be defined fairly precisely and thus made measurable:
- Project duration per language
- Matching rates and matching ranges of re-used translation memory and terminology
- Cost overview (per word, line or page)
- Adherence to target dates
- Number of questions or support tickets issued
- and many more.
RoI can therefore be measured, and when looking more closely, a large number of key figures are available to support a valid evaluation. It is important that you have a solid definition of what you want to measure. In the context of translation management, usually all the necessary data is available inside the solution itself; it can be gathered and evaluated, allowing you to visualize and assess the benefits and the value of your TM solution through measurable numbers.
