SaaS localization: best practices and challenges
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SAAS, or Software-as-a-Service, has become popular since Internet speeds reached acceptable levels, allowing users to perform various manipulations without delay. I remember the days that were accompanied by the sound of a dial-up connection (all who want to feel these nostalgic sounds are welcome here ) over a telephone line, and no SaaS was possible then. It used to be much faster and cheaper to buy a music disk at the shop than to download tracks from the web.
And what do we have now? The Internet connection allows people worldwide to collaborate effectively, so SaaS is a widespread option for different industries. In 2023, the SaaS market revenue reached $258 billion, up from $62 billion in 2016, marking an incredible leap. Also, the average lifetime value (LTV) ratio to customer acquisition cost amounted to 6:1, which describes the high profitability of SaaS solutions.
SaaS services have many advantages. They help businesses increase agility and improve availability by reducing the need to install software directly on the computer, buy user licenses, and share data via additional paths. So, considering all the benefits of SaaS (companies have increasingly preferred SaaS solutions (64.5%) over traditional software), the questions of SaaS localization have become a top priority for their developers.
Localization for software as a service (SaaS)
SaaS localization is adapting SaaS and related resources to a specific location. What does "related resources" mean? This is a broad phrase, and we will discuss it separately. The thing is that SaaS is a term used to describe different products, including:
- ERP
- CRM
- CMS
- HR apps
- Project management apps
- Code management apps
- And many more
Each type can have a list of marketing resources, websites, help centers, etc. One of the well-known SaaS companies is Netflix. In addition to the app, they have a website, marketing emails, social media, mobile applications, a YouTube channel, etc. For each supported region, Netflix translates the content for all the resources to meet the user's needs. Find a more detailed overview of Netflix localization in our blog.
SaaS localization is a complex process, so we listed all the possible tasks you can meet during the localization of SaaS and have described the main "related resources" below.
Desktop SaaS localization
One of the most essential parts is to localize the main product perfectly. The UI and UX for users from different countries should be identically high-quality and comfortable, regardless of location. Here included:
- The color palette and visual content localization (if needed) — the same colors and symbols can have opposite meanings in some regions because of cultural or religious nuances.
- Content translation and transcreation: Not all content should be translated literally; some CTAs, slogans, etc., are best to transcreate to share the correct message.
- User experience optimization — ensure that button size, forms, and menu items look correct - text is not overwrapped or clipped, and all URLs lead the user to the proper language version.
Mobile SaaS localization
If your SaaS is mobile-based or has a mobile version, consider the region's preferences regarding the preferred platform to concentrate on the important first. For example, iOS shares in Japan are almost 70%, while in the UK, the iOS and Android platforms have nearly the same position - around 49%. During mobile SaaS localization, pay your attention, besides the things described in the paragraph above, to:
- Platform-specific features - location services, push notifications, and gestures;
- Performance and resource constraints of mobile devices;
- App stores optimization.
SaaS price localization
You should first analyze your users' purchasing power parity to compete in the local market. Regional market analysis will give you more information about the country's GDP, the competitors' pricing policy, and other financial indicators of your audience. For instance, Spotify - a big music platform, provides different prices depending on region. Thus, pricing in the USA is 10,99$, while in Ukraine , it is only 4,99$.
SaaS payment systems localization
When choosing the best tool for a payment processing task, consider the tool's regional availability and audience preferences. The most popular options, such as PayPal, Alipay, Payoneer, Stripe, etc., are widespread, so finding the appropriate alternative for some regions should be easy.
SaaS website localization
In addition to the application itself, SaaS products often have a website where users can get acquainted with the product features, use cases, pricing, guidance, etc. We overviewed the website localization challenges in a separate article, but for SaaS, there are things you should always consider:
- Terms accuracies. The situations when some feature was redesigned and renamed aren't alone. Therefore, controlling the consistent naming elements within your website content and app is essential for a better user experience.
- SEO. If you support different languages for website content, take care of local search engines, relevant keywords, and located-specific URL structure.
SaaS social media localization
As a SaaS provider, you should deeply analyze the audience's preferences in a particular region. This knowledge is essential for getting answers to two questions:
- What to show? You will have a correct answer to this question, and the content plan for social media will meet the audience's needs.
- Where to show? It is crucial to identify and prioritize the social media platforms that are widely used in each region, such as Facebook in the USA, Canada, and Western Europe, WeChat in China, and Line in Japan.
SaaS marketing localization
Here, we will miss the already clear statements, which include text and image localization, and will look at the following specific things:
- Local partnerships and influencers market. Collaboration with regional partners can help build trust and target audiences in new markets even before you reach them.
- A/B testing. Regardless of your confidence in the localization strategy, it's important to continuously explore new approaches and conduct A/B tests to enhance your business's presence in the new market.
SaaS customer support localization
To build this process effectively, you should do fundamental work.
- Prepare a localized knowledge base for the support team. This document will help your team maintain consistency during communication with the users.
- Translate a help center for users. This process includes translating articles, FAQs, tutorials, and user guides and organizing content in a convenient and user-friendly layout.
- Build local support channels. Regional phone numbers, email addresses, and live chat options make it easier for users to reach customer support in their time zone and preferred language.
5 SaaS localization challenges and how to solve them
Challenge 1. String length variability
Languages vary in word length, leading to design issues when the translated text fits outside predefined UI elements. For example, text "OK" and "Гаразд" for the same button will require different widths of the component.
Solution: The Lingohub translation tool provides a few options to solve this challenge:
- First, you can use the Lingohub Figma plugin to try on the needed language for the current layouts and check how it will work. This process takes minutes to show how the current design will look after translation and which component should be changed.
- Second, you can set up quality checks with the predetermined length for some text segments (e.g., for buttons). Thus, translators will know the number of characters they can use for the segment.
- Third and the best one - combine both approaches for the best result.
Challenge 2. Consistency across platform
It can be difficult to keep consistency across different resources, such as websites, mobile and desktop apps, help centers, user tech documentation, etc.
Solution: The Lingohub app provides CAT tools aimed at solving this issue:
- A term base or glossary is a tool where you can keep all the project-related terms with their detailed description and images (if needed). The ability to share the context and automatic suggestions for translators during their work supply the accuracy and consistency for terminology usage.
- The style guide by Lingohub allows for the uniformity of all the texts during localization and gives additional information for linguistic teams.
Challenge 3. Resource management
Localizing a SaaS requires managers, translators, developers, local experts, and testers. Managing such a large team requires effort, time, and established processes; otherwise, the localization will drown in chaos.
Solution: We build a Lingohub translation management tool with customers' needs in mind, which means there is everything needed for localization control:
- Custom roles and permissions;
- Dashboard and project's progress bars;
- Work and cost reports;
- Labeling and filtering options;
- and many more.
Challenge 4. Continuous updates
Localization is a long-lasting process that requires regular maintenance. The SaaS content will change with time; new features will be launched, and new content will be written. That means the localization process should be continuous and "live" in parallel with the development.
Solution: Smooth synchronization with repositories like GitHub, Azure, GitLab, and Bitbucket provides a nonstop localization process. Your team can work on translating new features from the initial development stages, which speeds up time-to-market as there is no need to wait for the development process to finish before starting translation.
Challenge 5. Testing and quality assurance
Quality control is crucial during the localization process. Your QA team should generally check the correctness of the texts, interfaces, and so on. This will take additional time, and some human mistakes can be present in the ready version.
Solution: Lingohub quality checks feature reduces the number of issues checking some predetermined criteria like:
- Missed or extra placeholders, HTML tags;
- Duplications in the text;
- Extra spaces;
- Length of the segments;
- Terminology usage;
- etc.
Conclusion
SaaS localization is a long-term process that requires a professional team, strong skills, a lot of effort, and the best tool to manage all the processes. We at Lingohub did our best to create a solution that helps our SaaS customers effectively manage different language versions.
Read the case study of the SaaS localization:
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