Since it is expensive to design a complete SAAS program, many businesses that need to manage their operations online are turning to SAAS as a service, or SaaS. As a result, the importance of SAAS localization has grown due to its significant role in streamlining operations and boosting the reputation of many companies that were able to enter new markets and eventually increase sales through localization.
Therefore, we focus on SAAS localization and its associated processes in this essay.
What is the meaning of SAAS localization?
First of all, it is important to understand the term “software as a service,” or “SaaS,” which refers to a SAAS model that uses a virtual cloud to host various services and applications and make them more easily and conveniently accessible to users through internet browsers.
software as a Service (SaaS) is distinguished by its extremely flexible pricing structure, which allows you to pay for the services you use rather than having to pay full membership fees for capabilities you do not need. This makes SaaS a practical choice for customers.
The process of customizing SAAS to fit the target market’s language, culture, preferences, systems, and laws is known as SAAS localization services.
This idea goes beyond simply translating the texts found in these programs; to make the user experience more effective and unique, an in-depth understanding of the target market’s requirements is necessary.
A few things to consider while localizing SAAS
When translating SAAS from one language to another, the localization process takes into account sociological and cultural sensitivities, user interface design features, and other factors.
The solutions that the translation team concentrates on customizing to the user culture include the following:
1-SAAS design elements such as font type, colors, graphics, menus, buttons, and others.
2-The written content of the program that the user is reading all the time.
3-Legal information related to the terms of use and data privacy and adapt them to the laws regulating your field in the target country.
4-the data formats that are utilized, such as Syriac, Gregorian, and Hijri, as well as how to express the numbers and currencies.
5-localize the most exact information about the material that the user experiences when using the application, from the point at which he becomes familiar with the services to the point at which he decides to make a purchase.
6-Payment and pricing strategies that are in line with the target community’s usual earnings.
7- other options for customer support, post-purchase services, and how to get in touch in case of questions or issues.
8-The speed of internet services in the target country impacts the number of files on the page, which influences how quickly the page loads. The display of pages is suitable for this speed.
Read more: Localization glossary
Benefits of the SAAS localization process
The process of SAAS localization brings many benefits to companies and organizations, the most prominent of which are the following:
1-eliminating language and cultural barriers and getting closer to customers in the target communities, which increases the company’s success in new markets.
2-localization helps to improve the customer experience while dealing with your site; which makes him spend more time with your SAAS product and thus helps to increase brand awareness and the consequent increase in demand for its products.
3-enhance your brand image of the target audience, as people trust the applications that speak to them in their native language more than others, which earns you a marketing advantage that distinguishes you from your competitors.
4-If the process of expansion is performed well at each step, it can be done for a minimal financial cost. This increases the company’s revenues by expanding into new markets.
read more: What is Software internationalization and what to consider
Types of SAAS localization
There are many types and forms of SAAS localization processes that enterprises need in their economic activities, including the following:
1-localization of language elements
Since the language elements in the SAAS system are fully localized, starting from the application navigation menus, explanatory tools, and others, every aspect of the SAAS will be localized; to make the user experience more accessible.
2-localization of the price page
It is one of the pages that users visit continuously on any website, as its characteristics must be localized in proportion to the target market, which may achieve a wide spread of your product in the new countries you are aiming to enter.
3-localization of payment methods
Payment systems differ from country to country; while some methods are widely used worldwide, others may not be common to use in certain places due to social, political, or economic factors. As such, you shouldn’t go for methods that are widely used internationally; instead, try to develop a set of local methods that will reach more local users and improve their user experience—especially since many pay online.
4-customize features according to the target audience
To meet the needs of the target audience throughout the localization process, you might occasionally need to add features to the SAAS or remove others that would make their experience less seamless and unnecessary for them.
5- user experience localization
The user experience can be made more accessible by localizing it so that users can navigate between pages with ease. However, when localizing an application, certain factors need to be considered, such as the target audience’s preferences and criteria, as well as the habits and mentality of the users, which influence how they interact with different kinds of SAAS.
6-localization of symbols and visual media
One of the most important things to pay attention to in SAAS localization is the localization of symbols, images, and tags used on pages, as some of those symbols may be acceptable in one community but have a negative meaning in another, which can cause many problems
Common mistakes happen during SAAS localization
There are several errors that many translators make when they localize SAAS, the most famous of which are the following:
1-start without a clear strategy
When it comes to localizing their SAAS, a lot of corporate departments and organizations make the error of not planning in an organized way since they don’t know enough about the scope of their growth in international markets before starting that process.
Targeting a market requires careful consideration because localization is an expensive process, and if you don’t plan, you risk wasting more money, time, and effort in the process with no real return. Instead, you should base your decision on precise and transparent data that demonstrates whether or not it is possible to enter this market.
2-absence of preparations for ongoing upgrades
Many people think that the SAAS localization process is a one-time task and then it ends forever, but the truth is quite the opposite, as it is a continuous process that evolves as your services or products develop, as well as with each development or progress that occurs in the target market.
Therefore, you should be ready to repeat all the steps that you worked on to adapt your SAAS the first time periodically to keep your content constantly updated.
3- neglect the actions of local users
Users’ behavior is influenced by the cultural values, customs, and traditions they are exposed to in their communities; these vary extremely between countries, so you should be aware of these differences when localizing. Ignoring them could result in a user experience that falls short of expectations, even though it is challenging.
4- paying attention to the stages of the consumer’s journey
Throughout their journey, users engage with SAAS characteristics in a variety of ways. Some of these interactions may not be immediately apparent, but they are nonetheless crucial and should be considered when localizing SAAS.
Every step of the customer journey, from signing up to receiving notifications regularly, counts toward simplifying and streamlining the customer experience. For this reason, even the smallest details should be carefully considered to create a psychological bond between your product and its users.
5- Issue with the overall formatting of the page
One of the most significant issues that many people ignore is the size of the texts used. For example, when translating Arabic words into English, you might find that the word size has increased, which disrupts the overall shape of the page.
This is seen when it comes to the menus and buttons used in the program, as the translated text can go beyond the limits of these elements and make the user experience more difficult.
Also, you should pay attention to another important thing, which is the direction of writing. in Arabic, for example, differs from the direction of writing in English; so perhaps the best solution then is to completely redesign the user interface
6- Add text to images and videos
Using texts freely in visual media allows you to easily translate the textual content without having to duplicate the work of creating new visual media, which is one of the most crucial pieces of advice for SAAS localization.
7-finishing the several localization phases manually
It takes a lot of time and effort to complete the many complex stages of the SAAS localization process, so relying on you to manually arrange every step of the work could result in mistakes throughout the localization process and a waste of time and effort.
To ensure that you complete the localization process correctly and speed up workflow, you should invest in specialized tools for SAAS localization early on. This will save quite a bit of time and effort during the stages that require human involvement.
What are the SAAS localization steps?
The SAAS localization process goes through several stages to eventually reach the best possible quality, and these steps are as follows:
1- conducting target market research
Before doing the localization process, you must conduct comprehensive research of the target market in terms of geographical, marketing, legal, and others; to be able to determine your orientations in a way that will bring you the success you desire, as what may suit one community may not suit another; therefore, you should familiarize yourself with all these things first before localization.
2- identify the target audience
If you want to get the best results from the localization process, you must know exactly what the characteristics of your target audience are, so that you can adapt the various content elements to suit it, meet its needs, and find solutions to the problems it faces completely; making you outperform all your competitors and thus achieve customer satisfaction.
3- Validate your virtual and actual presence
Managers at a company should understand the importance of increasing the company’s visibility in the target market, whether that visibility is achieved virtually through search engine-optimized websites or applications, or physically through the presence of an official corporate headquarters. This will increase the awareness of your business online and encourage potential customers to get in touch with you.
4- adapting the SAAS to suit the target community
Here the first steps of SAAS localization begin, as at this stage you should work on designing the user interface pages in terms of language, visual media, colors, pricing, currency used, payment methods, and methods of communication, according to the culture of the target audience, to facilitate the user experience with your product and push him to deal with it constantly.
5- trial launch and testing
Always try to test the success of your product after localizing it experimentally before you announce the final launch, as this step helps to collect the opinions and impressions of a group of your target audience after they deal with the application, so you can discover the shortcomings and work on them to improve and develop your services continuously.
6- building community from the target audience
Putting together an integrated team of members of the target community who support you in your work and can respond to customer inquiries in their native tongue is one of the most crucial steps in the localization process of SAAS. This team’s presence also greatly aids in the development of SAAS content that has been localized and improved to fully suit the customs, traditions, and culture of the community, as these members are the most knowledgeable about its characteristics.
7- development of marketing strategy
You should develop your marketing strategy on various social media platforms, communicate with influencers in the community, and attract appropriate advertising based on the culture of the target community, which contributes significantly to the success of your product.
Read more: why should localize your digital marketing campaign
8- Continuous observation and improvement
In addition to constantly evaluating your services to identify any weaknesses and working to fix them, you should also be on the lookout for fresh, creative approaches to grow your business, reach a wider audience, and ultimately boost your reputation and revenue.
How does fast-trans help with SAAS localization?
Since translating SAAS is a difficult process, we at fast-trans certified translation companies, are committed to supporting you in reaching your objectives. We understand that the ultimate aim of SAAS localization services is to produce a SAAS product that is identical to the original when it is released to the target market.
All of this will be made possible with the assistance of our qualified staff, who are eager to offer translation and localization services with the highest standards of precision and quality, at the right time and at affordable rates, to help you enter new markets and gain recognition across the world.
