Spanish: Ang Susi sa Umuunlad na E-commerce na may ConveyThis

Did you know that the U.S. is the second largest Spanish-speaking country? It became the world’s second-largest Spanish speaking country in 2015, and since then, the number of speakers hasn’t stopped growing. According to the Instituto Cervantes in Spain, the amount of native Spanish-speakers in the U.S. has surpassed that of Spain, the birthplace of Spanish. In fact, the only other competitor for the number one spot is Mexico.

If we also take into account that ecommerce in the U.S. constituted over 11% of total American retail sales last year and it’s a $500 billion market, we can safely conclude that welcoming the 50 million native Spanish speakers that live in the U.S. to ecommerce platforms is a brilliant way to increase sales.

Despite the U.S. being famous for being cosmopolitan,  just 2,45% of its ecommerce sites are multilingual, that means that over 95% percent of U.S.-based ecommerce sites are available only in English.

If we analyze the multilingual sites, we’ll see that less than a fifth of them have Spanish versions of their website. These pioneers were able to identify an important consumer base and have their eyes set on captivating it.

How to become un sitio bilingüe

Ang US ay nahuhuli sa iba pang bahagi ng mundo tungkol sa paglikha at disenyo ng mga multilinggwal na website. Tulad ng sa totoong buhay, ang wikang Ingles ay may malaking priyoridad kaysa sa iba pang mga wika, na nangangahulugang hindi papansinin ang mga base ng consumer na iyon. Ang mga negosyante sa US ay nawawalan ng magandang pagkakataon para sa paglago ng pananalapi!

Considering the facts mentioned before, it’s reasonable to assume that you are at a great disadvantage if you want to start in the U.S. an ecommerce site only in English due to the vast amount of competition there, but if you add a Spanish version to your website, the odds will change drastically and tip in your favor.

But to engage the bilingual user base is not as simple as copypasting your store content into Google Translate and working with those results. Luckily you are in the right place, this article will tell you how to create a multilingual strategy, but first here are more great reasons for making your store available in Spanish.

Magsalita ng Ingles sa publiko ngunit mag-browse sa Espanyol, iyon ang bilingual na paraan ng Amerikano

Ang mga katutubong nagsasalita ng Espanyol sa America ay nagsusumikap sa kanilang kahusayan sa Ingles at karamihan sa kanila ay napakahusay at madalas itong ginagamit sa pang-araw-araw na mga sitwasyon sa buhay sa paaralan o sa trabaho, ngunit alam na pinapanatili nila ang kanilang mga aparato sa Espanyol, ang kanilang mga keyboard ay may ñ at ang kanilang mga AI assistant ay nagbibigay ng mga tagubilin sa Espanyol kung paano makapunta sa pinakamalapit na gasolinahan.

According to Google, bilingual searchers use English and Spanish interchangeably and represent over 30% of online media consumption in the United States.

Kaya paano mo maaakit ang iyong bagong madla?

1. Kumuha ng Spanish-language SEO

A key fact: search engines like Google know which language your browser and devices are in. It’s important to play with this aspect of the search engine algorithms and have it work in your favor. If you have your phone set to English, the odds of finding a top search result leading you to a French or Japanese website are very low, the same thing happens with other language settings, you get results in your language first. Sites in Spanish will be prioritized over monolingual English sites.

So if you are based in the U.S. and don’t have your site available in Spanish, you are at a disadvantage, surrounded by competitors. You might want to consider jumping on that bilingual bandwagon as soon as possible. Since this is an untapped consumer base, the sooner you open your store in Spanish, the greater the rewards will be.

Once you do so, don’t forget to check your Spanish-language SEO (ConveyThis will do this for you), this will help search engines identify you as a relevant website available in Spanish. You may have a beautiful Spanish version of your site up and running, but you need the search engines to help your customers find you.

2. I-decode ang mga sukatan sa wikang Espanyol

Tandaan na suriin ang iyong pagganap sa mga Espanyol na bersyon ng mga search engine at iba't ibang pinagsama-samang mga site!

Google Analytics gathers lots of useful data like which language version of your site are visitors using and also how they arrived at your website! Knowing how new visitors find you if whether through a search engine or Google or a backlink will help you make sound business decisions in the future instead of betting on unfounded assumptions on how users like to browse.

This Google Analytics feature can be found in “Language” under the “Geo” tab (don’t forget to check the other features, they are also extremely useful).

Hispanic Americans, masugid na internet surfers

Check out this little tidbit from the Think With Google blog: “66% of U.S. Hispanics say they pay attention to online ads—almost 20 percentage points more than the general online population.”

Hispanic American bilinguals are big fans of online stores, 83% of them check the online sites of stores they have visited and sometimes they do this while inside the store! They consider the internet a key tool for shopping, they can make purchases from their phone and also look up information on different products.

This group is definitely a coveted audience for online retailers and it’s very likely that their browsers set in Spanish are making it difficult for you to connect with them. Search engines interpret your English site to mean that you want to attract and English-speaking audience. The solution? A multilingual marketing strategy with bilingual ads and content.

Noong una ay nabanggit ko na ang paggamit lamang ng isang application ng tagasalin ay hindi magiging sapat upang makamit ang tagumpay, iyon ay dahil ito ay hindi isang mahusay na diskarte sa marketing, ito ay tinatanaw ang isang pangunahing aspeto sa advertisement, target na kultura.

Paglikha ng nilalamang multikultural

Ang bawat wika ay may hindi bababa sa isang kultura na nakalakip dito, kaya isipin na lumaking bilingual! Dalawa sa bawat isa! Dalawang hanay ng mga grammar, slang, tradisyon, halaga at higit pa. Ang ilan ay maaaring magkasalungat ngunit bawat tao ay nakahanap ng kanilang sariling paraan upang malutas ang mga pagkakaibang iyon at gawin ang parehong mga wika at kultura bilang isang mapagkukunan ng kaginhawaan.

Sa kaso ng mga pampublikong serbisyo sa kampanya, ang mga mensahe ay diretso at isang direktang pagsasalin na may halos magkaparehong pag-format ay gagana nang perpekto, tulad ng sa kaso ng ad na ito na inilunsad ng Lungsod ng New York upang labanan ang predatory na pagpapautang.

But if your trying to sell a product, the marketing will take more effort and require adaptation. There are two options: modifying an existing ad campaign or creating a new campaign tailored to Spanish speaking audiences in the U.S.

Kung magpasya kang mag-adapt, ang ilan sa mga aspeto na maaaring mangailangan ng pagbabago ay mga color palette, modelo o slogan.

On the other hand, you may want to seriously consider creating something exclusive for Hispanic American customers, like the American discount shoe store Payless did. The Payless ShoeSource strategy consisted of creating TV and online ads that were unabashedly designed for the Hispanic market and broadcasted them in channels that were popular with Hispanic users and not very much with English-speaking users.

This strategy – one campaign for each audience – was highly successful, and thus, profitable.

Ang ComScore, isang advertising tech firm, ay nagbuhos ng lahat ng data nito sa isang magandang graph. Ang impormasyong nakalap ay sumasalamin sa epekto ng lahat ng tatlong iba't ibang uri ng mga ad: mga kampanyang ginawa para sa merkado na nagsasalita ng Espanyol, mga kampanyang inangkop mula sa Ingles patungo sa Espanyol, at mga kampanya kung saan ang teksto lamang ang isinalin (o ang audio ay na-dub) sa Espanyol. Ang mga resulta ay nagsasalita para sa kanilang sarili: ang mga kampanyang orihinal na ginawa para sa mga manonood na nagsasalita ng Espanyol ay malinaw na ginusto kaysa sa iba pang mga uri sa pamamagitan ng isang malawak na margin.

Niraranggo ng sample na pangkat ng pag-aaral ang kanilang mga pinakagustong brand o campaign kumpara sa iba pang katulad. Sinasalamin ng graph na ang mga Amerikanong nagsasalita ng Espanyol ay mas mahusay na nauugnay sa mga kampanyang idinisenyo na nasa isip ang mga madlang nagsasalita ng Espanyol mula sa simula.

The most difficult way of reaching a Spanish-speaking audience is with ideas and images that reflect English-speaking experiences and desires. The Think With Google article identified some key cultural elements among Hispanics like food, traditions, holidays and family, these should be researched when planning an ad campaign. For example, a campaign that tries to incite affinity through references to individualism and self-sufficiency won’t work at all because it will clash directly with the importance that is placed on family and community. You’ll have a much better chance to resonate with your audience if you at least adapt your content and, for best results, Spanish-language-market-specific ads are pivotal.

Pagpili ng pinakamahusay na pagkakalagay ng ad

There are so many ways to reach the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. like radio stations, TV channels and websites but, according to the ComScore study mentioned earlier, the best one is online ads, their impact is greater than ads played on TV or on the radio. Be sure to optimize all your digital touch points and campaigns for mobile.

According to data from BuiltWith.com, only 1.2 million of U.S.-based websites are available in Spanish, this may seem like a large number but it only represents 1% of all site domains in the USA. We’re talking about millions of Spanish speakers that have their phones in Spanish and are a meaningful part of the ecommerce user base despite only being able to access 1% of the available websites in the U.S. in their native language. It is the second most widely spoken language in the country but online web content does not reflect that. This is a fantastic opportunity for taking a step into the world of multilingual expansion.

I-optimize ang mga diskarte sa advertising sa maraming wika

Gaya ng tinalakay natin kanina, ang pagkakaroon ng Spanish-language SEO ay magbibigay sa iyo ng mahahalagang insight, ngunit para saan ang mga ito? Tutulungan ka nila na i-optimize ang iyong papalabas na komunikasyon sa iyong audience na nagsasalita ng Spanish.

To adapt an English campaign so it has a suitable Spanish version you’ll need the help of native speakers, who, instead of translating word for word, will use a process called transcreation, through which they will recreate the message in the original ad while taking into account that the cultural contexts are different and the resulting ad will have the same effectiveness.

The process of transcreation takes a lot of forethought and knowledge about the target audience so it shouldn’t be rushed if you want good results, otherwise you might risk getting something too close to a word for word translation, which, as mentioned before, are not as well received by audiences.

Maglagay ng pangangalaga sa iyong website na maraming wika

Your brand new website design must be of first-rate if you want to captivate audiences. You have successfully attracted them with a riveting ad campaign tailored to them, but that level of dedication and quality has to be consistent at all levels. The browsing experience has to convince them to stay.

This entails following through on this new multilingual expansion project, this, according to globalization-oriented content creation firm Lionbridge, means also having a landing page in Spanish and Spanish-speaking representatives in customer support.

Pandaigdigang disenyo ng website

Ang pagdidisenyo ng isang pandaigdigang website ay kumplikado. Ang ilang mga pagbabago sa layout ay maaaring kailanganin, ang Espanyol ay bahagyang mas salita kaysa sa Ingles kaya kailangan mong gumawa ng espasyo upang matugunan ang mga karagdagang character at linya. Malamang na gagawa ka ng maraming iba't ibang elemento tulad ng mga heading, module at larawan ngunit ang iyong platform sa pagbuo ng site ay magbibigay-daan sa iyo (na may ilang mga tip at trick) na gawing mabilis ang iyong layout sa switch ng wika.

Mag-isip tulad ng gumagamit

All site design decisions are made with the user experience in mind. We want our users to find the site comfortable, intuitive and for them to have fun using it. We can help you add to your site experience-enhancing elements such as videos, forms and pop ups in the chosen language, and more!

I-bridge ang communication gap

There is no need for you to speak Spanish to be able to create the Spanish-speaking version of your site. If you desire to expand and attract that untapped market, we at ConveyThis are the best option for a professional translation. Your new multilingual site will be as captivating in Spanish as it is in English.

Make your way onto the bilingual market con estilo

No matter what platform your site is hosted on, the ConveyThis team will ensure you get your website translated into Spanish with regular updates and maintain its SEO on Spanish-language search engine. We’ll create a bridge so visitors can find you and your business will become visible to a population that represents 1.5 trillion in purchasing power.

Ang lahat ng ito ay maaaring gawin nang hindi isinasakripisyo ang iyong pagkakakilanlan ng tatak. Ang paglalakbay sa multilingual na ecommerce ay madali lang sa ConveyThis.