E-commerce translations - the perfect balance between cost and quality

Written by Lotte Andkjær Christensen, September 2023

Did you know that 76% of consumers are more likely to purchase if the product description is available in their native language? Just ask some of the biggest global companies:

• Amazon and eBay increased conversion rates by as much as 70% after having translated their marketplaces
• Facebook experienced a user increase from 300 to 500 million users when they transitioned from their English site to local ones

While you may not be the next Facebook or Amazon, we've witnessed similarly astonishing results with our 200+ clients. However, meeting the constant demand for translations can be costly and time-consuming. 

In this blog post, we explore how to strategically choose the right translation setup for your business and content. 

The delicate dance between costs and quality

In our quest for cost-effectiveness and efficiency within translations and with AI-generated content on the rise, we have been busy exploring various methods, including:

   Machine translation

   Hybrid translation

   Specialist translation

While machine-translated and AI-generated content offers speed and scalability, it often fails to capture cultural nuances, jokes, and local context – which is seen as the key component for successful translations.

Human translation, on the other hand, injects content with that exact authenticity, charm, and local relevance. However, it is much slower and costlier. 

The best of both worlds? 

Let us introduce the concept of Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE). It optimises costs without compromising quality. It combines machine translation, including its traditional translation technology like glossaries, term bases, translation memories, brand books, style guides, and AI, with human expertise to refine translations for consistency and accuracy. This approach saves time and resources while ensuring your brand's voice remains consistent across cultures.

A strategic approach according to your goals 

Generally put, enduring marketing assets such as blog posts or SEO content may lean towards the more human-intensive side as opposed to machine translation, especially for thousands of product descriptions.

However, the key takeaway is a carefully crafted and tailored approach. An approach that is centered around:

• Your business
• Your strategy
• Your content

Moreover, essential factors include comprehending your target markets, understanding your audience, identifying content types, and working within your budget.

To sum it up 

In the world of e-commerce, achieving the perfect balance between cost and quality in translations means harnessing the power of both machine efficiency and human expertise, tailored to your unique business strategy and content needs.

If you are exploring how to balance machine efficiency and human insight, our e-commerce translation services are designed to support webshops that need reliable, scalable localisation – without compromising quality.