Helping customers abroad buy your products

Summary

This video offers a guide to expanding your online business globally. It emphasizes the importance of language translation by native speakers and localization for compatibility with international formats. The script advises on accommodating various payment methods and currencies to streamline the purchasing process for international customers. Regular review of the website from an international perspective is recommended to ensure a seamless and inviting experience for global visitors.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Expanding your online business globally is a great opportunity to increase sales.
• 📚 Language and localization are crucial for international expansion; use native speakers for translations.
• 🔍 Localization also involves adapting forms to match the address and phone number formats of different countries.
• 💳 Research and include various payment methods preferred by different countries in your e-commerce system.
• 🌐 Utilize online payment services like PayPal and WorldPay that are accessible worldwide.
• 💡 Consider that some customers may not have credit cards and prefer using debit cards or other payment services.
• 💵 Implement an e-commerce system that can handle different currencies and automatically calculate taxes.
• 🛒 Make the purchasing process easier for customers by eliminating the need for them to calculate exchange rates and additional taxes.
• 🔑 Regularly review your website from the perspective of an international visitor to ensure a clear and familiar user experience.
• 🔄 Check for familiar terms, formats, currencies, and payment methods to ensure they align with your target market.
• 🚀 Continuously monitor and update your site to maintain its functionality and relevance for international customers.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video script?

The video script focuses on the technical aspects of expanding an online business into other countries, including language and localization, payment methods, and reviewing the website from an international perspective.

Why is it important to translate your website for international markets?

Translating your website is crucial for international markets because it helps in reaching a broader audience who primarily speak another language. It also ensures that the content is accurately understood by native speakers, enhancing user experience and trust.

What does localization involve in the context of an international website?

Localization involves adapting your website to the cultural and regional nuances of your target market. This includes making forms compatible with the ways other countries write addresses or phone numbers, ensuring a seamless user experience.

How does the script suggest handling payment methods for international customers?

The script suggests researching and including preferred payment methods in each target market. It also recommends using online payment services like PayPal and WorldPay, which work worldwide, and considering the use of debit cards for customers without access to credit cards.

Why is it beneficial to adapt your e-commerce system for different currencies and taxes?

Adapting your e-commerce system for different currencies and taxes helps customers pay without having to worry about exchange rates and additional taxes. This simplifies the purchasing process and makes it more attractive to international buyers.

What is the significance of reviewing your website from the perspective of an international visitor?

Reviewing your website from an international visitor's perspective helps identify any potential barriers to sales. It ensures that the website is user-friendly, with clear paths, familiar terms, formats, currencies, and payment methods that resonate with your target market.

How can international inquiries from collectors impact a business like a vintage record shop in Brighton?

International inquiries can indicate a broader interest in the products offered, suggesting that there is a global market for the vintage record shop's offerings. This can be a catalyst for expanding the business online and reaching a wider audience.

What are some potential challenges in adapting a website for international markets?

Challenges may include accurately translating content, ensuring compatibility with different address and phone number formats, integrating various payment methods, and adapting to different currencies and tax regulations. These require careful planning and execution.

Why is it essential to regularly check and update your website for international visitors?

Regularly checking and updating your website ensures that it remains user-friendly and compliant with any changes in international regulations, payment methods, or currency fluctuations. This helps maintain a positive user experience and keeps the business competitive in the global market.

What opportunities does advertising to international markets present for an online business?

Advertising to international markets presents a potentially lucrative opportunity by expanding the customer base and increasing sales. It allows businesses to tap into new markets and diversify their revenue streams.

How can making a website friendly to international visitors help in removing barriers to sales?

A friendly website for international visitors ensures that there are no language barriers, the payment process is straightforward, and the website is culturally relevant. This makes it easier for potential customers to engage with the business and complete purchases.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Expanding Your Business Globally

This paragraph introduces the video's focus on expanding an online business to international markets. It uses the example of a vintage record shop in Brighton that is receiving inquiries from international collectors, highlighting the opportunity to take online sales global. The speaker outlines the importance of considering language and localization, payment methods, and reviewing the website from an international visitor's perspective to ensure a smooth and welcoming experience for potential customers.

📚 Language and Localization Essentials

The speaker emphasizes the importance of language and localization for businesses expanding into new markets. It advises translating the website into the local language using native speakers to avoid machine translations, which can be inaccurate. Localization also involves adapting forms and information submission processes to fit the formats used in different countries, such as address and phone number formats. This step is crucial for making the website accessible and user-friendly for international visitors.

💳 Adapting Payment Methods

This section discusses the necessity of adapting payment methods to cater to the preferences of customers in different countries. It mentions that while services like PayPal and WorldPay are globally recognized and can be an easy solution, businesses should also consider other local payment methods. The speaker also suggests looking into e-commerce systems that can handle different currencies and taxes, making it easier for customers to make purchases without worrying about exchange rates or additional costs.

🔍 Reviewing the Customer Experience

The final step outlined in the video script is to review the entire website from the perspective of an international visitor. The speaker advises checking the site for clarity, familiarity of terms and formats, currency options, and payment methods. Ensuring that the customer journey is seamless and straightforward is key to attracting and retaining customers from different countries. Regular reviews and updates are recommended to maintain the website's effectiveness in serving an international audience.

Keywords

💡Localization

Localization refers to the process of adapting a product, content, or service to fit the cultural and linguistic preferences of a specific region or market. In the context of the video, it is crucial for an online business to ensure that their website and forms are compatible with the way different countries write addresses or phone numbers, making the user experience seamless for international visitors.

💡E-commerce System

An e-commerce system is a platform that facilitates online transactions, allowing customers to browse, select, and purchase products or services via the internet. The video emphasizes the importance of having an e-commerce system that adapts to different currencies and tax regulations, which is essential for expanding business globally and making the payment process straightforward for international customers.

💡Internationalization

Internationalization is the process of designing a business or product to be able to enter and function in multiple markets, including the ability to be adapted to local languages and cultural norms. The video script suggests thinking beyond the home market and making a website e-commerce system friendly to international visitors, which is a part of the internationalization strategy.

💡Payment Methods

Payment methods are the various ways customers can make transactions for goods and services. The video highlights the need to research and include preferred payment methods from different countries, such as PayPal, WorldPay, credit cards, and debit cards, to cater to a diverse international customer base.

💡Currency Conversion

Currency conversion is the process of changing one currency into another. The video script mentions the benefit of an e-commerce system that helps customers pay without having to think about exchange rates, simplifying the purchasing process for international buyers.

💡Tax

Tax refers to compulsory financial charges or some other type of levy imposed upon a taxpayer by a governmental organization. The video script suggests that an e-commerce system should adapt for different currencies and taxes, ensuring that international customers are not burdened with additional tax calculations.

💡Global Sales

Global sales refer to the process of selling goods or services to customers around the world. The video encourages taking online sales global, indicating that there's a potentially lucrative opportunity in expanding a business's reach to international markets.

💡Machine Translation

Machine translation is the use of software to translate text or speech from one language to another. The video script advises against using machine translation for a website, recommending native speaker translations to ensure accuracy and cultural relevance.

💡Customer Inquiry

A customer inquiry is a request for information from a potential or existing customer. In the video, the script uses the example of a vintage record shop in Brighton receiving inquiries from international collectors, indicating a demand that can be capitalized on by expanding online.

💡Review

Review in this context refers to the process of examining and evaluating a website from the perspective of an international visitor to ensure it meets their needs and expectations. The video script emphasizes the importance of regularly reviewing the site to maintain its effectiveness and user-friendliness for global customers.

💡Barriers to Sales

Barriers to sales are any factors that prevent or discourage customers from making a purchase. The video script suggests that making a website friendly to international visitors will help remove such barriers, thus facilitating sales across borders.

Highlights

The video provides a guide on expanding online businesses to international markets.

A checklist is offered to ensure website e-commerce and payment systems are international-friendly.

The example of a vintage record shop in Brighton illustrates the potential for global sales.

Step one emphasizes the importance of language translation by native speakers for site localization.

Localization also involves adapting forms to fit international address and phone number formats.

Step two discusses the necessity of understanding and integrating various payment methods preferred by different countries.

Online payment services like PayPal and WorldPay are suggested for their global accessibility.

The video mentions the importance of accommodating customers without credit card access.

An e-commerce system that adapts to different currencies and taxes is recommended.

Customers are more likely to purchase when they don't have to calculate exchange rates and taxes themselves.

Step three involves reviewing the entire site from the perspective of an international visitor.

The review process should include assessing the clarity of the purchasing path for international customers.

Familiar terms, formats, currencies, and payment methods should be present for ease of use.

Congratulations are given upon readiness, but regular checks are advised to ensure ongoing functionality.

Advertising to international markets is highlighted as a potentially lucrative opportunity.

Making the website visitor-friendly regardless of location helps remove sales barriers.

Transcripts

Hi, welcome to our video about the technical side

of expanding your online business into other countries.

We'll show you how to think beyond your home turf

and give you a checklist to help make sure your website e-commerce system

and payment process are friendly to international visitors.

Imagine you own a vintage record shop in Brighton

your reputation has spread and you're starting to get some inquiries

from international collectors.

There's never been a better time to take your online sales global.

Let's have a look at what you need to do to succeed.

Step one, language and localization.

We have an entire lesson with tons of details

but here's the basics.

If you're growing into an area that primarily speaks another language

you'll need to translate your site

and have it done by a native speaker, not a machine.

Along the same lines is localization, also covered in more depth elsewhere.

Essentially this refers to making sure

things like forms where customers submit information or inquiries

is compatible with, let's say, the ways other countries write addresses

or phone numbers.

Okay, moving on to step two, payments.

Different countries have different preferred payment methods

so you'll need to investigate each to include them in your target markets.

Online payment services like PayPal and WorldPay

may be an easy solution since they work worldwide.

Remember that some customers may not have access to credit cards

and so will prefer to use these services or even their debit cards.

Also look into using an e-commerce system

that adapts for different currencies and taxes.

Helping your customers pay without having to think about exchange rates

and additional tax.

When customers don't have to make these calculations themselves

they're much more likely to buy.

Finally, step 3. Review.

Take some time to go over your entire site

from the point of view of an international visitor.

Look at the site objectively and run through the process

a visitor from your target market would take to make a purchase

or to engage with you.

Is it a clear path? Are there familiar terms and formats?

Currencies? Payment methods?

If everything's ready, congratulations!

But make sure you come back on a regular basis

and check that everything's working as it should be.

Being able to advertise to customers from international markets

it's a potentially lucrative opportunity.

Making your website friendly to visitors wherever they're from

will help remove any barriers to sales.