Localization Leaders: Meet MotionPoint’s Evan Kramer

Season 3, Episode 2: The Future of Web Translation, Search, and Content Vendors

In this episode of the Localization Leaders Podcast, we’re joined by Evan Kramer, the CEO of MotionPoint. MotionPoint has been at the forefront of website localization, helping global brands seamlessly adapt their websites for international audiences. In our conversation, Evan discusses the future of website translation, the integration of AI-driven translation, and how MotionPoint is evolving to support multilingual marketing strategies.

Watch the full interview below, hosted by Yoav Ziv, BLEND’s CEO:

To start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and MotionPoint? How did you become the CEO of MotionPoint? And what makes the company unique?

MotionPoint has been around for 25 years, and that’s a long time for a localization business. At its roots, MotionPoint is a technology company. We started as a global website localization platform with a server-based proxy that allows us to provide global enterprises with managed services. 

Our clients don’t need to manage localization in-house. We do everything for them—from hosting the translated experience on the site to quality assurance, translation, and web engineering for anything that breaks on the site. It’s a 24/7 operation, managing global enterprise brands like Victoria’s Secret, Humana Healthcare, AT&T, and others across industries.

I joined MotionPoint in 2022. Although I had no prior localization experience, I was previously a CEO for other private equity-backed businesses. My background falls under two topics that tie into our business: technology enablement of services and digital marketing. 

From the technology side, what attracted me to MotionPoint was the transition from human translation services to more AI-driven and technology-enabled translation services. We’re not a language service provider like BLEND, but rather a technology platform that enables the service. Before becoming a CEO, I was a Chief Marketing Officer so I found it very interesting that MotionPoint at its core was a component of a multilingual marketing strategy within an enterprise marketing organization. 

And so we are not only thinking about how our technology can better enable translation services in the future, but also how we expand MotionPoint’s capabilities to be more centered around these multilingual marketing strategies.

It’s interesting that you’re coming from a technology background. I think that’s what drew both of us to the localization industry—this space is changing rapidly, and technology is going to be key to its evolution. How do you see this transformation playing out, especially when it comes to AI-driven translation?

The transformation of technology and localization has moved very quickly. Even just three years ago, more than 90% of our customers relied on human translation services. Now, about 50 to 60% of our translation is done through human translation, with the rest enabled by technology. 

The key shift here is how technology is driving value in translation. It’s about determining workflows for post-editing, evaluating the quality of AI-driven translations, and leveraging previous translations to scale and create efficiencies. 

This is where the value of localization is moving—not just in the translation service itself, but in how we use AI and technology to enable faster, more scalable translation.

Website translation is a unique challenge. Can you explain what makes website translation different from translating documents or software localization?

Website translation is very different from offline document translation and even software translation for two reasons. The first and biggest reason is continuity. Websites change constantly—sometimes minute by minute. As companies update their sites, that content needs continuous monitoring and translation. 

The second difference is that websites involve both content and code. Think about a browser that displays text content. But underneath that content is the code (HTML, JavaScript). Some of that code contains text that may need translation, but translating things like JavaScript can break the functionality of the page. 

Knowing what to translate without disrupting functionality is a challenge. That’s why website translation often requires specialized resources, such as web engineers, that wouldn’t be necessary for document translation.

At MotionPoint, we use algorithmic translation to identify repetitive terms and minimize translation costs. For example, if the phrase “the car is..” appears repeatedly followed by a color, “green, yellow, purple,” we can optimize and reduce translation efforts by recognizing and leveraging those repetitions across the platform.

You mentioned hosting earlier. Can you explain the complexity of hosting websites in different languages and how MotionPoint handles that?

With our proxy-based platform, we host separate instances of websites in different languages. This means that global enterprises, which generate millions of visits across 50 markets and 30 languages, need a substantial hosting infrastructure. Whether the hosting is done on your own CMS or using our proxy, the traffic needs to be directed to the right version of the site. The complexity comes in when you need to balance hosting locally or centrally. 

For example, if your primary market is in Europe, but you want to ensure your U.S. site is localized and optimized for traffic, the hosting infrastructure needs to be properly managed to meet regional needs.

MotionPoint operates at a technology platform level. Meaning all these technology components you’re talking about–including hosting, proxy, algorithms, and continuous monitoring of the translated experience–that’s the MotionPoint world, that’s what we offer. This level of technology enables us to offer a seamless and scalable solution for enterprises with global needs.

You’ve shared some great insights on the technology behind website translation. Now, as MotionPoint continues to evolve, how are you expanding beyond translation services into marketing services?

What we’ve figured out is that high translation quality on a website is really the table stakes of providing a translated experience. 

One of the things that is in our industry’s favor is the fact that Google Search now indexes high-quality, unique content when determining its search ranking. The reason that you create content on the web is so that it can be surfaced and discovered by consumers. If you have a translated experience that no one can find, then why invest in a translated experience? 

Over the last 10 years, the landscape of Google Search has shifted. If you were on page one of Google organic results 10 years ago, just over 50% of the clicks were on page one. If you recall, there were 10 organic results on page one of Google and there were consumers that would type in, “I want to find a red shoe,” and they would go to page two and page three of Google. 

Now, about 92% of the clicks for organic search results are on page one of Google. Not only that, but there’s now only three to four organic results on page one because what’s consuming the inventory of Google search results are either paid ads or AI generated results.

The amount of clicks is increasing because consumers want immediate gratification of response, but the amount of inventory to appear on the Google results page one is shrinking. So what does that mean? 

There’s an opportunity for higher quality content. If an enterprise isn’t getting a high ranking with their current translation quality, they may need to think about original content in those local markets. 

For example, if I’m operating in France and Italy, my ranking and results for top keywords in Italy might be good with my current high translation quality. But in France, I might need to create original content so that my business will rank higher. 

The content that is now in a multilingual environment is just table stakes to have high translation quality. You then need to assess: do I need to go to the level of transcreation or even content origination? Once the content is created, the website is now just one of many different distribution points for that content. The next step is to get that same content onto social media, video platforms, and email.

This is where MotionPoint is growing — we’re moving beyond the technology side and into helping brands use multilingual content in their broader marketing strategies. 

High-quality translations are just the beginning; once you have them, you can leverage that content across various channels.

I’m trying to prepare MotionPoint for a world where the highest quality of content is going to win because the value of a website may be diminished in the future. The world is moving towards very specific commands by a consumer when they’re doing a search. 

For the past 25 years, our mentality has been that a search is around keywords. But as you can see with ChatGPT, consumers are now no longer searching. They’re asking.

You need very specific high high-quality content to be part of the answer or response. Whether that response is digitally viewed or whether it’s audio, we need to be there to make sure our clients are a part of that response. 

Let’s get into our rapid-fire questions. What’s your favorite language? 

My favorite language would be Spanish, just because almost all my employees are bilingual, and I’m getting absorbed into Hispanic culture and the Spanish language on a daily basis.

What’s your favorite localization tool? 

I would have to go with MotionPoint. 

What’s the best place you’ve ever traveled to? 

I’d say my favorite place was Ushuaia, Argentina, where we trekked the glacier south of Patagonia, a little north of Antarctica. It was a pretty cool experience.

What would be your best advice for people in the localization industry right now?

Localization teams need to be more collaborative with other disciplines within the organization. There’s going to be more convergence between localization and marketing, and localization and IT. The days of being siloed as a localization team are probably over.  

Which multinational brand with a strong online presence in many languages do you think exemplifies great localization?

Airbnb seems to be a strong localization brand in terms of thinking about destinations across the globe and speaking in a localized way.

Thanks for joining us, Evan!

As the localization landscape continues to evolve, companies are increasingly looking to integrate high-quality translation and multilingual content into their broader marketing strategies. MotionPoint’s innovative approach is setting the standard for how website translation and localization can contribute to global brand success. 

To learn more about how MotionPoint is shaping the future of localization, visit their website and explore other episodes of the Localization Leaders Podcast.

Corinne Sharabi

Corinne is the Social Media and Content Lead at BLEND. She is dedicated to keeping global business professionals up to date on all things localization, translation, language and culture.

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