Localization Metrics and KPIs: Measuring Success

Localization is central to success when expanding into new markets. However, measuring the success of localization itself can be tricky. Struggling to determine the value of localization?  Fortunately, focusing on the right localization metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) makes answering this far more straightforward.

Data is your friend! Take it from Ketty Tirrito, Localization Manager at Zendesk:

“[Use] data. Data is so important, not only to show the impact, but also to make informed decisions on what languages to prioritize and which markets are important to expand into,” shared Ketty. “Data can provide many valuable insights.” 

Key Localization Metrics to Track

Measuring localization success can be difficult if you’ve never undertaken a localization project before. If you have access to an experienced data analyst at your company, they can help you gather the necessary metrics to track and later determine your KPIs. Not sure which localization metrics to consider? Below are a few of the most important. 

Translation Quality Metrics

To ensure localization success and resonate with local audiences, it’s crucial to determine high-quality translations. However, measuring translation quality can be subjective, which often leads to challenges during the quality assurance (QA) process. Standardizing the QA process by using a scoring system based on key translation quality metrics can mitigate this issue. Here are three essential metrics:

• First-time quality: This metric measures the percentage of translations that pass QA without requiring any rework. A higher first-time quality rate indicates more efficient translation processes and better translator performance.
• Error rate: This tracks the frequency of translation errors, including grammar, terminology, and contextual issues. A low error rate reflects the accuracy and precision of your localization efforts.
• Feedback from in-country reviewers: Feedback from local experts who review the translations ensures that the content aligns with cultural nuances and local expectations. Positive feedback from these reviewers signals successful localization and quality.

By standardizing the measurement of these metrics, you can streamline the QA process, improve translation quality, and ensure that your localized content connects effectively with your target audience.

Customer-Centric Metrics

A successful localization campaign doesn’t just rely on high-quality translations; it also depends on how effectively your content engages local users and retains them over time. Here are three critical metrics to track:

• Engagement: Measure how well your localized content connects with local audiences by tracking metrics such as page views, click-through rates, and time spent on localized pages to determine user engagement. A well-localized website or app should demonstrate similar or better engagement metrics compared to your original content.
• Customer Satisfaction: Customer satisfaction surveys (CSAT) offer valuable insights into how your localized products or services are received. These surveys should be conducted regularly in localized regions to gauge ongoing customer sentiment and identify areas for improvement. The feedback you gather can inform future localization efforts and help maintain a strong connection with your audience.
• Retention Rates: Finally, retention rates are crucial for understanding whether your localized content fosters long-term customer loyalty. High retention rates in localized regions suggest that your content not only attracts users but also meets their needs over time, keeping them engaged and returning for more.

Tracking these metrics will provide a more holistic view of your localization success and guide your strategy moving forward.

Revenue from Localized Markets

Revenue generation is a vital metric for measuring the success of localization efforts. If your localized content resonates with target audiences, this should be reflected in increased sales and revenue from those specific markets. Here’s how to approach it:

• Sales Performance by Region: Track your sales data in each localized market to see if your efforts are paying off. A successful localization strategy should result in increased purchases or subscriptions in those regions. Compare revenue growth in localized markets with non-localized ones to gauge the impact of your strategy.
• Conversion Rates: Beyond overall revenue, conversion rates are a valuable metric to consider. A well-localized website, app, or campaign should result in higher conversion rates as customers feel more comfortable navigating the platform and making purchases in their native language.
• ROI on Localization: To assess whether your investment in localization is justified, calculate the return on investment (ROI) by comparing the costs of localization efforts with the revenue generated from localized markets. This will help determine which regions or languages are most profitable and where further investment may be warranted.

Turnaround Time

Turnaround time is one of the most important metrics when it comes to measuring localization success. Companies with faster turnaround times enjoy a significant advantage over the competition, allowing them to hit new markets and connect with customers more quickly. 

Measuring turnaround time is as simple as logging the start and finish dates of the individual tasks that make up a larger localization project. If you want to make your processes more efficient or identify bottlenecks, visualization tools can be useful. 

Cost Per Word

Getting a handle on your return on investment is crucial in measuring localization success. Demonstrating that your localization efforts have been worthwhile makes it easier to champion the case for expansion into other markets. What’s more, tracking costs helps you identify areas where you can save, as well as areas that require more investment. 

Cost per word is one of the most important metrics to consider, although other metrics like project budget adherence (PBA) are important in ensuring expenditure is aligned with your agreed-upon budget for localization. 

Essential Localization KPIs

It’s important to note that measuring localization success will look different from company to company. Your KPIs will vary based on the product or service your company sells and your stakeholders’ overall goals. 

In our Localization Leaders interview with Anna Potapova, AliExpress’s Content Strategy Team Lead, Anna explained, “We should start by looking for places where bad localization breaks your product and makes your business impossible.” 

“If your player cannot complete the quest because of a language issue, then that’s something you should be looking at. If on a shopping journey, for example, you have places where conversion rates are significantly different between different languages, then that’s your pain point.”

Anna Potapova, Content Strategy Team Lead at AliExpress

Most importantly, your KPIs should align with the business’s overall goals.

Stefania Russo, Glovo’s Head of UX Content, explains it best: “When we define OKRs (objectives and key results) for the year, we always need to make an effort to link our localization OKRs to the business ones. It’s a challenge because localization contributes to literally everything.”

Below are a few examples of key performance indicators you can use to establish how well your localization efforts are going. 

Milestones completed on time

Establishing the percentage of translation milestones completed on time is another useful metric. The more key milestones you meet, the happier your customers will be. If you’re regularly ending up with a relatively low percentage, there’s clearly a problem with your workflows and processes. 

If you’re regularly falling short of key milestones, it’s time to take a look at other key metrics to establish what’s wrong. After further investigation, you can make refinements to your translation workflows and take a second look at the technology you’re using to see if any improvements can be made. 

Error Rate

Error rate is a useful metric for measuring translation quality. Different types of errors can be included, including spelling issues, typos, or mistranslations. If translations are industry-specific or contain a lot of technical terminology, the scope for error is likely to be much higher than standard translations. 

Once again, it’s a good idea to visualize error rate by using charts. This way, you can clearly establish error distribution so every stakeholder understands how the error rate is affecting localized content. Continuous feedback loops should be applied here, ensuring recurrent errors are not only identified but remedied with process improvements.  

Throughput Rate 

Throughput rates are closely aligned with turnaround, but give you better insights into how well your localization operation is performing. In short, the throughput rate refers to content volumes. A high throughput rate is a clear indicator that you can handle a high volume of content. In other words, it gives a clear picture of how efficient your workflows are.

As such, the throughput rate is a good metric for making a case for further expansion, whether that’s expanding into another territory or scaling up your current campaign. Use visualization to get your message across, capturing how many localization tasks are being completed in a given period. You can use the same findings to identify potential bottlenecks or look for efficiency gains to refine your workflows. 

Using a KPI Dashboard To Measure Localization Success

The best KPI dashboards grant you instant access to essential data, while offering you insights into urgent actions. If you want to make quick work of analyzing your metrics and make the right data-driven decisions, they’re an indispensable addition to your localization arsenal. 

However, KPI dashboards first need to be customized, and metrics need to be added. Never used one before? To make your life easier, we’ve outlined some essential best practices you’ll want to bear in mind when creating yours. 

1. Outline Your Goals and Choose Your KPIs

Before you start thinking about actually setting up your dashboard, you’ll need to outline your objectives. What are your overall goals and what metrics are going to be most important to you? By answering these questions, you’ll be able to create a dashboard that’s actually relevant to your localization efforts. 

With that sorted, you’re ready to choose your KPIs. While it’s a good idea to include some general KPIs, most of them should be localization-specific. Turnaround time, quality metrics, and customer satisfaction score are all good ones to include. 

2. Keep It Simple 

It’s easy to overdo it when creating a KPI dashboard, but try to be restrained when handling yours. The beauty of KPI dashboards is that they allow you to visualize your key performance indicators. Overstuff your dashboard with too many and things become confusing. Create your dashboard with the entry-level user in mind and you shouldn’t encounter usability issues. 

3. How Accurate is Your Data? 

A KPI dashboard is only useful if you can guarantee reliable data quality. Make sure verification processes are robust if you want access to accurate and reliable information. 

4. Invest in Dashboard Training 

Even with a beginner-friendly dashboard, you’ll need to ensure everyone knows how to use it. Introduce your team to the specifics with training sessions and provide sufficient resources to offer guidance on advanced features. 

5. Integration is Essential

If you want a complete bird’s-eye view of how well your localization efforts are doing, your KPI dashboard needs to offer full integration with the other data systems you’re using. 

6. Monitor and Make Changes When Required 

RUn regular checks to determine how well your dashboard is performing, making changes as and when required. 

Tools for Measuring Localization Metrics and KPIs

Measuring localization KPIs is a data-intensive process. Capturing this data manually is beyond the limits of even the best project managers. Fortunately, there are many tools available that make quick work of tracing KPIs. 

ClickUp Translators KPI Tracking Template 

This ClickUp Translators KPI tracking template is an adaptable solution that’s packed with useful features for monitoring translation projects. Perfect for keeping tabs on productivity, this template lets you track how many words are being translated over a given period. What’s more, you can use it to measure the quality of translations. Consistency and accuracy can both be measured, while you can also use it to assess how closely translators have stuck to style guides. 

With this tool, upholding high-quality standards is straightforward, dramatically improving client satisfaction levels. What’s more, you can spotlight any potential bottlenecks and redistribute resources accordingly. 

Tableau 

Designed with e-commerce businesses in mind, Tableau is a useful tool for measuring KPIs and overall success as you expand into new markets. This KPI dashboard is loaded with ready-made templates and useful features that allow you to capture insights into how well your localization efforts are paying off. 

Tableau’s data blending feature is particularly innovative, with results pulled from multiple sources and displayed in real time. If you’re looking for a dashboard tool that can track many different KPIs at once, this is a competitor-beating solution. 

SimpleKPI

As the name suggests, SimpleKPI takes a more straightforward approach to tracking metrics and measuring success. However, don’t be fooled by its modest name. SimpleKPI lets you track a surprising amount of metrics, covering everything from marketing to finance. Ideal if you’re looking for something to apply to all stages of a localization campaign. 

Simple KPI also integrates with a wide range of commonly used software, while 24/7 customer support brings total peace of mind. If you’re after a user-friendly KPI tracker with a minimal learning curve, it’s an obvious choice.

Achieve Localization Success with BLEND

Measuring the impact of localization can be challenging, but with the right performance indicators, you can gain clarity on how your investment is paying off. At BLEND, we understand the importance of tracking the right KPIs, from turnaround times and cost per word to customer satisfaction and translation quality.

Our commitment to quality is built into every aspect of our service. We adhere to stringent industry standards, including ISO 9001:2015 for quality management and ISO 17100:2015 for translation services, ensuring that the work we deliver meets the highest benchmarks. This focus on quality, combined with our thorough built-in QA processes and expert team, helps you achieve localization results that resonate with your audience while hitting your KPI goals.

But tracking metrics alone isn’t enough—you also need the right tools and expertise to interpret them. At BLEND, we don’t just offer localization services; we provide tailored solutions that streamline your workflows and help you measure success with precision. By utilizing our data-driven approach, including built-in QA checks and comprehensive support, you can confidently navigate your localization strategy and see real ROI.

Ready to simplify your localization journey? With our blend of technology, expertise, and global reach, we help you meet your localization goals. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can support your success.

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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