🧪 The Rookie Optimizer — Issue #2 - How Localization Can Lift Conversions

🎯 Why This Matters

This week, I’ve been thinking about something that often gets skipped until "later": localization.

👉 But here’s the thing — users are more likely to convert when an experience feels like it was made for them.

That means their language, their currency, their culture, and even their local context, all act as powerful trust signals.

• 76 % of online shoppers prefer to buy when information is in their own language, and 40 % flat‑out won’t buy otherwise. (Source.)

For digital products with crosscultural audiences speaking different languages, there are two adaptation approaches:

1. Translation means that the interface language changes depending on the target audience. The look and feel of the product stays the same; the only difference is the language.

2. Localization refers to making the design of the digital product culturally relevant to the target audience. This type of change is often more dramatic: visual presentation and content strategy can be totally different.

Localization isn't just translation — it's about relevance.

🧪 Test of the Week: Airbnb Increases Conversions with Local Currencies

Airbnb’s own A/B work confirms it: after switching search and checkout to a guest’s local language and currency, booking completion rose (internal tests; see Airbnb Eng blog, Wired interview, and 2023 “Journey Ranker” paper). External payment benchmarks back this up—Stripe’s Adaptive Pricing increased cross-border revenue +17.8 % when prices were localised.

🔥 Key Lessons:

• Cultural alignment boosts trust.

• Familiar currencies = fewer mental conversions.

• Even subtle localization signals (like address formats) reduce hesitation.

🔍 Other Localization Test Results

Booking.com: Microcopy Matters in Different Markets

• In one test, simply rewording button copy from “Book Now” to “Reserve” increased conversions in the UK.

• Why? “Book” implied payment; “Reserve” felt safer.

👉 Lesson: Literal translations ≠ cultural resonance.

Our own test

Our own test shown that working on localisation (and by that I don’t mean only translations, but other elements like showing local payment systems, blog posts relevant to the country, we achieved between 15% to 70% percent increase in conversions.

👉 Lesson: It’s not just language — local trust signals and payment habits matter.

And more

• Stripe customer-survey: 90 % of shoppers pick their own currency when given the option.

• Duolingo localizes both content and UI by region — and consistently sees higher DAUs and retention in markets where app strings, notifications, and even idioms reflect local speech patterns.

• Coursera noted that when they localized courses (video subtitles, UI, quizzes), they saw a 2.5x increase in course completion rates and broader course adoption outside of English-speaking countries.

• BBC and Al Jazeera have invested heavily in region-specific language versions — both found that local-language editions dramatically increased daily session length and return visits.

• Netflix localizes not just subtitles and audio but also UI and recommendations per market. This investment helped Netflix grow its international subscriber base to ~70 % of total users as of 2024.

📐 Framework to Know: The 3 Pillars of Effective Localization

Use this mini-checklist to audit your landing page or funnel:

1. Language Clarity

• Is your site translated properly, not just literally?

• Does it reflect how your audience actually talks?

Why this matters:

• Human vs. Machine Translation: A large-scale A/B test involving over 3 million sessions across two websites revealed that both human and machine translations improved user engagement compared to untranslated English pages. Notably, human translations led to higher engagement metrics such as increased scrolling and clicks on non-download links. ACL Anthology

• User Preferences: The same study found that users rarely switched page languages manually. When presented with untranslated English content, a significant number of users resorted to in-browser machine translation, especially in countries with lower English proficiency. This underscores the importance of providing content in users' native languages to enhance accessibility and engagement. Source

2. Cultural Relevance

• Do examples, idioms, and images make sense locally?

• Are date, time, and currency formats familiar?

Why this matters:

• Pharmacy Online swaps its hero banner to celebrate the Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox). Cross-cultural UX research cites this as a model of effective localisation that “made the site feel familiar and trustworthy” to Chinese shoppers. Source

3. Trust Infrastructure

• Are you using local payment methods and legal signals (GDPR, privacy notices)?

• Is customer support localized or explained clearly?

Why this matters:

• Studies have shown that tailoring payment options to match local expectations can lead to a conversion rate improvement of up to 30%. For instance, incorporating region-specific payment methods such as iDEAL in the Netherlands or Klarna in Germany aligns with consumer preferences, reducing friction during checkout. Source

• A study found that 70% of consumers would be more inclined to trust a company that has strong privacy policies in place. Source

✏️ Quick Copy Fix: Localize Emotion, Not Just Text

A French landing page that says: "Achetez maintenant" (Buy Now)

May underperform compared to: "Profitez de votre essai gratuit" (Enjoy your free trial)

Even though both are accurate, the second feels more culturally aligned — less transactional, more inviting.

French growth agency Impulse Analytics lists this exact split test as a best-practice for paid-ads optimisation. It confirms that in-market pros consider the “free trial” versus “buy now” wording an important CRO lever for French audiences.

• Hofstede Uncertainty-Avoidance score = 0.86 for France (well above US = 0.46).

• YouGov Global Profiles: only 13 % of French say they “like to take risks” in the stock market - among the lowest in Europe.

High risk-aversion predicts better response to low-commitment, “try first” language than to immediate purchase asks.

Net takeaway:

In a French context, replacing a blunt “Achetez maintenant” with an emotionally attuned, risk-reducing CTA like “Profitez de votre essai gratuit” is not just stylistic, it aligns with documented consumer psychology and has repeatedly produced measurable lifts in real-world tests.

🧰 Tool of the week

You can use a comparison tool such as the one provided by Hofstede Insights to figure out how two countries differ. For instance, we can learn that Australia and the United States are relatively similar in terms of all 6 dimensions, while the Japan and US have different scores for individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation.

According to Hofstede Insights, the cultural differences between Australia and the United States (top) should be smaller than those between Japan and the United States (bottom).

❓ CRO Question of the Week

Q: “What’s the difference between power and confidence in A/B testing?”

A: Think of it like this:

📚 In short:

✅ Why Localization Lifts CRO

• Reduces Friction: less cognitive load.

• Builds Trust: users feel “this is made for me.”

• Raises Relevance: better message‑market fit.

• Improves Conversion: fewer leaks at price, payment, & copy‑confidence steps.

Big companies often create culturally tailored versions for each region. For smaller teams, simple translation and language options may suffice. The right approach depends on how much local behavior differs, there’s no universal rule. Below are key factors to guide your decision.

• The heterogeneity level of your target audiences

• General cultural differences between your target audience and domestic users

• How much cultural factors impact user behavior and the tasks supported by your product

• The brand image that you want to establish

• The potential value of your target market