The Linguist

Chartered Institute of Linguists SUMMER 2025 The Linguist 31 OPINION & COMMENT In order to thrive, in-house localisation teams must push for direct visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) and tie localisation efforts directly to their organisation's business goals. KPIs are measurable values that help organisations track progress towards specific objectives. They provide teams with a data-driven way to evaluate success and guide strategic decisions. As localisation teams are not always visible at the strategic level, collaboration is essential. Start by requesting KPIs like local revenue growth (e.g. annual recurring revenue), conversion rates (the number of users taking a desired action, such as purchasing or signing up) and average order value (the average amount spent per transaction). In the context of larger companies, partnering with regional marketing and sales leads can help link localised content releases with spikes in market-specific revenue. To prove the value of localisation, ask about the changes that have happened since content was localised: • Conversion rate: How many more visitors completed desired actions? This reveals how effectively localised content drives users to act. • Acquisition: How many more prospects have become customers? This highlights how tailored messaging outperforms one- size-fits-all content in local markets. • Customer retention: What percentage of customers keep paying over time? This is a strong indicator of how local experiences build more lasting loyalty and trust. • Bounce rate: How many fewer users leave without acting? A lower bounce rate signals that users feel instantly understood, which poor localisation often fails to achieve. • Lead generation: How easily has interest been generated? Culturally relevant messaging generates more interest than generic global campaigns. • Market penetration: How deeply has the business infiltrated the target market? This data gives a strong indication that localisation enables meaningful entry and growth in local markets. Another useful metric is the net promoter score (NPS), typically tracked by marketing teams, which reveals customers' willingness to recommend products. By comparing NPS data before and after localisation, we can demonstrate the direct impact of our work on customer advocacy. Sentiment analysis tools analyse large corpora (e.g. reviews) to assess neutral, positive or negative sentiments. Further valuable metrics include organic social shares, brand mentions, decreased support tickets and app store ratings. A monthly 'Localisation Impact Dashboard', using tools like SimpleKPI or Airtable, could spotlight key metrics such as revenue uplift, increased customer satisfaction and reduced Melanie Morawetz is a Senior German Localisation Specialist at Planview, where internationalisation and localisation are deeply embedded. TL error rates. By visualising these data points in one centralised view through graphs, tables or maps, stakeholders can quickly grasp the contribution of localisation to business performance, moving beyond anecdotal success stories to provide clear data. Further tools for insight generation include Google Analytics and Matomo (metrics tracking), Microsoft Clarity (visual behaviour tracking), Brand24 and Mention (social listening and brand monitoring) and BuzzSumo (content and social analytics). Using tools effectively We must acknowledge that relying solely on human translation for all digital content is not scalable. The Pareto principle holds true: 80% of impact comes from 20% of activity. Our top-tier skills belong where they matter most – on mission-critical content for high-stakes audiences. To protect this focus, we should challenge the inefficiencies that drain time, starting with outdated quality assurance (QA) practices, which often generate up to 90% false positives. Instead, intelligent translation assistants powered by Agentic AI are emerging, such as RAGs (retrieval-augmented generation). These models provide more contextual feedback, empowering us to refine our work while maintaining seamless consistency across projects. Equally, incorporating workflow automation tools like Blackbird or Writesonic can replace hours spent on Excel sheets and search engine optimisation (SEO) work. Maybe it is even time to consider a rebrand, transforming localisation teams into agile International Experience Departments? The call to action for CEOs is clear: invest in localisation teams as SWAT units. For translators, the message is to partner with and outsmart GenAI, but never surrender to it. Pitch like a Chief Financial Officer and demonstrate that your work multiplies budgets, not just polishes words. © PEXELS

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