International Market Research: Translation Is the First Step

International Market Research: Translation Is the First Step

International online testing of product concepts and brand perception requires multilingual surveys. Best practices in international market research show that your prep work needs to go beyond translation.

The survey template will need to allow for different languages. The number of words in the survey will increase when you translate it into languages like Spanish or German. Leave extra space in the design of the template, or consider using a slightly smaller font.

Brand names can differ from one market to another so make sure your questionnaire is correct for each country.

Are there any weights and measures in the survey? Double check that they are correct for the markets where the study will take place.

Use local units of currency. The use of commas and decimals in numbers can be different than in the U. S.: $1,000.00 would be written as $1.000,00 in some countries.

Some of your graphics and icons may be unfamiliar to some respondents. Look for images that are more commonly used in that region. Icons as simple as exit signs are not the same in every country.

The online survey is only one part of the translation project. Any point of contact with the participants needs to be in their languages including:

Invitation emails

Introductory text

Captions on buttons (Back, Next, etc.)

Any validation or error messages

Messages thanking respondents for their participation

If you are inviting people to participate by email, remember that greeting strangers by their first name is considered rude in some markets. Using titles and last names to address respondents can increase the number of respondents.

Participants in some markets will not provide the personal information (age, income, level of education, etc.) commonly requested in market research surveys in the U. S. Reduce the number of personal questions to increase response levels.

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