Key Benefits of Machine Language Translation in E-Commerce

Shopping transcends cultural differences. Unlike love or music, however, sellers must break down language barriers when using e-commerce platforms. Modern consumers know too well not to engage in sites with foreign languages.

That said, online shopping has resulted in an ever-growing need for translation services—a task that's traditionally reserved for humans but can now be done by machines or both.

There are many advantages to translating your online content. Continue reading to learn about these.

Supports Wider Reach and Faster Implementation

Translating different types of content—product information, website content, blog posts, buyer reviews, and customer support resources—guarantees that your target audience understands your company and unique offerings.

Traditional human translations take too long and might delay your expansion plans. Human translators aren't anywhere as fast as machine translation systems. Professional translation processes can take anywhere from a few days to months, depending on the volume and nature of work.

On the other hand, machine language translation software accommodates real-time translations of dynamic content. Once the system is in place, you don't have to start from scratch to generate accurate translations. As such, you can have updated information anytime and anywhere—without the hassle of finding human translators whenever the need arises. What's more, some machine translation tools allow customization to match your company's voice and tone, which is great for boosting your branding efforts.

Cost-Saving

Human translation fees typically increase with the volume of workload and with technical content. Hence, if your project requires both, be ready to shell out hundreds, possibly thousands, for pages upon pages of legal documents.

Using machine translation technology entails costs. However, it can still significantly reduce overall spending for translation services. You can access free translation tools online but with a limited number of translation tasks and language pairs. Software products offer variable costs based on subscriptions and features or the number of words used.

Accelerating the translation process means saving on upfront and long-term costs. Machines and algorithms can handle increasing amounts of content round-the-clock and without the accompanying price increases. You can easily translate volumes of content in hundreds of languages with minimal to zero human intervention.

Provides More Personalized Customer Experiences

Crafting individualized shopping experiences is one of the keys to e-commerce success. According to a 2023 survey, 56% of online buyers repurchased from retailers providing personalized experiences.

This complex task requires analyzing browsing history, past purchases, and demographics to provide individualized offers, product recommendations, and content. Of these, publishing content translated into your target market's native language is one of the most important. In doing so, you can analyze user-generated content and buyer interactions better. As a result, you get better insights into customer behavior and preferences. Use this to continuously refine your workflows and approach.

Facilitates Flawless Customer Support

Not all online transactions turn out as flawless as you'd expect. The supply chain and fulfilment processes can be complicated, especially for overseas transactions. Providing customer satisfaction means strengthening your customer service initiatives as well.

Promoting multilingual support allows you to understand and respond to buyer needs more effectively. A machine translation engine instantly translates customer queries, which means you can provide immediate support across multiple languages. On the flip side, shoppers will feel more comfortable and can express their needs more clearly.

Sets Your Business for Success

Converting a source language into a target language may entail cost, but it yields tangible and intangible returns on your investment, including:

• More effective marketing campaigns: Machine translation services enable e-commerce companies to localize their content. Such a capability makes marketing efforts more effective, as they resonate well with the target audience. Consider translating these compelling SMS marketing templates for more personalized communication.
• Competitive advantage: Being able to communicate in different languages differentiates a business from its competitors. It makes your target audience feel more valued and more likely to interact with your store.
• Increased conversion rates: Expect multilingual content to increase engagement and trust—two aspects that drive higher conversion rates. Turning domain-specific content or technical documents into understandable versions has the same impact.
• Higher sales potential: Customers are more likely to make purchases when they can easily comprehend why they should choose you over your competitors. Publishing content in the native tongue or preferred language also fosters loyalty and repeat business.

Types of Machine Translation Approaches

Humans and machines can jointly or separately provide professional translation services. Regardless, there are four primary translation models, the last two of which use artificial intelligence (AI):

Rule-Based Machine Translation (RBMT)

Rule-based MT relies on linguistic rules and bilingual dictionaries. It converts texts using predefined grammatical and syntactic rules. Translators can fine-tune RBMT for specific language pairs. Even so, it may struggle with idiomatic expressions.

Example-Based Machine Translation (EBMT)

This model relies on previously translated texts (corpora). It translates by finding matching examples and reusing them. While more flexible than RBMT, it requires an extensive database of examples for high-quality translations. EBMT may not perform well with complex or unique sentences.

Neural Machine Translation (NMT)

NMT is an AI-powered model that uses neural networks and deep learning techniques to translate texts. NMT also understands contexts and produces more natural translations. On the downside, it requires substantial computational data and may struggle with rare language pairs (a combination of languages that are less spoken or translated).

Statistical Machine Translation (SMT)

Another AI-dependent model, SMT, utilizes statistical models based on bilingual corpora (sample texts with translations in two languages, for example, Spanish and English translations of the same legal document). It can adapt to different languages and styles. Unfortunately, SMT can produce inaccurate translations without high-quality training data or if the statistical models don't represent the nuances of the target language.

Each type has its own advantages and limitations. When deciding the best approach, remember that the quality of machine translations hinges on available training data, language pair, and domain.

Final Thoughts

Offering knowledge resources in multiple languages is key to attracting customers from different regions. But don't translate just for the sake of being understood. In e-commerce, where the competition is as fierce as ever, your goal is to create an inclusive and engaging experience for global customers.

While machine translation technology has improved significantly, it can still struggle with complex sentences and industry jargon and may not capture the nuances of every language. That's why the human touch remains important, particularly for post-editing review, quality assurance, cultural sensitivity and other nuances.