Why You Need Localised Customer Reviews for Your International Online Shops

If you run an online shop in multiple international markets, you know there are cultural and regional differences to keep in mind when it comes to your messaging. What works in one market might not work in other markets. This can range from your brand voice to the design of your shop or even your target audience.

On the other hand, some things are universal. Babies and puppies are great marketing tools in every country and culture.

Trustworthiness is another universal concept that is important in e-commerce. There are many ways for you to build trust with your audience, but in the world of online shopping, customer reviews have become one of the most common (and important) methods.

If you operate from a single domain, you might be tempted to collect, manage and display all of your reviews in the same place. However, displaying your reviews with local audiences in mind is important. Today, we’ll share 4 reasons why it’s important to localise customer reviews for your international domains.

Recommended reading:
Localisation: Preparing Your Online Shop to Sell Abroad

Localised reviews build trust with local customers

Customers usually trust reviews written by people from their own country/region more than reviews written in another language. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Even if a user is proficient in another language, it’s always more comfortable to read something in their mother tongue, especially if a lot of money is at stake.

Users who really dive into the research phase of the consumer journey appreciate being able to read a review in the language they are most familiar with because it reduces any scepticism they might have. Localised reviews definitely improve the user experience (UX) because users can better understand the benefits and the disadvantages of your products.

From the UX perspective, coming across reviews in another language can be off-putting and even confusing. It might cause the user to believe that the items are being shipped from abroad, which will extend the delivery time.

It also might lead them to believe that your customer service options are not available in their native language, which could also be a deal-breaker for some people.

Localised reviews provide market-specific insights

It makes sense to let the local audience describe their experiences for their fellow countrymen (and women). Besides the UX boost for the shoppers, it’s in your best interest to segment these reviews so you can improve your offer for that specific market.

For example, if you sell food, the sweetness or saltiness of an item can be preferred by one country and despised by another. By providing localised reviews, you can reduce returns as well as negative reviews. In some cases, you might even decide to remove or replace an item from a certain market if you receive too much negative feedback about it.

Of course, these customer reviews aren’t just about negative experiences. They can also provide some positive insights about a market. Analysing those reviews can help you learn about consumer behaviour in that market, which helps you optimise your product offer.

For example, you might change the product recommendations at the bottom of your product pages based on the behaviour of your customers in a specific region. In other words, you might discover that down-selling works more in one market, while upselling works better in another.

Tip: With the Sentiment Analysis tool, you can analyse your Trusted Shops reviews quickly and easily to pinpoint the most prevalent topics. Learn more by clicking below:

All in all, this higher level of trust leads to higher conversion rates. This not only improves your revenue numbers, but it can also help reduce your CPCs (cost-per-click) in any ad campaigns you run. Trust marketing can be very effective for many reasons.

Localised reviews improve SEO and visibility

Displaying reviews in the local language also improves the SEO of the domain in question. Search engines prioritise locally relevant content.

Besides recognising the local language, localised customer reviews also include the most important keywords in that market, which end up on your product pages. This also helps your pages rank higher.

It’s also worth noting that if you have a local shop (i.e. a physical store), having reviews in the local language also helps you rank higher in location-specific searches.

Localised reviews encourage more reviews

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Customer reviews can help you collect more reviews. It’s like a snowball effect. If customers from a certain country see localised reviews, they will also be more likely to leave a review themselves.

Of course, there are more strategies to collecting more reviews, but it begins with the local language. If users feel comfortable on a localised website and receive localised review requests, they will be more likely to take the time to write one for you.

This will improve your online reputation both on your website and in search engines, especially if you use a Google reviews partner (like Trusted Shops!).

Conclusion

Whether your reasons are more technical (SEO) or based on improving the user experience, providing your users with localised customer reviews will help improve your performance in that market.