5 Best Practices for Marketing to International Consumers

Online commerce continued to gain ground in 2013, with forecasts that an estimated 189.4 million digital shoppers in the U.S. this year will rise to 210.2 million by 2017. However, for the key areas of future growth, retailers should look beyond national boundaries.

This was the year when the rapid growth of Chinese e-commerce resulted in it eclipsing that of the U.S., according to a Bain & Company report. It's a trend that will continue in Asia as a whole, where 42 percent of the web's users can now be found, and other markets such as Latin America.

The question is, will these consumers favor homegrown retail sites? Encouragingly, WorldPay found that 44 percent of Chinese consumers were willing to shop on international websites. However, the consumers polled had a number of concerns, suggesting that retailers have some way to go to win the trust of global consumers. Work on breaking down those obstacles to convince international consumers that you're ready to do business with them. Here are five ways how:

1. Tailor your website to international markets. If all your content leads to a .com domain, with pricing in dollars and U.S.-only contact information, your website will give overseas visitors the wrong message. While a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works, a more elegant solution is to build a separate website for each key market.

Often, it makes sense to do this on a language basis. For example, one Spanish-language website could work for the majority of your Latin American markets. However, for your most important markets, it can be worth tailoring the content to each country and hosting it on the appropriate top-level domain (e.g., .mx for Mexico). This has the added benefit of flagging your site as a relevant local search result for search engines. In turn, this increases the chances that it will be ranked highly for search traffic in that location.

2. Localize with other cultures in mind. Localization should make an online retail site feel familiar and trustworthy, rather than strange and confusing. Using the customer's native currency, for instance, makes it easier to purchase with confidence. Other information specific to that nation — e.g., shipping information, taxes — should be included on a localized site.

Taking it a step further, holiday promotions can be customized to the target market's own festivals and celebrations. Similarly, images can be changed to reflect a more local appearance and style of dress.

3. Break down the language barrier. Translation of your key marketing content such as product reviews will give you a competitive edge and can be the deciding factor in whether a non-English speaking consumer chooses to buy. For instance, 50 percent of the Chinese consumers willing to shop overseas had language concerns.

You can offer quality translation with little more than a button click if you use a translation appplication programming interface (API). This is the same technology that's now used by many web services to incorporate third-party applications such as Google Maps. An API minimizes project management time, while your translations will still be handled by professional translators. The result is fluent language that will present your business at its best in international markets. An API also means you're not caught up in routine admin tasks when your time can be better spent elsewhere.

4. Interact with overseas consumers. Get your customers involved to make them feel valued. Social media makes this easier than ever before. The most popular networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ now cover much of the globe, but don't neglect more regional trends. Image sharing, for example, is especially popular in Asia, where Pinterest and Instagram both saw rapid growth in 2012.

In short, establish an active social media presence wherever your international customers prefer to socialize. Then interact with them in their own language in meaningful ways. This effort is often rewarded: Fifty percent of social media users in an international study responded that they post information about brands, and the majority of what they say is positive.

5. Use online promotions to keep customers engaged. What do consumers actually want from the brands they engage with online? Their expectations include promotions and giveaways, along with sharing news and product information. Make sure, however, that your offers and events are open to all. Having small print that excludes customers in certain countries can be a slap in the face for loyal overseas customers. This is where having different accounts for different linguistic or national markets can be especially helpful, allowing you to keep your promotions relevant to each market.

Follow best practices and you can open your business up to markets that are likely to shape the future of online commerce. It's an exciting opportunity — go grab it!

Christian Arno is the managing director of Lingo24, a translation service. Follow Lingo24 on Twitter @Lingo24.