Is mobile a better channel than your current data suggests? We recently caught up with Will from Underwaterpistol and Claudia from Klevu to chat about the state of mobile ecommerce. The average mobile conversion rate tends to be only 1-2% for Shopify stores. But that's just the beginning of the story. Optimizing for mobile is an ongoing process. There isn't just one solution. In addition to technical factors like page load speed (time to first paint, etc.), you have to consider the entire user journey and optimize the flow accordingly. This includes social presence, the details of browsing behavior (eg. on-site search, product list views), and checkout funnel tracking, which can be difficult to do manually for Shopify stores. That said, unless you get marketing attribution right in the first place, you might be beating a dead horse. [note]How do you compare? Check out our list of essential benchmarks for Shopify stores, including average order value (AOV) and bounce rate from mobile search.[/note] Multi-touch attribution models are useful, but it's important to fix basic tracking issues first (such as cross-domain tracking in the checkout flow), and even once you get that tracking set up correctly, it's essential to understand how users are behaving at each touchpoint, rather than just giving each touchpoint a certain percentage of credit for the conversion. This is especially true for Shopify stores and DTC brands where popular mobile channels such as Instagram and Pinterest are a strong draw. For example, if your best (highest LTV) customers are actually coming from Instagram Ads on mobile devices, and then purchasing on desktop once they get into your brand story on a deeper level, then maybe your mobile site should focus on visual brand stories with an email signup CTA, instead of discounts and cart abandonment campaigns aimed at direct ecommerce conversions. Thanks to Underwaterpistol (UWP) for putting together the video chat! UWP is one of our Shopify Plus agency partners at Littledata. Do you run a team of Shopify experts that would like to use Littledata to fix tracking for your clients? Learn more about our partner program.

Littledata is pleased to announce the acquisition of two Shopify apps focused on Facebook advertising: Facebook Feed and Pixel Perfect. As customers increasingly turn to Facebook and Instagram for a seamless shopping experience, we're here to help stores give customers what they want: the right product at just the right time, no matter which marketing channel brought them in. Pixel Perfect automatically sets up an accurate Facebook Pixel for Shopify stores, along with numerous features to support dynamic product ads -- including a product catalog feed. If you're only looking to sync the Shopify product catalog, Facebook Feed is a smart product feed that supports unlimited products without timeouts or delays. Our expert analytics team is already providing customer support for both apps, and our product team is working to improve functionality for Facebook Pixel and Facebook catalog feeds, which are essential parts of running dynamic product ads across the Facebook network -- in other words, the keys to automated personalization. To quote Littledata's CEO, Edward Upton: "We believe stores investing tens of thousands in Facebook Ads need more reliable tools to target that spend. Littledata is able to improve upon the integration announced with Facebook and Instagram this week, and enable enterprise-scale stores to track their customer journey on Facebook." Shopify and Facebook Shopping Facebook and Shopify made major announcements recently about the many ways that customers find (and now purchase) products on Facebook and Instagram. They've emphasized that these new features will help small businesses succeed, and that's definitely a potential benefit. But let's be honest -- we all knew this was coming, COVID-19 or otherwise. There's just too much ad spend at stake. These updates and new features include: Facebook Shops: a new, complete storefront experience, integrated with Shopify (among other platforms, such as BigCommerce and Woo, Shopify is clearly the most significant: Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke was on the video call with Mark Zuckerberg) Instagram Checkout: a previously closed beta experience for direct shopping and checkout, now slowly rolling out for everyone At Littledata we're most excited about Instagram Shopping. It's not just a little experiment. Instagram's Vishal Shah told TechCrunch that almost 1 million stores are already signed up and ready to implement Instagram Checkout, so it's much more than its previous incarnation as a beta test with large brands like Zara and Adidas. Shopify is deprecating the Facebook Shop channel and will be pushing merchants to create these new Facebook shopping experiences (either ad campaigns or the full FB storefront). Stores that had product tagging set up through the Instagram channel before the announcement can already access Facebook Shops (the new feature -- different from the previous Facebook Shop channel, ahem...this is starting to get confusing). But like many Shopify announcements of the past, the overall timelines are unclear. And while they have improved the setup for their default Pixel implementation, we still see the same common issues like Product ID and revenue mismatches. Either way, these new features aren't necessarily a great fit for larger DTC brands by default -- they'll need something more reliable and customizable. That said, why not just go direct to the source? Facebook Dynamic Ads are already open to everyone, and they're a proven model for high-ROI retargeting and engagement. What do you need to run Dynamic Ads on Facebook for a Shopify store? Actually just a few things, which don't take long to set up if you haven't already: Facebook Business manager account Facebook Pixel (or SDK) on your site Product catalog feed That's where the new apps come in. Pixel Perfect Pixel Perfect is a popular Shopify app for automatically configuring a Facebook Pixel on your Shopify store. Facebook Pixel allows you to measure the impact of Facebook Ads on revenue, and calculate Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). It also allows you to build website custom audiences based on what users have seen or added to their shopping carts. Shopify has a native Facebook Pixel integration, but as noted it has numerous known issues, in areas such as product and revenue matching. Pixel Perfect fixes this automatically. Key benefits include: Send data to up to three Pixels (e.g. to use a backup pixel) Includes a matching catalog feed to serve Facebook Dynamic Ads 'Niche' product tags for building custom Facebook Audiences Order logs for comparative attribution Questions about Pixel Perfect features or how Shopify works with Facebook Ads? Read the Facebook Pixel Perfect FAQ in our help center. Facebook Feed If you're looking for a free product feed that works automatically with your Shopify product catalog, check out Facebook Feed. There are a number of Facebook catalog feed apps out there, but we were drawn to Facebook Feed because it is extensible and reliable. The app makes it easy to launch dynamic retargeting ads for Facebook users who engaged with your Shopify store. It works for product ads and catalog ads and it can support huge catalogs for Shopify Plus stores. Key benefits include: Up-to-date XML product catalog in the exact format recognized by Facebook Unlimited numbers of products and SKUs (no timeouts for large product sets!) Sync many products with Facebook and avoid pagination Compatible with Facebook page shops and Instagram Shopping Questions about setup or features? Read the Facebook Feed FAQ in our help center. What's next Littledata purchased Facebook Feed and Pixel Perfect from Tony Redfearn, an entrepreneur based in the UK. Tony is excited to see where we take the apps: "I am delighted to hand over the reigns to ensure success in this increasingly complex area. Littledata was the natural partner to take this tech to the next level!" As Littledata's Shopify customer base continues to grow, we are always looking at new connections and integrations. Our plan has always been to integrate Facebook Ads and Facebook Pixel more deeply into the Littledata ecosystem, and these popular apps turned out to be a great starting point. Our immediate plans are to improve both apps to make them even more powerful and extensible. Over time, we plan to fold this functionality into our core analytics app for Shopify merchants. For now, we are working closely with a broad range of merchants to understand their needs and how Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics can work in tandem for better ecommerce analytics, segmentation, remarketing and personalization. Audience building is one of our focuses, but we're also looking into the improved shopping experiences announced (ie Instagram Checkout), to see where events from our server-side Shopify tracking might best improve ROAS, AOV and customer LTV on these new channels and checkout experiences. Is there something you just can't wait to do with Shopify and Facebook? Let us know.  

In a month of grim news, we have some good news to share. Whoever you are, wherever you are, we think everyone deserves to make data-driven decisions We're excited to announce that we've extended Littledata's free trial from 14 days to 30 days. 🎉 The 30-day free trial is available to any Shopify merchant on any plan -- Shopify Plus? Multi-country setup? Selling by subscription? We've got you covered. Successful brands use Littledata to know the real return on their advertising spend (ROAS), calculate customer lifetime value (LTV or CLV), get complete marketing attribution, and much more. So as companies around the world move online and need to make data-driven decisions quickly, we're here for you. With the free trial, you can: Fix your Shopify tracking automatically: With just a few clicks, you'll see accurate data in Segment or Google Analytics within 24 hours. No more data discrepancies between Shopify and GA! Set up any number of connections: Add connections to track CartHook funnels, ReCharge subscription ecommerce, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and more, with our full range of connections and integrations. Get support from an analytics expert: We started as Google Analytics consultants and we're always here to help. Choose the plan that's right for you and your business, and get help with everything from data audits to custom setup, analytics training and GTM support. (And yes, we offer support during free trials!) Getting started with the trial You can get started here. After clicking Start Your Free Trial, you'll be brought to a sign up page to create your account. From there, just a few quick steps before accurate data starts flowing: Connect your Google Analytics account Connect Shopify to Google Analytics You're all set. Welcome to accurate Shopify tracking! If you have questions, get in touch with our team of Google Analytics consultants. We're here to help! Using Shopify and Segment? If you're looking for a way to send Shopify ecommerce data to your Segment workspace, you're in luck. Over the past year, we worked closely with Segment to create the ultimate tracking solution for Shopify stores. Our Segment connection is now available to all Shopify merchants, and we've extended the 30-day free trial to the Segment app for Shopify too. Connect Shopify to Segment with a free trial today. Selling by subscription? If you're selling products by subscription, you'll be pleased to know that the extended free trial includes unlimited access to our top-rated subscription ecommerce tracking tools. Use Littledata's ReCharge connection or Bold Subscriptions integration to fix your data today. Why wait? It's the most advanced solution on the market for Shopify stores that want to track recurring payments and subscription products -- yet remarkably simple to set up, and powerful from the get-go. Start your free trial today. Stay home. Stay calm. And say hello to accurate data! [subscribe]

Littledata is always improving. Over the last 6 months, we’ve worked on numerous features to enhance the accuracy and availability of our ecommerce data analysis for Shopify merchants. Littledata's smart connections make it easy to get accurate data in Google Analytics or Segment. The changes below affect both of our Shopify apps (Segment and Google Analytics for Shopify), marking the biggest major update to our Shopify tracking script and server-side tracking since we released V8 last year. [tip]Check out our release notes for regular updates![/tip] Attribution for email marketing signups In order to provide enhanced email attribution, we've linked 'customer created' and 'customer updated' events back to the original source. Stores building a customer email list can now analyze where those email signups originally came from. By linking customer creation or update events on Shopify’s servers to the original campaign or referrer to the store, Littledata customers can now accurately track the source of email signups. Merchants can now also segment these signup events by whether or not the customer opted into marketing. Checkout steps Tracking checkout steps is essential for ecommerce analytics, but Shopify's native tracking is incomplete and inaccurate. Littledata's Shopify connections solve checkout tracking issues automatically. With recent updates, we’ve made the tracking of checkout steps even more reliable, coping with situations where a user is already logged in, or abandons the cart and then returns later. [note]Did you know by sending the data to Google Analytics, you can easily track your Shopify payments gateway during checkout?[/note] With the help of the full Enhanced Ecommerce specification, you can: track exactly which products follow in each step calculate the value of opportunities to improve each step [subscribe] ReCharge connection, recharged As subscription ecommerce sites continue to scale, they need even more detailed data about the user journey, especially lifecycle events. [tip]Do you trust your subscription tracking in Shopify? Learn how to get accurate tracking for repeat orders[/tip] With our new ReCharge v2 connection, subscription stores can now track the full subscription lifecycle including: subscription updates cancellations failed payments product edits customer profile / information edits [note]See the full slate of ecommerce events you can now track with ReCharge v2[/note] Geolocation of server-side events Stores need accurate information on the location of their customers to retarget campaigns around top-performing regions or cities. The extra events above, plus all the standard order data, are sent from our servers in Virginia, US. But, of course, in your analytics, you want to see them linked to the customers' real location. We now have a belt-and-braces solution for correctly geolocating customer events, passing on the browser's IP address where known, or else sending the shipping address (default customer address) to Google Analytics as a 'Geographical Criteria ID'. CartHook and Bold Cashier We've always supported other checkouts for Shopify, as we know some stores need flexibility with payment, upsell and recurring billing options. And for the most popular checkout solutions, we're always looking at ways to provide advanced tracking automatically. So in the past 6 months Littledata has launched more robust integrations with CartHook and Bold Cashier. New Google Optimize connection Google Optimize is a powerful A/B testing and personalization platform used within and beyond ecommerce. [note]Connect your Shopify store to Google Optimize to test your product pages, store content and messaging with 100% accuracy.[/note] Now, we have an out-of-the-box setup for Shopify, including an anti-flicker snippet. And coming soon... In Q1 2020, we're working on connections for Iterable's email marketing platform, plus a more consistent way of handling Segment's anonymous ID for stores which don't use Google Analytics. Is there something you're eager to see in Littledata? We're always happy to hear feature suggestions — get in touch with our team today!

Finding the right tools for your ecommerce business can be a daunting task. Luckily, Shopify’s app store provides easy access to hundreds of tools (including enterprise level analytics tools) for Shopify Plus stores. While manny of these tools are designed to make life easier for store owners, not all Shopify apps are created equal. Some stand above the rest. Below are 3 top apps for Shopify Plus, with consideration to different marketing and sales goals. Refersion Refersion is “advanced affiliate marketing made simple.”  In other words, Refersion helps stores manage, track, and grow branded promotions and a strong affiliate network. The popular Shopify app is also known for offering Plus stores full setup support and help “every step of the way.” They offer webinars, comprehensive guides, API documentation and community support to help Plus stores launch, manage and grow a profitable affiliate program (or multiple programs for multi store businesses).  Pricing starts at $89/mo, but they offer a 14-day free trial. Quick benefits Track any digital sale your affiliate refers Automate commissions (with unlimited commission structures) to save time Improve affiliate relationships with a personalized affiliate portal and an analytics performance dashboard Enquire Enquire is a popular new Shopify app that offers post purchase surveys for customers.  Based on data that the fastest way to customer feedback is on the order confirmation page, Enquire has built a twofold solution — customer surveys for marketing attribution data, and post purchase surveys directly following the checkout page.  Enquire also helps Shopify Plus stores marry their survey responses with existing data, including referral source and UTMs. Pricing begins at $10/mo, but they offer a 14-day free trial. Quick benefits Gain deeper insights into your marketing channel distribution Simple survey builder with responsive design and high response rates (60%+) Simple integrations for popular Shopify apps like ReCharge, Klaviyo and Shopify Flow Littledata Ecommerce analytics are broken, so we built a better way. That’s the line that started it all at Littledata, our one-of-a-kind tracking solution for Shopify Plus businesses.  Littledata’s smart analytics Shopify app connects your Shopify store with Google Analytics to automatically fix your tracking across the board, from marketing channels to buying behavior. The app also provides a seamless connection between your Shopify site, Google Analytics and popular Shopify apps platforms such as:  Segment to use Shopify as a Segment source (often in addition to Google Analytics) ReCharge for managing subscription ecommerce and tracking recurring revenue CartHook to capture every sale, refund and checkout Facebook Ads and Google Ads for accurate marketing attribution [tip]Now, with a revamped ReCharge connection — ReCharge v2 — you can track subscription lifecycle events with ease![/tip] For Shopify stores that sell in multiple countries or currencies, Littledata offers tiered enterprise plans including include personal support from a Google Analytics expert, a dedicated account manager and custom setup and reporting.  Pricing begins at $59/mo for a Standard plan, but we offer a 14-day free trial. Quick benefits With complete Shopify tracking (and when your data is automatically fixed), you’re able to make better decisions for your store Your Shopify data is 100% accurate within 24 hours — don’t wait months for data you can trust Free & frequent data audits, plus a powerful ecommerce benchmarking tool to identify areas for improvement [subscribe heading="Try the Littledata Shopify App free" background_color="green" button_text="Try it free" button_link="https://apps.shopify.com/littledata"]

Shopify recently announced it will be delisting Beeketing apps from its store. Beeketing builds a popular range of marketing automation apps to improve on-site conversion on ecommerce stores. Shopify’s official statement says this was due to violations including “inadequate support for merchants and abuse of our marketing tools”. But was it also due to the apps' poor performance? [subscribe] To investigate, we looked at the July conversion rate for 115 stores using Beeketing’s apps versus 884 similar stores that did not use these plugins. We found that the median ecommerce conversion for stores using Beeketing apps was lower at 1.4% versus 1.6% for stores without their apps. At 10%, this confidence level is a significant differential. Although we found Beeketing apps increased add-to-cart rate (5.3% rate for Beeketing stores vs 4.2% without), this was not significant — it was based on a smaller sample of only 15 stores using Beeketing with add-to-cart rate tracked. What it means We can’t tell exactly which Beeketing apps these stores are using. However, we'd conclude that the seller urgency and intervening sales popups they are famous for might boost initial engagement, but don't help eventual purchasing. In delisting the apps, Shopify is likely not harming their merchants’ ability to sell. Speaking of ability to sell, did you know we've built a robust ecommerce benchmarking tool for merchants? Know where you stand with website benchmarks by industry and benchmark your own site with Littledata’s free optimisation tools.

When it comes to social profiles, most ecommerce marketers choose to highlight their products on Instagram. But how can you turn your Instagram marketing into consistent sales growth for your online store? Instagram gets over two times the engagement on photos versus all other social platforms. You’ll also find that more than one in three internet users interact with social media to find more information on a brand or product. Due to this, ecommerce stores are turning to Instagram for not only engagement but also for launching ads. This process is made simple by connecting an Instagram profile with Facebook, making it easy to convert the Instagram profile into a business one. This allows you to launch ads on Instagram, while all the data is directly connected to your Facebook account. Once you’ve created a promotion you have the ability to send it to your Instagram profile, your website, or your Facebook page. You can also create Instagram promotions directly from Facebook’s self-serve advertising platform. Some of the benefits of Instagram advertising include scalable pricing, control of who you’re targeting, and instant ads. As with Facebook Ads, you can define the goals by reach, traffic, and brand awareness. Gone are the days when Instagram was used just for engagement, it’s now a frontrunner for sales. Below are the apps that we’ve chosen based on rankings and reviews. 5 best Shopify apps for Instagram ads So here they are: the top 5 apps. If you're using Instagram to market your brand, these can help you increase sales and customer lifetime value. Much like our previous post where we dug into 15 Shopify apps that would help you increase AOV, we’ve taken the same approach to look into 5 Shopify apps that can help you increase your sales and deliver results. We searched for top-ranked apps to give you the best tools and ensure your ecommerce site is using Instagram to its full extent. 1. Instagram Shop by Snapppt Quick pitch: Shoppable galleries, UGC, find influencers & build communities Snapppt is a free, Instagram approved app that allows you to make your Instagram feed shoppable. That’s right, shoppers can now buy directly from your Instagram feed - now shoppers can instantly click on a pair of earrings they thought were great and buy them. An example would be South Beach Swimsuits, in the image below you can see how within the photo you can view the product displayed and shop for that item directly from Instagram. Snapppt also gives brands the ability to track their customers from the point of seeing an Instagram image all the way to checkout. While Instagram is testing out their own checkout, called simply Checkout, we still think Instagram shop is a better fit for Shopify stores. It's a must-have for brands looking to add to their sales pipeline. Happy scrolling! 2. Kit Quick pitch: Run better Facebook ads Kit is an official Facebook Marketing Partner that integrates with Facebook and Instagram. Kit's been owned by Shopify since 2016, so obviously it's a great fit for any Shopify store looking for smart automation! What is Kit? It's a virtual marketing assistant that can manage your Facebook Ads, Instagram ads, social posts, and email marketing to help you drive sales. Need help creating discount codes and targeting customers? Kit is really helpful with that - all you need to do is communicate via SMS or Facebook Messenger. Just type in some commands and Kit will be ready for duty. It also works with other Shopify apps like Yotpov and Venntov. Kit will make your life easier when it comes to managing ads and can even help you generate reports for sales. Hire an assistant or get a free assistant with Kit? Tough choice, big reward. 3. Google Analytics by Littledata Quick pitch: Google Analytics app with Facebook Ads & ReCharge connections Littledata's Shopify app fixes your tracking automatically and gives you accurate data. Once you install, all you have to do is connect your Facebook Ads account using our Facebook integration. Using that Facebook integration, we'll show you the real ROI of your Instagram ads - and connect ad performance to buying behavior, like adds-to-cart and recurring purchases. That’s right - since your Instagram ads data is found in Facebook Manager, all you need to do is connect Facebook Ads and you’ll get that data imported right into your Google Analytics account. Simple, right? That’s what we thought as well. After you connect, that data will be seamlessly pulled into your overall ecommerce tracking, so you can see if your Instagram promotions lead to purchases and conversions, or just a lot of ‘window shopping'. [subscribe heading="Connect Instagram Ads to Google Analytics" background_color="grey" button_text="free trial"] 4. Vantage Quick pitch: Automated Facebook & Google Ads for Your Ecommerce Store Vantage uses your Shopify data to help you better target and retarget audiences based on customer interests, behavior and purchase history. For example, if you sell sports clothes and health vitamins, you can automatically run Instagram ads aimed at people who are interested in health, vitamins and sports apparel. This makes sure that your ads are seen by the optimal shopper. Vantage helps Shopify merchants understand shopping behavior using insights from your store. It allows you to personalize content using highly targeted and automated Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, all of which Vantage integrates with. It also auto-optimises, so you won’t waste money on ads that aren’t performing well. It will reallocate your budget so that you're focusing on the right channels and best placements. Vantage allows you to target ads based on demographics, interests, as well as online behavior - leading to even better results for your Instagram ads. With more successful ads you’ll be able to bring more people to your site and your Instagram page. 5. Stamped.io Reviews Quick pitch: Get product reviews, site reviews, photo/video reviews and Q&A Stamped.io Reviews takes your customers words or content and uses it to increase your sales. It’s an easy three-step process as you can search Instagram for the photos you want to add to your gallery, tag them with items from your store and showcase those by creating a gallery. You have complete control over the contents of the gallery, which can includes images that are posted by customers. As people are interacting with your Instagram feed or the gallery on your site or blog they are able to see the products in one place instantly. This also allows for a smarter marketing strategy as you’re using user content to your advantage to drive traffic. All of these Shopify apps add something special to make sure that your Instagram is performing at its best. They can lead you to a more successful marketing strategy due to smarter ads, ad cost analysis, and a directly shoppable Instagram feed. Let’s remember that Instagram has 58% more engagement than Facebook and 75% of Instagram users take an action after seeing an engaging post. You don’t want to miss out on those numbers, so optimise your Instagram for success today!

Ecommerce is on the rise around the world. Both individuals and companies can create online sites and sell their products without retail storefronts. Studies have shown that eight in ten European internet users perform online purchases through some form of ecommerce storefront. This trend shows no signs of stopping, especially in the younger demographic and millennials. However, online business carries its own share of problems and conundrums to resolve. Even if you implement ecommerce software through a platform like BigCommerce or Magento, you will still have a lot to plan for. International customers are likely to contact you with wishes to buy your products. Even if you implement a multi-currency ecommerce solution like Shopify, the problem is that many people still won’t speak your native language, whatever it may be. Multilingual customer service and user experience (UX) can amend that shortcoming. Let’s take a look at what you can provide for your customers when it comes to multilingual customer support and enhanced UX overall. Benefits of multilingual UX Before we dive into multilingual customer service for ecommerce, let’s take a look at the benefits regarding the process. After all, every upgrade or addition to your site should bear some form of positive outcome. According to CSA Research, 75% of worldwide customers prefer buying online goods through sites with their languages featured as an option. This number is too high to ignore, so let’s take a look at several benefits of implementing multilingual support on your ecommerce website. Better customer engagement Just over 26% of internet transactions on the global level take place in English language. This fact is even more alarming when you take the global number of internet users into account. Providing a multilingual ecommerce storefront will allow for better user engagement globally. People from different corners of the world will be much more likely to use your site to order goods and spread positive word of mouth about your practices. Higher ROI Return on Investment (ROI) is on every ecommerce website owner’s mind – and for good reasons. Hiring professional translators or outsourcing your localization through Pick Writers and their translation services reviews costs money. However, the return on investment connected to the initial expense is tremendous. Mobile ads which lead to online stores fare 86% better if they offer localized marketing content to their readers. No business model will save you from the simple fact that people like to be met halfway when languages are concerned. Good SEO ranking Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a huge role in how your site is perceived through search engines and their algorithms. Google has modified the SEO algorithm to detect and promote websites which offer accessibility and original content above all else. This means that implementing a multilingual approach to your ecommerce will lead to resounding success, especially if you pursue more global languages such as Chinese, Russian and German. Multilingual customer service in ecommerce As with any addition to an ecommerce website, multilingual support should come in stages. Let’s take a detailed look at how you can implement multilingual customer service into an existing, live ecommerce website. 1. Research popular languages and demand Every industry has a certain target demographic which makes it tick. The same goes for children’s toys, books, car equipment or anything else. In order to pinpoint the perfect languages for your website, you should take a look at supply and demand in the industry. Scour through popular competition and their websites. Ask your existing customers about their preferred language offering through email surveys. Do anything you can to eliminate unnecessary languages and add any which might be out of the usual plethora of French, Italian, German and Spanish. 2. Work with an international shipping company Since you plan on expanding into international waters, you should look for shipping companies which can meet your clientele’s demands. International shipping companies come in two varieties; some focus on sea transportation while others (more commonly) prefer air shipping. Look for the best international shipping options in your country and see if you can settle for a mutually-beneficial contract. After all, there is no point in shipping internationally if you don’t break even at the end. 3. Site translation and localization As we’ve mentioned before, site localization should be done in-house or outsourced to a professional translation service. Outsourcing is especially viable if you intend to offer multilingual support in numerous languages not only in content but customer support as well. Add new languages in waves and don’t overreach. You have all the time in the world to slowly and methodically add languages one by one and gauge the public interest in doing so. [subscribe] 4. Machine-learning chatbots In the early days of your website’s multilingual customer service, you can rely on chatbots to get things done. Chatbots are AI algorithms designed to provide rudimentary customer support and learn as they go along. Some of the better quality chatbot algorithms can be found in the app stores for platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce and Magento. These prolific ecommerce support websites also offer numerous plugins which can make the transition into multilingual services much easier and user-friendly. 5. Hire or outsource support agents There will always come a moment where your chatbots won’t be able to deliver on their promises. This is especially possible in their early days, while they are still unaware of the customers’ patterns on your website. In order to offer full customer service despite this shortcoming, you can hire full-time agents or virtual assistants to act as support agents. With some rudimentary training, these employees and freelancers can help you deliver multilingual customer service without you personally speaking the languages. 6. Ongoing product description support Multilingual customer service is a long-term commitment. Each product you publish on your ecommerce website will have to be updated with corresponding descriptions and texts in each language. This raises the question of whether you should hire full-time translators or stick to on-demand freelancers. Make the choice that works best for the volume of products you intend to publish. 7. Create and emphasize feedback channels Ecommerce or not, you will want to talk to your customers on a constant basis. Create dedicated a dedicated email address for feedback and comments. Collect data from your chatbots and have human support agents go through them. Gather feedback constantly, and make sure that your customers know that every bit of criticism is welcome. That way, you will always have an insight into how well you are doing your job. You will also know whether or not you should refocus your multilingual customer service efforts one way or another. Conclusion Whether you opt for DIY localization or assisted ecommerce development with a platform such as Shopify, you should always do it on demand. Never assume that a language is necessary on your website by hunch alone. Add new language support options on a constant basis but back those actions up with research and feedback as you go. Only then will you strike the perfect cord with your audience and find a middle ground that works for both parties. This is a guest post by Kristin Savage, a freelance writer with a special interest in how the latest achievements in media and technology can help to grow readership and revenue. You can find her on Facebook and Medium.