Estimated read time: 3 minutes, 55 seconds
As a former agency owner, now the Chief Marketing Officer at FastSpring, David Vogelpohl has helped many software companies scale around the world.
I interviewed him for insights into how to build a global growth strategy, especially when it comes to localization.
We talked about:
- An iterative approach to localizing marketing efforts
- A step-by-step guide to looking for regional growth opportunities
- How to use insights from our 2022 Emerging Customer Markets report
- Finding regional marketing and localization partners
Stream the full interview or read and watch highlights from our interview below.
Highlights from Our Conversation
Where Should SaaS Companies Localize [2 min clip]
David walked through a step-by-step process to assess where SaaS and software companies should consider localizing.
1. Start with your existing sales and see where there’s interest from existing buyers.
David used the U.S. as an example: “You charge in U.S. dollars, your site is in English, but you have people that convert from countries that you’re not targeting. So that would be the first place is to see what interest is already there from existing buyers.”
2. Research what the opportunities are in these regions.
For instance, look at the keyword search volume around high purchase intent keywords.
“You can even put ads in market, linking to your existing site without localizing anything else, and get a really accurate view of inventory and interests. Also try localizing those ads, so it’s a way to test the waters before things like translation or localizing to local currencies.”
3. Look for existing ecosystems of websites, communities and social presence that exist in that geography around your topic.
“So I can see: is there an ecosystem around what’s happening that I can maybe try to tie into with my marketing?”
Watch the two minute clip for more details.
Note: FastSpring’s Revenue and Subscription Dashboards quickly show our customers where their revenue is coming from, the average order value or MRR per country, promotions performance per country, and more.
How to Take Advantage of Emerging SaaS Consumer Markets [4 min clip]
In our 2022 Emerging SaaS Customer Markets report, we highlight 25 countries and three regions with emerging consumer markets for SaaS and software sales.
In this clip, David offers recommendations for when you should consider a proactive approach to breaking into a new market.
Here’s a quick takeaway from David:
“A lot of these regions are getting more and more penetration into Internet access and digital, and so there’s this bit of a lag effect. And so that opportunity, in my view, will continue to grow. So if you can get a foothold there, and sometimes because people might be paying attention to lower-hanging fruit and bigger markets, you actually might be able to make progress there.”
3. Why Localize Incrementally [1.5 min clip]
So many companies don’t consider localizing because it seems like such a huge undertaking. David recommends localizing incrementally in order to make the process
“I think the biggest mistake people make is they think like they need the end result to do it, when in reality, there are lots of incremental steps you can take to get there,” he explained.
An easy place to start is to translate a landing page that explains your products and how to get in touch with sales.
Watch the one minute clip for more details on how and why to localize incrementally.
How FastSpring Simplifies Selling Around the World
Automated Localized Checkout
Consumers often prefer to pay in their local currency or using payment methods that are popular in their region. We’ve found that our own customers who localize their checkout have seen as much as 2x the conversion rate of those who don’t.
FastSpring automatically changes the language, currencies, and payment methods of the checkout experience based on where a customer is located.
FastSpring offers multiple purchase experiences, from a self-serve ecommerce checkout to digital invoices you can send your business customers.
Offloaded Sales Tax And Compliance Management
At FastSpring, we act as the merchant of record for all transactions on your site, making us responsible for collecting and remitting taxes on your behalf. Whether you’re trying to manage reduced tax rates, customized taxation, tax-exempt transactions, B2C or B2B — everything is handled for you.
We also keep you compliant with global online payment, ecommerce, and privacy standards, including GDPR, CCPA, PSD2, PCI-DSS, and local regulations.
Leave the technical challenges of selling around the world to us. We’ll handle all the hard stuff, such as localizing checkout, billing and ecommerce compliance, and tax management — and let you focus on building and growing your SaaS business. Try out FastSpring for free or request a demo to learn more.
