Large global experience (GX) projects can be massive undertakings. As you kick off a new campaign, it’s important to know what to expect so you don’t get lost among all the moving parts.

To help you out, we’ve put together must-know tips about what to expect when kicking off a new global experience campaign so you can successfully navigate your next project.

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Plan global experience from Day 0 and you’ll get better results.

Global customer experience should be incorporated from the very start of any global product launch. By planning ahead, you can internationalize your tech stack, create content with language in mind, and prepare your team to think about global experience before it happens.

Getting your infrastructure and content localization-ready will not only save you time, but also boost the success of your global launch.

Global experience is unique to your target locale and will have specific needs.

There’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” approach to global experience. Every campaign must adapt to the needs and conditions of the target locale.

Research your target market and understand the specific linguistic, cultural and technological requirements. With these insights, you can then personalize your company's materials accordingly.

Global experience involves a ton of cross-departmental teamwork.

Global experience doesn’t just involve translators. A typical localization project is highly collaborative and cross-departmental. Your localization team will bring together project managers, software developers, marketing specialists, designers and QA reviewers.

Be sure to kick off your localization project by getting everybody on the same page. Clear communication will be vital to getting great results in every aspect of your project.

Your global experience tools and vendors can make or break project success.

It’s important to support your global experience efforts with the right tools and vendors. If you have an extensive global experience project that requires localization and language translation, consider investing in a translation management system (TMS).

Manual project management can be extremely time-intensive, especially with multiple languages. The right translation platforms and language vendors can cut out these manual tasks and create an efficient workflow.

Localization quality depends a lot on you - not just your linguists.

Professional linguists typically do their very best work, but you’ll need to give them the right information for high-quality localization.

It’s up to you to set up your team for success by preparing detailed project briefs, brand style guides and glossaries before localization even begins. Don’t leave out this critical context, or you may be disappointed by the results.

Set KPIs to better understand your goals.

Taking the pulse on your localization project can be tricky. You should create KPIs for your campaign, so that you can understand what’s working (and not). Ideally, you’ll set up KPIs related to your website, online experience, growth, and customer experience. 

Early feedback from stakeholders is a must.

Your stakeholders – such as marketing and sales teams, cultural consultants, C-levels, clients and others – may have critical feedback on your localization campaign. It’s essential that you collect this feedback early to reduce any risks and ensure your efforts are headed in the right direction.

Incorporate feedback loops into your workflows early by using these best practices, so that you don’t get any critical revisions too late in the game.

Rushing large global experience campaigns can be counterproductive.

Fast time-to-market or high quality? For large projects, you’ll have to take your pick, as timing and quality often are prioritized at the expense of the other. Generally speaking, rushing the project will lead to inconsistent and inelegant work. As much as you can, plan ahead and avoid speeding up your team.

Global experience requires ongoing testing and updates.

You’re never really finished with a global experience project. As you wrap up the bulk of the work, remember that it's just the beginning. You’ll have to check for relevant changes and updates based on in-country testing, make sure that evolving customer touchpoints are covered, and prepare updates according to customer feedback. You should allocate resources accordingly, so that you can handle these post-launch challenges.

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Global experience is a key step in taking your products or services international. It’s vital that you have a good grasp of what global experience requires so that you can support your team every step of the way.

Not sure how to get your localization campaign started? Reach out to Lilt for a personalized consultation.