Not all Spanish speakers want the same thing from a website—many more factors than just language are at play.

That's why, Tamara Barber explains in a post at the Forrester blog, research on customers' preferences led Best Buy and Allstate to dramatically different conclusions:

• "Best Buy," she notes, "has learned that their customers won't trust the Spanish-language site if it doesn't have all of the same content that's available in English, although they do appreciate any information that's additional to this content." As a result, she reports, the Spanish-language content at espanol.bestbuy.com closely mirrors English-language content at bestbuy.com.
• At Allstate, however, research has shown that Spanish-speaking visitors are most interested in a single product: auto insurance. Accordingly, while miallstate.com looks and feels much like Allstate's main English-language site, it has a unique URL and content that caters to that particular interest.

Why the disparity? "The anecdotal results from Allstate and Best Buy," says Barber, "suggest that the preference for a unique Spanish-language experience will also differ based on industry and the degree of familiarity with and complexity of the topic at hand."

In fact, Best Buy and Allstate might be catering to the very same customers. For instance, a less acculturated Spanish-speaking visitor who feels perfectly comfortable comparing prices on PCs will probably want additional guidance when exploring products from an insurance industry with which she is not familiar.

The Po!nt: "There is no one-size-fits all solution to how and when to create a Spanish-language Web site for this audience," says Barber, "and that's why research is such an important part of such a decision."

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article