Ecommerce was humming along even before COVID-19 burst onto the scene. Worldwide ecommerce sales exceeded $3.5 trillion in 2019. But since then, consumers have doubled down. US merchants alone saw 44% more online sales revenue in 2020 compared to 2019.

And now, there are even more opportunities to generate ecommerce sales: more people have discovered the advantages of online shopping, and lockdowns and travel restrictions are still a reality in many places. International sales are making up a bigger percentage for many ecommerce businesses. So why not yours too?

Today I’d like to share five things you can do to roll out the welcome mat for your international visitors and convert more of them into sales.

1. Let Shoppers Shop in Their Currency

Would you buy something that cost one million yen?

For a website visitor, there’s only one thing more frustrating than not seeing the price of an item they’re interested in buying, and that’s having the price listed in a currency they don’t use every day. When that happens, visitors have to estimate the price in their own currency (adding unnecessary uncertainty). Or they have to go somewhere else for the latest exchange rate so they can calculate the current price (slowing down the visitor and risking that they don’t return to your site). Or visitors choose to turn to your competitors who have prices listed in a currency your visitors understand. Ouch.

Allowing website users to choose which currency they see your prices listed in removes friction, giving them an extra boost of confidence in your website and proving that you’re thinking about their comfort.

Take Airbnb for example, an online marketplace for vacation rentals. On every page of the website visitors can choose not only which language they want to view the website in, but which currency the prices will be listed in. From Australian dollars to Uruguayan pesos, visitors can quickly see if a home rental’s price fits into their budget.

2. Let Shoppers Shop in Their Language

And you thought converting from yen was tricky?

It’s difficult to properly evaluate the characteristics and benefits of a product if you don’t understand all the words. But even if your visitors speak English well, there’s an increased cognitive load associated with reading in a second or foreign language.

By translating your website content into the languages most commonly used by your customers and allowing website users to choose their preferred language for consuming your content, you’ll make your visitors more comfortable. And more comfortable means they’re better able to evaluate your offering and ultimately more likely to choose your products.

“If I am selling to you, I speak your language,” Willy Brandt, former chancellor of West Germany famously said. “If I am buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.”

3. Give Shoppers a Frictionless Checkout Experience

There’s something to be said for making your accounting department’s life easier; however, if you want to make a lot more sales, then you can’t box your would-be customers in just as they’re reaching for their wallet. Reduce friction and lower shopping cart abandonment rates by giving visitors real choices, multiple payment options and a smooth checkout process.

First, let customers have the option to use guest checkout. Not everyone wants to be forced to create an online account with you, especially if you haven’t built up enough trust yet.

Second, offer multiple payment gateways on your website. Allowing customers to choose their preferred payment gateway adds convenience and increases their confidence in your payment process. In addition to options like PayPal and Google Pay, you might consider others like Alipay, which is popular among Chinese consumers, and MercadoPago, which is common in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

4. Offer Country-Specific Websites

Do you know who your customers are? If an important segment of your sales comes from one or more specific countries (or if you want them to), then it can royally pay to cater to those customers with a country-specific website.

Country-specific websites can easily bring together everything that a website visitor wants to make an informed purchase: relevant information in their language, prices listed in their currency, accurate shipping information, etc.

One example of how this can be done is Zooplus, an online pet food retailer from Germany that ships products to 30 countries. They have one general website in English, plus 25 country-specific websites. Visitors can read about all the different products in their own language, as well as sign up to receive a regular newsletter and join a customer loyalty program without having to know any German at all.

5. Provide Multilingual Support

But what if I have a question?

Pre-sales support by phone, chat and/or email can be instrumental in answering burning questions and closing sales, particularly for technical products or products with longer sales cycles. And providing that support in your customers’ language can make them feel comfortable enough to open up their wallet.

Depending on your current or expected sales and customer volume, it may make sense to hire full-time bilingual support agents for languages that are commonly used by your customers. Or it may make sense to have on-demand solutions in place to support your existing agents, such as telephone interpreting, live chat translation, instant translation and translation served via API, where you only pay for what you use.

The goal is to immediately set your customers’ minds at ease so they go and hit that Buy button.

Bonus Track: US Markets Are International Too

In this article I’ve been focusing on unlocking the secrets to converting international visitors into customers, but ecommerce businesses would do well to remember that markets in the United States are international too. Many people in the US prefer to do their consumer research and online shopping in languages other than English. In fact, for some it’s a necessity: 10% of US residents identify themselves as someone who does not speak English well.

Having multilingual content and offering multilingual support can open up new markets for you in the US, as well as beyond.