Emirates Ranks Highest in International Airline Website Localization

The fact that there are no American (USA) airlines in the top 10 list of best localized websites should not be a surprise. "Foreign" airlines feel the need to localize their websites.

This is just another example of how American companies can be too focused on their local market, with most of them just counting that users from abroad will understand English and the US standards.

via ajax.sys-con.com

A research assesses how well a site is localized or adapted to local language and culture. Localization is based on factors such as the proper use of local languages, character sets, weights and measures, currencies, dates and times, and culturally sensitive imagery. In this case, how well an airline's Web site is localized could measurably impact their customer's ability to complete travel bookings or find important information. Ultimately it impacts brand perception and sales.

The Global-Local Monitor for airlines drew upon the talents and expertise of over 70 user experience professionals from 17 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas; this is the broadest systematic localization review ever conducted by user experience professionals. The Global-Local airline monitor involved five local user experience experts in each country, each reviewing the ten Web sites on 30 localization criteria.

Photo of a "Happy Honeymoon" cake served at an Emirates flight.