For Internet companies, the biggest obstacle to achieving international growth is trust, or a lack thereof, on the part of users. Why wouldn’t users trust a foreign company or service? According to ZDnet, it’s all about localization. Here’s an example of how Chinese companies are looking to expand their reach into India’s growing markets:

Localization and gaining trust among users will help Chinese Internet companies to gain a bigger foothold in the competitive India market, say market observers, who add that having a mobile strategy would work in their favor.

Priyanka Khandelwal, research analyst at 6wresearch, said India presents an “immense” opportunity for most foreign companies looking to enter the market due to the large size of its Internet population, as well as the relatively low broadband penetration and adoption of payment services.

It is also an open market where users are open to exploring new features and services as long as they benefit in one way or another, Khandelwal said, adding the Internet is gaining popularity among urban youths and those in the rural areas of the country.

Ten years ago, Indian consumers were open to buying Chinese products only if they were marketed by the Western companies, Verma said. “There was a sense of trust which Indians had on the Western world producers [whereas] China-made products and brands were not trustworthy then,” he explained.

I would argue that “localization and gaining trust” are one and the same. If a product or service is not properly localized, then users in other countries are not like to trust it.

For tips on how to conduct a full-scale localization test, check out our whitepaper: Crowdsourced Localization.