Research finds 56% of multilingual consumers have abandoned a purchase because a website or app felt poorly adapted to their language, highlighting the gap between translation and localization

As artificial intelligence and automated translation make multilingual digital experiences easier to deliver, brands face growing pressure to ensure their content feels natural and relevant to local audiences. New research from Liferay finds that poor website and app localization can undermine consumer trust, influence purchasing decisions, and affect brand loyalty.

The Liferay 2026 Website Localization Report examines how multilingual consumers respond to translated digital content, the localization problems they encounter, and how those experiences influence their perceptions of businesses.

Conducted in September 2026 through the third-party research platform Pollfish, the survey covered 800 U.S. adults who had used a website, app, or digital service in a language other than English during the previous 12 months.

Poor Localization Can Lead to Lost Sales

The research found that 56% of multilingual consumers had decided not to purchase from a company because its website or app felt poorly adapted to their language. The findings also indicate that accurate translation alone does not guarantee a positive customer experience.

Among consumers who rated brands’ non-English translations as good or excellent, 54% had still abandoned a purchase because of poor localization. This suggests that factors beyond basic linguistic accuracy can influence whether customers feel comfortable completing a transaction.

Only 23% of respondents said non-English websites usually felt as though they had been written specifically for them, highlighting an opportunity for brands to make digital experiences more relevant to local audiences.

Consumers Believe They Can Recognize Machine Translation

The report found that 82% of respondents were confident they could identify content translated by a machine rather than written or reviewed by a fluent speaker.

Localization issues were also widespread: 90% said they had noticed at least one localization problem on a website or app. These findings point to the importance of reviewing multilingual experiences for more than literal translation, including whether the content feels natural and appropriate for its intended audience.

Better Localization Can Influence Brand Choice

The research also found that localization can provide a competitive advantage. Nearly half of respondents (48%) had chosen one company over a competitor because its website or app felt better adapted to their language and culture.

Consumers also placed greater emphasis on human involvement than on AI alone when assessing localization quality. While 43% credited human involvement for strong localization, just 20% credited AI alone.

The results highlight the potential role of human review in identifying language and cultural nuances that automated translation may not adequately address.

Translation Versus Localization

Bryan Cheung, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Liferay, said that translating every page into another language does not necessarily make the overall experience feel natural to users.

Cheung emphasized the distinction between translation, which converts content into another language, and localization, which adapts the experience to the people using it. The latter can influence how customers perceive a brand and whether they feel confident engaging with its digital services.

As businesses expand into new markets and adopt AI-powered translation tools, the findings suggest that localization quality remains an important consideration for customer experience strategies. Combining automation with appropriate human review and cultural adaptation may help brands deliver digital experiences that better reflect local expectations.