Key benefits

• More natural, modern language for core user workflows 
• Consistent tone and style across markets and platforms
• Improved usability for professional creative users 
• Increased relevance for younger and emerging audiences 
• Scalable testing framework for future product updates

Rebuilding localization around how users actually work

For years, the product’s localized versions had evolved through piecemeal updates. Linguistic reviews focused on new features, while core workflows remained untouched. Over time, this created friction: terminology felt dated, stylistic choices varied by language and translations no longer reflected how creative professionals actually spoke or worked.

As competition intensified, especially from newer, cloud-native tools built from scratch, the gaps became impossible to ignore. In-country marketing teams flagged concerns around native user experience and brand perception, prompting a full linguistic and stylistic refresh across multiple markets.

Why legacy processes couldn’t keep up

This wasn’t a traditional localization exercise. The product had decades of legacy content, fragmented review processes and deeply embedded terminology. Standard linguistic testing alone wouldn’t surface real-world issues. The client needed insight from people who used the product every day and could judge language in context, not in isolation. 

The approach: expertise meets lived experience 

RWS designed a testing program that blended linguistic rigor with real-world usage. Native professional users, creative specialists who relied on the product daily, were recruited and rigorously vetted. Hundreds of candidates were screened to ensure deep domain knowledge, fluency and familiarity with competitive tools. 

These SMEs worked directly within the live product environments, identifying linguistic, stylistic and functional issues as they appeared in real workflows. Findings were tracked in the client’s existing systems, reviewed collaboratively by RWS linguists and functional testers and resolved through structured feedback loops with product and marketing teams. 

Weekly cross-functional reviews ensured alignment, while milestone-based testing allowed impr

Challenges

• Decades of legacy translations with inconsistent review history 
• Shifts in tone required to appeal to younger users 
• Languages and markets with no prior localized experience 
• Balancing linguistic rules with real-world usability 
• Coordinating SMEs, linguists and product teams at scale

Solutions

• SME-led linguistic testing embedded in real user workflows 
• Consistent stylistic frameworks applied across languages 
• Close collaboration with product, marketing and localization teams 
• Platform-specific testing across desktop, mobile and tablet 
• A repeatable model for future localization refreshes

Results

• 7 languages tested across 4 environments 
• 7,600+ issues identified and logged 
• 7,300+ issues resolved 
• 92% overall fix rate 
• 88.5% of issues related to linguistic accuracy, fluency and style

Results: turning linguistic quality into a competitive advantage

The refresh didn’t just clean up language; it changed how users experienced the product. In newly supported markets, users responded immediately, with positive feedback surfacing in community forums following release. Established markets saw clearer, more natural terminology aligned with how professionals actually work today.

Internally, the success of the program sparked broader discussions about extending the approach to other products, using the same SME-driven model to modernize localization at scale.

The factors that transformed linguistic quality into real usability.

• Native professionals, not just linguists 
• Testing in real product environments 
• Ongoing collaboration, not one-off reviews

What changed along the way

Throughout the engagement, RWS teams worked side by side with the client’s product, marketing and localization stakeholders – week after week, milestone after milestone. What started as a linguistic refresh quickly became something bigger: a rethink of how language quality is defined, measured and experienced by real users. 

Team members who worked on the project reflected on how the approach shifted expectations on both sides. 

That shift, from rules-based translation to user-led localization, became the foundation for every decision that followed.

When localization becomes part of the product

Delivering a refreshed experience across languages was only the starting point. What mattered just as much was building an approach that could scale, adapt and continue delivering value as the product evolved.

By combining linguistic expertise with real-world product usage, RWS moved localization out of isolated review cycles and into the heart of the user experience. Native creative professionals didn’t just validate language; they shaped it, ensuring terminology, tone and style reflected how people actually work today.

The result was a clearer, more natural and more consistent experience across platforms and markets, one that feels modern, relevant and built for the next generation of users.

This wasn’t a quick fix. It was a deliberate, user-led approach designed to evolve alongside the product – and one the client is now looking to extend across additional solutions.

Facing a localization challenge of your own? Discover how RWS testing and localization experts help global brands modernize user experiences, improve quality at scale and stay relevant in fast-moving markets.

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