Bird improves user experience of its app in seven languages

Bird was seeking reliable translation services that would help strengthen the user experience of the app across their seven key languages. But, as with any app, the translation itself was only half the battle – it had to be complemented by a software solution that enabled greater control over the content and translations.

Bird’s goal was to optimize not just the translations but also the translation process. They set out to find just the right blend of services and software to provide high-quality experiences for their users and ensure a no-fuss, efficient workflow for their teams.

Bird’s search for the right software and services led them to two providers: Lokalise and RWS.

Lokalise – a platform designed especially for managing the localization of digital content, including web and mobile apps – was the perfect fit for Bird’s needs. Through Lokalise, Bird centralized the entire translation workflow for ease of management. But most importantly for Bird, the Lokalise API and connectors gave them endless flexibility to integrate with any other software they chose – including the software they use for customer support, and the back end of the Bird app – while keeping everything in one place.

For the translation services, Bird chose RWS. With a network of professional, experienced translators based in markets around the world, RWS was able to navigate the local cultural and linguistic nuances necessary to deliver natural-feeling translations of the app and help articles for the riders, along with accurate support content for the operators – the local franchisees who manage Bird’s fleets on the ground.

To achieve further improvements, Bird also took advantage of RWS’s linguistic quality assurance (LQA) and in-context review, as well as termbase and style guide creation services.

But for Bird, the biggest draw was the pre-existing relationship between Lokalise and RWS.

RWS had already taken advantage of the flexible Lokalise API in the past to establish tightly integrated and automatic workflows between its own internal systems and the Lokalise platform. This integration enabled the production teams to work quickly and effectively to support clients such as Bird.

“It was very compelling to us that RWS and Lokalise had worked together before and were investing further in that partnership and in integrating their systems,” says Björn Schefzyk, Senior Director of Product Management at Bird. “That history of collaboration between the technology solution and the translation provider was a very attractive proposition to us.”

The three companies established a joined-up, integrated workflow. Bird submitted source content to the Lokalise platform, often with tags to indicate the audience, so as to give context on how it should be translated. Once RWS translators had completed the translation, it was pulled back out of the Lokalise platform and straight into the Bird app.

“We feel that we’ve made a significant quality jump,” says Björn.

Before moving to Lokalise and RWS, Bird’s in-market teams were spending valuable time on ensuring high-quality translations for local audiences. “The in-market teams rarely have to engage with translation quality issues now,” Björn explains. “The teams are freed up to focus on other priorities instead.”

In addition, riders and operators are better able to find answers to questions quickly and easily through local-language support content.

The responsiveness of RWS and the smooth integration with Lokalise has allowed Bird to translate updates and release them on a reliable, automated schedule. Updates run weekly, with little human intervention required. A task is created automatically in the Lokalise platform, covering any new app features, and RWS delivers the translations three to four days later.

Or, if an update is urgent, Bird can simply label the task as a priority in the Lokalise platform, and RWS will return the translation in 24 hours. And because Lokalise is integrated with the back end of the Bird app, on both iOS and Android, the updates are automatically pulled into the app without needing to be deployed through a new App Store or Play Store release.

Now, the translation process is seamless. “The collaboration with Lokalise and RWS really helped us improve the quality of our translations,” says Björn, “as well as removing the friction from the process and making it much more efficient.”