Going Localize Your Mobile App: 4 Steps to Follow

Digital advertising has considerably lowered barriers to entry into mobile app localization markets for companies of all sizes.
Global ad platforms, quick smoke tests, and performance-driven Landing Pages—designed to gather learnings—have made localization easier than ever before for all kinds of digital companies, especially mobile apps.
However, going localization with your app isn’t as easy as pressing a button and waiting for users to download it. Several factors play a crucial role in defining the success rate of a localization strategy and ignoring them can lead to failure.
Why Does App Mobile App Localization Matter for Growth?
Mobile App Localization offers mobile app developers the opportunity to tap into a broader audience, often leading to increased revenue. Additionally, expanding into new markets through localization allows developers to gather valuable insights and feedback (through ratings and reviews) from a more diverse user base, which can drive further product enhancements.
From a business standpoint, attracting new users via Mobile App Localization not only diversifies the risk of relying on a single market but also helps in reducing the market share of competitors.
While the idea of entering a new market through localization sounds appealing on paper, executing an effective strategy can be more complex than it appears. To simplify the process, I have outlined four essential steps that every mobile app developer should follow when considering expanding their reach through localization.
App Localization: 4 Steps to Follow
When looking at Mobile App Localization, many marketers fail to recognize that not all markets are the same and that users behave differently. Even if the target audience appears similar, users in various countries might expect a distinct app experience or offering.
Over the past few months, we have assisted many app developers in localizing their mobile apps for new markets, enabling them to scale their activities successfully. This hands-on experience has given us unique insights that have helped us refine our localization approach.
If you aim to localize mobile apps effectively, it’s crucial to consider multiple factors. With that in mind, let’s focus on the four essential steps for localization.
Step 1: Mobile App Audit – Ensure Your App Is Ready for Expansion
The first and most critical step in App Localization is to ensure that your mobile app is ready for expansion. By localizing your app, you’re preparing for an increase in users from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures.
Conducting a mobile app audit becomes a strategic process in this context, as it evaluates your core growth strategy and marketing technology infrastructure to optimize for a global audience. At REPLUG, we’ve developed what we call the “Growth Rocket Model” to assess key growth areas and prioritize actions, ensuring your localization efforts are both effective and scalable.
During the app audit, our strategic growth consultants take a look at the following:
- Martech Infrastructure – How are tracking and attribution, as well as analytics tools, set up? More specifically, looking at attribution windows, channels set up, SKAdNetwork, and data visualization.
- Onboarding Process – How are we welcoming users to our app? Are we explaining the most important features? And what is our permission strategy request (ATT, Push, and more)?
- UX/UI functionalities – How is our app designed against competitors (registration process, usability, and more)? And are the users the same?
- Store Listings (ASO) – How well are the Store Pages optimized, including screenshots and organic KPIs?
- Paid performance channels and strategy – How did past campaigns and creatives perform (KPIs, CPx, targeting, and more)? How efficient was the general Paid UA strategy?
- Retention & CRM – Is any post-install engagement activity implemented? How do we automate post-install communication to increase users’ LTV?
At the end of the mobile app audit, our consulting team identifies growth levers that can be implemented to boost app performance across different areas.


Step 2: Know Your Target Market Well
When entering a new market, researching competitors’ offerings and users’ behavior will give us the best insights on what works to spread the word about our mobile app. It goes without saying that when there is no or little brand awareness in the chosen market, the media budget will determine how quickly we can reduce the adoption process.
Before starting any performance marketing campaigns, We analyze local competitors to identify what strategies they are implementing and what could work for our partners. The analysis takes place over two to three weeks, leading to the creation of a list of action items to implement.
Step 3: Internationalize Your App Content
Another critical step is ensuring that your mobile app’s content is truly internationalized. This process goes beyond simple translation—it’s about designing your content and user experience so that they can easily adapt to various languages, cultural norms, and regional expectations.
When preparing for internationalization, it’s important to recognize that expressions and communication styles can vary significantly from one locale to another. Even if the core message remains the same, the way it’s conveyed might need adjustment to resonate with different audiences.
For effective internationalization, app developers and marketers should follow these two key guidelines:
- Align the communication style with your brand image: Ensure that your messaging, tone, and style remain consistent with your overall brand identity across all regions.
- Maintain uniformity across all touchpoints: Whether it’s in-app content, store pages, or advertisements, the format and delivery of your message should be consistent to build trust and recognition with users worldwide.
Navigating the cultural and linguistic differences inherent in internationalization can be complex when entering new markets. This is why partnering with experts and equipping them with the proper tools is essential for success. After all, just as a poorly translated text can deter users, inadequate internationalization can lead to a negative perception of your product’s quality.
Step 4: Implement a Data-Driven Marketing Plan
The final step in mobile app localization is to adopt a data-driven marketing strategy that maximizes high-impact activities while boosting brand awareness in each target region. This approach ensures you can build and maintain a balanced organic and paid acquisition mix, fueling sustainable growth over time.
For effective localization, your acquisition strategy should focus on analyzing in-app event metrics that directly influence monetization. This analysis helps identify any variations in user behavior across different locales compared to your baseline data from other markets. Furthermore, creative assets must be meticulously evaluated—testing a variety of styles and messaging that resonate with each specific audience, while considering the allocated media budget.
By leveraging data to tailor your marketing efforts, you can adjust your localized campaigns to address regional nuances and maximize engagement, ensuring that your app truly connects with users worldwide.
Going Localize with Your App Is a Long-Term Commitment
Mobile App Localization presents significant opportunities for developers, enabling them to expand their audience and unlock new revenue streams. However, success requires more than just translating content—it demands a well-defined strategy with clear KPIs and a long-term vision that goes beyond short-term results.
At the same time, achieving success in local markets may require more resources than initially anticipated. It’s equally important to recognize when to step back, reassess efforts, and refine the approach based on performance data.
Benchmarking against competitors in each market can provide valuable insights into your app’s positioning and effectiveness. While expanding into new regions offers immense growth potential, a data-driven approach is essential to measure impact, optimize spending, and ensure sustainable success.
Are you looking for the right partner to go international with your app? Get in contact with our experts and learn how we have helped several partners succeed!
FAQ
What is Mobile App Localization?
App localization is the process of tailoring your app to a specific market by not only translating content but also adapting its linguistic, cultural, and functional elements to align seamlessly with local preferences. This involves refining language for dialects and idioms (e.g., British vs. American English), redesigning visuals and symbols to resonate culturally, adjusting formats like dates and currencies, ensuring compliance with regional regulations, and optimizing features such as payment methods or UI layouts for right-to-left scripts. By prioritizing these details, localization transforms your app into a product that feels purpose-built for the target audience, fostering deeper engagement and trust in global markets.
What is App Localization vs Internationalization?
The process of developing an application such that it may be converted to other languages and areas without requiring engineering modifications is known as internationalization. The practice of modifying internationalized apps for a specific location or language by translating text and incorporating locale-specific components is known as localization.
Originally published on August 12, 2021. Updated on February 3, 2025.