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“But isn’t localisation about language?” you might ask. Yes, it could be, indeed. Very often localisation is expected to solve the language difference problem. Let’s explore this with another company that knows a lot about breakfast habits and something about localisation.

Noom has been doing a good job helping people in the US (their domestic market) develop healthy eating habits, but the company found it difficult to make the product work elsewhere. Why?

People who use the US English version of the Noom app see this: “Pick a particularly unhelpful habit you’ve developed to overcome decision fatigue. It could be eating frozen waffles for breakfast every morning.”

And this: “You find your groove, then stick with it. Think: I eat oatmeal for breakfast every day.”

And this: “Swap your Sunday pancake tradition with a morning stroll in the park.”

How many people in Mexico eat frozen waffles and oatmeal for breakfast every day or pancakes every Sunday? We don’t know exactly, but if we asked Ana, our Mexico-born-and-based localisation consultant, she would say “Some, but not many”.