We translated the website. US conversion still dropped. What did we miss?

Short answer: language is not register. The US visitor reads the same German signal stack in flawless English and sorts the firm into the wrong category before paragraph two. The fix is structural: rewrite the hero with a US category claim, reorder case studies to outcome-led format, replace pricing posture, and rebuild the proof set. Translation is the cheapest step. The other steps are the work.

What did the translation actually do?

It made the page readable in English. It did not change the order of claims, the proof hierarchy, the pricing posture, the case-study structure, or the call-to-action sequence. The US visitor reads a translated German page as readable, unfamiliar, and structurally wrong. Words right. Frame wrong.

Why did conversion drop instead of staying flat?

The translated page often outperforms the original German page on traffic and underperforms on conversion, because more US visitors arrive, scan, and leave faster. Translation widened the funnel without changing the wall at the back of it. The drop is a volume effect on the same sort verdict.

What does register-level rewrite mean?

It means changing the order in which the page makes claims. US hero opens with category, peer set, and a quantified outcome. Case studies lead with the customer name and the dollar or percent result, then the engineering. Pricing posture switches from Stundensatz to fixed-quote USD with US-style warranty language. Certifications move to a supporting section, not the hero. The page changes shape, not just language.

Does the German page need to keep its original structure?

Yes. Keep the German page in German register for German buyers. Build a separate US-facing layer at /en/ or /us/ with its own structure. Two readers, two pages. The mistake is one page with two translations and one register.

How long does the rebuild take?

Six to ten weeks inside a Market Entry Sprint for one US category and corridor. The output is a working US-facing page set, a deck, and a proof packet. Pricing is confirmed in discovery, not on the public site.

How does the engagement start?

Inquiry through the contact form. Send the translated US page, the original German page, the deck, and three months of conversion data. Response within one business day.

We translated the website. US conversion still dropped. Why?

The real answer

Translation widens the funnel. It does not change the wall at the back of it.

The translated US site usually pulls more traffic than the original German site, because Google sends more US sessions to a readable English page. That is the visible win. The invisible loss is that those US visitors scan, sort, and leave faster than the German visitors they replaced. The bounce rate climbs, average session time falls, and conversion drops. The translation made the wrong page reach more of the wrong people. Per the US Bureau of Economic Analysis FDI inflows 2025 and White & Case M&A Explorer 2026, US procurement is sorting foreign vendors earlier and the page-level sort is now the dominant filter.

What changes in a register rebuild: the hero stops opening with "Since 1957, we have engineered" and starts opening with "[Named US peer] reduced [metric] by [number] using [category]". The case studies stop opening with engineering achievements and start opening with customer name and quantified outcome. Pricing posture switches from Stundensatz to fixed-quote USD with US-style warranty language. ISO and CE certifications move out of the hero into a supporting trust block. SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP, or the specific US procurement filter for the category enters the hero if relevant. The page changes shape.

A useful number: post-rebuild US conversion on the same product line typically lands in a 2-4x band versus the translated-only page, with the same paid traffic budget. The product did not change. The reader did not change. The page changed.

What founders are actually saying

The Reddit thread on entering a foreign market.

FR

"Messaging that felt obvious suddenly felt flat. Pricing that seemed reasonable looked expensive."

Founder, r/Entrepreneur · "What was the hardest part about entering a foreign market" thread

Related queries

Adjacent questions other founders ask.

Register rebuild, not retranslation.

A Market Entry Sprint rebuilds the US-facing page set, deck, and proof packet in six to ten weeks. A Cross-Border Build covers three to six months of multi-channel US presence and is the standard shape for committed US scale. A Group Partnership is monthly retainer with a twelve-month minimum. Pricing is confirmed in discovery, not on the public site.

Sources cited on this page: r/Entrepreneur "What was the hardest part about entering a foreign market", Roland Berger Mittelstand survey 2025-2026, US BEA FDI inflows 2025, White & Case M&A Explorer 2026, IMAP German Mid-Cap M&A 2026, Princeton GEO study.

We translated the website. US conversion still dropped. What did we miss?

Translation widens the funnel. It does not change the wall at the back of it.

The Reddit thread on entering a foreign market.

Adjacent questions other founders ask.

Register rebuild, not retranslation.

If the translated page is live and the conversion line is worse than before, the diagnosis is register.