EPG Global ONE Research 2026: Errors in Language Versions of International Company Websites and Their Impact on Customer Trust
Key Findings
EPG Global ONE audited Russian-language pages of 144 international companies in 11 countries. The audit covered text, translation, links, buttons, forms, contact details, and consistency between the language version and the main version of the website.
Main conclusion: language versions of websites often look complete only formally. A page may be translated, but still contain errors that prevent customers from understanding the service, trusting the company, or taking the next step.
- 86%of audited websites contain obvious language errors and signs of machine translation.
- 76%of websites contain fragments in English or the local language on pages meant for foreign customers.
- 50%of websites contain conflicting data: different prices, numbers, addresses, or names.
- 49%of websites contain errors that make it harder for customers to make an appointment, call, submit a request, or book a service.
- 70% of websites had three or more types of errors at the same time.
According to EPG Global ONE’s assessment, companies with these errors risk losing a significant share of customers who have already reached the website.
What Was Audited and How
The main research sample included Russian-language pages of 144 companies in 11 countries. Error type and industry percentages were calculated based on 115 websites audited in detail.
Included in the Audit
| Country | Number of companies |
|---|---|
| Turkey | 55 |
| South Korea | 29 |
| Cyprus | 14 |
| Vietnam | 10 |
| Japan | 7 |
| United States | 7 |
| Azerbaijan | 7 |
| Spain, Argentina, the Maldives, Mauritius, and international chains | 15 |
Industry Distribution
| Industry | Share of sample |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | 53% |
| Hotels and Resorts | 23% |
| Real estate developers | 7% |
| Car exporters | 7% |
| Other industries: airlines, airports, banks, law firms, tourism boards | 10% |
The audit covered the home page, service pages, request and booking forms, contacts, menu, and website footer. Language versions were compared with the main version of the website.
An error was defined as anything that could prevent a customer from understanding the information, trusting the company, or taking the needed step: making an appointment, calling, submitting a request, or booking a service.
In Turkey, where the audit was conducted consecutively by industry, errors were found in approximately 4 out of 5 audited companies.
What the Audit Showed
Share of audited websites where errors were found:
70% of websites had three or more types of errors at the same time.
These errors usually do not look like one major failure. More often, they are a set of small problems: poor translation, an untranslated button, a link to the wrong page, an outdated price, or different data in different language versions. Each error may seem minor on its own, but together they reduce customer trust in the company.
What This Means for a Company
A language version of a website is often the first direct contact a foreign customer has with a company. If the customer sees errors, strange wording, untranslated buttons, or different data in different languages, they begin to wonder how carefully the company works, whether it can be trusted, and whether they understood the price, service, or terms correctly.
According to EPG Global ONE data, obvious language errors were found on 86% of audited websites. External research also shows that website errors affect trust. For example, according to Global Lingo, 59% of people would not use a company if its website had obvious grammar or spelling errors.
Based on EPG Global ONE data, it is reasonable to estimate cautiously that companies with these errors risk losing a significant share of customers who have already reached the language version of the website.
This estimate does not include errors in buttons and forms, incorrect phone numbers, untranslated parts of pages, and other problems that may prevent customers from contacting the company. In addition, surveys show people’s stated intentions, so actual losses on a specific website may differ.
Main business conclusion: some customers already reach the website but do not contact the company because of errors that can be fixed. In such cases, more requests may come not only from new advertising, but also from putting the language version of the website in order.
Why Errors Appear and Accumulate
According to EPG Global ONE experts, the main causes repeat from website to website.
- Even if the original translation was done professionally, the website continues to be updated: new services, promotions, doctors, rooms, addresses, and descriptions are added. These new fragments are often machine-translated or inserted without full audit. Over time, there are more such additions, and the quality of the language version gradually declines.
- Companies often do not have a native speaker who regularly checks the language version of the website. Executives and employees may not read that language, so errors remain unnoticed.
- The main version of the website is updated faster and more carefully than the language versions. This creates contradictions, outdated information, and different data in different languages.
- Web agencies use the same templates for different websites, and the same errors can be carried over with them.
- Often no one is responsible for the entire customer path: marketing is responsible for advertising, the web agency for the website, and the translator for the text. Errors often appear at the handoff points.
- The larger the company, the faster the number of errors grows: more pages, languages, locations, and contractors. In large networks, even the number of the company’s own hospitals or hotels may be shown differently on different pages.
Errors Are Found Not Only in the Russian Version
EPG Global ONE has found similar errors not only in Russian, but also in English, German, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Polish versions of websites.
The problems repeat: machine translation, untranslated buttons, contact forms that work in one language but not in another, and different information about the same service in different languages.
That is why companies should check not only one language version, but all website versions intended for foreign customers.
EPG Global ONE Recommendations
A one-time audit helps fix the errors that are on the website today. But new errors can appear after every update: prices, services, employees, contacts, promotions, forms, and pages change.
Maintaining an in-house editorial team for every language is expensive and impractical for most companies. For companies with large and frequently updated websites, a more practical solution is regular audit by a specialized company.
An external expert looks at the website through the eyes of the customer, audits language versions, and compares them with the main version after updates. The company receives a specific list of errors and recommendations that are ready to send to the responsible people.
Scope of EPG Global ONE Research
The main research sample included 144 companies in 11 countries, including 115 audited in detail.
In total, EPG Global ONE audited more than 130 companies and found more than 2,200 errors that reduce customer trust. Many template errors repeat across dozens of pages. Company names are not disclosed.
Data is current as of October 2026.
Sources and External Benchmarks
Main data source: EPG Global ONE proprietary research, 2026.
External sources were used as additional context: