By Danyelle C. Overbo
Content Marketing Manager, Group-Q
In business, gut feelings only get you so far. To truly understand the “who, what, where, when, why, and how” of our customers, we need data. Hard facts. Numbers to back up our intuition. And, as language service providers (LSPs), not only do we need to understand the needs of our enterprise clients, we need to understand the forces and trends influencing and impacting their end-users.
Who is interacting with brands through a digital lens? What are their expectations for communication and content? Where are the best new market opportunities for expansion? When should LSPs invest in AI and automation technologies? As new translation technologies hit the market at full throttle, why does the future of translation require human expertise more than ever? And, finally, how can we future-proof our language services businesses as the markets reorient around these innovations?
These are heavy questions. Luckily, we’ve done some heavy lifting for you. Below, you’ll find a roundup of key statistics and reports from the broader business world to help inform your language services strategy as you plan for 2026.
Understanding Your Language Services Enterprise Clients
Business buyers are more tech-savvy and digitally native than you might think. Increasingly, they are younger, highly skilled, and naturally familiar with advanced digital research. LSPs need to adjust to meet the demands of a new generation of decision-makers.
👥 Who They Are: A 2024 Forrester study found that over two-thirds of buyers involved in large and complex transactions valued over $1 million were Millennials and Gen Z. These younger buyers will quickly seek new solutions if their current providers run into issues with implementation or can’t meet their technical requirements. (Forrester)
💎 What They Value: Salesforce’s “State of the AI Connected Customer” report found that 41% of business buyers stopped buying from a brand in the last year due to poor customer service. To build trust with these clients as agentic AI becomes more and more common, it’s critical to put transparency first. Over 70% of both B2B customers and consumers said they want to know when they are communicating with an AI agent. (Salesforce)
🛒 How They Buy: The self-serve model reigns – but at a cost. Research from Gartner’s B2B Buying Report found that while 75% of B2B buyers prefer to leave the salesperson out of the mix, 43% report high purchase regret with self-service digital commerce. The key is to combine digital tools with human guidance to maximize customer satisfaction. (Gartner)
The Strategic Takeaway: You need to build your sales and marketing plan to include buyers who are digitally independent and who lean on self-service functionalities to make decisions without losing that crucial human touch.
The Shifting Map of Global Digital Growth
The center of gravity of the digital world is shifting as non-English-speaking emerging economies strengthen and expand.
🌐 The Global Audience: Who uses the internet? Basically, nearly everyone. There are now over 6 billion users, with almost all new users in the last year coming from non-English speaking regions. Two-thirds of us also use social media, and a billion people regularly leverage LLMs and GenAI platforms. (Meltwater)
📈 The Economic Imperative: A 2024 report from the IMF highlights that emerging and developing economies now account for 60% of global GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP) – a significantly larger share than advanced economies. (IMF World Economic Outlook and IMF WEO Database – GDP PPP Share)
⚖️ The Regulatory Landscape: 2024 and 2025 have seen a wave of new digital regulations (like the EU’s AI Act and Digital Markets Act) that require localized compliance, privacy policies, and up-to-date user interfaces. (European Commission)
The Strategic Takeaway: Growth is concentrated in non-English speaking, emerging economies. Furthermore, compliance is now a powerful driver for localization projects.
The Business Case, Sharpened by Recent Data
There’s no better argument for enterprise clients to invest in your products and services than a direct tie to revenue growth. Here are some numbers to connect localization straight to board-level priorities like resilience and profitability.
Personalization is Paramount: A recent consumer trends report analyzed the effects of personalized marketing on consumer behavior. It found that 81% of consumers will ignore irrelevant messages, and 25% are less likely to purchase after receiving one. On the flip side, an incredible 96% said they are likely to buy when receiving customized communication. They also found that consumers want assistance in finding the right products, as this was the top factor cited as likely to improve their shopping experience. (Attentive)
Mitigating Risk: The same 2024 regulatory wave makes proper localization a critical risk-mitigation strategy, as fines for non-compliance can reach billions of dollars. (EU AI Act – Official Text)
Offline Preferences, IRL Connections: Forrester predicts that a third (or more in international markets) of consumers will opt for offline brand experiences in 2026. Global brands like Starbucks and Coach are investing in in-person shopping experiences to offset digital overload and build authentic engagement where consumers are at. Creating positive, culturally-connected in-person experiences means localizing the physical presence of these interactions. (Forrester)
Customer Service as a Competitive Advantage: The leading drivers of customer churn are high prices and poor customer service. When 73% of consumers say they feel treated like unique individuals by companies, it’s often because the brand speaks their language—literally. A localized UI and support system are powerful signals that you value your customers enough to deliver a seamless, high-quality experience on their terms. (Salesforce)
The Strategic Takeaway: The business case is undeniable. Localization is a critical bridge between brands and expanding global revenue. LSPs can directly enable the personalized, relevant experiences that drive a 96% purchase intent, transform customer service into loyalty-building momentum, and power the authentic offline connections predicted in 2026.
Your Action Plan for Language Services in 2026
The data from the last 18 months paints a clear picture. LSPs who grow and thrive will be the ones who adapt to the AI-augmented, digitally native, and regulatory complex world we’re advancing towards every day. We hope you can use this intelligence to jump start your plans for 2026. Allow them to challenge your assumptions, guide you in pivoting your services, and provide a foundation for you to build a resilient, data-driven practice for the future.
But, if you find yourself wondering where to begin or how to move forward, Group-Q partners with LSPs to translate market data like this into strategic action plans. Our Sales as a Service solutions improve operational efficiency, support AI integrations, and boost revenue-generating activities. As members of the language services industry, we’re architecting its future to win over a new generation of B2B buyers. Let’s build your 2026 growth strategy together.