Presented at Emerce Live 2019 in Amsterdam

1. CROSS-CULTURAL OPTIMISATION
GUIDO X JANSEN
CXO Specialist
How to optimise your website for different countries and cultures?
June 26th, 2019 @ #ECL19

2. UNCOMFORTABLE SILENCE

3. CROSS-CULTURAL OPTIMISATION
GUIDO X JANSEN
CXO Specialist
How to optimise your website for different countries and cultures?
June 26th, 2019 @ #ECL19

4. (ONLINE) BUSINESS KEEPS GETTING
MORE AND MORE INTERNATIONAL

5. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO INTERNATIONAL GROWTH
Increase/expansion of technology
Cross-border trade liberalization
Better services that support international business
Growing consumer demands
Increased competition
Expansion of cross-border cooperations

6. IT’S NOT ONLY SMALL COMPANIES THAT
STRUGGLE…

7. Failed in Australia, just planned to enter Italy

8. Failed… basically everywhere outside USA
Even failed buying Seiyu in Japan

9. Destroyed by TaoBao and Alibaba in China
Struggled with CreditCards in Japan

11. CROSS-CULTURAL
WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION
跨⽂化⽹站优化。
如何针对不同的国家/⽂化优化您的线上商铺

12. APPARENTLY NOT A POPULAR
TOPIC TO WRITE ABOUT…
TOO DIFFICULT?
(google.com, logged out, incognito, though a random VPN)
First seven links referring to this presentation…?
}

13. CULTURE: WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR (IN E-COMMERCE)
RESEARCH ON CULTURE
SOME FINDINGS
THIS SESSION:

14. BUT FIRST SOME CONTEXT…

15. GUIDO
CRO/ Customer Experience Optimization Specialist
Psychologist
User Data / Research
Experiments (e.g. A/B testing)
Magento Master 2019

19. YEARS OF
OMNICHANNEL
EXPERIENCE
DIGITAL
COMMERCE
PROJECTS
FULL-TIME
EMPLOYEES
NORDICS
UNITED KINGDOM
BENELUX
SA + ME + ASIAEASTERN EUROPE
10+ 200+ 480+
UNITED STATES
DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGY
SERV
ICES DES
IGN
Platinum Partner
Adobe Experience
Cloud
Gold Partner

20. STRATEGY & CONSULTING
INSIGHTS & RESEARCH EXPERIMENTATION
E-COMMERCE STRATEGY EXECUTION
We provide a wide range of services in and around commerce

21. GUIDO X JANSEN
gui.do
@guido
guidojansen

22. WHAT IS CULTURE?

24. Food

25. HABITS

26. Source:
GFK Purchasing Power Europe 2015
PURCHASING POWER INDEX PER INHABITANT

27. ENGLISH
SPEAKING
POPULATION
Source:
European Commission

28. INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM
SOLVING GUIDELINES
Design: @jeromevadon

29. OK

31. DIRECTIONS

33. GET YOUR SMARTPHONE OUT!
Open your ‘maps/navigation’ application

34. Meanwhile in Japan…

35. Japanese street map (source: Google Maps)

36. JAPANESE STREET MAP (SOURCE: GOOGLE
MAPS)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

37. WHAT IS CULTURE?

38. WHAT IS CULTURE?
A shared set of values that influence societal
perceptions, attitudes, preferences and responses
- Robins & Stylianou (2002)

39. WHY IS CULTURE IMPORTANT ONLINE?
Why should we care?
Different cultural groups employ
different usage strategies
when using the same interface

40. WHAT THINGS ARE CULTURE SPECIFIC?
(Body) Language
Social contexts
Etiquette
Traditions
Symbols
Aesthetics
Colors
…
and much more…

41. CULTURE NEVER COMES ALONE
Language
Brand (awareness/perception)
Different local competitors
Different meaning of flowers
Tech level (eg. Internet penetration)
Purchasing power
Regulations
Payment systems (iDeal in NL)
Logistics

42. CULTURE EVOLVES
Discounts in Norway
WhatsApp “thank you” images
The meaning of icons and symbols

43. CULTURE EVOLVES

44. WHY IS CULTURE IMPORTANT ONLINE?
Cultural Differences are more complicated than just labeling people by the country that they’re from.

45. SO… WHAT IS CULTURE?

46. IT’S ABOUT
CONTEXT
Psychology
Individual
Cultural

47. SOME RESEARCH…

48. EDWARD T. HALL

49. EDWARD T. HALL
High-context culture Low-context culture
Covert messages Overt messages
Internalized Plainly coded messages
Extensive non-verbal codes Details verbalized
Reaction Reserved Reaction on surface
Distinct In and Out Groups Flexible In and Out Groups
Strong interpersonal bonds Weak interpersonal bonds
High commitment Low commitment
Open time Closed time

50. HOFSTEDE

51. HOFSTEDE’S 6 DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE
Masculinity <> Femininity Index
Long Term <> Short Term Orientation
Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance
Individualistic <> Collectivist societies
Image: 4squareviews.com

52. POWER DISTANCE - ATTITUDE TOWARDS INEQUALITY
0,00
23,50
47,00
70,50
94,00
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Sweden
UK
USA
Canada
China
Japan
Estonia
40
54
80
3940
35
31
68
31
38
28
35
68
18
65
11
Hierarchical
Decentral

53. INDIVIDUALISM: ARE YOU AN “I” OR A “WE”?
0,00
23,50
47,00
70,50
94,00
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Sweden
UK
USA
Canada
China
Japan
Estonia
60
46
20
80
9189
71
60
69
80
7067
717475
55
I
We

54. UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE - DO YOU WANT CONTROL OR
JUST LET IT HAPPEN?
0,00
23,50
47,00
70,50
94,00
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Sweden
UK
USA
Canada
China
Japan
Estonia
60
92
30
4846
35
29
93
5053
35
65
86
23
94
70
Rigid
Flexible

55. MASCULINITY - WHAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE?
0,00
23,50
47,00
70,50
94,00
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Sweden
UK
USA
Canada
China
Japan
Estonia
30
95
66
52
62
66
5
64
8
14
6866
43
16
54
79
Competition
Balance

56. LONG TERM ORIENTATION - HESITANT TO CHANGE, OR
PREPARING FOR FUTURE?
0,00
23,50
47,00
70,50
94,00
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
etherlands
Norway
Poland
Sweden
UK
USA
Canada
China
Japan
Estonia
82
8887
36
26
5153
3835
67
24
83
63
35
82
60
Long
Short

57. INDULGENCE - ENJOYING LIFE OR RESTRAINING ONESELF?
0,00
23,50
47,00
70,50
94,00
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Sweden
UK
USA
Canada
China
Japan
Estonia
16
42
24
686869
78
29
55
6865
40
48
70
57
63
Indulging
Restraint

58. ERIN MEYER

59. erinmeyer.com

60. SOME E-COMMERCE FINDINGS

61. CONVERSION BY HOUR AND DAY OF THE
WEEK

62. CONVERSION BY HOUR AND DAY OF THE WEEK: DENMARK
Red: lower CR
Green: higher CR
Solid line: working hours

63. CONVERSION BY HOUR AND DAY OF THE WEEK: POLAND
Red: lower CR
Green: higher CR
Solid line: working hours

64. CONVERSION BY HOUR AND DAY OF THE WEEK: GERMANY
Red: lower CR
Green: higher CR
Solid line: working hours

65. CONVERSION BY HOUR AND DAY OF THE WEEK: THE NETHERLANDS
Red: lower CR
Green: higher CR
Solid line: working hours

66. ALLGEMEINE GESCHÄFTSBEDINGUNGEN
Terms and Conditions

67. REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

68. CR: Belgium

69. CTR: Germany

70. FINAL THOUGHTS

71. 5 TIPS FOR CULTURAL WEB DESIGN
Do the research (and hire a psychologist ;))
Listen to the locals
What is feasible on your platform?
Test everything - don’t make assumptions
Act on the data - your customer(s’ data) is always right

72. RESOURCES
• An Overview of Research on the Accommodation of Culture into Web Design by Punchoojit and Chintakovid, 2012 (link)
• The culture differences on web design: a study of Taiwan's and United States' websites by Tsai, 2009 (link)
• A process model for developing usable cross-cultural websites by Smitha, Dunckley, French, Minocha, and Chang, 2004 (link)
• Callahan, E. (2006). Cultural Similarities and Differences in the Design of University Web sites, 11, 239–273. (link)
• Zhao, W., Massey, B., Murphy, J., & Fang, L. (2003). Cultural Dimensions of Website Design and Content. Prometheus, 21(1), 74–
84. (link)
• Lo, B. W. N., & Gong, P. (2005). Cultural impact on the design of e-commerce websites: Part I – Site Format and Layout, VI(2). (link)
• Geert Hofstede - geert-hofstede.com
• Hofstede comparing countries tool: hofstede-insights.com
• Edward T. Hall - changingminds.org
• Erin Meyer - erinmeyer.com
• This slidedeck: commerce.vaimo.com/guido_ecl19

73. THANKS!
Guido Jansen
vaimo.com + LinkedIn + Facebook
Customer Experience Optimization Specialist
guido@vaimo.com
commerce.vaimo.com/guido_ecl19
15:30 Roundtable 3