Cultural Customization Framework

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Cultural Customization Framework
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Web ROI

• Web ROI--return on web investment
• In the context of Web ROI, the key issue is
  conversion rate, a measure of a Web sites
  ability to persuade visitors to take the action
  that it wants them to take (e.g., make a
  purchase).
• Conversion is the first step to building loyalty,
  trust, and repeat purchase behavior.
  

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Culture

• Culture consists of patterned ways of
• thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and
• transmitted mainly by symbols, ideas and
• especially their attached values.
• Further, common to all definitions of culture is
  the explicit or implicit recognition of three key
  factors perception, symbolism, and behavior

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Perception and Culture

• Perception is the process by which individuals
  select, filter, organize, and interpret
  information to create a meaningful picture of the
  world.
• At the filtering and processing stages, cultural
  differences interact with the environment to play
  an important role in processing information.
  

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Perception Implications for Web Sites

• Perception of the environment, language, and
• color can have profound influence on the appeal,
• usability, and performance of the web site.
• Spatial Orientation
• Navigation Modes
• Translation Equivalence (Idiomatic, Vocabulary,
  Conceptual)
  
• Dialects
• Text Length
• Color Categories

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www.arabia.com
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Perception Implications for Web Sites

• Spatial Orientation Many of the oriental scripts
  (Japanese, Korean, Chinese) are justified and
  read vertically on the other hand, Arabic is
  read from right to left, and English is read left
  to right.
• Navigation Modes The variations in language
  readability (left to right, or right to left, or
  vertical) across cultures impact how people
  browse web pages.
• Translation Equivalence Special attention is
  needed on how various concepts, words, and
  sentences are translated from one language to
  another.

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Perception Implications for Web Sites

• Dialects Language not only differs among
  cultures but also among various subcultures in
  the form of different dialects.
  
• Text Length Text length determines the number of
  web pages needed for a particular target country.
  
  
• Color Categories The language vocabulary limits
  the color discriminations people make.

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Symbolism Implications for Web Sites

• Symbols are the vehicles through which cultural
• information in the form of tacit knowledge is
• passed from one generation to the other.
• Country Specific Symbols
• Icons
• Color Symbolism

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www.naturalcaffeine.com (Indian web site with
Hindu swastika symbol)
Nazi Swastika
Hindu Swastika
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Symbolism Implications for Web Sites

• Country-Specific Symbols Country-specific
  symbols include anything that portrays a way of
  life or culturally specific knowledge.
  
• Icons Several icons are specific to countries or
  areas in the world, that may not be understood
  universally.
  
• Color Symbolism Colors have meaning that are
  specific to different cultures.

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Values and Culture

• According to Trompenaars (1994), norms and
  cultural values guide our actions and
  aspirations.
  
• In the field of marketing, cultural values have
  been recognized to have a significant impact on
  consumer motivations, product choices, and
  lifestyles.

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Cultural Values Framework

• The Cultural Values Framework was generated
  through various research steps, including
  literature review, web site content analysis,
  intercoder ratings, experiments and validation.
• This resulted in a theoretically sound and
  empirically validated framework for cultural
  customization on the web.
  
• The following slides summarize the specific web
  features that operationalize the five cultural
  values.

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Value Collectivism

• Community Relations A community policy, giving
  back to community, social responsibility policy.
  
• Clubs/Chat Rooms Members club, product-based
  clubs, chat with company people, chat with
  interest groups, message boards, discussion
  groups, and live talks.
• Newsletter Online subscriptions, magazines, and
  newsletters.
  
• Family Theme Pictures of family, pictures of
  teams of employees, mention of employee teams and
  emphasis on team and collective work
  responsibility in vision statement or elsewhere
  on the web site, and emphasis on customers as a
  family.
• Symbols and Pictures of National Identity Flags,
  pictures of historic monuments, pictures
  reflecting uniqueness of the country, country
  specific symbols in the form of icons, and
  indexes.
• Loyalty Programs Customer loyalty programs,
  company credit cards for specific country, and
  special membership programs.
  
• Links to Local Web Sites Links to local
  partners, related country specific companies, and
  other local web sites from a particular country

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Value Individualism

• Good Privacy Statement Privacy policy and how
  personal information will be protected or used.
  
• Independence Theme Images and themes depicting
  self-reliance, self-recognition, and
  achievement.
  
• Product Uniqueness Unique selling points of the
  product and product differentiation features.
  
• Personalization Gift recommendations, individual
  acknowledgements or greeting, and web page
  personalization

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Value Uncertainty Avoidance

• Local Terminology Use of country specific
  metaphors, names of festivals, puns, and a
  general local touch in the vocabulary of the web
  page not just mere translation.
• Free Trials or Downloads Free stuff, free
  downloads, free screen savers, free product
  trails, free coupons to try the products or
  services, free memberships, or free service
  information.
• Toll Free Numbers Telephone access around the
  clock.
  
• Transaction Security and Testimonials
  Testimonials from customers, trust enhancing
  features like reliability seals, seals of trust
  and ethical business practices from third parties.

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Value Power Distance

• Company Hierarchy Information Information about
  the ranks of company personnel, information about
  organizational chart, and information about
  country managers.
• Pictures of CEOs Pictures of executives,
  important people in the industry or celebrities.
  
• Quality Assurance and Awards Mention of awards
  won, mention of quality assurance information and
  quality certification by international and local
  agencies.
• Vision Statement The vision for the company, as
  stated by the CEO or top management.
  
• Pride of Ownership Appeal Depiction of satisfied
  customers, fashion statement for the use of
  product, and the use of reference groups to
  portray pride.
• Proper Titles Titles of the important people in
  the company, titles of the people in the contact
  information, and titles of people on the
  organizational charts.

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Value Masculinity

• Quizzes and Games Games, quizzes, fun stuff to
  do on the web site, tips and tricks, recipes, and
  other such information.
  
• Realism Theme Less fantasy and imagery on the
  web site, to-the-point information.
  
• Product effectiveness Durability information,
  quality information, product attribute
  information, and product robustness information.
  
• Clear Gender Roles Separate pages for men and
  women, depiction of women in nurturance roles,
  depiction of women in traditional positions of
  telephone operators, models, wives, and mothers
  depiction of men as macho, strong, and in
  positions of power.

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Value High Context

• Politeness and Indirectness Greeting from the
  company, images and pictures reflecting
  politeness, flowery language, use of indirect
  expressions like perhaps, probably and
  somewhat. Overall humility in company
  philosophy and corporate information.
• Soft-Sell Approach Use of affective and
  subjective impressions of intangible aspects of a
  product or service, and more entertainment theme
  to promote the product.
• Aesthetics Attention to aesthetic details,
  liberal use of colors, bold colors, emphasis on
  images and context, and use of love and harmony
  appeal.

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Value Low Context

• Hard-Sell Approach Aggressive promotions,
  discounts, coupons and emphasis on product
  advantages using explicit comparison.
  
• Use of Superlatives Use of superlative words and
  sentences like We are the number one, The top
  company, The leader, Worlds largest.
  
• Rank or Prestige of the Company Features like
  company rank in the industry, listing or ranking
  in important media (e.g. Forbes of Fortune), and
  numbers showing the growth and importance of the
  company.
• Terms and Condition of Purchase Product return
  policy, warranty, and other conditions associated
  with the purchase.