The Impact of Cultural Characteristics on International Web Design in Marketing Communications

This book is about the localisation of commercial websites of four international financial institutions in different cultural environments where their branches are located. The purpose of the research was the fact that visitors to websites of international organisations still have to overcome several obstacles when doing their purchases on the web. Consequently, they have many reasons to leave the website, among which a crucial reason is already based on first impressions when entering the site. Localised websites for example, lack translation, clear indication of local pricing and shipping information, and provide inadequate language support on post-sales assistance. These are reasons for potential customers to leave such sites to the benefit of competitors with better localised websites. This should startle international organisations as they know their buying public in the various countries they operate, but still under-invest in their websites for international markets.

The research, which is conducted on the basis of the cultural dimensions and frameworks of several Interculturalists, such as Geert Hofstede and Edward T. Hall, leads to a deeper insight on the actual level of website localisation in the banking sector. The analysis provides three outcomes. Firstly, regarding the level of localisation, the cultural orientations expected were met to a relevant extent by the analysed websites. Secondly, the design of the analysed native websites matched even better with those that were localised from foreign banks to the particular country, than the websites matched with the cultural orientations expected. This may let us assume that companies of the banking sector already refer to a certain standard of website localisation, matching the cultural orientations to a relevant extent. Thirdly, the book offers an approach to best practice, and provides a list of cultural website design requirements for further website localisation projects.


Leseprobe:

Kapitel 2.4 Communications on a Global Web

The Look and Feel of a Website

As mentioned in the introduction of this paper, visitors still leave the websites from international companies while trying to make their purchases, due to lack of cultural adaptation . If first-time visitors already bail out in the first seconds of visiting a website, the reason is likely to be found in an unsatisfying look and feel, which is the undertone of a website observed vaguely. The look and feel there-fore, has crucial impact on the subsequent behaviour of the visitors: it determines if they leave the company’s website enervated or if they come back regularly, be-cause they feel familiar with the appearance and navigation of the website as a whole . In the sense of target-oriented marketing, it is obvious, that international web design should address the diversified local groups specifically, all with dif-ferent needs and wants.

Website ROI

As the goal of profit-oriented businesses is to increase the company value, mar-keting communications always have to be planned and executed under economic considerations. Online marketing hence, should focus on the transition of casual visitors to loyal buyers. The profitability of web communications can be quanti-fied by the website ROI or return on website investment, which is measured by conversion rates, that is, the rate of the frequency on which visitors take the action the company wants them to take. Actions may for example be sales, requests for sales, or email registrations. Thus a potential customer’s first impression of a website is critical to further relationship development and loyalty to a company, and this is accomplished if a website is culturally congruent throughout.

Globalisation, Localisation, and Internationalisation

According to the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA), globalisa-tion, localisation, translation and internationalisation have to be differentiated. Globalisation affects the totality of their activities to be performed by operating internationally and hence, includes the globalisation and further culture-specific customisation to different countries. Localisation refers to the adaptation of a website "to the needs of a given locale" which is the complex of cultural conven-tions and language of the target country where the website will be accessed. Translation indeed can be seen as the most conspicuous task in the localisation process, and in addition to it, demonstrates a huge impact on successful online-purchases . However, it may not be confounded with the process of globalisation, internationalisation or localisation itself even if it is often used synonymously for those terms. "Internationalisation is the process of designing a product so that it can be easily localized without the need for redesign". The information architec-ture of a global website has consequently to be designed in such a way that the lo-calisation process might be optimised concerning handling, promptness, quality, and cost-effectiveness.