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Our Global, Mobile UX Lessons from the 1.4 Bln People of China

Steve Guengerich, March 2015

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Shanghai HeadquartersBridge 8, Building 9, Unit 9605 No.

25 Jianguo Middle Rd., Luwan District200000 Shanghai, China

Austin Headquarters1300 Guadalupe St., Ste. 201

Austin, TX 78701

For more information, see:www.appconomy.com and @appconomy (weibo /twitter)

Or, email: steveg@appconomy.com

1. China Overview

2. China-Specific Observations

3. Extracted & Abstracted Lessons

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• July 2013 population:

1.35 billion

• Major cities include:

• Shanghai (16.575 million)

• Beijing (15.594 million)

• Chongqing (9.401 million)

• Land covers 9,596,967sq km

• Fourth largest country in the world

Source: The World Fact Book

Age

0-14: 17.2%

15-64: 73.4%

65+: 9.4%

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Source: The World Fact Book

China Overview:Economy

• China has the second largest GDP at $12.61 trillion

• Labor sectors:

• 29.5% is based on industry

• 35.7% is based on services

• 34.8% is based on agriculture

• Labor force of 798.5 million

• 13.4% live in poverty (< $1.25/day)Source: The World Fact Book

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China Overview:Education

• 92% Literacy rate• Male-96%• Female-88.5%

• 9 years of compulsory school

• 20 million students study in 2,263 higher learning institutions

• Enrollment rate 23.3% of those who applied to take the National College Entrance Examination

Designing for China can be as complex as designing for Western Europe.

China isn’t one market, it’s many.

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China is an authoritarian state

The government frequently blocks sources of information that fall outside of its control and are seen as a threat to social order, including many popular social media tools (Facebook, Twitter, all Google, etc.)

Within China, licensing requirements (ICP, etc.) and Real Name initiative intended for local accountability for content and services

Rather than eliminating social media, restrictions on foreign websites and social media have resulted in a flourishing, home-grown, state-approved and monitored ecosystem in which Chinese-owned properties thrive

Chinese social media properties are expanding beyond Greater China, with varying levels of success

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Launched in January 2011 by Tencent

◦ ~ 450 million users (July 2013)

◦ > 70 million active users outside of China

Widely considered to have surpassed Weibo, Renren, and other social media services considered entrenched as recently as 3 years ago

◦ Consistently, among the most popular apps worldwide, 2nd to Whatsapp in the “pure play” social mobile space

◦ Full language support for more than 15 languages (including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Russian)

Robust marketing tools available to brands

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Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve 2015◦ > 1 billion digital red envelopes sent◦ 1.01 billion RMB, or approx. $160 million USD

Half ($80 mln) by Tencent for annual CCTV program◦ 810 million shakes per minute◦ 200x over 2014, 1st year of feature

VPN providers

Email - Microsoft Exchange

VOIP - Skype

File transfer – QQ

CRM – Zoho

…but, generally find that services must continually be tested & tweaked to optimize…

…and disruption is inevitable, around key events and dates!

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State-Owned Enterprises◦ China Telecom

◦ China Mobile

◦ China Unicom

Private◦ Handsets: Xiaomi

◦ Gear: Huawei

◦ Cloud: China Net Cloud

Payment (see chart)

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1. Technical Practices

2. Socio-cultural Practices

3. Business Practices

4. Personal Practices

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Chinese websites and apps must pay attention to font size, because Chinese characters are more complicated than English letters.

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Chinese characters are not intended to be italicized

They already have a smaller spacing than English words

Thus, using italic style function for characters will make them appear saw-toothed

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Huge amounts of information on the website cause clutter and strain the reader’s eyesight, and yet…

This is an extremely common, accepted format in China, partly tolerated because of the tighter spacing of Chinese characters

Chinese text tends to be shorter in terms of screen real estate used for the same font size.

◦ EG, a short phrase in mandarin may be 5 characters,

◦ Whereas the English phrase may be several words totaling 10-15 characters.

As a result, depending on the UI layout, the English text may run-off the screen or be wrapped in a visually unpleasant way.

UIs need to be designed so that the longer text of the Western language will fit.

Consequently, it is common to simply design a slightly different UI for the different languages.

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Tier 1-3 cities v. Tier 4-5 cities

Wifi v. Cell◦ Top up

◦ Wifi locators

2.5G v. 4.xG

Optimized Services◦ Search (baidu)

◦ Maps (baidu maps)

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Fragmented app distribution & discovery

100+ Android app stores; 46% of app developers distribute on 5+ channels

70% 3rd party app stores; 10% telcos; 20% direct/OEM pre-installs

China ranked #2 in iOS downloads

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QR codes (still very big in China, w/ O2O)

Voice, Face…

WAI & accessibility more important than ever, to facilitate rapid adaptability

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Global companies usually have a Chinese name to help local people remember it easily

It’s good to have a Chinese name, because it can be difficult for non-English speakers to pronounce English brand names

Some good examples: ◦ P&G 宝洁◦ Coca Cola 可口可乐◦ Sony 索尼◦ Appconomy 艾普科美

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Don’t just translate word-for-word. Adapt a message to meet different needs in different countries

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Chinese calligraphy has been deeply rooted in the culture for thousands of years. Using it can help

build a stronger connection to China.

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You can create your own mascot for your product, in order to help build your brand.

(Cosplay is big business in China.)

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Flat, almost 2D

Pastel, light touch, not heavy

Comfortable

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Expected

Distinctive

Important brand statement

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Social responsibility is important in Asian countries, it affects how people feel about and see a company

◦ Companies have to show people that they are not only profit hungry, but that they also contribute to the common social good

◦ The purpose of social responsibility is not to encourage consumers to increase revenue, but to built a good brand and enterprise image

◦ Especially important for foreign companies, which often receive greater scrutiny by both regulators and consumers

Coca Cola China, Starbucks China, and Sony China are great examples. Each has a social responsibility section in its menu bar

◦ Coca Cola provides a detailed explanation on its website about how it contributes to society

◦ Social responsibility can be divided into three parts

Commitment

Social Activities

Annual Report

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Relationships – “guanxi” Translation (initial, technical, colloquial) Interviews, group research participants Traditions, customs, superstitions◦ Gift-giving

US: tips and “thank yous”

China: hongbao and memorializing

◦ Bad luck US: 13

China: 4 (the number sounds like the word for “death”)

Trust but verify – data collection & reporting

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• A lack of research and adaptation led to Google’s struggles:

• Competitor Baidu offers a search box better suited to Chinese characters as well as free music downloads - a major attraction

• Google wouldn’t submit to government intervention

• Make sure that you understand the businesses you are/n’t allowed to operate and have the licenses to do so

• Mapping businesses by foreigners are disallowed

• Internet Content Provider (ICP) license required for any kind of commerce and must have people in the right roles, e.g., need a Chinese national to be named as the responsible party.

Common Mistakes: Short-cutting your homework

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o Distance does make some disconnects inevitable, but foreigners spending too little time on the ground could cause the Chinese-based staff to become disgruntled and feel like second-class partners.

o Being committed to doing phone calls in the evening US time / morning China time shows that you are willing to be accommodating.

o Extremely common and valuable to work through experienced partners.

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Wander off the path

Mix up your schedule

Get involved

Listen / observe

Ruggedize

Delegate

Adapt to new tools

Avoid jargon

Triple confirm (write, “reflect”, review)

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Chinese Business Etiquette

◦ Chinese Business Etiquette Video 1

◦ Chinese Business Etiquette Video 2

Lessons Learned

◦ Wall Street Journal

◦ Lessons From Troubled Partnerships

Tech Life in China

◦ BroadBrush Update (& LinkedIN posts)

◦ Appconomist

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Questions / Discussion@sguengerich

sguengerich@gmail.com(703) 957-0797