It’s an old saying that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so every brand has got to make the most of that chance. And if a brand is planning international expansion, that chance can be the difference between success and failure.

At the latest Ecommerce Club members lunch in March 2015, John Sellwood, head of new business and Joe Doveton, head of conversion, at Oban Digital shared their experience of the impact of understanding culture, and tribal rules, on brand audience and behaviour.

Tribal behaviour is a concept that goes far beyond nationality, or a recognition that customers want to be spoken to in their own language, rather it’s about understanding details of how audiences behave in different environments. It’s about sentiment, semantics and context, as well preferred payment methods, the impact and use of different alphabets – such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Latin or Hebrew – whether certain scripts are read vertically or horizontally and more.

No one denies the importance of language. A number of brands at the Working Lunch reported problems in translations, especially when copy is translated through more than one language. The challenge can be such that it prevents international rollouts, a potentially critical problem when looking for rapid market expansion.

Even for those brands who can afford good translators however, things can easily go wrong. One of the most famous legends is of Pepsi’s “Brings you back to life’ campaign in China, where the tag line translated as ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back to life’. While ancestors may be respected in Chinese culture, no one exactly wants them coming round for a drink!

The key to successful localisation is to understand bias, or the specific intent of the audience. And that’s where brands need to understand tribal behaviour. A 14 year old Japanese One Direction fan is a member of at least three tribes – Japanese, teenager, One Direction fan – and every brand needs to know how to speak to the tribes they want to reach. Brand personas will help marketers to refine that message, but it is tribal behaviour that affects search bias.

Which tribe do they belong to? Are they Mongolian – or are they goat-herders – or are they Apple fans? Deciding who you’re really communicating with can help define a successful growth strategy.

Another example of how tribe can impact behaviour can be seen in analysis of how people search for football kit. For a start, most people search for a particular club’s kit, but analysis of search terms has shown that different searchers respond to different emphases. The Arsenal tribe for example tends to search around fashion and trends, unusual kit etc, while the Liverpool tribe is more likely to respond to history, and Manchester United buyers are mostly driven by elements around children and cheap. If you want to speak to your tribe, you need to understand what drives them.

Of course localisation is a huge issue, and one that can’t be tackled in a lunchtime. But Oban Digital offered 6 top tips for understanding how to communicate in an increasing globalised world:

1          Language

Translation doesn’t work. Localize. Or rather, Localise.

It’s important to understand how people in a market (not just a language) talk about a problem, search or solution. It is audience intent that matters, not what you expect. In a home market an educated guess has a good chance of being right. Elsewhere, not so much.

Remember the importance of context. Colgate famously launched a toothpaste in France under the brand name Cue…which unfortunately meant this family brand shared a name with a rather notorious French porn mag.

2          Colours

Remember these mean different things in different countries.

Red: In the UK and Germany red represents danger. In China it means lucky, while in Russia it means beauty and in France it’s usually just how prices are made to stand out on a web page.

Green: In the UK and Europe it means go. In Latin America it’s the colour of mourning while in China it can represent infidelity.

It’s critical to understand the subliminal messages you send to your audience. If you’re planning in expanding into Holland however, it’s worth knowing that everyone there seems to love orange…

3          Space (the use of)

Most site developers in the UK tend towards the clean, clear and simple approach. But this is another cultural construct. Many Asian sites are text heavy, long and scroll down – a completely different design aesthetic but one that is culturally appropriate.

Every brand also needs to think about its pages in different languages. When an alphabet is read from right to left, instead of left to right, that can be fairly straightforward to change. But how to deal with the fact that some Chinese characters have upward of 40 brush strokes in them and font size must increase if they’re to be readable? Or that the English has only 26 characters and simplified Chinese has upwards of 4000? Those pages are going to look very different.

4          Context and tone

Think about audience intent. English has become internationalised, so if someone wants to describe a selfie, they’ll use that same term in the UK, Germany, France and more. This is really important when marketers start to look at search marketing keywords, as brands could be buying the wrong words in different territories.

And do you know where it’s best to offer customers a Free Quote, Request Quote or a Get Quote button? (In order it’s Australia, China and the US and UK, as a matter of fact). These simple elements can have a huge impact on a site’s success and impact.

5          Approaches to money

Think about how the customer expects to spend their money. In the UK people are happy with debit and credit cards, but in Germany most want to pay on receipt of invoice.

It’s not just a question of easing the customer’s path though, different payment mechanisms can have a direct impact on levels and costs of returns.

6          Use of technology

Think about the market and its infrastructure. Complicated, rich media sites won’t work where broadband is minimal or slow. In China, the majority of sites work best in IE6 (I know). In Africa, optimise for M-Pesa, as most transactions are done via mobile phone.

What all these tips boil down to is one thing and one thing only. It’s what most brands claim to do, but the hardest thing to achieve. Remember that it’s not about a language it’s about people. Put people at the heart of your research, remember to test everything and your brand might just be ready for the next level.

PS: For a quick laugh, take a look at some of the biggest translation fails in marketing history

The Stratos card is trying to replace all existing cards in your purse or wallet. In the US the card costs $95 (£63) and is an ongoing subscription that includes card upgrades and cloud-services tied to the card to help users keep track of their spending.The Stratos card is one of the first to market but many are set to follow- currently only available in the US it does not currently support international standards like chip and pin payments.

In a new update from Tinder, it is said that they now integrate directly with Instagram, which allows users to scroll through the Instagram profiles of their potential matches within the app itself. Tinder also now supports common connections, which allows users a little knowledge into how closely they might be connected based on the social graph, as well as presenting all Facebook interests instead of just common interests. Most importantly the Instagram connection allows users to see the most recent 34 pictures, with the ability to click directly into their profile to see the whole image, look at comments, who liked it, and more.

Ahead of the Digital Marketing Show Mid Term, the Digital Marketing Magazine spoke to John Miller, Digital Marketing Director for Shutterstock, about creative testing and how to effectively drive engagement and conversion.

See what he had to say below! 

1. What is creative testing and why is it so important for businesses?

It's getting qualitative and quantitative feedback from customers for anything that represents your brand - advertising campaigns, website, content marketing programs. It could be as simple as testing two different colors on your call-to-action button to know which has a higher click through rate, understanding which words like "member" or "subscriber" are better for your audience as a copy test, or testing two different headlines to see which drives more clicks.

Creative testing lowers the risk of media investment, because a group of ideas can be built, tested, and analysed before committing fully to winners and cutting losers. You can have a portfolio of ad units - testing and iterating allows businesses to make effective design and copy decisions that increase revenues, as well as customer engagement and experience. We tell all of our team members when they start with Shutterstock "don't fall in love with any particular solution," because we test and iterate everything.

2. Where should businesses begin when they're looking to understand what drives engagement and conversion for them?

Start with one metric to move, or a representative user complaint. When you focus on fully understanding one metric and what sparks a positive change, you can start to build a mosaic of next steps, while getting stronger engagement and conversion.

Marketers should be clear upfront about defining engagement and conversion. By knowing what action you are looking for, you can better measure that action and isolate the creative variables to determine which, if any, are driving the desired actions. Today, there is significant value to extract from engagement actions, not just conversions. Understanding an engagement action's value to the business allows marketing professionals to understand if they can drive them in an affordable way.

The reality is that rules you create based on learnings don't last forever - so stay open and remember deep understanding is a foundation, but its certainly not set in stone.

3. How do mobile and web differ when it comes to creative testing? (and are there certain things marketers should be aware of?)

The goal is the same, to have users make decisions with as few steps as possible, but you can see huge differences between the two platforms, just like you see changes between channels and formats. Essentially, mobile and web have different design interfaces - so you are testing different variables between the two platforms. With mobile devices, we make decisions by swiping, pinching, and turning, typically on the web you want that click.

The biggest difference between the two is real estate. On mobile you really need to focus your attention and use dimensions wisely. Its definitely a craft, like writing your name on a grain of rice. Another constraint on mobile is file size. Many networks are only accepting very small files sizes to deliver ad units that load quickly to their audience. In recent years, the speed has greatly improved and faster load times generally results in better performance. This is a constraint on the web, as you should still consider load times, but it is less of a concern.

Finally, mobile is also dealing less in animated creative and more and more in video. Social has exploded on mobile and many advertisers are really starting to grasp video as a tool to build awareness, interest, and engagement.

4. How can marketers understand how different creative mediums engage an emotional response with their audience?

Everyone is looking for an emotional response, because studies have shown higher engagement when there is an emotional connection. You must first realise how the medium works and how the audience engages with it - study it. And recognise, if everyone is searching for that response - you have to be willing to go further - to stand-out.

Authentic imagery and music can help trigger emotions. We have a research department at Shutterstock that helps our largest clients - advertising and marketing agencies, Fortune 500 companies, find the imagery they need. Many times those lists are values or emotions they want to evoke vs. hard descriptions of images.

Ultimately performance metrics will determine if your creative had the desired effect, but I always enjoy showing creative to friends and co-workers in a neutral fashion. If the majority reacts as you intended, then you've probably done a good job, if they don't - then reconsider your approach. Take this tip with a grain of salt, since many times friends and co-workers are not the same as your customers.

5. What are the three key questions that marketers need to ask of their advertising when testing it?

With so many different digital mediums and touch points on the web today it's important to think about causation of your efforts and reverse engineer the process.

Does the advertisement align with my brand's position? Does the advertisement appeal to my intended target audience? Is the advertisement producing the results I wanted? What is the effect of this campaign I intend to have? It may be conversions or it may be simply brand awareness. What is the ad unit I need to create in order achieve this effect? What emotions do I need to inspire and which images and text can I use to invoke those emotions. Where can I place this ad unit to reach the correct audience? Who am I trying to reach with this ad unit and where can I buy media to run this campaign effectively?

Do you want to hear more from John Miller, Digital Marketing Director for Shutterstock? Join John, and speakers from Google, Three and Hootsuite, at the Digital Marketing Show Mid Term on the 13th May 2015. Book your place now! 

How often will you get the opportunity to be in the same room as Google, Three and Shutterstock?

Join us at the Digital Marketing Show Mid Term on the 13th May 2015 for a one-day pop-up conference, designed specifically for marketing professionals wanting to make sense of the ever-changing digital landscape.

By Hannah Durham

Poundworld has launched an ecommerce site as it aims to drive European sales, eight months after it scrapped initial plans for an online operation.

Poundworld launched its new offering less than a year after it cancelled a joint venture to launch www. poundshop.com. It was intended to be the UK’s first single-price transactional site but the venture was cancelled in August 2014. The new ecommerce platform, named Poundworld Plus, will offer 4,000 products including household brands Colgate, Coca-Cola and Johnson’s, at the set price of £1 each.

It will also offer more than 1,000 multi-price deals for more than £1, which will be exclusively available to buy online. Delivery will cost £3.95 to the UK, Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands. The retailer said it plans to offer EU-wide delivery from summer 2015. A next-day delivery service will also be offered for £5.95.

Chris Edwards Jnr, Trading Director, Poundworld, said, “It’s important for us to constantly progress and evolve with the times and so we’ve had a dedicated team working on the site for over one year.”

He continued, “Value and convenience are top priorities for the UK shopper. There is a huge consumer demand for an online store that delivers good, transparent value and consistent prices that the shopper can trust.

“As a retailer it’s important for us to constantly progress and evolve with the times and so we’ve had a dedicated team working on the site for over one year to ensure that the shopping experience we are offering is easy to use.  No other online discounter on the market can offer the same amazing product range and value and we’re excited to expand into Europe later in the year.”

SMX, the world’s leading Search Marketing conference is heading to London on May 20-21. Programmed by Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman, the authorities behind Search Engine Land, you can expect two days packed with the latest Search Marketing tactics, tricks and strategies!

The programme is ready and the speakers are confirmed. See some of world’s leading agencies and companies presenting cutting edge case studies and strategies.

Attend SMX and you’ll

• Meet the leading SEO & PPC professionals.

• Bolster your SEO & PPC skills and knowledge.

• Avoid costly mistakes and increase your worth to your company.

• Join the best search marketing conference of the year.

Book your place here and use the code MIXINGDIGITALSMX for a 15% discount

LAST CHANCE FOR EARLY BIRD TICKETS TO INTERACT LONDON

On 20 - 21October 2015, Interact London will be descending on the beautiful settings of The British Museum for two days of cutting edge talks from some of the leading thinkers in the UX, IA and Design world. Among the names confirmed so far are the great minds of Anjan Chatterjee, Todd Wilkens, and Steve Portigal. All of the confirmed speakers can be seen here and they will be unveiling lots more in the coming weeks so make sure you keep an eye on Interact London’s twitter for regular updates.

This is your last chance to grab your Early Bird tickets, with the offer available until Thursday 30^th April with two day passes available for just £300* + the usual fees and VAT. Grab yours today, here >>

Ticket cost covers refreshments including pastries on arrival, teas and coffees throughout the day and buffet lunch.
If you have any questions, are interested in speaking at Interact London or would like to discuss sponsorship opportunities, please contact interactconf@nomensa.com or call 0117 929 7333