International

 I received a disposable camera in the post today, with 25 exposures left, and the following instructions:

1. Take a pic of something that inspires you
2. Pass the camera on to someone you trust
3. If you’re last, mail it back

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Tip of the month:

Depending on the product being tested, consider if it is really necessary to conduct your research in the country of origin.

Using remote tools could be just as cost effective, allow for high levels of audience targeting and project control, and can provide a statistically significant sample as well as invaluable qualitative data.

Read more about International customer experience

By Marty Carroll

We’re looking at the global picture in our latest issue – the international customer experience scene.

Paul kicks off proceedings by confirming our intent to expand Foviance into new territory. Find out more about our ambitions for our latest venture – Foviance Asia. You can also read the thoughts of Frank Ma, the man that will be heading-up our exciting new Shanghai office. Staying on the global theme, Amanda Roach provides an insight into the mechanics of international surveys, while Mariana cautions businesses thinking of taking short-cuts on the road to online localisation.

We also regularly update our blog with our consultants’ thoughts and opinions which you may enjoy reading and commenting on.

As always, I’m also very happy to hear from you directly with any feedback.

Marty

In this issue:

Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’

Surveying international opinion

Localisation is required when lost in translation

Introducing the Asian Experience

“Never try, never fail, those are the words I live by”, or so says Drew Carey’s character Crank in the animated kids film ‘Robots’. I heard these words coming from the back of the car a few days ago as I headed off on holiday with the family for a week in North Devon. You could run a business by that motto but I’m not sure it would last long or be an exciting place to work.

On the contrary,  it is the belief of both my team and I that we must try, that sees Foviance opening for business in China this quarter, with a new office in Shanghai. Read more…

There are obvious attractions to conducting international surveys as conduits of quantitative research.

Not only will they extend your reach and influence geographically, but they also expand the size of your potential samples, while reducing costs considerably compared to securing a similar scope of respondents locally. Surveys do have obvious limitations against one-to-one qualitative studies, but with skilled questioning and efficient organisation, excellent results can still be gained for far lower overheads. Read more…

As geographically separate regions of the earth are brought ever closer together by the pervasiveness of the World Wide Web, it is only natural that businesses attempt to extend their reach beyond national boundaries via their online presence.

However, ‘internationalising’ a site is a far more involved process than merely translating it, and without intelligent international research with native users, it is not possible to truly localise a site. Read more…

Several years ago, I was involved in an international project that focussed on security when using mobile devices and how trust could be enabled in users. At that time, very few users were accessing the mobile internet on a regular basis and consequently, it was very difficult for them to envisage the dangers posed by hackers, malware and unauthorised access to both personal and business data stored on their mobile device.Things have changed since then in terms of mobile internet usage as a boom seems imminent, fuelled by the rise of 3G, smartphones and affordable data package tariffs. Indeed, all around us smartphones are becoming ubiquitous with a spike in smartphone adoption predicted as users come out of contracts and seek a better deal for their money.

However, does this increase in mobile internet usage correlate with heightened awareness of security risks? My personal opinion about this (based on conversations I have had and research I have conducted), is that security on mobile devices is a relatively unknown entity which, dependant upon the type of user you are, you either ignore or err on the side of caution and avoid any type of risk completely.

For example, I have spoken to users at one extreme who vocalise concerns such as malicious keystroke logging programmes and an unwillingness to connect to a WLAN network in public places such as cafes etc, as they do not know if the network has security measures in place.
Whereas, at the other extreme, some have told me that they use the mobile internet without any concerns or reservations – viewing their phone very differently to how they view their PC i.e. as something personal and private and not susceptible to attack.

Lack of knowledge and understanding of security can have massive implications in mobile internet usage. For instance, ecommerce has not emerged as yet as a major player within the mobile internet space. This may be attributed to several factors such as problems viewing products on a small screen etc, but many have voiced concerns regarding payment security. Certainly, the small number of people I have spoken to who have purchased items using the mobile internet would only be willing to do so for small-ticket items.

So, it appears that in order to promote usage of this potential revenue stream, businesses have to promote trust (e.g. by using recognisable security symbols) as well as educating users regarding what they should be aware of and what risks they may be susceptible to. The question is then – what is the best way of doing this?

Tip 1: Use clear, recognisable security symbols e.g. padlocks etc, on secure pages.

Tip 2: Browsers could indicate the security status of pages e.g. by using colours such as green for OK.

Tip 3: Retailers could allow users to save a card onto their account by managing their account from a PC – then they could shop for instance, by one-click ordering using the mobile internet. This would reduce the need to enter any details.

Tip 4: Retailers could use a third-party payment system such as Google Checkout or PayPal, again reducing the need to input details.

Originally written by Amanda Roach

Ashley Friedlein is founder and CEO of Econsultancy. In the latest Foviance podcast, we discussed the development of customer experience outside the UK.

Ashley, can I first ask you to tell me a little bit about how things are going with Econsultancy? I know you’ve set up recently in the US, possibly at the worst possible time during the recession?

Yes, it’s an interesting one. New York probably feels it particularly keenly, and it felt a lot bleaker than the UK. It was a pretty miserable economic situation, but the good thing is that it means you can get good people for less money than you normally can, it means that estate agents are very nice to you for a change, and you get decent property for less money. When we set up Econsultancy in the UK, we did it in the dot.com crash period, and everyone said then that we were crazy to be doing what we were doing, but as a result we had a kind of clear run and no competition for about three years, so actually as a time to build a brand, arguably it’s a good time. It’s effectively a start up for us. It wasn’t projected to make any money this year, and I think we’ll achieve that, and it’s going well in terms of raising the traffic, the links, the brand, recruitment, so we’re pretty happy.
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