Experiences: Global User Experiences

As enablers of online conversations between businesses and customers, Web forms are often responsible for gathering critical information—email addresses for continued communications, mailing addresses for product shipments, and billing information for payment processing to name just a few. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that one of the most common questions I get asked about Web form design is: “How do I deal with international addresses?”

But before we get into the nuances of address variations, it’s worth pointing out that addresses have a commonly understood structure. Through years of experience with mailing and postal systems, people have a pretty concrete idea of what constitutes an address block. This common understanding is so definitive that eyetracking data suggests, once people begin filling in a set of input fields that make up an address, they often cease looking at their labels. The basic structure of an address is so familiar, people don’t need the guidance labels provide. Read More

Cultural proximity refers to the degree of similarity in cultural traits, practices, values, language, and norms between groups, countries, or regions. People tend to trust and collaborate more easily with others who share similar backgrounds. This shapes our decision-making and sense of trust when we interact with others; however, it also potentially introduces bias and limits diversity. In this column, I’ll explore the benefits and challenges of leveraging cultural proximity, how different cultures respond to cultural proximity at various levels, and how cultural proximity affects the user experience of digital services.

The Benefits and Limitations of Cultural Proximity

People are naturally drawn to things that feel culturally close to them, whether because of shared values, languages, or social norms. This is why many global chains, when operating in different countries, adapt their offerings to align with the local culture and build high cultural proximity with local markets. Read More

In recent years, social ecommerce has rapidly emerged across the world by leveraging social interactions to drive online sales. Examples include influencer-driven shopping on Instagram in the US, Line Shopping’s chat-based social ecommerce in Japan and Thailand, and Pinduoduo’s group-buying model in China.

What I’ve found most interesting is the group-buying model in ecommerce, which originated in the West, but has become extremely successful in the East, especially with platforms such as Pinduoduo. I’ve explored how cultural factors influence this space and why they result in such different outcomes in the ecommerce industry. In this column, I’ll examine how Pinduoduo leverages social elements to design user experiences that influence consumers’ decision-making. Read More