1) China has a population of over 1.35 billion people spread across a large and diverse geography. It has a large workforce and is the world's second largest economy. 2) Popular social media platforms in Western countries like Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China. However, China has developed its own large social media ecosystems like WeChat that are widely used among the Chinese population. 3) Designing products and services for the China market requires an understanding of differences from Western markets in terms of technology infrastructure, business practices, social media usage, and Chinese culture. Adaptation to these differences is important for success.

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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 Headquarters
Bridge 8, Building 9, Unit 9605 No.
25 Jianguo Middle Rd., Luwan District
200000 Shanghai, China
Austin Headquarters
1300 Guadalupe St., Ste. 201
Austin, TX 78701
For more information, see:
www.appconomy.com and @appconomy (weibo /twitter)
Or, email:
steveg@appconomy.com

3. 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

6. Age
0-14: 17.2%
15-64: 73.4%
65+: 9.4%
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Source: The World Fact Book

7. 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

9. 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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18.  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

22.  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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23.  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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27. 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

32.  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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33.  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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36.  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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37.  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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49.  Flat, almost 2D
 Pastel, light touch, not heavy
 Comfortable
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52.  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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59.  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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61. • 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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62. 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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63.  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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64.  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