Main Takeaways: - Learning about the biggest dilemmas faced by a PM for entering the Chinese Market - Learning about the biggest pitfalls of product localization in China (so that you can avoid them) - Developing a framework to prioritize product localization improvements

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6. JULIAN LEUNG | 2020-05-18
8 Dilemmas of Entering
the Mainland Chinese
Market at Airbnb

7. Hi! I’m Julian!
A little bit about me
● Have been working as a Digital
Product Manager for the past 7+ years
● Currently working in Shanghai as
GOAT’s Country Director for the China
Market
● Have previously studied and worked
in Hong Kong, USA, Singapore, and
now Mainland China.
● First Product Manager at Airbnb,
WeWork, and GOAT in APAC
● One of first two Localization Managers
at Airbnb

8. Hi! I’m Julian!
Products that I’ve worked on:
● Airbnb | Airbnb.com and Airbnb App (Global)
● Airbnb | Airbnb.cn and Airbnb App (China)
● WeWork | WeWork.cn (China)
● WeWork | WeWork Member App (China)
● WeWork | Customized Member-Facing
WeChat Mini Program for Enterprises (China)
● WeWork | Tour Booking WeChat Mini
Program (China)
● GOAT | GOAT App (Global)
● GOAT | WeChat Mini Program (China)

9. My Story at Airbnb

10. My Story at Airbnb
2012 to 2016
● One of the earliest employees in Asia
● Started as a Host Manager
● Then transitioned to Localization and Product
● One of first two Localization Managers at Airbnb globally
● First Product Manager dedicated to China
● One of very few who have stayed at the original Airbnb
● More than 100 reviews on Airbnb

11. Original China Product Team

12. ● “Biggest travel market on the planet”
● “Fastest growing market domestically”
● “Second fastest (growing) in terms of outbound”
● “Over 10 million guest arrivals by Chinese travelers”
● 400 million millenials in China
● “80% of user base in China is under 35”
Why China?
Reasons for Airbnb’s Commitments for China

15. ● Infrastructure and Product Performance
● Traffic and User Acquisition
● User Signup and Onboarding
● Social Media and Sharing
● Payment and ID Verification
● Local Competition
● Local Laws and Regulations
Why is Entering China So Difficult?
Challenges of a Foreign Tech Company in Mainland China

16. 8 Dilemmas of Entering
the Mainland Chinese
Market at Airbnb
JULIAN LEUNG / 2020-05-18

17. 1. Doing or Understanding

39. ● It’s very important to better understand the market and your potential users:
○ Who are they?
○ How did they hear about you?
○ Why do they use your service?
● And there are many different ways to do so:
○ Data Analysis
○ User Surveys
○ User Interviews
○ Focus Groups
Doing or Understanding

40. 2. Essential or Good-to-have

42. Inconclusive but
Rolled Out

46. 3. Top or Bottom of Funnel

47. GapsandDifferences
The Marketing Funnel

55. 4. Experiment or Gut

62. Challenges and Limitations of Experimentation
Specific considerations when it comes to localization
● Lower Sample Quality
● Smaller Sample Size
● Have to rely more on Proxy Metrics
● More Assumptions Made

63. Experiment Examples

64. Inconclusive but
Rolled Out

65. Inconclusive and
Rolled Back*

66. Inconclusive but
Rolled Out

67. Inconclusive but
Rolled Out

68. Inconclusive and
Rolled Back

69. Successful!
3% Lift in Bookers

70. Map CDN
Successful!
7% Lift in Nights Booked

71. Success!
20% Lift in Sign-Ups

72. Successful!
90% Lift in Shares

73. 165% lift in Users Visiting Help Center Contact Page
30% lift in Users Creating Inbound Tickets
10% of users in the experiment group clicked on the link

74. Success!
80k Incremental Nights
Increase Referral Bonus
from $25 to $40

75. 20% more bookings and 4.5% lift in searches for the group
that received both the engagement message and coupon;
for the group that only received the engagement message,
the booking number is neutral but we saw a 5% lift in
searches and a 2% lift in searchers.
A: Do Nothing
B: Push/Text
C: Push/Text + Coupon

76. 5. Incremental or Drastic

78. Inconclusive but
Rolled Out

79. Inconclusive but
Rolled Out

82. 6. To Fork or Not to Fork

85. 7. One-time or Scalable

95. 8. Human or Technology

101. ● Doing or Understanding
● Essential or Good-to-Have
● Top or Bottom of Funnel
● Experiment or Gut
● Incremental or Drastic
● To fork or Not to Fork
● One-Time or Scalable
● Human or Technology
8 Dilemmas of Entering the Mainland Chinese
Market as a PM at Airbnb

102. Airbnb China Today

116. What is good localization?

125. www.productschool.com
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