Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
I have been looking into developing a website for the euro market. Right now the company I work for does quite well in western markets yet fails to provide an attractive proposal to our Euro clients, equaling in low euro conversions.
So the idea we have is to make a site with promotions specifically designed for Europeans. When I started to do some research, I noticed a profound difference between the design, promotions and layout of euro focused sites and US focused ones.
Some things I noticed of the top:
- US site are generally gaudier. Having big flashy banners and eye catchy parts, euro sites tend to be more clean, easy to navigate, simple yet stylish.
- US sites tend to be more crowded, more links and info. Their counterparts from across the pond tend to be straighter forward.
- US sites have more exaggerated advertising. By this I mean, I see American ads tend to be trickier. Like get 1,000,000,000,000 call hours for only $9.99 a month (but only between 2 and 7 am, Tuesday through Thursday, other exceptions apply). Euro ads tend to be more realistic and less tricky.
- As a tendency, Euro sites are more personalized. They do this by having a company name like "William's Widgets" or some other means; including having photos of the owners/management (US sites in my industry do this, but not nearly as much).
- American sites tend to have more images.
Is there anything you see wrong with my generalizations? Can you add something to this list of generalities?
I am looking to compile a strong list of differences between the mentalities needed to market to each. (I know one for both CAN work, but we are interested in having a max conversion rate).
Just FYI, I know that American sites follow the principal, of bigger and better while euros follow the small quality road, but I am looking for something more specific than this.
*this is not for politics, strictly marketing/design and in general differences that effect webmasters
Or do you mean English speaking Europe?
But right now, I am looking into the concept/design for this euro site. So I am looking at Europe in a homogenous way... I hope this is posible.
These are just some random thoughts on ths subject, which is one I find sort of interesting.
Most Europeans have been quite extensively exposed to US culture, online, in movies and television and very often by having visited or lived and worked for a time in the USA. Thus the cultural reference points are not that strange to them, they 'get' them for the most part. Similarly all Europeans pretty much all Europeans will know what the truck of the car, a thumb tack and a bathrobe are. Not all Americans will know what the boot, a drawing pin and a dressing gown are.
A small example of this is that I fairly regularly get emails from Americans helpfully pointing out 'incorrectly spelled' words on websites, which are of course not incorrect, just not spelled the American way. I have never received such an email from someone in Europe about spelling on a site using US English - they just know it is US spelling and thus not incorrect, but different.
Use of such identifyibly US words and phrases or of US spelling will immediately flag a site as US based, but even that is not so simple. Non-native English speaking Europeans may have learnt American English - or at least supplemented rudimentary school English by watching US movies/TV shows - and thus will be more familiar with the US terms for things.
US site are generally gaudier. Having big flashy banners and eye catchy parts, euro sites tend to be more clean, easy to navigate, simple yet stylish.
That's maybe a little TOO general. I think clean easily navigated simple yet stylish sites appeal to users on both sides of the pond! To my mind the flashy gaudy ones just look tired and out-dated now, rather than particularly American.
They do this by having a company name like "William's Widgets" or some other means; including having photos of the owners/management
Funny you say this, my perception would have been the opposite - that this was more often done on US sites! Maybe it's an industry thing.
US sites have more exaggerated advertising.
There has not been so much of a history of the sort of hard sell advertising that is common on US TV, or of long sales letter type selling, in Europe. Not that it doesn't exist - it does, but it isn't as ubiquitous. So I would say you are on the button there.
All that said, lanquage and spelling aside, when I compare US and European sites in the industries with which I am familiar I cannot say I am aware of the marked differences you see.
we've found that a number of european countries place much greater emphasis on personal relationships than typical with anglo saxon countries like the UK.
we were much more successful in germany by having local german resellers.
