A common mistake: "It works in that market, let's do the same for this market"
“Our senior management says, doing this research can’t guarantee a specific percentage of growth. In the past when we put x amount of money into Facebook ads in [country], we got x% of new sign-ups. We can just do the same for our Middle East market.”
This happened in a call I had a while back with someone who is responsible for the growth of their MENA markets.
This way of thinking is flawed and concerning on many levels. I’m going to separate it into two posts, two articles.
First, always remember:
What works in one market does not necessarily work in other markets.
This applies to all aspects of strategy, not just on marketing, but also design or business propositions.
For example, Facebook might not be the right channel for users in this region or within their target users. Or, even if it might be where their target audience ‘hang out’, due to the nature of the products they are offering, seeing an ad on Facebook might not be sufficient in giving the locals the confidence they need to check their service/product out or sign-up due to the low level of maturity in the usage of such a service in this region.
It is more critical in this instance because the business does not know much (if not, any) about the landscape of their industry in this region or how locals perceive the products and services they offer in general.
The ‘House party’ metaphor
Imagine you are putting together a house party, let’s say, in Indonesia (your newly launched market). You wanted to get as many people in this country to go to your house as possible and stay for a party you put together. The more people turn up and stay, the more profit you’ll make.
Let’s say, all you did is focus on attracting and inviting the locals to your house for a party. You might get lucky and got the channel right with the crowd you are looking for.
But… what happens if, once they get to the house, they found that:
The house decoration and setup felt too foreign to them where they don’t feel at home or comfortable
The party food is not what they are familiar with or enjoy
The crowd is not who they like or would normally hang out with
The party songs are not the ones they resonate and connect with
The party is not suitable for children which is a big issue as in this country, parties are often ‘family-friendly’
Would they stay? Would they take the proactive initiative to invite more family and friends to join them? Would they come back again to your next party? We all know the answer.
Without knowing about your audiences and their context in a market you are not familiar with, you have nothing concrete to base on when putting the party together. What should the decoration be? What party food and beverage should you offer? What else do you need to cater for apart from making sure it’s child-friendly, and so on?
Ask different questions
So, in the future, if you were asked by your senior management:
“What would be the percentage of conversion if we do user research in this market? How much increase of retention rate can we expect from the research output?”
Maybe present the metaphor above and raise the questions below as:
“With the little knowledge we have about what our local customers need and what would work within their context, what is the percentage of confidence that they are accurate and valid? What is our confidence level that if we use the same approach in this market as the other market, we will get the same conversion rate?”
Executing a strategy without having a proper understanding of your markets and the local users would just be like firing as many arrows as you can in the dark without knowing where your target is, hoping that one or two might hit as close to the target as possible. If a good arrow costs $15, how much do you think you’ve to spend to have at least one land in the centre of the target board? Something worth challenging and pondering on.