Masterthesis: “The Effects of Cultural Customization of Web Site Content and Design on Online Behavior and Conversion Rates”
In recent years, the Internet and its associated World Wide Web have experienced an enormous
growth and an extended proliferation. Since computer access has increasingly been made available in developing countries and Internet penetration rates have risen significantly in Europe (418 million users), Asia (738 million users) and Latin America (179 million users), the United States (227 million users) have already lost their dominant position on the Internet market.
In 2005, usability expert Jakob Nielsen predicted that by 2015, US-Americans will constitute less than 15% of all Internet users and that they will only account for about one-third of its value, an estimation which has already come true in 2009. The described developments highlight the growing importance of cultural customization of website content and international usability.
Regarding global commerce in the world of the WWW there are no national boundaries. Businesses and other website operators have access to a global market, hence to global website users and potential customers from any imaginable country of the world.
Accordingly, in order to increase a global market share, website owners need to consider the importance of their customers’ demographic profiles
and the underlying cultural differences in customer behavior and perception. Thus, a necessary step is to adapt their sales
tools (such as their website) to fit these differences.
This Masterthesis demonstrates current approaches and guidelines for a cultural customization and measures the effect of an adaptation using a real world example.
56-page PDF (720KB)
Table of Contents
I.
Introduction and Background of the Study
II.
Cross-Cultural Communication Research
III.
Adaptable Elements of Website Content and Design
IV.
Objectives of the Study
V.
Methodology
VI.
Technical Implementation
VII.
Results
VIII.
Discussion
IX.
Deutsche Zusammenfassung (German Abstract)
X.
Bibliography
| I. | Introduction and Background of the Study |
| II. | Cross-Cultural Communication Research |
| III. | Adaptable Elements of Website Content and Design |
| IV. | Objectives of the Study |
| V. | Methodology |
| VI. | Technical Implementation |
| VII. | Results |
| VIII. | Discussion |
| IX. | Deutsche Zusammenfassung (German Abstract) |
| X. | Bibliography |
56-page PDF (720KB)
