Before committing to the China market, many international companies would plan on a market test to explore the potential of the China market. However as they are not familiar with the China market, they often make mistakes during the test which result in unsuccessful financial performance.
Here Deep Digital China lists the ten mistakes that often occur in the China market test:
1. No Chinese website. You definitely need a Chinese website as your primary online presence if you are targeting Chinese audience. A website in English or other language is not friendly enough and even repelling in some cases. It’s a plus if you have an individual domain name (such as *.cn) for your Chinese website.
2. Overseas hosting. Many times if a website is hosted outside China, the loading speed might be slow for Chinese audience. We recommend to use the host in Hongkong which works well in the loading speed and also avoids the need of an ICP license.
3. Lack of content localization. Whatever the messages you need to deliver to your target audience in China, they must be in Chinese and localized. You don’t just Google translate the content and publish them on your Chinese website or social media. That might be confusing and even causing negative results.
4. Misuse of media platforms. Remember that you are entering a new market and the Chinese media landscape is quite different! Counterparts of Google, Facebook and Youtube can be found in China(Baidu, WeChat, Youku) however they are not always the right choice for you in the China market. Zhihu(Chinese Quora) is a great choice for B2B business and Xiaohongshu(cross between Twitter and Pinterest) is right for businesses that are targeting women. International companies need to identify the right media platforms for them to develop the China market.
5. Performance marketing only. We had observed many clients tested the China market only with Baidu PPC and very often they didn’t get positive results in the first two or three months and just left the China market. According to Google 2019, 88% of shopper interaction occurs before they interact with a particular brand and 94% of B2B buyers are performing online research before they engage with that particular enterprise. It’s similar in China because Chinese people need to confirm the reputation of a brand before actual engagement with it. So it’s recommended to carefully plan on the performance marketing and content marketing.
6. Lack of competitive analysis. Even you are dominating the market, there are still competitors. Not to mention that you are entering a new market. You need to understand how you and your competitors perform in marketing, sales, products and operation. Raise questions such as ‘What prices are they selling?’ ‘How many Chinese speaking sales and client service people they have and where are they?’ ‘How soon can they ship the products to the customers?’, etc.
7. Incorrect messages. To attract potential customers, companies need to deliver certain messages in different channels. Those messages often tell the customers what advantages companies have. However are these advantages in overseas market still advantages in China? For example, are you sure free shipping cost is your advantage if you are in ecommerce? Are you sure that low cost is still an advantage in China? Is it true that your customers can find a job in foreign countries if they hold a certificate from your organization? You need to make sure to deliver the correct messages and that involves a comprehensive competitive analysis.
8. Lack of patience. China is truly a large market and it’s full of competition. If the China market test only lasts like two or three months, it’s not likely to succeed. Typically a six-month test is long enough to build initial online presence, build up brand reputation and get financial returns on the overall digital marketing.
9. Slow response to China team or agency partner. We’ve worked with many international companies on their China market test program. Sometimes we found the headquarter slow in response to the China team or our or our partner’s requests such as some changes on the Chinese website or want more material to develop content for local distribution. We understand it’s an issue of resource allocation in headquarter however the slow response can affect the China market test in a negative way.
