Crucial web design tips for breaking into the Japanese market
Japan has often seemed like a bizarre country to many of us in the western world. This is undoubtedly encouraged by the many apparent contradictions of Japan. Is the country wealthy or bankrupt? Embracing the past or the future? The initially difficult-to-understand character of Japan can extend to the manner in which many of it’s citizens perceive websites. This is important to remember if you want to use a website to break into the Japanese market. However, the web design, Chichester located company, Access-byDesign can give some pointers for how a website should be designed for particular appeal in Japan.
Beware a web design that will lack credibility in Japan
In western countries like the UK and the US, web designs of great simplicity and modernity are often encouraged. Such designs can prevent people visiting the websites feeling overwhelmed with too much information or perceiving that the companies running the websites are as ”behind the times” as their websites seem to be. However, such web designs do not often have the same effect in Japan. In fact, in one case study, a website of such a design led approximately 80% of several dozen Japanese people from the ages of 20 to 50 to say that the design “lacked credibility”.
Crucial lessons to learn and heed
Why did these Japanese people perceive the design in this way? To put the answer simply, it didn’t offer enough information for them, at least not in a sufficiently upfront manner. The design led them to perceive that the website did not provide enough information. This, in turn, made them feel uneasy and that the website was not trustworthy. However, the study also showed that, when the design’s empty spaces were filled with content, these same people apparently used the website without the previous resistance.
This behaviour has been attributed to the passivity that is common in the Japanese and encouraged in them from an early age. You should, naturally, take heed of this when seeking to use a website to further the success of your business in Japan. However, you should also remember many of the fundamentals of good web design that many western people, including web designers employed by the web design Sussex business, Access-byDesign, already know about. You should, for instance, remember the importance of a responsive accessible design that can make the website easy to use through smartphones and tablets.
