Mapping Cultural Barriers

Questions To Ask

Are there geographic barriers that can stop consumers from receiving your product?
- Address access to healthcare in rural and urban areas
  - Rural areas usually have more physical barriers that could prevent the consumer from physically making it to your technology
- Address physical barriers such as rivers and water bodies
  - Is there a safe and easy way to cross if necessary?
- Address physical barriers such as long distances for consumers
  - Is there a safe and easy way to reach people who are more remote?
  - Consider making your technology mobile so you can go to consumers directly
- Address physical barriers such as inaccessible by foot
  - If project only works on a mountain or on highway that cannot be accessed safely by consumers in different age demographics and variety of fitness levels
  - Are there frequent floods or other natural disasters in the area that could make it unsafe for consumers to travel to you?
What is the education level of the region?
- Address local school situation
  - Are schools easily accessible by all families in the area?
  - Are all genders able to go to school?
  - Are all genders sent to school?
- Address education level of local adults
  - Can your technology be explained to consumers of all education levels including the benefits, possible risks, cost, frequency of treatment, etc.?
What is the local population’s reaction to change?
- Address technological capabilities and familiarity with technology of local populations
  - Is the local society comfortable with using technology?
  - Haveother healthcare technology companies gone into the area and if so, what was the outcome?
- Address ease of use for technology for users
  - Will people know how to use the technology on their own or will you need someone to run the technology for them?

Case Study

Digg

In 2010, Digg worked on a complete overhaul of their website after which they planned to do A/B testing, where they tested both the newer version and older version of their website in a series of focus groups and consumer experiences.

Despite positive reviews in usability tests, focus groups, surveys, and a private beta test, their new site did not fare well with the public. In one survey, 83.22% of users, an equivalent of 20,644 votes, said that the they preferred the Old Digg site while only 7.62% said they preferred the new Digg website.

The new VP of product, Keval Desai, stated that “when you change something, people are going to have a reaction. Most f the changes, I would say, were done for the right reasons, and I think that eventually the community settled down despite the initial uproar.” He did clarify however, that “a big-bang launch in today’s era of continuous development is just a bad idea.”

Today, Digg has a vibrant community of users and is in the top 500 Alexa rank in the United States.

Read the full story here: https://blog.optimizely.com/2014/08/14/2-alexa-500-site-redesigns-that-should-inspire-you-to-ab-test/

Here, we can see a clear case of reaction to change. Many users will have a negative reaction to anything new or different. For a larger company like Digg, they were able to stick with their new platform, knowing that other people would eventually come around. For smaller businesses and startups who do not have a developed customer base yet, this may not be a viable option so keep this in mind while developing your technology.

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