Not long ago, I witnessed as three similar businesses poured resources into developing their presence on a certain social media platform. Their efforts were unsuccessful as the platform turned out to be a mismatch for our sector.
Key considerations:
- Protracted decision periods in Saudi purchase journeys
- Family influence aspects in purchase decisions
- Chat as a substantial but challenging-to-attribute impact medium
- In-person validation as the ultimate purchase trigger
I chuckle when clients tell me they're using the "latest" digital marketing strategies but haven't updated their tactics since 2022. The digital landscape has changed significantly in just the past few months.
When I established my retail business three years ago, I was sure that our distinctive products would sell themselves. I overlooked competitive research as unnecessary – a mistake that practically cost my entire company.
Powerful techniques:
- Adding Saudi financial services like local services
- Enhancing Arabic product information
- Showcasing local service access
- Including trust signals customized for Saudi customers
I recommend organizing competitors as:
- Primary competitors (offering very similar products/services)
- Indirect competitors (with some similarity)
- Emerging disruptors (new entrants with innovative models)
Recently, a business owner expressed frustration that his online presence was burning through thousands of riyals with disappointing performance. After examining his tactics, I pinpointed multiple fundamental problems that are surprisingly common among Saudi businesses.
Last month, I was advising a major e-commerce company that had poured over 200,000 SAR on a stunning website design pricing Saudi that was performing terribly. The problem? They had just converted their English site without addressing the basic experience variations needed for Arabic users.
For a high-end retailer, we created a locally-relevant attribution model that understood the special buying journey in the Kingdom. This technique discovered that their social media spending were truly generating nearly three times more returns than earlier assessed.
Recently, a merchant contacted me after spending over 500,000 SAR on web promotion with limited outcomes. After revamping their methodology, we produced a seven hundred forty-three percent increase in ROI.
- Place the most essential content in the top-right corner of the screen
- Organize content blocks to flow from right to left and top to bottom
- Implement stronger visual emphasis on the right side of balanced layouts
- Verify that directional icons (such as arrows) point in the correct direction for RTL interfaces
Initiate by identifying ALL your rivals – not just the major ones. During our investigation, we discovered that our most significant rival wasn't the well-known brand we were monitoring, but a new business with an novel approach.
- Shifted product photos to the left portion, with product information and buy buttons on the right side
- Changed the photo slider to move from right to left
- Incorporated a custom Arabic typeface that maintained legibility at various sizes
For a fashion brand, we executed a comprehensive platform efficiency evaluation that uncovered their highest ROI channels were completely different from their global trends. This finding permitted a shift of spending that increased their overall ROI by over two hundred percent.
The most successful Saudi brands know that customers don't separate in terms of channels. My investment client saw a substantial increase in potential customers after we integrated their previously disjointed touchpoints.
- Clearly mark which language should be used in each input field
- Automatically switch keyboard language based on field expectations
- Place input descriptions to the right-hand side of their connected inputs
- Verify that system feedback appear in the same language as the required input
Surprising findings:
- Temporary channels outperforming Visual platforms for specific items
- Night advertising substantially surpassing morning efforts
- Motion material delivering superior ROI than fixed graphics
- Mobile performance outperforming laptop by considerable differences
I now employ several resources that have substantially enhanced our competitive research:
- Keyword trackers to analyze other companies' SEO strategies
- Mention tracking software to monitor competition's social activity
- cost-effective website solutions analysis platforms to observe modifications to their websites
- Communication monitoring to get their marketing communications
As someone who has developed over 30 Arabic websites in the past five years, I can confirm that applying Western UX practices to Arabic interfaces fails miserably. The distinctive elements of Arabic text and Saudi user preferences require a completely different approach.
If you're creating or redesigning a website for the Saudi market, I urge hiring professionals who truly understand the subtleties of Arabic user experience rather than merely converting Western designs.