Powerful techniques:
- Partnering with local digital companies
- Adjusting systems for Saudi digital ecosystem
- Promoting capability building to local talent
- Contributing in regional development activities
Successful methods:
- Engaging government stakeholders from the start
- Harmonizing modernization with national objectives
- Focusing on information localization
- Building partnerships with official agencies
Key approaches included:
- Working with Saudi Arabia's best marketing firm native speakers to identify real query patterns
- Examining regional rivals for keyword insights
- Developing a dual-language keyword matrix to capture every possible users
- Implementing Saudi Arabic dialect rather than formal language
Recently, a restaurant owner in Riyadh expressed frustration that his business wasn't showing up in Google searches despite being highly rated by customers. This is a frequent issue I see with regional companies throughout the Kingdom.
I dedicate at least 120 minutes each week analyzing our competitors':
- Online organization and UX
- Blog posts and posting schedule
- Online platforms presence
- Client testimonials and evaluations
- SEO tactics and rankings
Through extensive testing for a food delivery client, we discovered that promotions shown between 9-11 PM dramatically surpassed those shown during typical optimal periods, generating one hundred sixty-three percent higher conversion rates.
Last month, a apparel company contacted me after spending over 150,000 SAR on platform promotion with disappointing results. After redesigning their campaign, we achieved a 631% growth in advertising efficiency.
As someone who has created over 30 Arabic websites in the past five years, I can tell you that applying Western UX principles to Arabic interfaces falls short. The unique characteristics of Arabic language and Saudi user expectations require a totally unique approach.
Effective approaches included:
- Showcasing family values rather than personal benefits
- Including modest spiritual connections where relevant
- Modifying offer terminology to match Saudi social expectations
- Producing distinct ad variations for diverse locations within the Kingdom
I use a basic document to track our competition's rates modifications on a regular basis. This recently enabled us to:
- Spot seasonal promotion cycles
- Notice special offer strategies
- Grasp their cost structure
If you're creating or redesigning a website for the Saudi market, I advise consulting professionals who truly understand the complexities of Arabic user experience rather than just converting Western interfaces.
Recently, I observed as three similar businesses spent significantly into developing their business on a particular social media platform. Their initiatives failed spectacularly as the channel proved to be a mismatch for our industry.
Additional timing findings included:
- Decreased competition during religious periods with steady conversion rates
- Greater response on Fridays and Saturdays notably after evening prayers
- Seasonal variations demanding investment changes during Ramadan
- Academic calendar influences on certain categories
Start by mapping ALL your competitors – not just the obvious ones. During our investigation, we found that our biggest competitor wasn't the famous brand we were watching, competitive landscape analysis but a recent company with an novel approach.
For a hospitality brand, we discovered that literal conversion of their foreign queries produced extremely wasteful investment. After executing a regionally-specific query strategy, their CPA dropped by seventy-three percent.
- Moved product images to the left portion, with product information and buy buttons on the right
- Adjusted the photo slider to move from right to left
- Added a custom Arabic text style that maintained clarity at various scales
Essential features included:
-
Mobile-first creative styles
-
Touch-to-contact extensions for voice-preferred customers
-
Software marketing for appropriate queries
-
Platform-tailored landing pages
-
Redesigned the data entry sequence to match right-to-left thinking processes
-
Created a Arabic-English input mechanism with smart language switching
-
Enhanced mobile interactions for right-handed Arabic input
Recently, I was advising a major e-commerce platform that had poured over 200,000 SAR on a impressive website that was performing terribly. The issue? They had just converted their English site without accounting for the essential design distinctions needed for Arabic users.
- Choose fonts specially created for Arabic digital display (like Dubai) rather than classic print fonts
- Enlarge line height by 150-175% for improved readability
- Set right-oriented text (never centered for main content)
- Stay away from condensed Arabic typefaces that reduce the characteristic letter forms
Important elements:
- Involving spiritual guides in evolution creation
- Honoring prayer times in implementation programs
- Developing traditionally respectful development activities
- Emphasizing alignment with Saudi goals