1. People buy from people.
In a low-trust society like India, if you aren’t an established brand like Tata, you are better off establishing trust with people on a personal basis. People place their trust in other people more easily than in organisations or brands. Also related to this is the second insight:
2. Indians will almost always prefer getting on a call to get their issues resolved.
This becomes all the more important in cases where a large sum of money is at stake. For e.g. if the customer hasn’t yet received a big order or the money has been deducted from the bank without the goods being received, the anxiety is always better alleviated by talking to a person than texting on a chat.
3. Indians don’t buy a lot of software/SaaS products.
We’d rather make our own tools than spend monthly on software. I also have a hunch it has to do with an inability to calculate RoI generated on the tools being used + the lack of a mental model for evaluating software pricing.
4. If you’re selling a high-ticket size product, calling works best.
This ties into insight no. 1. People may read up all about you on your website and social media handles, but without enough social proof or word-of-mouth from friends, they’ll still need to get on a call with you to make up their mind.
5. For an elevated audience, in-depth long-form content works better than short-form.
Short-form content might work better at a higher frequency for getting customers into the funnel, but what will finally convert them is the depth and expertise conveyed through your long-form content.
6. They tell you to educate your customer. It may not always work in India.
Sometimes, a customer will consider it rude if you try to educate them about obvious things. It gives them the impression that you think they're stupid or naive.
7. Value for money > anything else.
If you're catering to a large (TAM), you should consider marketing your product as value for money. Convince them that you're offering them ₹500 worth of value in ₹200.
8. For sales, hire locals who can converse in the local dialect.
Nothing makes a customer feel more comfortable on a sales call than being able to talk to a person in their local language. Not only does it make it easy for them, but they will also reveal tonnes of information that they wouldn't have revealed if they were speaking in English.
9. For UX writing, Indian English > proper English.
The point is to help the customer understand quickly what needs to be done and not show off polished English skills.
10. Make the refund service smooth/instantaneous.
People hold their money dear, not just in India, but everywhere. If they know that they won't lose money and it will be refunded instantly if something goes wrong, it reduces massive friction involved in making a purchase.
