Hi there! I’m Dan Tarasov, a UX researcher at imaga. Recently, we conducted a major study for a big Latin American company based in Guatemala. They’re working on developing a high-end neighborhood in the country’s capital, known for its great shops, beautiful homes, and cozy restaurants.
Our job was to create an awesome website for our client. Let me tell you a bit about the research itself, the context behind it, and the interesting insights we came away with.
What Do We Really Know About Guatemala?
Let’s be honest—Guatemala and its capital are pretty much a mystery to most people in Europe. If you stopped someone on the street and asked where the country is, chances are they wouldn’t know. Africa? Maybe the Pacific Islands? Or somewhere in South America?
Nope, nope, and nope.
Guatemala is actually in Central America, right next to Mexico. South of Guatemala, you’ll find Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. To the east, across the Caribbean, are Cuba and Jamaica. Basically, it’s a country bridging two continents—but it’s much closer to the U.S. than it is to Brazil.
A Little Bit of Context: What’s This Project About?
The client is a developer who’s working on a whole neighborhood in Guatemala. It’s a huge area with homes for well-off city folks, tons of cafes, restaurants, and even some attractions. Basically, it’s a public space where people come to hang out and relax, and some even live and work there.
Not everyone can afford to have fun here, though. The cost of living in Guatemala isn’t super high, but shopping in this neighborhood is definitely a luxury for most. It stands out like a little paradise—safe, clean, and quiet, but also pricey. They’ve built a whole infrastructure just for it, with its own church and everything. Basically, it’s like a city within a city.
- To put it into perspective: while the traffic in the city (and even on the sidewalks) is chaotic, this area has lots of pedestrian zones. Crime is pretty high in the city, but in this neighborhood, you don’t have to worry—it’s well-protected. It was designed by European architects and honestly, it’s like an oasis in the middle of a desert.
The client’s goal was to refresh the website for this amazing urban space: we had to figure out areas of improvement with the current version and what needed to be in the new one. It was a real challenge for us—we weren’t just working with a different country, but a whole different culture. And at first glance, there wasn’t a whole lot in common.
How We Worked: Language Barriers and Time Zones
After chatting with the client, we decided that two types of research would work best:
— In-depth interviews.
— Usability testing.
Both types require a lot of direct interaction with users. So it was pretty clear that we need to speak good English, and we do. But here’s the catch—Guatemala is a Spanish-speaking country, and none of us spoke Spanish. Needless to say, not ideal.
Here’s what we ended up doing: we got ahold of our partners, who are researchers in Spain. The idea was that they would help us handle the interviews, but we’d process the results on our own. Spoiler alert: we didn’t end up needing his help. Turns out, people in Guatemala speak pretty decent English! Our Spanish partners joined for a couple of calls, and then we set them free.
Another potential challenge on the project could’ve been the time zones. The difference between Eastern Europe and Guatemala is 9 hours give or take. So, if it’s 6 PM there, it’s only 9 AM in Central America. And if it’s morning for you, it’s evening—or even nighttime—over there. But honestly, it wasn’t an issue at all. We just ended up doing most of the interviews from 9 to 11 PM, which was daytime for our respondents.
Our Goal: Find 20 People on the Other Side of the World
The real challenge was finding participants for the research. Trying to recruit them from Europe wasn’t exactly easy, especially since we were targeting specific groups of website users. There were three groups in total, and, honestly, each one came with its own set of hurdles:
1- People who recently bought apartments outside our area. We wanted to know what they looked at and what caught their attention.
2- People thinking about buying an apartment in our area. We wanted to figure out what might catch their interest on the website.
3- Tourists—both international and local. Anyone visiting the area to spend some leisure time.
The ideal number of people for each segment for deep interviews and usability testing is seven. So, in total, we needed about 20 people—6 to 7 from each group. We tried everything to find them. We even reached out to recruiting agencies in Guatemala. But all our efforts were wasted—the first two segments were just too specific.
So, we started trying to recruit through the client. But that didn’t work out either. We couldn’t get random people involved in the research. Eventually, we came up with a solution that worked for everyone: we began doing interviews with the client’s employees—real estate agents. At first, we weren’t too excited about it because we figured the agents didn’t use the website. But as it turned out, they did. And a lot more than we expected.
Almost all the real estate agents we talked to admitted that they often and willingly show the website to potential apartment buyers in our area. What’s more, nearly all of them agreed that the current version of the site doesn’t really help them make sales. It was actually from the client’s employees that we got the most valuable insights and feedback.
Research Progress: Language Barrier and Early Insights (Including Some About Our Own People)
Even though we all spoke good English, there was still a language barrier. It was pretty inevitable, considering we come from different cultures. On top of that, we were dealing with some pretty specific vocabulary: describing emotions, impressions, and subtle feelings. Even in our native language, it’s not always easy to find the right word, let alone in a foreign one.
To make sure the language barrier didn’t affect the research, we had to approach each question in the deep interviews very carefully. I didn’t just ask the question once—I found multiple ways to phrase it and offered different variations. My goal was to get the most honest and thoughtful responses. It was important that we really understood each other.
- For example, we wanted to find out what people in Guatemala pay attention to first when choosing an apartment. We’d start by asking, "What do you pay attention to?" But the person might not fully understand what we were getting at. So, we’d follow up with a similar but different question: "What other apartments did you look at before buying? What did you notice about them? Why did you decide against them?" Then we’d ask about their previous living situation: "What wasn’t working with your last place? Why did you decide to move?" The goal with all these questions was basically the same—to figure out what the person liked. But we had to gather the info bit by bit.
A little deeper understanding of how people in Guatemala think came from usability testing. We asked respondents to do something specific on the website—like find certain information—and then we observed how easy or hard it was for them. That’s when I first noticed the big differences between these users and our European ones.
Guatemalans were almost always really loyal to the website—mainly because they didn’t have much to compare it to. There aren’t many user-friendly websites in Guatemala. In that sense, we’re definitely different: during similar tests in Europe, people quickly dive into the process and start finding flaws, even where there clearly aren’t any. We’re used to online services—beautiful, easy to navigate, and functional. But in our Guatemalan research, that wasn’t even a consideration. Even if it took 10 minutes to find the apartment catalog, people would confidently say it was easy and didn’t bother them at all.
- In this case, additional questions were really helpful. When we noticed a user struggling with a task, we’d ask, "Where would you expect to find this button?" If the website didn’t make sense at all, we’d ask directly, "What do you see on the site? What stands out to you? What’s not working here?" This helped get people thinking about the interface. In the end, we’d get answers like, "Yeah, it would be better if this feature were more accessible." However, just watching how people interacted with the site already told us a lot—any issues were pretty obvious without needing extra comments.
The key difference between a Guatemalan and a European, really, came down to how we analyzed the research results. A European user might quickly find the right button, but they’ll verbally explain what was uncomfortable and why. In that kind of usability testing, the user's opinion plays a big role. In Guatemala, it was the opposite: the user would spend a long time searching for the solution, but then say they were perfectly happy with it. In this case, their behavior—rather than their opinion—was what mattered more.
- The second part of the usability testing helped us understand the respondents better. This was done with new prototypes. Here, Guatemalan users quickly realized that the new version was much more user-friendly and would recall what they didn’t like about the original. What's more, when they were shown different versions of the prototypes, they started looking for real problems and comparing them to each other.
What We Learned About Guatemalans and the Client’s Current Website
1. Users in Guatemala rarely trust websites—they value personal interaction more.
This is probably because the level of digitization in the country isn’t very high, so just having a website isn’t enough for them. They really value the ability to make a call and clarify something over the phone. For us, this meant that contact info in the new design had to be super easy to find, ideally right on the homepage.
Users were also pretty open to WhatsApp links. However, chatbots didn’t really catch their interest. It’s a big contrast: Russians tend to prefer solving everything online and through messaging—they’re not fans of phone calls.
2. Photos aren’t enough for users in Guatemala—they need to touch and really imagine everything in 3D.
It's better to see things for yourself than ask a bunch of questions over the phone. And a simple picture just doesn’t cut it for them. Ideally, they’d want a model, like a 3D tour. So, we decided to create 3D tours of the apartments. Users loved this solution—it really convinced them that they could explore the apartment online instead of physically visiting it.
3. When it comes to buying a home, locals (and maybe just about everyone) aren’t really sure what they want exactly.
The problem was that potential buyers were only given general information at first. For example, just the name of the building (and every building there has its own name). Buyers got confused, looked at everything, and didn’t know what to focus on.
So, we suggested adding a quick questionnaire on the website that users would fill out when they first visit. It would help them think about what exactly they’re looking for. The form would include basic questions like how many rooms, square footage, view from the window, and what floor they prefer.
4. Tourists really missed having a neighborhood map.
Honestly, we didn’t expect to get much useful information from the tourist segment. We thought the locals and real estate agents who work in the area all the time would provide the most valuable insights. But we were completely wrong.
In the end, it was the tourists who pointed out something that no one else had noticed: there was no map on the site. The area is big, and the navigation isn’t exactly straightforward. The neighborhood is divided into blocks, and each block has a letter label. There are no familiar street names or house numbers.
Everyone agreed that Google Maps didn’t really help much either. Neither the locals nor the realtors, who know the area like the back of their hand, could even think to mention this issue.
5. Environmental concerns are important to everyone in Guatemala.
This discovery really surprised us. Our respondents were a diverse group, ranging in age from 20 to 60. But regardless of age, gender, or social status, everyone was concerned about environmental issues. In contrast, Europeans usually speak about this topic more reservedly—they understand the importance of protecting the environment, but it doesn't dominate their thoughts on a daily basis.
Guatemalans, on the other hand, bring up this topic on their own all the time. It seemed like there wasn't a single respondent who didn’t mention how important the environment is to them. Since the current website already had a section on the client’s environmental projects, we decided not to remove it. Everyone unanimously agreed that they found this content interesting.
Thanks to the research, we figured out which features needed to be added to the site and which ones could stay. The client was especially excited about the 3D model and the map — these solutions were a real game-changer for them too. We also discovered that the old catalog of available options (like stores and gyms) wasn’t very user-friendly — the filters were too complicated and unclear. So, we decided to scrap it.
On top of that, we were able to validate the new prototypes developed by our team — we quickly figured out which ideas worked and which didn’t. As a result, the new site will be launching soon.
What We Learned About Ourselves
Of course, diving into another culture is valuable for both sides: we'll create a modern website with new, more fitting features for our Guatemalan clients. But for us, this research acted as a mirror, reflecting some of our own national traits. We've gotten so used to them that we no longer notice, but that doesn't make them any less interesting.
First off, the high expectations of European users, which we mentioned earlier, isn't exactly new, but it’s still an interesting detail. We're used to a high level of service and digital products that are both convenient and functional. We often compare them to global products like Netflix, so we’re picky. But based on our research, people in Guatemala are just happy to have a website at all.
Secondly, European users tend to be more business-like and to the point—and that’s neither a positive nor a negative. We’re used to answering questions directly and rarely stray from the topic. On the other hand, my Guatemalan interviewees often veered off into personal topics, like their families or the natural surroundings. They’d happily tell me about the volcanoes visible from their balconies or a sister who works nearby. Maybe it was because I’m a foreigner, but I found it interesting.
Thirdly, the research reminded me of how different the challenges and needs of people can be in different parts of the world. While European users, tired of too much communication, are looking to minimize it and switch to chatbots and similar solutions, Guatemalans still want more interaction. And I’ll also emphasize again how important ecology was to them—finding someone in Europe who truly cares about the environment as much as they do would be quite a challenge.
Overall, it was a great study! we hope everyone gets to work on as many unique and interesting challenges like this one.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We’d be more than happy to answer anything, whether it's about the article or analytics in general.