Learn what multilingual support is, why it is essential for a business that operates internationally, and how you can implement it on your website.
Supporting Customers in a Foreign Language
Your business has gained a nice foothold locally, and it’s time to think about available prospects in the international market. Today, the global market is not a reserve for huge companies with lots of dollars to spare nor is it burdensome for marketing specialists. 58% of small and medium businesses had international customers in 2014. With a bit of innovation and expertise in the world market operations, plus multilingual customer support, achieving an international presence is very much possible.
An integral part of scaling up is forming and nurturing relationships with customers through dedicated customer support and service. Statistics have shown that about 70% of customers give poor customer service as the top reason for not buying from a company. And customer support revolves around communication and essentially, language.
With cut-throat competition in almost every sector, no business can afford not having customer support in a language spoken in a region of operation. In this article, we will focus on why you should introduce multilingual support for your business when entering new international markets and tell you more about translation services that will help you localize your website for the different regions.
Why Is Multilingual Customer Support Important?
In the beginning, your website or product content may be tailored to an audience that speaks your language, and you may not see the need to offer customer service in other languages. However, as you expand your reach, you will begin to get visitors who don’t speak your language. The first time a customer asks you a question on live chat in, for example, German when you only speak English, you will understandably be dumbfounded. Here is where you start moving towards international customer service. Other reasons to make this move include:
Building tighter relations with your customers
A customer would understandably be frustrated if they are not able to communicate their questions or concerns to customer support because of a language barrier. The result is that the customer leaves with a bad experience. In a recent study, 52% of respondents made repeat purchases at a company because of excellent customer service. On the other hand, 55% said that they switched brands after a bad experience with customer service.
Providing multilingual support shows customers that your business is inclusive and sensitive to their culture. It also gives customers convenience, boosts their satisfaction and builds loyalty to your product or brand.
Increasing your sales
There is a strong connection between the content language and the customer’s likelihood to buy. That said, a Common Sense Advisory survey found that 72.1% of customers spend the majority of their time online in sites written in their native language. Also, 72.4% of individuals polled said that they would buy a product that has information in their local language. So, for every foreign language, you add to your website and customer support, you significantly boost your conversions.
Growing the brand’s reputation abroad
Multilingual support on your website is great for building your brand’s reputation among new customers overseas. When people know that your business offers support in their native language, you will gain customers from unconquered markets as well as pull gain those that are dissatisfied with their old or current service or product providers.
Conveying your businesses’ message to customers accurately
Getting the right message about business across to your customers becomes easier and more effective when you understand their language. Offering translated material makes it easier for them to understand your content and convert.
Meeting your customer’s demands and expectations
As with providing information in a clear and accurate manner, you will also need to get feedback from consumers to improve your services. And the best way to listen to customers is to allow them to express their views in their own language.
Implementing Multilanguage Support with Translation Services
A Gallup analytical report that studied internet users across 23 E.U. countries showed that 44% of respondents said they only used their own language when reading or watching content online. 9 out of 10 of individuals survey said they would just visit websites in their native language if offered a choice. However, it would be impossible to learn every language of every region you intend to do business in and even harder to bring your staff up to speed. And there is no need to as there is an easy way to support customers in their native languages.
Translation services are available for this exact purpose. They help websites localize their content and support to specific regions. An excellent example of this type of service is Translate.com. The service has a website localizer that supports up to 37 languages and works well with different social media networks, apps and CMS plugins including Joomla, WordPress, Magento, Drupal, Shopify, WooCommerce, Instapage, Facebook, Tumblr among many more.
The service also provides support tickets translation plugin/ app that integrates with Zendesk and allows businesses to translate tickets in more than 90 language pairs. The app is simple to use. When a customer support agent receives a ticket in a customer’s language, it is automatically translated to the agent’s language. The agent then gives a response in their language, and it is translated into the language that the customer is using. That way, communication is easy even when the agent and the customer don’t speak the same language.
Examples of Successful Multilingual Support
A company can establish multilingual support on its website by offering a multilingual chat service, and knowledge base. Good examples of companies that have strong multilingual support include:
- American Express. A multinational financial company, American Express has a very comprehensive website and support. Users can choose the country they are from to translate content on the site. Also, you can contact them with your native language and receive a clear response.
- Wells Fargo is also another success story. Their website translates to your language of choice instantly, and you can ask questions in any of the several supported languages.
Multilingual support is the way to go for any business that wants to create lasting relationships with foreign customers and gain a competitive edge in the global market.