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Offering multilingual customer service can help your business grow

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Offering multilingual customer service can help your business grow

Did you know that 75% of consumers will purchase a product from a brand if the information on the product is translated into their native language? In order to provide a great customer experience (CX) and increase customer loyalty, multilingual customer support is necessary. But where to start? Keep reading! Providing multilingual support is the key to improving customer service in this article. 


The benefits of multilingual customer service are numerous

If you assume all customers speak the same language, such as English, you marginalize your brand and fall behind your competitors. Your business will grow if you offer multilingual customer support. 

When you understand the benefits of multilingual customer service, you will be able to set realistic goals and objectives.

  • Customer loyalty and trust increase. When you build trust in the native language, your brand loyalty will increase throughout the entire buying cycle.
  • Enhanced customer experience. Supporting native languages can increase customer satisfaction.
  • Expanding customer reach. Your company can reach a wider market by offering multilingual customer service. 
  • Sales increased. A larger customer base will increase your sales. Localizing your content will allow you to reach a wider audience. Your sales will increase as a result. 


Follow these 6 tips to provide multilingual customer service that improves the customer experience


You can improve customer satisfaction by providing multilingual customer service. A growing customer base, increased sales, and customer loyalty will help you grow. In order to ensure a positive customer experience, we need to avoid language barriers. One way of achieving this is through multilingual customer service procedures


1. Become familiar with the languages of your customers

Many professionals fail to understand their clients' languages, even though this step seems obvious. Based on demographics, email addresses, and IP addresses, you can determine where your customers are located and what languages they speak. 


2. Developing a multilingual website

Create a multilingual website to reach new markets and improve customer experience. There are four steps you need to take in order to launch a multilingual website. 


Step 1. Translate and localize 

Localizing a website is different from translating it. Here is an example that illustrates how these two concepts are different. 

Take a look at translating your English website into Korean. You can do this by downloading a plugin that will convert your English text to Korean. Due to the Korean language's nuances, including its structure, slang, and clauses, simple machine translation is not sufficient. 


Step 2. Select a multilingual format

After translating and localizing your website, you need to format it. There are two options. You can either use a separate domain or a subdomain to host multiple versions of your website. 

In the first case, you can host different versions of your website on different domains. The standard domain extension for the U.S. is .us while China's extension is .cn, Russia's extension is .ru, and Germany's extension is .de. This provides customers with a more personalized experience without being redirected. Even though this can be the case, separate domains can be very costly and require numerous websites to be updated simultaneously. 

 

Step 3. Set up a language selection menu

Once you have chosen a domain registration method, your website must have a language selection menu. By using the language selection menu, users can choose what language they wish to view your website in. 


Step 4. Ensure that there are no typos

When building multilingual websites, typography is often overlooked. How you arrange letters and text on your website determines its visual appeal.


3. Provide self-service tools

Following the steps above, your multilingual website should now work properly. Clients appreciate this feature. However, it isn't always sufficient when expanding internationally. 

Launching a knowledge base can be game-changing. Especially if your customer base is multilingual. Localizing a knowledge base improves customer experience. 


4. Understanding the cultural expectations of service

When dealing with customers from different cultures, it is easy to overlook differences in culture. Customer service representatives should be aware of cultural nuances and expectations in every country.


Collective vs. individualistic thinking

Collective cultures view individuals as members of a group rather than as individuals whose value is solely determined by their own opinions. Following these steps will help you provide customer service to collectivists: 

  • Having a relationship that lasts 
  • Group purchasing 
  • Your product should be mentioned in terms of how it can help your customers


Power differences

A complaint is more likely to be filed by customers from cultures with high power distance. Here are some suggestions: 

  • Be respectful and mention the customer's title 
  • You will be asked about your role and authority by your customer

In order to provide a tailored customer experience to cultural diversity and nuances, these dimensions must be mapped and the differences addressed.


5. Pay attention to time zones

Time is very valuable to customers. It is expected that responses will take some time regardless of culture. Once you've logged in, you should receive a security code and be required to complete another step of verification. 

The best way to resolve customer issues is to have a multilingual customer service center available 24 hours a day. 


6. Would you like LiveAgent to assist you?

Managing multilingual customer support is challenging, regardless of the size of your team. Multilingual audiences can benefit from LiveAgent's multilingual help desk software. 

Providing world-class customer experiences requires the following key features:

  • Over 40 languages are available on the agent panel
  • Multilingual support for online chat and tickets
  • Multilingual support on social media
  • Every language has its own knowledge base 
  • Every new country will have a customer portal (with live agent accounts).
  • Websites with separate currency pricing


Summary

Today's global economy demands authentic and localized customer experiences. Multilingual customer service can improve customer experience and keep you in touch with your international audience.

Building a strong multilingual support team requires understanding your international audience and providing the right service

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