Thanks to the internet, businesses have evolved and gone beyond the need to rely only on local customers. The market for your product has never been bigger, with the potential to find an eager customer in the most remote parts of the globe. However, after jumping over the regional barrier, you're standing in front of an even taller language barrier.
Businesses need to communicate and support customers in their language to provide the best experience. It's a crucial first step to keep them happy, extend customer life cycles, and nurture a strong, thriving community. The research agrees too: ICMI reports that 72% of customers said support in a customer’s native language increased their satisfaction with customer support, while 58% said it increased loyalty to the brand.
These challenges coincide with growing customer expectations as they begin to hold the brands they buy from to higher standards of service. Customers compare your service not just with your competitors, but with all the high-quality online experiences they've had, which your business needs to surpass. That's when language can become a powerful differentiator for your brand and even the playing field.
Multilingual customer service can add significant value
By embracing multilingual customer service, you open up a goldmine of business opportunities that a lot of businesses aren't focusing on.
Better CX and CSAT Scores
According to ICMI, 71.5% of customer service leaders claim that support in a customer’s native language increases satisfaction. The strong correlation between language and customer satisfaction is no surprise, since language drives communication and understanding between the agent and the customer. By speaking the customer's language, you can create better experiences that can go a long way towards building trust and earning their loyalty.
Existing customers become new customers again
Customers appreciate it when you put in the work to create a better experience for them. Your business is an easy favourite for them, especially when they're looking to make their next purchase. A survey by the Common Sense Advisory concurs, as 3 in 4 customers are more likely to repurchase or use services again when after-sales care is available in their own language. Multilingual customer support helps businesses retain their customers better, by extending customer lifecycles with more repeat purchases in between.
Your support team is empowered
Multilingual support is great for delighting customers, but it can be vital to improving the agent experience in your support team too. It can be stressful working on a ticket when you can neither understand, nor be understood. As the front line of your business, it's in your best interests to equip them with the tools they need to communicate and help customers effectively. When you prepare your team for multilingual support, your employee experience is boosted and agents can feel confident and comfortable in their own skin while talking to customers.
Getting started with Multilingual Customer Service
While multilingual customer support has clear benefits, it isn't feasible for most businesses to set up native support teams around the world. You need to assess the demand for local support, along with the logistics of adding a large number of agents, onboarding and training them.
With Zoho Desk, you can now plan and implement great multilingual experiences for customers with ease:
Improved self-service with Multilingual Knowledge Base
Proactive self-service is a win-win for both customers and agents, and it only gets better when it's available in multiple languages. With Multilingual Knowledge Base, you can write, publish, and manage articles in over 40 languages on your self-service portal.
Publish articles in multiple languages instantly with Auto-Translate
Auto-translation tools like Unbabel and Google Translate are incredibly helpful for businesses that want to publish self-service articles at scale, without having to worry about an increasing headcount. Within the multilingual knowledge base, you can publish and translate your article into different languages, instantly.
Translate incoming tickets and outgoing responses
Zoho Desk now makes it easier for agents to communicate with customers regardless of the language they speak. By integrating Zoho Desk with Unbabel and Google Translate, your agents can understand your customer requests with the click of a button. What's more, translating your responses to customers is just as easy!
Don't let language impede your business from great customer service. When your support team is empowered to keep customers happy, regardless of the language they speak, they can nurture customer loyalty and advocacy for your brand all around the world. With Zoho Desk, say hello (or hola!) to creating personalized experiences and making customers feel at home, wherever they are.
Comments