Guest Article
When you think of customer support, is having customer service agents who speak English enough for international success? Of course, not! If you want your products to be known worldwide, you need to make yourself understood by different nationalities. English might be the most used language right now, but it is not enough if you want to offer a professional customer support experience.
So, how can you offer multilingual customer service in your business? How many languages are enough when it comes to a top-notch customer support center? Clients today are looking for high standards and they are more likely to order products or services presented in their mother language. This article is going to show you why a multilingual customer support is important for your business if you are targeting global markets and how to implement it.
Decide the level of support you want to offer!
When you create your business strategy and decide that you want to target international customers, you need to also determine the level of support you are going to provide. It should also remain consistent during the entire process. You should analyze which markets where your products are likely to be most successful and prioritize the languages in those markets. Here are some elements you should consider:
- Frequently Asked Questions Section – this is a great start when you want to offer a multilingual customer support. FAQs cover crucial topics like refund policy, payment options or product use. Therefore, if you want to target international clients, you can translate this section in several languages.
- Social Media – without a doubt, most of your clients are very active on social media. Wouldn’t it be better for them to understand your posts on Facebook and Instagram and share them? Be proactive and translate your posts in different languages. This is how you are going to grow your brand loyalty and build brand equity.
- Call center support – You can hire customer support agents to talk to your clients in their language. In general, customers prefer call centers where they can ask questions in their mother tongue. This means that you should hire customer service agent who speak different languages. You can help your agents by translating the call scripts and products’ description in different languages.
- Support tickets strategy –You can also try using a support ticket system to answer to your clients’ inquiries. What is more, you can combine the ticketing system with a translation application. Therefore, your agents will easily translate your customers’ inquiries and reply quickly in multiple languages.
Tips to consider for a multilingual customer service
Once you have decided which languages you are going to support you need to create very clear guidelines for your customer service team. Below you can find a list of useful tips for great customer service results:
- If you choose written communication, try to always use simple and short sentences. Create basic templates in the foreign languages you have decided to use and include easy words to help your clients understand your explanations better.
- In written communication, use examples. You can prepare demos on how to use your products or services to help your clients not get lost in long explanations.
- Train your customer service agents to stay confident even if the client might become impatient. They shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions to the client to better understand the situation as well as seeking the help of their colleagues.
- You can help your employees who answer the phone by creating a detailed database with all the possible questions a customer might ask. Translate them so your employees will know how to handle each situation.
By offering a multilingual customer experience you are showing your clients that you care about their specific needs. By putting in effort into establishing a dialogue with your customers and you are on the right track to build a tribe of loyal international customers who will purchase your products and services on a regular basis.
About the author:
Kristin Savage is a freelance writer who nourishes, sparks and empowers readers using the magic of the written word. She is a regular contributor on the Pick Writers blog. Kristin is also an expert in marketing strategy for publishers and authors.
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