Maybe you don’t think you need telephone interpretation services for your call center.
Maybe your bilingual agents are enough.
Maybe you don’t see the need to increase your market share beyond English speakers.
But just because you’re doing well now without telephone interpreting services, doesn’t mean your customers won’t expect you to have multilingual support in the future.
According to projections by Instituto Cervantes, by 2050, the U.S. could be home to the largest Spanish-speaking population in the world. In conjunction, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that Hispanics will compose roughly 30% of the U.S. population by 2050. If these predictions prove true, 1 in 3 of your customers might prefer to speak a language other than English when doing business.
If you’re still waffling (after all, 2050 is years away), keep reading! We’ve compiled other reasons why adding telephone interpreting services to your call center is a smart choice.
Telephone interpretation is perfect for volume spikes
Any call center knows that forecasting call volume is an important but tricky technique to get right. When the unpredictable happens, it can be difficult to scale staffing at a moment’s notice. Phone interpreters are perfect for accommodating unplanned spikes in call volume for limited English proficient (LEP) customers.
Your agent just dials a number, requests the language they need, and gets connected with a telephone interpreter quickly. They can then offer the same great customer service your business is known for and feel confident while doing it. No longer will they have to handle a customer inquiry with little to no understanding of the issue.
And you only pay for the minutes you use. So when things quiet down, you aren’t paying for telephone interpreting services you aren’t using.
Resolve customer concerns at first touch (in any language)
Your customers want a hassle-free, easy experience when they call you. To them, this means they want their issue solved the first time they reach out. In fact, 67% of customer attrition is preventable if issues are resolved on first contact.
And this doesn’t change if your customer speaks a different language than the primary one supported by your call center. Most telephone interpreting companies support upwards of 200 languages on demand, so the language(s) your customer speaks will more than likely be available.
In addition, if you find that your LEP customers are calling in with the same issues, think about creating a multilingual knowledge base. Yes, translating and localizing content takes time, effort, and investment, but if individuals receive information about products in their own language, they’re more likely to buy — a whopping 72.4% of respondents to a CSA Research study stated as much.
Related: What Are Phone Interpreter Services and Why You Might Need Them
Your customers want — no, expect — you to speak their language
Globalization and digital innovations have opened a world of goods, services, and information to consumers. It’s exciting, but also a little daunting — especially daunting for call centers that focus on customer experience. That’s because with technological innovation comes heightened customer expectations.
Customers want resolution, speed, and to talk to a skilled agent. Customers also increasingly want a brand to speak their language.
According to CSA Research, 75% of respondents said they will purchase from a brand again if they offer customer care in their language. This holds true even if your LEP customers are proficient in English. In the same study, 60% of those surveyed who are “most confident” in reading English still want customer care in their own language.
So, what are you waiting for? Request a quote for telephone interpreting services now.
