{"id":22396,"date":"2019-12-02T17:33:29","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T17:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=22396"},"modified":"2024-09-24T14:51:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T13:51:02","slug":"multilingual-support-stats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/multilingual-support-stats\/","title":{"rendered":"Found in translation: How multilingual support helps you scale customer experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

For online businesses, our customers can come from any part of the world and at any time. How do you ensure a great customer experience globally without getting stuck behind language barriers or adding a ton of headcount?<\/p>\n

In the United States alone, roughly 20% of the population doesn\u2019t speak English at home. Although it may seem like a no-brainer for businesses to offer customer support in multiple languages, in a recent survey we found that the vast majority of businesses struggle to implement an effective multilingual customer service strategy. However, that means there is a huge opportunity for businesses who are able to scale<\/a> personal, effective support.<\/p>\n

Benefits of multilingual customer support<\/h2>\n

When customers can interact with a support rep who speaks their native language it has a huge influence on their experience: they can communicate easier and feel more comfortable. In this way, multilingual customer support can not only lead to more positive experiences, but can also help you build a reputation in that community.<\/span><\/p>\n

We wanted to dig deeper into the opportunity for providing multilingual support. We surveyed 170 non-native English speaking SaaS customers, and 135 support team leads to learn more. Here are our key findings:<\/p>\n

1. SaaS customers are more loyal to products that provide native language support<\/h3>\n

Offering multilingual support doesn\u2019t just drive CSAT scores, it can even impact churn. According to our research, 29% of businesses say they’ve lost customers because they don’t offer multilingual support.<\/p>\n

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In a similar vein, 70% of end users say they feel more loyal to companies that provide support in their native language; there’s also massive upside to doing so if you consider another survey which found that 67% of customers<\/a> are willing to switch brands due to a poor customer experience.<\/p>\n

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2. Multilingual customer support can overcome other product weaknesses<\/h3>\n

A great product doesn\u2019t always make up for weaknesses in support, however a great support experience can <\/i>make customers more tolerant of product issues.<\/p>\n

According to our survey, 62% of customers are more likely to tolerate problems with a product if they can interact with support in their native language. They\u2019re also more patient for your reply: 58% would be willing to wait longer for customer support if it was available in their native language.<\/p>\n

3. Few companies truly offer multilingual customer support \u2013 the opportunity is huge!<\/h3>\n

While 88% of support teams offer customer support in more than one language, just 28% of end users say they actually see support offered in their native language. There is a lot of opportunity to differentiate yourself with multilingual support; 35% of end users would even be willing to switch products to one that offers support in their native tongue!<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s causing the disconnect? Whether it\u2019s in-house or through outsourced help, one of the greatest challenges to providing comprehensive multilingual support is finding people who have the right technical and language skills. In fact, even though hiring support reps who speak more than one language is the most common way support teams offer multilingual support, 85% of support managers say it\u2019s difficult to find reps who speak more than one language.<\/p>\n

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Once you do find a candidate, it can be expensive to retain them and ensure that the quality bar for both is being met consistently. But for those willing to invest in a comprehensive multilingual support strategy, the payoff is huge: improvements in customer satisfaction and <\/i>operational efficiency.<\/p>\n

So where should you begin?<\/p>\n

Three tips to providing excellent multilingual support<\/h2>\n

At Intercom, we believe the right multilingual strategy pairs the best of human support<\/a> with the best of automation. Here are three tried and true ways to start implementing a great multilingual support experience:<\/p>\n

1. Empower your support team with translation tools<\/h3>\n

\u200b\u200bRather than hiring dedicated native speakers for every market you operate in, you can integrate translation services that are better and more efficient than Google Translate, using apps such as Unbabel<\/a> or Lokalise <\/a>to extend the support skills your team already has.<\/p>\n